Accessing the battery in the Calisto can be a little tricky, but all you really need is a pen. Looking at the bottom (not the back) of the Calisto remote pack, you can see the battery cover access hole, right between the two copper charging contacts. Getting the tip of a pen in there is pretty easy, while wiggling it around until you can feel the tab you’re supposed to lever to pop off the battery door cover is a bit trickier. If you hold the Calisto face down and the tip of the pen is angled slightly downward, it makes it a bit easier. Once you’ve got the battery cover off, you can see the battery pack. It looks like two AAA batteries wrapped in a garish, sort of retro-80s neon-green plastic cocoon. Using your finger, nudge the battery out of its resting place and you’ll see the trademark red and black wires that connect the battery to the remote pack. The red and black wires end in a little white plastic tab that inserts into the remote pack itself. We try to not pull on the wires if at all possible, so the safest way to remove the tab from the remote pack is to once again employ the services of our trusty friend, the pen. Looking at the white plastic tab from across the battery cavity, you can see that at the bottom of the exposed portion of the tab, directly in the center, is a small recessed portion of the white tab. The tip of a pen will just barely fit in there, and then can be levered up to eject the tab without risk of straining or breaking the wires. Luckily, putting the whole thing back together is a lot easier than taking it out.
I had an interesting Calisto troubleshooting scenario a while back I wanted to share… A Calisto user had DSL lines, with filters and had been using the unit without any difficulty for quite a while. Then… all of a sudden: a constant underlying static on the line. We could hear each other, but there was always that static underneath everything. We went through every troubleshoot between the headset / remote handset / base and then some. We tried different phone jacks, still no dice. Finally, after resigning myself that there was a defect with the unit, the user called me back a couple of hours later. The troubleshoot that resolved the issue: unplugging the Calisto’s USB cable from the computer. A faulty USB cable was letting the internet static through on his phone conversations. One replacement USB cable later, everything is as it should be.
While manning the support lines for Headsets.com, we came across an interesting one with the Calisto recently. A user was ending calls with the “end” button on the remote handset, and when the next call came in, hitting the button on the headset to answer - that’s where the snag came into the picture. Since the headset connection was still active with the remote handset (after pressing the “end” button on the remote handset), when the headset button was pressed again, the headset was turning off that connection - and hanging up on the call.
Once we sorted out that all calls that are answered with the headset are ended with the headset, we were out of the proverbial woods. Conversely, all calls answered with the talk button and ended with the end button on the remote pack are also good to go. Mixing and matching controls, however, ended us up in trouble and hanging up on callers.
So calls initiated with the headset need to be ended only with the headset - and calls initiated with the remote handset need to be ended only with the remote handset.
- And so it goes.
The Calisto has a ton of features and little tricks that we keep encountering as we play with it. Here’s a couple. Dialing out from your call log is really convenient, as you don’t need to have the person’s number on hand, or maybe you just haven’t stored it in your phonebook yet. One problem, though is that you’ll need a “1” before most numbers to dial them and the call log doesn’t include that extra digit. Luckily, from within the call log you can just press the pound key when the number you want to dial is highlighted, and it will add the “1” for calling out. Then just press “talk” and place your call. Another feature of the Calisto is chain dialing. The concept of chain dialing is that there’s lots of places we have to call that require a series of numbers, your id code, your password, your voicemail box number, etc. etc. etc. To avoid sitting there and listening to every prompt, as that can be really tedious, you can program in the whole sequence, separating the points at which you have to pause with the “down” arrow. I’m not sure how long the “pause” is supposed to last for, but apparently not as long as my bank takes to prompt me, which is what I tried using this feature for. You can use a series of “down” arrow pushes for longer pauses, which I couldn’t seem to master. In theory it’s a great tool that will save you some time and hassle, but it didn’t work out that well for the application I tried to use it with. I’d really like to hear from other Calisto users about their experiences with this feature. Maybe I just need to play around with it some more? If anyone has tried this, let me know how it works… I smell a bit of user error on my end…
The button on the Calisto headset is packed with functions. I can be a little confusing so I’ve outlined the various functions below. I tend to just use the button for volume and answer / end features – of course for the initial pairing as well. So here are the ins-and-outs of the button, in all their sort-of complicated glory. Power on – Press and hold headset button for 2 seconds – blue light every 10 seconds – beeps: increasing Power off – Press and hold for 4 seconds – red light for 4 seconds – beeps: decreasing Call Answer / End – Press for 1 second – one beep Last number redial – double press button – double beep Volume – push button up or down – double beep when max or min level reached Pairing – when headset is OFF – press headset button for 6 seconds – red / blue light alternating
The Calisto headset controls are pretty easy to use, but due to its multi-function capability it can be a little confusing, so we figured it was worth going over here.
Headset alerts:
Incoming call: 3 beeps + blue flashing light
Low battery: 3 beeps every 30 seconds + red flashing light every 3 seconds
Charging: red lightFully charged: blue
Handset functions:
Last number redial: Press the “OK” key twice
Ringer off: Press the “-” key on the “+/-” button on the side of the remote handset
Lock / Unlock Keypad: Press and Hold “*LOCK” Key for 3 seconds - icon of a key appears on the screen
We’ll get into the many functions of the button on the headset next time!
Calisto, Calisto, Calisto. Just when I think I get to the end of your seemingly limitless functions, I find something else to get excited about. I recently connected the Calisto base to my computer and imported my phone contacts from outlook express into the Calisto. Also, I find editing my contacts with my computer easier than using the handset. Once you plug the Calisto’s USB cable into your computer, the Calisto Phonebook icon appears on your screen. From there you just open it up and you can take a look at your contact list that’s already in the phone.The editing process is really simple and intuitive, just click where you need to edit, then press enter, or click somewhere else. My experience with it was really smooth and straightforward. In the upper left of the Calisto Phonebook window, you can click “Synchronize with Outlook” and then the Outlook Contacts screen will show all your contacts. There are three categories that are denoted – “New Contacts” – contacts recently added to Outlook that aren’t in the Calisto yet, “Updated Contacts” – contacts recently updated in Outlook that haven’t been updated in the Caliso yet, and then, boring old “Unchanged Contacts” – contacts where nothing really interesting has been happening. You can just “check” the left hand column by the name of the contact you wish to import into the Calisto, and “check” again to de-select.Then just click the “Transfer ‘checked’ to Calisto Phonebook, and voila! You’re set. When I tried it, I only had a handful of contacts in Outlook, so it was really quick and painless.
When entering a new contact in your Calisto phone book, there are three sorts of type you can use. The weird thing is that I didn’t see anything about this in the manual anywhere… Simply go into the menu, select “Phonebook”, then it’ll show “New Contact”, press “OK”, then it’ll show “Name”, and press “OK”. Now you’re ready to enter the contact. In the upper right you’ll see the default type style as: “Abcd” - 1st letter capitalized. To change the type style, press the “*” key and it’ll show the other styles - all lowercase, shown as “abc2″, press the “*” key again and you’ll see the third style, all caps, shown as “ABC2″, then one more press of the “*” key, and you’ll see the fourth style of type, all numerals, shown as “1234.” Also the 1 key will give you punctuation for listings like “Mom & Dad”, etc. The number of presses and the corresponding punctuation marks as are below:
Presses on the “1″ button: Punctuation mark:
1 press -
2 presses ?
3 !
4 ,
5 .
6 &
7 =
8 :
9 #
10 “
11 $
Here are some of the basic troubleshoots that have worked really well for us so far when inconsistencies with sound quality occur with the Calisto (dead air, error messages, handset failure, etc.). We use the Reset and Resubscription procedures below. If an “Out of Range” error message appears on the handset, unplug the AC power supply, then perform the Reset. If the headset has an unclear connection or no sound and is not out of range, perform the Reset, then unpair and repair the headset and handset. If there is persistent static or an unclear connection and you have DSL on the same phone line, you’ll need to get a DSL filter to create a clean line. Reset: To Reset the Calisto’s handset, unplug the battery for 30 seconds and then plug it back in.
NOTE: Using the tip of a pen works well to open handset’s battery door via the round hole on the bottom of the handset.
Re-Registration: If the Calisto is not connecting and is just searching for the handset (shows “Searching for base” on the LED screen) start by re-registering the handset.
1. On the main screen press Menu.
2. Highlight Initial Setup and press Select.
3. Highlight Headset/Base and press Select.
4. Highlight Register to Base and press Select.
5. The message will then read Registration Successful.
One of the Calisto’s greatest strengths is its versatility. I’ve had fun using it every which way. Of course there’s the wireless Bluetooth style, then there’s the 2.5mm 
headset jack on the side of the handset for corded cell-phone style headsets, you can also talk on the handset, and use the handset for speaker phone. Not to mention you can use the Calisto with your Computer. It’s great using Skype with it, nice and clear. I’ve also been using the Calisto headset with my cell phone, and I’ve got to say, it may be my favorite Bluetooth headset for conversations. It’s even available separately, and if you’re looking for a Bluetooth cellular headset with excellent outgoing sound, this really fits the bill. It’s a bit larger than most Bluetooth headsets, but the longer boom mic is what delivers the outgoing fidelity. My Voyager 510 
may be in trouble… We’ve also been pairing different Bluetooth headsets to the remote handset, the only limitation there being that you have to delete the Headset from the remote first, and then pair the new headset. Luckily, it’s a simple process in the “initial setup” menu under “headset / base.” I still prefer the headset it came with though, as some of the new Bluetooth headsets have been a little underwhelming. We’ve seen some variance in how easy it is to switch between Calisto and cell phone based on the cell phone. Most newer cell phones have had no problem whatsoever. My Samsung M500 didn’t work too smoothly, but everyone else’s phone had no problem switching back and forth. It’s been a great process educating our CSRs here as to the ins and outs of the system and a great way to learn. Next time, I’ll outline the basic troubleshoots we’ve been using to keep the Calisto going full bore.