Gecko Phone 1.21

CNET editors' review

Reviewed by: CNET Staff

Although we appreciate its polished design and decent call quality, this Net phone's performance and stability problems keep us from getting more excited. Obtaining a Gecko Phone number was a painless process, although we could never get our number to work during testing. To actually operate the program with any succes, we had to get and use our call recipient's IP address, an extra hassle we found annoying. Otherwise, the good-looking interface is simple to use and configure, and the inclusion of an answering machine is a welcome bonus. The utility also provides a couple of basic video games, but we would rather see desirable communication features, such as conference-calling and a chat client. On the plus side, we found the call quality mostly impressive, with the exception of a slight delay. However, when minimized to our system tray and running in the background, Gecko Phone exacted a serious toll on our PC's audio performance, introducing skips when we tried to play a song using our preferred jukebox. It's also a shame this Net phone can't be used for PC-to-phone calls. While far from perfect, Gecko Phone may suit users looking to make occasional calls over the Web.

Publisher's description

From Gecko Phone :

Gecko Phone is a virtual telephone with an answer-phone function for your Windows XP PC. It enables you to hold voice conversations over the Internet with other Gecko Phone users. It also can be used as an intercom within your LAN, you are able to dial IP addresses. Gecko Phone uses as little as 10K Baud bandwidth in a compressed mode. Our software engineers have come from an embedded-systems background and so Gecko Phone is relatively small and very fast. It will not clog up your machine.

Version 1.21 adds an answerphone function.

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