Graves On SOHO VoIP

If you’ve been reading here for a bit you’ll know that I like my Plantronics .Audio 615m headset. I heartily recommend the Plantronics .Audio lineup for people who need a headset for use with a soft phone.

Since back when this review was published I’ve heard a couple of times that people have had issues with the Plantronics .Audio line not working correctly on Mac systems. Most recently this comment was posted to the review:

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Over the past few months I’ve unconsciously made a curious transition. You see, last summer all of my requirements for mobility around the office were met by the Gigaset S675IP that I have installed. When I had to work near a server at my workbench I just grabbed the S67H handset and went over there. Often I used the Gigaset handset with a wired headset for calls lasting a long time.

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Got a fancy IP phone on your desk? Wish it had a properly mated cordless headset? Hoping to not spend a small fortune? Here’s your chance!

BUY.COM is today offering a nice Plantronics CS55 wireless headset system with a lifter for the very reasonable sale price of $199. These things normally sell for closer to $300.

The cordless headset is DECT-based, operating at 1.9 GHz so it won’t suffer interference from Wifi networks. Both it’s cordless range and battery life will be better than similar Bluetooth devices. The lifter, while decidedly old skool tech, lets the headset answer or hang up calls even on phones that don’t support the newer “electronic hookswitch” capability.

I have a similar system that I will soon be installing to the new Cisco 7960 that was deployed in my wife’s newly renovated office.

I do a lot of my holiday shopping online. I have done for many years. Today I found a deal that I can’t use but I think I should share. Ecost.com is offering the Logitech Clear Chat Pro USB headset for $16.99. This looks like a very good headset for the serious gamer or VoIP enthusiast…for a trivial amount of cash. It’s USB connected which makes it well suited to desktop or laptop/netbook use.

I’ve not used it myself but it certainly looks like a good deal. Further, at the sale price it’s even less expensive than the Skype Freetalk Everyman, which is known for being inexpensive.

There’s a little leather-covered box that sits at the back of my desk. It’s the recipient of small items of technology that for some reason I can’t really use but also can’t stand to just throw away. It held until recently an impressive selection of Bluetooth cordless headsets.

Seriously, I bet I’ve purchased eight of those little beasts over the years, ever hopeful that each would be the one that was actually usable…possibly even a pleasure to use…but I was always disappointed. This cycle has gone on for long enough that I’d pretty much written off Bluetooth devices as a pointless waste of time.

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Elsewhere hearabouts I’ve reviewed a Plantronics .Audio 615m which is my favorite USB headset for use with soft phones. This morning an alert from BUY.COM offered the Plantronics GameCom X10 headset for just $9.99! Free shipping, too.

This variant is a similar design to the 615m, but terminated in a 3 conductor plug for use with a PC sound card. That makes it suitable for use with laptop audio interfaces, given a little pigtail adapter that breaks out the mic & headset signals to separate plugs. These adapters are readily available.

Neither the seller nor manufacturers web sites specifies the length of the cable, but they are pictured connecting to the hand-held controller on the game console. By implication the cable is shortish, most likely suitable for laptop or netbook use, but not desktops.

FWIW, MSRP is $24.95.

You’ve caught me in an especially curmudgeonly state of mind. But you’re just going to have to deal with it. Consider yourself warned!

A couple of weeks ago a plain brown box arrived in the mail. It contained a sample of Skype’s new FREETALK® Everyman Superwideband headset. At the time this product was announced I couldn’t help by wonder why a new headset could be such a big deal? I mean, really now, I have a box full of headsets collected over the years. How could a low-end headset, no matter how special, merit such fanfare?

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Fellow wideband enthusiast Steven Perich (@boxdog) just posted a review of the new Jabra M5390 Wireless headset. Based upon Bluetooth and supposedly wideband capable, he tried the version of the device that ships with a USB dongle for use with a PC and soft phone.

It’s great when fellow VUC members review gear since we have the opportunity to speak to them about their experience with the device, beyond simply comments on their posts. Also, being located all around the globe, some  folks have access to hardware that other simply can’t source in their region.