Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought this device and successfully got it working. Here are my notes on what I did, and what I learned along the way. I found the vendors seven step guide very useful -> [www dot nettalk dot com slash wifiguide] Some things that I learned that were not obvious to me were that despite this being a WiFi device, you pretty much have to first configure it using a USB cable and pc/laptop. To accomplish this feat that means downloading the latest device control software, installing it, rebooting and then finally and then configuring the DUO WiFi device with the logon credentails your wifi router. However, Once the DUO WiFi device is configured you do not need to connect it to the pc/laptop again (unless of course your change routers). I did have some hic-ups during the install process. The first USB port I cabled up to did not recognize that the duo device was attached. However the other usb port did recognize the device. I have no idea why the difference but since I had success on one port I proceeded with the install. After an install of software, and reboot I was able to configure logon credentials to the wireless router. <update> 10/16/2012: Recently I moved this device to a different location and learned that when you enter the logon for your router and you get a green check mark. That mark does NOT mean the credentials are valid, all it means is whatever you typed has been saved to the device. Later when the device tries to use your data entry - if it bogus the device will just sit there forever blinking its red light. It took me about 15 minutes to figure out that I made a typo in my data entry for the 2nd router. <end-update> After entering the logon credentials I had green lights on the PC control panel and on the device itself but I did NOT have a dial tone. I tried a number of times & ways to get a dial tone - without joy. On a whim I gave up on making calls while cabled into the laptop/pc and instead cabled the device to run on house current only (pc/laptop no longer in the configuration). Within a minute or so of giving the device house current the DUO WiFi got the green status light and I could immediately make calls and receive calls without issue. Not knowing why things suddenly worked, I disconnected from house current, and re-connected to the laptop via USB. A this point the DUO worked there as well- again I have no idea why it now worked. Interestingly, the USB port that originally failed to recognize the device, now does recognize it. I have used the device for a few days now, and the DUO WiFi device just works. This is GREAT! Along the way I learned a few things that are find-able but not well advertised. * The dial tone volume produced by the device is much fainter than what my land-line produced It is audible but not what I am used to getting from a land line phone. * Despite the low volume of the dial tone, calls themselves sound like a normal land line. If there is a static or volume issue its so minor that unless your trying to listen for issues one would presume none are present. * The purchase price of the device includes free service for a year. * You can purchase additional years at $30 (if you buy multiple years the price per year is lower). * There will be apx $10 in taxes/fees added for each year purchased. So that $30 for a yr is really comes to $40/yr. * All calls to the entire USA are free. * All numbers regardless of location need to be dialed with 1 & area code * Any individual call will be limited to 3 hours at which point you are supposed get some kind of warning/notice just before the call is terminated. One may immediately redial the same number at which point a new 3 hour timer will begin. * While all USA calls are free, your limited to 3000 minutes per month. The 3000 limit is a non issue to my usage so I did not investigate this detail all that much. It looks like you can buy additional minutes should you exceed 3000. I have no idea what that pricing is or how the 3000 limit is enforced. I do NOT know if incomming calls count against your 3000 I suspect they do not. * calls made to other nettalk customers do not count against the 3000 limt but I think the 3 hr limit still applies. * My personal opinion is netTALK is more focused customers that are typical home users versus customers which make a hundred calls a day. * The fee to port your home number is $20, but there is about $3 in taxes/fees that are added onto that. * Yesterday I started the phone number port process. I'm told it can take a few weeks. In the meantime, I have two physical phones in my house one connected to my land line, and the other to the duo-wifi. Both phones work and are independent of the other. My guess is some day I'll wake up and notice that my land line has no dial tone and all calls are coming to the duo-wifi. * When you buy the device it comes with network cable, a usb cable, a 110V adapter with a USB slot. * Voice mail answers can be toggled on/off. When on it answers on 5th ring (not configurable) and sends you an email with each message. * While the device was intended for one to plug a phone into it, forum members have said that if your house has no dial tone what you can do is find the junction box and make sure that your houses copper is dis-connected from the rest of the world at that point you can take an ordinary phone cord and connect your duo to any phone jack in the house. what this will do is make all the phone jacks in the house a duo phone. When you get a call, every phone in the house will ring, conversely you can use any phone in the house to make a call. I have not done the above item yet but when my phone port occurs, this is what I will do. * If it helps anyone to know, my internet is from my cable company (cox) and the call quality from the Duo WiFi is excellent. It does take effort to install/configure but the device works as expected and unlike a lot of gadgets this one promises to pay for itself in just a few months of savings from what was my local phone bill. I'm happy I made the move to this device. <update > 10/16/2012: I have had this device for several weeks now. It behaves just like a normal phone. I always have a dial tone, never have to "do" anything with it. I think I'm a fairly low volume phone user making or receiving about 5 calls day - most only 2 or 3 minutes long. In all this time I have had one "failure". I was in about 40 minutes into a conference call when I got "dropped" and all I heard was a modem type squeel on my end. I had to re-dial into the conference. I think I was the only one dropped so the issue was probably on my end. I've read through the some of peoples reviews on this product some had really horrible "luck" while I have been pretty much trouble free. I think some reasons I have enjoyed good luck is making sure the configuration is solid. my router is set to never expire the IP address issued (the default was to expire in 24hrs), I have the duo device about 20ft from the router so signal strength is excellent. My cordless operates on 5.8/6.0Mhz versus the 2400 hz and I made sure my duo device is the latest firmware. I suspect if any of these things if not true would cause bad phone service and one might just blame the device instead of fixing the configuration. I DID port my land line phone number to the device. The process was painless - but odd. You use the vendors webform, pay your fee, pic a date and wait. I had two phones in the house, the duo on its assigned phone number and my original line line phone. On the appointed date the porting process "began" it took 30 hrs before it was finally complete. During this 30 hours when people called my land line sometimes the duo would get the call, other times the original land line. even when duo got the call, if I would call people the caller ID they would see sometimes would NOT be the land line number. But 30 hrs later everything was sorted out. I never was without phone its just that during the 30 hrs it wasn't clear which phone was going to ring when people called me nor what caller id others would see. However at the end of the 30 hrs, the original land line was "dead", and duo was working perfectly. Phew- that's a lot of typing well maybe someone will find this review helpful to their issues/concerns. <end-update> <update 7/19/2014 I have been using this device almost two years now. overall Device still works like a champ and I am happy with it. However I have experienced the the following bad things: - every once in awhile when I make or answer a phone call the line quality is so bad/hicuppy I have to hang up call back. The callback connection is perfect. I guess this has happend about 9 times so far. - three times device lost internet connectivity and did not re-establish on its own. however when I power cycle the device the problem is solved. So because I did have about 12 failures over 2 years the device is not as reliable as my original coppper landline phone. However it is in high 90's of reliablity. The cost savings is real and to my mind the savings has more than made up for the issues experienced. <end-update> <update 9/5/2016> It has been 4 years now and the Wifi Duo is still working like a champ. Call Failures per year have become very rare maybe 1 a year. VERY Satisfied with the device. By now my router is 6+ years old I am finding that my newer laptops can connect at faster rates than old router can offer so I retired the old router and replaced it with an a new router (TP-Link Archer C3150) I took just a few minutes to cable up the Wifi Duo and register the device so it connects to the new router. Phone Calls on this now 4 year old Duo are now serviced by the brand new router and things continue to work without issue. <end-update>