[Asterisk-Users] Cisco 79xx series IP phones

[Scott Laird]

On Aug 13, 2004, at 9:31 AM, Shawn Parker wrote:

> I got a call from our Cisco rep today saying that they couldn't sell 
> just phones to anyone because if "my ethernet isn't to exact spec..." 
> then they won't work at all.  I've read over the Wiki documentation 
> and it seems that the 79xx series phones work with Asterisk.  They 
> told me that without a Cisco phone system in place or a Cisco router 
> or switch, then the ethernet wouldn't work with the phones.  Is this 
> true, or is it someone just trying to sell me a Cisco system?
>
> I don't see how my use of a Planet or Netgear switch would alter the 
> spec of my ethernet to cause a IP phone to fail.  Seems far fetched to 
> me.  I've never had any other problems mixing Cisco equipment with 
> other product lines.
>
> Does anyone have any knowledge or experience to give me dealing with 
> Cisco 7902G and 7905G IP phones and getting them to work on a lan with 
> Asterisk when *not* using other Cisco hardware?

They're either trying to sell more Cisco hardware, or they're trying to 
lessen their own support burden.  Either way, don't worry too much.  My 
7940 is plugged into a cheap Netgear switch right now, and it works 
fine.  It was plugged into a Linksys WET-11 802.11b bridge before that, 
and it had problems, but so did ever other 802.11 device in the house.  
Too much interference from an unknown source.

Power over Ethernet *might* be iffy if you have an older non-G Cisco 
phone and a standards-based PoE switch, but that's about it.

Oh, and next time, don't start a new thread by replying to a message in 
an existing thread and then deleting the subject and body; it screws up 
threaded mail readers.


Scott