You know that cellphones are so ’80s when everyone you know has one. They tell you they pay $40 a month or more, deal with dropped calls, digitized crap sound, oh – and get FREE nights and weekends. Sure – what if you only use your phone on nights and weekends, will your next bill be $0.00?!? Don’t think so.

I’ve had the privilege to spend the last 30 days using the Pirelli DP-SW20 Dual Mode VoIP Phone and what an impression. I constantly move from my office to the car, to a meeting, to lunch and back to the office, and wanted something that would work wherever I was and wouldn’t cost me a fortune. I also am shocked that people still think that a cellphone for $600 and dropped to $199 with a 2 year contract is a deal. Insane!! Heck, you sign a guarantee with me that you’ll pay me $2100 for 2 years of service with a $300 penalty if you try to cancel or can’t pay and I’ll give you a great phone AND watch your kids.

Sorry — back to the DP-SW20 Dual Mode VoIP Phone. First and foremost, why am I calling it a HYBRID? Simple — you can use BOTH GSM and VoIP at the same time!! Scenario: I’m sitting at McDonalds (don’t judge me) and I need to make some calls to both US and Canadian clients at around 1:30pm on a weekday. I launch the WiFi access point display screen and choose the FREE WiFi the restaurant offers. Instantly the browser shows me a ‘login and accept their terms’ screen, I click the center joystick, and my “W” is lit on the phone — I have WiFi ready to go. On the DP-SW20 to tell the phone to use VoIP rather than cell, I dial a ‘#” before the number (eg. #212-555-1212). The phone already had my VoIP account provider’s authentication information entered (did it when I first got the phone) so I dial my number, in this case to Canada and I’m connected and talk for 47 minutes in crystal clear audio for a total cost on my provider 18 cents. I then make 7 more calls (all in the US), chat for nearly an hour on the phone and spend another 10-12 cents. If I made calls like this all day, every day, including calls to China, the UK etc (all are 1c or less like Canada which is $0.0052 – That’s 1/2 a cent!!) there is NO WAY I’d hit what contract cell owners pay per month or a Pay-As-You-Go phone.

Okay, so what if I’m not near a WiFi hotspot and need to make a call. With the DP-SW20 you’re covered. I’ve got a GSM SIM card that cost me $10 a month and gives me 300 minutes to start and 150 more per month for $10. Now I can hear you screaming at your monitor — HEY, I use much more than 300 minutes on my high dollar per month phone. I do too, but 80% of my minutes are now VoIP, not cell. dual mode bluetooth module  I own the phone so there’s no rebate or contract, and you can add or remove GSM cards depending on your country and network. Absolutely amazing technology. Once you and the person you’re calling experiences the superior sound of VoIP calling, you’ll dread making cellphone calls unless you’re nowhere near a WiFi signal.

Also, the phone will take a MicroSDHC card so it can also be your MP3 player, MP4 Video player, take still pictures or video, receive Microsoft Office Docs, send text and email messages and so much more.

Oh yeah, so it’s a Dual-Mode — but I didn’t full explain why it’s a HYBRID. I’ll explain it like this: you can receive or dial BOTH cell and VoIP calls at the same time. No installing rogue SIP software. No phone jailbreaking and no used out-of-contract used phones to avoid contracts.

Finally YOU can take control of your finances and your calling. These days with both fast food and casual restaurants having WiFi, hotels, airports, parks, municipalities, your home and office, and virtually anywhere you happen to be in any town, city or country, you can decide how you want to make and receive calls. And there’s nothing wrong with saving hundreds or thousands a year and still being in touch wherever you are.