SPH200D / Will not log on to Skype

[slm99]

Help. I've just bought one of these devices as part of my home business. Set up was a breeze and it worked for 1 Skype call, then started playing up. Now it will just not sign in to Skype. Here'e the detail:

Throughout all this the cordless phone has still worked.

Stage 1
Whilst I was trying to add a skype user to my contact list, the phone logged off from Skype.
The display then showed constant "Signing on to network"
All Skype services became "Unavailable"
Action taken - After consulting this forum and also raising a Netgear trouble ticket, i reset the phone, router, base and left it alone for 1/2 a day. Netgear Support advised the same - reset everything.
Result : "Signing on to network" message has gone away , BUT..

Stage 2
Phone is on but whenever i try to log on to Skype , i get the error message " Sign in was not succesfull ".
Action taken: I've tried re booting, resetting everything to no avail.
I've tried creating a new Skype ID, and also logging in with someone else's Skype ID. Nothing works. If i try and log in to skype from a PC using those IDs then there is no problem. Seems to be a problem with the phone or how it is setup.

Does anyone recognise this sequence and have any recommendations please? I see there is a thread lower down in which someone says they had the same problem and eventually "it went away, was possibly due to a Skype network problem". But surely if that was the case my skype log in would not work from my PC either?

Thanks in advance for any wisdom offered.

[DoubleR]

yep the log in problem was limited to phones. I bet you can log onto your account using a computer but the skype phone will not log onto the skype network. Why this occurred or continues to occur has not been explained to my knowledge here or over in the skype forums. My suggestion is to call customer service as you have done and keep up the dialog. And keep checking. My phone was off line for a little over a day and then game back on line by itself once the presumed network issue cleared. It is distressing to me to see this continues.

Also try and log on using the web page interface. This way it is easier to see what ID and PW you are entering just on the outside chance that is the error.

The lesson learned to me is to not log off unless absolutely necessary as being able to log back onto the network is not reliable.

[slm99]

DoubleR - thanks for your reply. Doesn't sound like good news though , I see from this forum that quite a few people have had this problem.
I'm tempted to take the easy option and send this product back to Amazon where i bought it - how can they market it as a Skype phone when the login is so unreliable?!
But more optimistically, it's possible it's something fairly simple that just needs resetting or setting properly. My limited technical knowledge tellls me it's either a phone setting or something on my modem/router that is preventing a proper login communication. However as the PC login is also using the router and modem, it must be the base or the SPH200D

PC-------------Router--------Modem----------Internet
/
SPH200D---Base--'

I'll try resetting everything again and in the meantime wait for Netgear support to get back to me.

Thanks

[slm99]

BTW, I also tried creating a new Skype account from the phone and from the web page but both failed, so to me that means it's something to do with how the phone/base are communicating with the internet.

[slm99]

And another thing.
Netgear Support told me to do a "SPH200D base station reset"
as follows:
Please follow the steps to reset the SPH200D:

1) Goto Menu then click Settings
2) In Advanced, goto Reset then click Reset All
3) Enter the Pin 1234 and click ok.

I haven't yet found a way of accessing the Menu on the Base station - what am i missing here? Is it via the phone or the web page ? Or do the really mean do a hard reset using the button on back of the base?

[DoubleR]

The instructions work using the phone interface. Scroll through the menu options until you find settings and then select it. From there you can scroll to advanced.

Also you can select <settings> and then <network> to find and write down your IP address. Then in a internet browser type in the network IP in the address bar and this will take you to the web page for the phone's base unit.

Also other phones are currently having problems

http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=103483