[Asterisk-Users] What business IP phone to use

Wed Feb 22 19:02:27 MST 2006

Micheal,

Just the person I have been looking for.  If you don't mind, would it be
possible to get your opinion on feature for feature comparisons between the
501 and 480i CT(not including cordless phone).

Things like programmable buttons, display, dialing button quality, and most
importantly, handset and speakerphone quality.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Graves [mailto:mgraves at mstvp.com] 
> Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 5:57 AM
> To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
> Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] What business IP phone to use
> 
> Having just read this thread from start to present I'd like 
> to offer that I really like my Polycom 600/601s. the 501a are 
> ok too. But I actually use an Aastra 480i CT personally. It's 
> a great phone. Costs a little more but is by far the best 
> I've used. Easy to setup. Central provisioning. Firmware 
> issolid. Supports Asterisk. I'm soooo happpy to be rid of the 
> ATA-Cordless combination.
> 
> Michael
> 
> --Original Message Text---
> From: Joe Pukepail
> Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 07:20:17 -0600
> 
> I like the specs on this, the only thing that it seems to be 
> missing is POE. Anyone know if POE is going to be supported 
> on the 300? Looks nice and I could see it for low use areas, 
> but would suck for wall mounting if it can't do POE. 
> 
> On 2/22/06, Cory Andrews <Cory at voipsupply.com> wrote: Clint - 
> Looks like your wish has been granted, and your love affair 
> with Snom can continue. They are soon releasing the new Snom 
> 300, which has most of the features your are fond of in the 
> 360 and 320 models, and should be quite near, if not at, your 
> $100 price point. 
> 
> Read up on it here -> 
> http://www.snom.com/pressinformation_details.html?&tx_ttnews[t
> t_news]=354&tx_ttnews[backPid]=33&cHash=1bb97caf5c&L=1
> 
> Detailed specs here -> 
> http://www.snom.com/snom300_voip_phone.html?&L=1 
> 
> Cory J Andrews
> ++++++++++++
> VOIPSupply.com
> 454 Sonwil Drive
> Buffalo, NY 14225
> ++++++++++++++
> voice - 716.630.1555 X22
> email - Cory at VOIPSupply.com
> AIM - B2CORY
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Clint Sharp
> To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
> Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 1:03 AM
> Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] What business IP phone to use
> 
> 
> It's funny this thread has been coming up, because I've been 
> testing out phones at my office, and I just did a fairly 
> intensive quality test on them.
> 
> 1) Budgetones: Don't bother for a business setting. The 
> speaker phone is basically useless (echo problems) and the 
> handset is horrible. If you follow the suggestion on the Wiki 
> to drill out the handset, it improves things marginally, but 
> not much. Users talking to you will constantly complain about 
> you sound muffled. It's think it's a frequency response thing 
> and not a volume thing, I think it's just getting lower than 
> a standard 8 khz sample out of the microphone, because it's so cheap. 
> 
> 2) GXP-2000: Not much better than the Budgetones, but at 
> least the firmware is still in active development. 
> Feature-wise it's pretty cool, but poor firmware and poor 
> handset hardware again make this a real problem for us. We 
> lost one handset to static electricity yesterday (which was 
> fixed by adding in a microphone from an old business set, 
> which actually improved that phone's quality). The 
> speakerphone is useless due to echo issues. However, 4 line 
> appearances is pretty cool for that price of phone, and 
> passthrough Ethernet at 100 mbs is pretty cool too. Overall, 
> I can't recommend them, because while they sound slightly 
> better than the budgetones, I still get many complaints about 
> muffled calls. 
> 
> 3) Polycom: Of the 4 phone brands we're actively using (not 
> including the Wifi phone which rarely gets used), this was 
> the best until I got the Snom in today. The handset is of 
> good quality. I have an IP 301, but if the cheapest phone is 
> this good, I'd definitely get a 501 or 601 (and am 
> considering ordering some, although I may order Snom 320s 
> instead). Their support policies do get on my nerves, I'd 
> like to not have to worry about what reseller I'm using, but 
> it's a solid phone with solid features, although the menus 
> are cumbersome and I haven't gotten MWI to work on it yet. 
> 
> 4) Snom 320: This is an excellent phone based off one days 
> testing. Minimal configuration, professional looking web 
> interface, and the best sound quality of any of the phones I 
> tested. THe speakerphone works great, and the handset quality 
> is outstanding, and tested the best with my callers that were 
> listening to me through the PSTN. I haven't upgraded firmware 
> or anything on this yet, so can't tell you there, but I can't 
> see a compelling reason to upgrade from whatever it shipped 
> with that this point (i'm not feature crazy, I only upgrade 
> the firmware if basic features don't seem to be working right). 
> 
> Overall, stay away from the Grandstream's IMHO. The audio 
> quality issues will drive you insane. I'm hoping someone will 
> come out with a sub-$100 phone that drops some features but 
> fixes what should be the cheapest part of the phone to 
> manufacture, since they've been the same for nearly 50 years, 
> the handset. 
> 
> Clint
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> --
> Michael Graves                           mgraves at pixelpower.com
> Sr. Product Specialist                          www.pixelpower.com
> Pixel Power Inc.                                 mgraves at mstvp.com
> 
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> o800-905-6412
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