[Asterisk-Users] Cisco 7960 vs 7905

[Rich Adamson]

> I'm interested in picking up a Cisco SIP phone, but I don't have enough 
> information to decide between the 7940/60 family and the 7905/12 
> family.  Between the wiki and Cisco's web site, it seems clean that the 
> 7905/12 don't have a speakerphone, and that the 7905 doesn't have a 
> built-in Ethernet switch.  The wiki suggests that the 7905/12 has a 
> better SIP implementation and a higher-resolution screen, but that's 
> about all that I can find comparing the two.  Can anyone with both of 
> them give me a bit more information?
> 
> A few things that I'm interested in:
> 
> -  XML directory support: how many entries supported, how many lines 
> displayed on the screen on each?
> 
> -  SIP Alert-Info ringtones.  The 7960 can choose from the standard 
> bellcore set right now, but not custom tones.  How does the 7905 
> compare?
> 
> -  XML services.  Is there a difference, or indeed any documentation 
> anywhere?
> 
> -  SIP implementation quality.  The wiki suggests that the 7905 works 
> better, but with no examples.  Are there actually problems with the 
> 7960?
> 
> -  Lifespan.  The 7960 is currently running v6.3, while the 7905 is 
> running v1.01.  Cisco seems to be be putting more work into the 
> higher-end family.
> 
> -  Subjective usability.  Does either one work or feel better?

I only have the 7960, so can't comment much on the 7905. The 7960 is a
very stable business-class phone that has high acceptability by non-
techie users. Feels & looks like a telephone and doesn't slide across
the desk when you stretch the handset cord. Spearkerphone and all work
very well.

The 7940/7960 have been around for a long time while the 7905 is a
rather recent addition to their product line. I believe the 7905 only
supports the Cisco proprietary firmware (not sip) while the 7960 
supports either Cisco or sip. That's probably why you're seeing v1
verses v6.3 or whatever.

The screen on the 7960 is a rather low resolution one, and therefore
does not display much data. Pressing the "directory" button (and selecting
external directory) does use xml to look up entries from a remote web
server (apache in my case), and appears to load all entries at the server
at one time (therefore, there probably is some magic limit as to number
of entries). Cisco did produce an xml document for the phone.

The directory function is not all that useful as you need to manually
scroll through the entire list to fine the entry you want. The screen
displays three entries (on six lines); first line is the name while
the second line is the telephone number.

Apparently some of the functions that exist in the Cisco proprietary 
firmware do not have equivalent functions using the sip firmware (like
the ring tones, services button, etc).

If you buy one, I'd suggest purchasing the Cisco maintenance (about $8
per year in US) as that gives you access to a fair amount of Cisco
documentation as well as software upgrades.