Don't waste your money on the FREETALK Everyman Talk-5115 headset, currently at $22.88. The sound quality is very bad and it's very uncomfortable. It took a long time to receive it. The instruction manual was not included. Next time, I'm going to buy RadioShack.

I had a pain with these: My audio setting was too high when I was talking to granny and there is neither no audio control nor any mute button on the headset. Talk about cheap stuff!!! So while granny was screaming in my ears I was desperately searching in the software for a way to make her "shut up". No, this is one shortcut that will end up in someone suing Skype for damaged hearing!!! And it is "Certified"??? Does the Skype Certification stand for nothing?? Probably not... it is just junk, both the label and the stuff. One would expect a Certified device to at least have the basic things on them... but no. Horrible!

If the quality is so bad, I would search the problem somewhere else (old Skype version, computer, etc or maybe you just got unfortunately a broken headset) as the headset itself a wideband one and totally awesome regarding quality (have it and use it myself).

Many corded headsets (even some from Logitech) and other devices like speakers, etc, have no seperate volume control. You have to use the Windows volume controls for this. You have a speaker icon on the downer right corner where you can see how loud it's put and there you can also change the volume. in a Skype call you change the volume in the call window.

If they call it not only Skype Certified but also suddenly "developed by Skype" and such things, I most certainly think there should be a mute button and volume control on the device. That is the only way to quickly fix the issue of getting your hearing impaired. Apparently here the Skype Certification has yet again lowered their standards and removed this very important feautre.


Nowadays no one can trust the Skype Certification - one just do not know what crap you get.

FREETALK Everyman is designed to work with Skype running on a Mac or Windows PC via a USB port. It replaces the internal audio chip; volume is controlled by any of the various volume control adjustments available within the Skype client or on the PC itself (both via software or media player hardware buttons).

By using its own audio chip it can support the full 20Hz to 12 KHz audio range of the Skype's SILK codec available in Skype for Windows 4.x or (4.0 or 4.1) and Skype for Mac 2.8, leading to much clearer voice calls than experienced on the legacy PSTN.

The "speaker" jack can be removed from the rear of the USB dongle and plugged into audio players such as iPod, iPod Touch, iPhone and BlackBerry. Because this only covers the speaker side of a voice call, it is not suitable for use with Skype for iPhone/iPod Touch, etc. calls. The goal here is to take advantage of the Everyman's inherent speaker quality for listening to music and other audio media such as podcasts. The FREETALK Everyman speakers cover the full human audio hearing range of 20 Hz to 20KHz.

More information on FREETALK Everyman is available here.

Feedback from bloggers is available here and here.

I just got my Everyman and it sometimes has a lot of static that sounds like loud popping. Rebooting with USB Everyman solves the problem for awhile but the static eventually comes back and it is really a major problem. I don't get the same popping with external headset or Laptop speakers.
Seems like a conflict with another sound device so tried shutting off all other devices to no avail.

I have made some tests on how to get static sounds and bad quality.

You get bad sound quality if you connect the headset to:

1) A badly grounded USB port - e.g. by connecting it to a cheap USB hub
2) If you use a long USB extension cord
3) If you connect it to a USB 1.1 port instead of USB 2.0

I was able to reproduce all 3 cases on my PC.

If however I connect it to a properly shielded 2.0 USB port it sounds perfect.

I would have liked to try this headset. I first ordered it from In Store Shop on the Skype store in August. After a month I emailed In Store support asking about delivery, they said something had gone wrong and I should reorder and that they were refunding my Paypal account.

They did issue the refund, and, silly me, I ordered it again. Sep. 22 this time. On Oct. 10 still no headset, I emailed In Store Shop. They got back the next day to say the factory had been out of stock, but that it would be shipped to me on Oct. 14. On Oct. 22 I emailed support again. They got back and said "It was mailed on Sept. 23, showing my correct address, we don't know what happened, we're refunding your paypal account and please order again from the Skype Store".

OK, lie to me once, your bad, lie to me twice, my bad. Wild horses couldn't make me order from In Store Shop again. BEWARE - you're in for big-time delay and frustration.

Also - be aware that Jim Courtney, who has posted in this thread, is paid by In Store Shop to promote their products. Consider that when you read his posts.

@cc44c - I have asked that In Store Solutions customer support reach out to you to get this resolved. You should be getting an "add-a-contact" request from a member of their support team who is ready to assist you in receiving what you have been trying to order.

I have asked that I be filled in on your case to understand how this situation has developed. In Store Solutions has been working hard to build the customer support logistics and tracking to ensure that the customer buying experience is a positive one.

I actually do have some contacts who have expressed the desire to purchase a unit; I have asked these potential customers to provide me details of their buying and delivery experience in order to see that customers get what they expect. Bottom line is that In Store Solutions overall policy is to ensure that every buyer has a positive buyer experience.

And for everyone's benefit here is the Full Disclosure statement at the end of the posts linked above:

Full disclosure: In Store Solutions has become a client of Denali InterConneXions, publisher of Voice On The Web, building on the author’s previous business development experience with establishing partnerships that can assist with the promotion of a primary vendor’s offerings. A more complete statement will follow shortly.

The In Store Solutions customer support team looks forward to resolving this issue for you.

UPDATE: Today, just one day after hearing directly from In Store Shop, the headset arrived by UPS (I'm in France, it was shipped yesterday from Spain). They clearly wanted to make it right and to apologize for the shabby treatment. They've also promised to make improvements with the order handling and support handling so that it's less likely to happen again.

I've used the headset for a few skype calls and listened to some music, and so far it's fine. Comfy on my head, sound quality is good, none of the negative issues reported by others. The build quality is about what you'd expect for a €20 headset.

It all begs the question "Why did it have to come to this", but maybe it will result in improved systems on their end.

Thanks for the intervention, Jim Courtney, it certainly was a lot more effective than my emails to support.

I ordered a Everyman Headset on October 11, 2009 and received it via USPS on November 2, 2009 in Berkeley, CA. The package was sent from Italy (postmarked in Italy). The sound quality of the headset is excellent. Volume level and mute must be adjusted via the speaker icon located in the windows notification bar. (WinXP and Vista).

I ordered my Everyman FREETALK headset from the In Store Shop on 8th October - it's now 4th November, and still no headset. I was contacted on 19 October with an automated message saying:

"We apologize for the delay in shipping your order.
We have had overwhelming demand for this product and are temporarily out of stock.
New Stock has now arrived in our warehouse and all back orders will be shipped as of October 19th. The headsets will be shipped using a premium service."

On October 27th I contacted Customer Support, and was told that my headset had shipped on the 20th, and to allow a further 10-20 days for delivery. Day 20 is tomorrow, and still no headset (28 days since my initial order). I'm in London, not the furthest outposts of the Australian outback!

So much for the "headsets will be shipped using a premium service". This is very frustrating - I'm certainly not going to recommend In Store Shop to anyone at this rate. If only there was an order tracking system, but apparently they won't provide one to keep costs down. *sigh*

Skype ought to reconsider who they use to sell this headset.

I'm still waiting too...since October 5th it says "At Warehouse". Had two messages from customer support. The first said they were out of stock and all back orders would be sent on October 15th. Mine wasn't. Emailed em again and they said it had been sent on October 20th. The tracking STILL says "At Warehouse" and I still have no headset. VERY annoying! I emailed em again a few days ago but have received no response this time.

How can you track your order from In Store Shop? I can't see it anywhere! Since my order was shipped with 'premium shipping' I'd have thought that there was a way...

Up in the top right hand corner there's a link that says "My Order". Click that and input your details. Mine was "sent" (yeah right) by a *ahem* premium service too!

Ah yes! Thanks for that.

My order status also says "At Warehouse", when their CS rep said that it had been posted.

This is not good. I will be blogging about this.

No problem ...I've had to buy a generic headset while waiting. This is the worst crowd I've ever had the misfortune to deal with. Advertising a product that is clearly NOT available is just not on and neither are the lies from the In Store Shop people telling everyone their stuff has been sent. Maybe we'll all have em for Christmas

Perhaps as long as you're helping people, you can help me too.

I ordered one of these headsets almost 5 weeks ago. I've sent 5 requests in asking where it is. One told me that it was being shipped on October 19th. Still not here and no one is answering my requests for information.

They should be ashamed of themselves and Skype should be as well.

All I'm asking for is the courtesy of a response.

To all those who have encountered delivery difficulties in this thread, the In Store Solutions team acknowledges and appreciates your frustration:

I have just spent several days at the In Store Solutions office in Europe and spent a lot of time reviewing customer support issues. The customer support manager started her job around the beginning of August with over 1,000 customer support tickets outstanding. As of a week ago this had been reduced to under 50. Let's just say there were lots of issues to address.

Going forward she has hired a developer to build the logistics required to handle customer support issues in a timely fashion, whether technical or delivery/order handling. This includes periodic emails to inform customers of their order status. In addition, they have been building the FreeTalk FAQ page to provide assistance with some common issues, including some that were identified and addressed by members of the Skype forum. Their assistance is much appreciated.

At the same time there are issues with building and training a support team that is available 24 hours a day in multiple languages due to Skype's global market. These are being taken into consideration.

While it's a nice problem for the vendor, the demand for the FreeTalk Everyman for Skype has been well beyond expectations. As identified in some posts here, that makes it an ugly problem for those who have ordered but not received the product. Product reviews have been excellent but, unlike software that only requires transmission of bits, hardware requires atoms. As a result manufacturing is being ramped up to meet demand. (Whatever happened to teleporting technology?)

Finally, yes the product is currently being shipped from Europe to North America. A North American fulfillment service that can meet the demand for North American requirements is currently being sought. It's not simply a matter of any fulfillment house but rather one that has some understanding of the high tech markets and customer needs. Hopefully this will be in place by the end of the year.

It is being investigated as to why so many of the October 20 deliveries have not shown up.

Again, apologies for these delays. Having used FreeTalk headsets for almost two years, I want everyone to experience the excellent sound quality and, as indicated in many feedback comments on Twitter and blog posts, the comfortable wearing experience. (I used mine as the headset for the media system on my flight home from Europe two days ago listening to my iPhone and watching a movie - much better than those things that hook onto your ears.)

As for Doug Stephens I have spoken with him - he lives in my home region - and using his case as one to track those October 20 shipments. I also am tracking orders placed by some of my own personal acquaintances. If I have more information, I'll add it here.

I ordered my Everyman FREETALK headset from the In Store Shop on 16th October 2009 and I received it at my address in India, as promised, in three week time. The package was sent from Italy (postmarked on 27 October 2009)by Economy Mail with a stamp worth 2,32 Euro. I am very satisfied with the headset, the sound quality is excellent and my voice is clearly heard from the people I call. I find it also confortable and practical to wear and to carry. You should change the title of this topic in "Does Everyman headset worth your money?". As so far, my answer is: Definitely Yes.

Just a short note to say that Doug Stephens, TAG and Oprez have all been contacted via PM's and their issues have been resolved; they all have headsets at this time.

I have indeed received my headset, thanks to Jim's help. He was very helpful.

I'm using it on a Mac running OSX 10.6.2 and it seemed to work first time, beautiful sound quality from the Skype Call Test. Unfortunately when I speak to people on Skype everyone complains that, after a couple of minutes, the audio goes 'buzzy'. A colleague who knows a fair bit about audio says that I sound great at first, then the audio from me begins to sound compressed, until he can't hear me any more. I then fade back comes back after 10 seconds or so. We attempted a couple of long calls to confirm this. Over SkypeOut, the 'compression' is less graceful, and my voice is plain distorted.

I was sent an extra headset as compensation for the extremely long wait, and sadly they both do the same. It's possible that this is an OSX bug, but I've no way of testing this elsewhere. I've also tried it in different USB ports, just in case.

How are other Mac users finding the headset?