[Asterisk-Users] Buying some Polycom IP300s

[Jim Van Meggelen]

Dan Morin wrote:
> Sorry for the double post, I tried to paste and accidently sent the
> email 
> 
> I've been playing with Asterisk for a few weeks now, and I've gotten
> everything to work well with softphones, so I'm ready to move on to
> normal VoIP phones.  I've been looking around and reading comments
> that people have had, and I was convinced that the Polycom IP300 was
> a great phone for a good price.  But, then I ran into this page,
> which has been update in the last few days:     
> 
> http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Polycom+SoundPoint+IP+500
> 
> The page in the wiki used to say that the person would not recomed
> Polycom phones to anyone.  So anyway, I just want to make sure that
> the IP300 is a good choice.  I don't want to get cheap phones that
> aren't business quality, since I do play on using them for my
> business after testing.  Also, is the IP500 worth the extra money? 
> What can it do that the IP300 can't.  And finally, will the IP300 do
> ulaw encoding?      

The IP300 is a nice entry-level business phone. It does not have a
speakerphone, and cannot handle PoE, but other than that it is
excellent.

It is more expensive than some of the fully-featured generic phones, but
it also is built to a much higher standard, including a properly
weighted handset and high impact plastic.

If price is the main thing, then this phone might be a bit too expensive
($130-$150), but if quality (or even just the *feeling* of quality) is
important, this phone will serve well.

The IP500 is a similar phone with more line appearances, a higher
resolution display, full handsfree (Polycom-quality) and PoE. The IP500
has been favorably compared to the Cisco 7940.

Cheers,


--
Jim Van Meggelen
jim at vanmeggelen.ca

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