I have now gone through three (3) of these phones and the 4th is on its way to me from Belkin on yet another RMA. The first two went back directly to Buy.com. Below is a brief description of the same problem I have had on all 3, a problem that could easily cause the user to assume a poor battery life.

In a nutshell, every one of these phones I have personally used for an extended period of time (days) has the same problem. As an electrical engineer, it appears to me to be a very serious design flaw, most likely a hardware semiconductor “avalanche”, “breakover” or “breakdown” issue. In layman’s terms, this refers to a semiconductor that goes into a “shorted” or relatively “super conducting” state until current is removed from the circuit.

The problem presents itself as if the phone were battery had discharged and the phone is dead. In reality, it is my observation that the phone will lockup and draw an extremely large amount of current from the battery, to the point the battery quickly and fully discharged. If one encounters the problem while the battery is actually in this “rapid discharge” with the phone appearing to be dead, none of the keys will do anything to turn the phone on or reset the phone. It appears to the user that the battery has simply discharged. However, in this state, prior to the battery actually fully discharging, momentarily removing the battery and then reinserting it will break this excess current flow/rapid discharge and will restore the phone to a point where it can then be turned on again normally with the keypad ON button.

The only cure I have found when any of these phones are in this mode is to momentarily remove the back plate and remove the battery, then reinsert it. If you have caught the problem in the early part of this lockup and rapid discharge cycle, the phone will then turn on after the battery is reinserted, and appear to operate normally until the next lockup or the remainder of the battery discharges. If caught at this point, the battery will appear to have very poor life after it is “reset” because a significant portion of the energy or charge in the battery has probably already been consumed in this cycle.

So, what are the clues when this problem is occurring on your Belkin Skype Phone? First, if you catch the phone when it has first gone into this mode, the phone gets very warm to the touch, particularly in the area of the battery while the battery is rapidly discharging. When the battery is momentarily removed at this point, it will be very warm, if not hot to the touch. If you attempt to insert the charge plug while in this mode, while the battery is still discharging and the phone is locked up, there is no effect and the charging symbol will not appear. The phone will charge again, but only after the battery has been fully discharged by the phone or the battery and charger are physically removed and reinserted, thereby resetting the phone to a normal state.

NOTE: This problem will most often appears to the normal user as extremely poor battery life. I have closely monitored this last phone and reset it immediately upon lockup each time and it is now out 3 days and the battery indicates 1/2 discharge. When that fact is extrapolated, the phone should run on standby for about a week or shortly less.

Alternately, there is a slim chance this problem could be a firmware problem, but all phones I have tested have been current on firmware and I don’t have access to their source code, so who knows. It would be difficult to imagine a software or firmware related scenario that could put these phones into this high current drain mode to the point of heating the battery. My money is on a semiconductor in one of the power stages, such as the audio output stage etc. that has a breakdown/avalanche voltage that is too low by physical semiconductor design That is validated by the randomness and frequency of occurrence nature of these lockups, between different phones of this same model and with the individual phones themselves. They are going to have a difficult time convincing me that a “firmware update” of any kind will resolve the problem – at least until I thoroughly test it.

I have talked and talked to Belkin about this problem – All I can get to are “technicians” who haven’t a clue as to the nature of the information I am providing them and the observations that could help Belkin resolve a problem that only one “second level” technician has acknowledged as being a problem.
Until we all can get Belkin to listen and acknowledge this problem, AND FIX IT for everyone who has this problem, I recommend you stay as far away from Belkin’s Skype Phone as possible! Just my opinion.

Skype Belkin Vs. Netgear Phone

BELKIN products SUCK.

My experience with it would advice against buying it. It drop calls all the time and also drops connection many times a day.

There is nothing wrong with my wifi router (Time Capsule) as I have my MacBook connected to it almost all the time and the connection is completely stable.

The problem is on the phone side. My guess is the slow processor response. It freezes sometimes and some other times it just hangs for minutes to for a simple command like a “menu navigation”. When it happens in the middle of a conversation thats where the call drops.

I contacted Belkin support many times but they asked me to call them as they were not able to resolve my issue online… as if it would make any difference (technically speaking) if I am talking on the phone or writing on an email.

Cheers,