[asterisk-users] Re: Which SIP phones to buy?

[David Cook]

Quoting Stephen Bosch <posting at vodacomm.ca>:
> I'm trying to decide which phones to experiment with. I have these
> options:
> - A combination of Polycom, Aastra and Snom
> - Just Polycom
>
> One the one hand, I'd like to keep things uniform, since it greatly
> simplifies provisioning. On the other hand, I don't want to broaden
> my
> knowledge.
>
> Advice, anyone?
>
> -Stephen-

You said 'office' so I'm presuming you want business quality. If you
have already tried the Polycom's I'd look at Aastra (just did a 50+
seat implementation with 9133i's & 480i's) and also look at the Cisco
79xx's.

Cisco's & Aastra's both handle multiple appearances differently but both
are excellent. Cisco has superb handsfree quality. Aastra has better BLF
support. You will have to evaluate for yourself. Aastra is significantly
cheaper. That said, there is a 7960 on my desk that isn't going anywhere
soon.

I hear the Grandstream firmware is better now but physically they are
still pretty flimsy. I would stay away from them for anything but
experimentation.

dbc.