[Asterisk-Users] What business IP phone to use

[Raymond McKay]

> For every person that says phone x is great there is
> someone else complaining about it.

Its very simple why there are soo many answers to the "what phone to use" 
question.  The answer really comes down to a matter of personal preferance 
and end-users needs.  Mind you, some phones are better than others but the 
answer really comes down to what you plan on doing with the phones and the 
types of end-users using the phones.  With that said, here are my personal 
recommendations and why....

1) SNOM 360/320:  If you are transintioning a small business from something 
similar to an Avaya partner system, these are the phones to use.  They are 
moderatly stable and support features that many end-users are used to such 
as Intercom, Line Indicators, MWI etc.  In the newest firmwares, you get the 
highest flexibility of soft button configuration of any phone in the market. 
Be sure to due some testing before implementing any new firmwares on thiese 
phones though.  SNOM has been less than stellar when it comes to testing new 
release versions.  Currently 5.3 seems to crash the phones regularly.  Other 
than that, they are a good solid phone, they look and "feel" like business 
telephones (something you can't say about many phones like the Grandstream 
and the like)  Team these up with some of the new low cost PoE options from 
Linksys and Netgear and you have yourself a great solution. The web based 
configuration file ability on these phones makes for interesting things you 
can do with PHP and dynamic config files. As the phones also support GSM, 
you can get arround having to buy G729 licenses when bandwidth is a concern. 
The best part is that the price is somewhat moderate on these phones.  Don't 
expect to beat out pricing on rock bottom systems with these phones, but as 
they say, you get what you pay for.

2) Polycom 301/501/601: Also a solid performer.  The 601 makes for a great 
attendant phone with the option of an expansion pack with LCD programmable 
labels for the soft buttons.  (great if you have a fluid office situation). 
I find the configuration files a bit more confusing and you'll have to use 
TFTP instead of HTTP with these precluding the use of dynamic PHP driven 
config files.  On the upside, Polycom support is much better than SNOM.  I 
get responses from them in a day wheras from SNOM it sometimes takes up to a 
week to get a question answered.  The prices on these cannot be beat for the 
functionality that they offer.  They also support many of the features like 
Line indication and Intercom.  Phone stability is quite high and there is a 
lesser problem with buggy firmware being released

3) Cisco 79XX:  A great phone and solid performer but it comes at a steep 
price.  I use these only in enviroments where end-users have worked with 
them before lowering training costs overall.  In those situations, the 
phones nearly sell themselves so long as people are willing to pay for the 
Cisco premium.  Other than their rock solid reliability, they really don't 
offer anything special unless you are in an enviroement that might use phone 
based XML applications

Now all of this is not to say that a sub $100 phone might not be the right 
choice for your situation.  For business phones though, I tend to follow 
this set of guidelines.

1) If it doesn't support PoE I won't implement it.  Support phones with 
wall-warts or bricks is just a added hassle and adds TCO as most end up 
being replaced once or twice during the lifetime of the phone when someone 
trips over them etc.  With PoE switches from linksys starting at $500, there 
is absolutely no reason not to consider them.

2) Autoconfiguration should be simple yet powerful and VERY well 
documented..  If you can't get the phone manufacturer to give you a manual 
on TFTP configuration or HTTP configuration that is clear and concise, it 
just isn't worth the effort of trying to figure it out yourself.

3) Stability, Stability, Stability.  People have gotten used to the fact 
that phone networks and systems rarely go down.  Telling someone their phone 
crashed usually gets you a funny look.  If a phone you are selecting crashes 
twice while you are testing, that is far too many time.  Heck, once it too 
many times.

4) Is the company going to be around tomorrow:  A lot of VoIP manufactures 
have come and gone, many more will come and go.  Stick to the bigger names. 
You'll end up paying more up front, but they will be around to support you 
in the future and at least you will be able to give your end-users an 
upgrade path that minimalizes the learning curve.  I.e. older SNOM phones 
work very similarly to the newer ones so when you upgrade say a Snom 190 to 
a 320/360, the user just needs to figure out where the buttons are now but 
otherwise feels they are on a same or similar phone.

These are my recommendations.  As with all such things, your mileage may 
vary.  I have sold and installed pretty much every kind of phone there is 
out there today, but have ended up sticking with my favorite three.

Regards,


Raymond McKay
President
RAYNET Technologies LLC
http://www.raynettech.com
(860) 693-2226 x 31
Toll Free (877) 693-2226