Motorola Bcs PVP1000 Phone, Ojo Video Phone Review

The "Jetson" future is here!

"I'm extremely pleased with the Ojo and would never want to be without one again. In comparison, regular landline phones and webcams come up far short. Both the picture and audio quality are excellent and with no audio delay. The video messaging was automatically downloaded (free) after I bought the units. It's a great feature. The display is at a good height for viewing (no looking up peoples' noses). I was surprised that the display appears larger than it is (7" diagonally). It has a built-in speaker. I don't want to be tethered to a phone, so didn't even consider other videophones. Material and construction appear to be first-class. I live in a remote area of West Virginia and bought four units in December 2005 (three as gifts for the people with whom I talk the most: my mother near DC (who unfortunately passed away in October 2006), a daughter and grandson in Houston and a daughter near Los Angeles). My mother was 87 and wanted to live alone, so I bought one for her so I could SEE how she was doing. Incidentally, she had trouble using her landline phone - too complicated, but the Ojo couldn't be simpler to make calls. Seeing the two daughters and grandson several times a week is great too. Now, my wife and I are integral parts of their daily lives, and vice versa. We are now able to SEE our grandson grow up! We get an Ojo call every time he loses a tooth or something significant happens. He loves to "show-and-tell" on the Ojo. Birthdays - when we can't be there - are now special events to us as well. Plus, in August, my California daughter's boyfriend asked my permission to marry her...using the Ojo. This may sound tacky, but if you've ever used the Ojo, you'd think it was completely normal. It's just like being across a table from someone. I'm not a techie, but was able to set up the ones for my mom, one of my daughters and myself with no problems. My mom has Comcast cable, my daughter has Road Runner cable and I have Verizon DSL. I have been told that any broadband connection works. I just hooked routers to the cable and DSL modems then plugged in the Ojo's. Plug-and-Play. Though it's not needed, later I connected two of the Ojo's to Ethernet bridges (home plugs) which plug into any electrical outlet and can now use the Ojo's anywhere in the houses where there's an electrical outlet. The signal travels through the house wiring. I haven't noticed any loss of picture or audio quality. I haven't had a problem with any of the four Ojo's to date, so can't say what Worldgate's customer service personnel are like, but their activation people were excellent. There is a monthly service charge of $9.95, but that includes unlimited video calls to any other Ojo in the world! Sometimes we just leave it on as we do things around the house and talk as though the other person is there. To me, this sure beats flying. Plus, the cost of one flight will typically pay for two Ojo's, including service for a year."