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Zoom ZoomTel X5v 5565
Price: £102 inc VAT

Features
Performance
Ease of use
Value for money
Overall

Reviewed By: Andy Shaw

This review updated: 06/01/2005
Featured in magazine:
Issue 100
Manufacturer Contacts:
Supplier: Zoom
Tel: 01276 704400
Web Address: www.zoom.com


Using the internet to make telephone calls (often referred to as VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol) can offer considerable savings over standard phone charges, especially if you make a lot of overseas calls. This broadband router can be used to connect more than one computer to your fast internet connection, but also has a socket to add VoIP functionality to your regular telephone.

Features
Looking remarkably like a standard router, the only external difference you'll notice is a socket on the back that, using a supplied adaptor, will take a standard telephone plug. This works like a built-in filter and you can still use your phone on the standard telephone service. However, it also gives you access to Global Village VoIP (www.globalvillage.com). By pressing the hash key on your phone before you make a call, you automatically swap to this service, which offers free calls to compatible VoIP services and alternative tariffs to standard land line calls. The only thing the router lacks is wireless networking capability.

Performance
The device works well. We plugged in a digital cordless phone to see if we could trip it up, but it worked perfectly, both on the standard network and through VoIP calls, though the latter suffer from the usual hiccup of slight delays in conversations. As a modem and router the device worked exactly as expected, offering fast connection direct to our broadband account.

Ease of use
There's a choice of attaching the device to a computer by either Ethernet or USB connections. Selecting Ethernet simplifies things no end, since it's preconfigured for networking, but USB hook-ups are also far from complicated, and allow an extra computer to be connected if you manage to fill the four available Ethernet ports. Although the set-up offers hints to changing complicated settings like 'encapsulation', the default settings worked fine on our basic ADSL line and all we needed to get going was our username and password. Taking Wi-Fi out of the equation certainly helps in this regard.

Value for money
If you're looking for a simple wired modem/router, you could certainly find cheaper, but this is the only model we've seen on the market to offer such simple VoIP options. You need to compare your current provider's call tariffs to Global Village's to see if it's worth using but you will save money on a decent handset by using your existing phone.

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