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Recommended IP Phones?

Offline Tib

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Recommended IP Phones?
« on: November 29, 2008, 11:17:43 AM »
What IP phones do you recommend for ease of setup etc.

I can get a hold of the following phones at a reasonable price:

Linksys SPA942
AAstra 9112i
AAstra 51i
Grandstream GPX2020
Grandstream GXP2000
Cisco 7940G

I noticed all these phones are supported by Sail

Regards,

Tib

Offline SARK devs

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Re: Recommended IP Phones?
« Reply #1 on: November 29, 2008, 07:17:22 PM »
Linksys SPA942 - complex devices, easy to set up if you know what you are doing, manual hard to get hold of (it was only given out to Disti's).  We get reports of them being too quiet from some users so they may not be the best in a noisy office.  Sail provisions them happily enough and we have some here.  Good build quality at the price point and you get a Cisco logo on the box.

AAstra 9112i - tempramental little units.  Sometimes they just won't work no matter what you do with them.  Our highest rejection rate phone but also our cheapest and the audio circuits are among the best on the planet.  Seriously LOUD speakerphone unit.

AAstra 51i - Great Audio, limited function from this POE only unit(you have to pay extra for a power supply if you require one).  Nicer looking than the 9112i, which it replaces. much the same to set up as the 9112i but a little more stable.  Fully compatible with SAIL.

Grandstream GXP2000/2020 - Easy to set-up manually.  SAIL provisioning is now a little out-of-date for these phones but still works OK.  Our least favourite phone here.  Nasty to look at with nasty build quality.  Power supply pick-up at the rear tends to break off in day-to-day use.  Horrid acoustics but reasonable functionalty for the price.   Made for the domestic market and best left there in our view.

Cisco 7940G - absolute bitch to set up.  You have to convert them from skinny to SIP and it isn't straightforward.  These phones have no browser so the ONLY way you can set them up is through SAIL provisioning, or manually, using the phone keypad.  Once in use they tend to be rock solid and you grow to like them over time.  Functionally they are nowhere near as good the likes of Snom or Polycom but still a good phone nonetheless. 

In our view you've missed the two best...

Polycom (which we used to hate, but now like - I have a 330 on my desk) and the undisputed champ - the Snom360.  Quirky, awkward to use at times and very, very German, they nevertheless are the absolute pinnacle of SIP technology right now.

Best


S

 
« Last Edit: November 29, 2008, 07:19:15 PM by selintra »

Offline compsos

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Re: Recommended IP Phones?
« Reply #2 on: November 30, 2008, 08:39:23 AM »
Hi Tib
I have used only Polycom. So this is only a reflection on the IP320.

Have not got the provisioning system fully working but it can be bypassed and then works very reliably. Ringer is not very load and recorded message playback is soft. This may not be the phone. The provisioning script is large and appears to cover lots of models in one file. But once sorted work well and upgrade firmware is easy. Still working on all the features they offer. I may order a Snom for comparison.
Regards

Gordon............

Offline Teviot

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Re: Recommended IP Phones?
« Reply #3 on: December 03, 2008, 07:14:17 AM »
So which IP phone would be the most recommended?

Teviot
Regards
M0GLJ
......................................................
I am new to SAIL SME Server v8b6 and have been using SME for many years.
I have already done some research and only ask questions if I still can't work it out.

Offline SARK devs

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Re: Recommended IP Phones?
« Reply #4 on: December 03, 2008, 07:22:21 AM »
Snom or Polycom.

Snom best for power users and SIP "tinkerers", Polycom the most user friendly interface.

Best

S

Offline bbialy

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Re: Recommended IP Phones?
« Reply #5 on: December 03, 2008, 08:19:41 PM »
after 100 working hours and training lots of cases Polycom is the best.
there is only one issue i can not do is the BLF funcionality.
After all we have more than 100 working phones in several SAILs and it work FANTASICLY!!!!!!

great provisionig and super extra clear voice. 
Reading with understanding is the hardest thing IN THE WORLD

Offline Franco

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Re: Recommended IP Phones?
« Reply #6 on: December 04, 2008, 12:35:48 AM »
Quote
there is only one issue i can not do is the BLF funcionality
It has worked for me right out of the box...  :?:

I'm a big fan of all the types mentioned above, and the Mitel Dual-Phones too :-D (same thing as the Cisco's thou, you have to convert from minet to SIP).

Offline bbialy

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Re: Recommended IP Phones?
« Reply #7 on: December 04, 2008, 11:46:05 AM »
i think this is new topic
stuntshell  pls answer
« Last Edit: December 04, 2008, 11:48:28 AM by bbialy »
Reading with understanding is the hardest thing IN THE WORLD

Offline gippsweb

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Re: Recommended IP Phones?
« Reply #8 on: March 24, 2009, 01:54:21 PM »
Of that list we've only used the Aastra and the Linksys. Here in Australia they are both sold for POE use, the ac adaptors need to be bought separately.

The Linksys is fairly easy to setup and although the Admin guide was only handed out to disty's it is easily available online. They are a great phone at the price point.

I found the audio on the Linksys fairly good, but the Aastra is definately better although I found it a little harder to configure, but I think that because I've spent a fair bit of time with the Linksys ATA's so know their config fairly well.

I'd probably go the Aastra 51i over the Linksys SPA942.

I haven't used the Snoms, bar a couple of test calls last week at a Product Roadshow in Melbourne and they seen a very neat unit. I'm trying to talk the rep into giving us a couple to play with.