[Asterisk-Users] Snom phones?

[Colin Anderson]

<snom-bias>

I use them and like them a lot. Like all IP phones they have...charming
quirks. But they are IMO no more or no less hassle than other IP phones, and
the firmware at least is updated regularly and snom goes through great pains
it seems to ensure that the phone is properly supported. They are also the
best-documented phones with Asterisk in terms of interoperability, howto's
and posts on the lists. I also like the degree of control and relative
attention to detail you get through their web admin page, phone setup is
super easy in Asterisk and AMP, and I also get little bonuses like a GSM
codec. Some people complain about the lightness of the handsets, volume
problems, and bad speakerphone; I guess it depends on your environment and
business requirement. I have one in a framing shop, covered in sawdust all
day, with the most annoying ring on high. You can hear it ring with the saws
on. It works. I also have them in an environment where there's four people
talking on the phone in a bullpen, and the fifth guy always puts his on
speakerphone. That doesn't work. 

</snom-bias> 

That being said, the other phones out there keep getting better and better.
The Polycoms are well respected on the list. Big name high end phones with
SIP like Cisco, Mitel and 3com work, too. Problem with high end handsets is
sometimes you get locked into things like a service contract with Cisco just
to download firmware images, or the vendor is a dickhead and won't publicly
publish firmware like Mitel. There is a horde of SIP and IAX phones that are
made by many Happy-Lucky-Fortune taiwainese style concerns, of which
Grandstream is the poster child; interoperability, support and firmware
updates will vary widely, however I have seen some pretty interesting
looking handsets. Seems to me that it's hard to ensure a consistient rollout
with these type of phones unless you were ordering n x 2 phones for spares,
but with a single phone vendor like Snom, Cisco, or Mitel you  could at
least have the same *kinds* of interoperability issues to troubleshoot
instead of a mongrel of different Chinese phones.

OT: Hey, anyone still left reading this, quick poll: ADSI, Dead or Not? 

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Bosch [mailto:posting at vodacomm.ca]
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005 10:09 PM
To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Snom phones?


Hi, everyone:

I'm in the processing of deciding what IP phones we should use with our
Asterisk server, and I wanted to get feedback from the user community on
the quality, reliability and ease of operation of Snom phones.

What do you have to say about these phones? Are there other phones you'd
suggest along with or instead of Snom?

Thanks,

-Stephen-
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