AmperorDirect Skype DualPhone Support

Tips, tricks, and tutorials on how to maintain and use your Dualphone with Skype.

What is DECT?

Cordless DUALphone Software

DUALphone Known Issues and Work-arounds

DUALphone User Manual

What is DECT?

Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) is a digital portable phone standard developed by European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI.) It is designed to transmit radio signals to phones in a smaller area, such as in cities or corporate complexes, whereas it’s younger brother, Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), is optimized for mobile travel over larger areas.

The DECT technology, along with the GSM, has matured since its materialization in the early 90’s and has been adopted by countries worldwide. Since then, Europeans have seen the explosive growth of the digital mobile phone industry. In 2005, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted DECT-based wireless telephony permission to use the 1920-1930 MHz band, as part of a "general reorganization of frequency bands in the US”.

The benefit of using 1.9GHz frequency bandwidth is allowing DECT-enabled devices to avoid the crowded 2.4GHz frequency ranges. Wi-Fi 802.11-b and 802.11-g, Bluetooth, and Home RF technologies are all using 2.4GHz as their carrier frequency so using 1.9GHz will reduce the possible interference between DECT and other wireless devices at home or at work.

Here are some numbers about DECT:

1. Net bit rate: 32kbit/s
2. Frequency: 1.9GHz
3. Timeslots: 2 x 12 (up and down stream)
4. Channel allocation: Dynamic

Cordless DUALphone Software

Besides some bug fixes, the software has been enhanced to support Windows Vista. See the Dualphone Suite Release Notes(US only) or Dualphone Suite Release Notes (non-US) for more details.

US Cordless DUALphone Suite - v2.37 (US Only) (4.7mb) - Download Here

Non-US Cordless DUALphone Suite - v2.37 (non-US Only) (9.1mb) - Download Here

How to download a software update:

1. Place the handset in the base
2. Click on the link and wait for a message to appear on the screen.
3. Next click on "Open/Run"
4. Wait while the program is downloaded from the Internet.
5. Follow the installation instructions on the screen.
6. Note! Remember to select the country when you install Cordless DUALphone Suite so that your telephone will work after an update!
7. Important: when the software is installed on your PC, please leave the handset in the base for at least 15 min. to allow the handset and base software to be fully updated.

Dualphone Known Issues and Work-arounds

Issue: Dualphone cannot work with Skype Voicemail.

Status: Problem solved with latest revision of Skype software.

Issue: Dualphone cannot work normally when a Pinnacle PC TV tuner card is installed in the same system.

Status: For Win2000 users, re-installing the USB audio device driver can help. For WinXP users, there is currently no solution.

Issue: Dualphone tends to drop calls when the contact online status switches to “Away”.

Status: The AmperorDirect Team has been unable to duplicate this issue at this time.

Issue: If you are using WinXP, you can log into different Skype accounts at the same time, using different WinXP user accounts. Dualphone will not support this feature.

Status: Dualphone software currently is not programmed to support user switching. No solution yet.

Dualphone User Manual

Have you misplaced your user's manual for your Dualphone and just don't know how to use that one nifty feature you heard about? Well you can rest easily now, because you can download a pdf version of the manual here.