[asterisk-users] (no subject)

[Jim Houser]

  We have used the Grandstream GPX2000, HT503 and GXW4104 gateways.  Quality
is in all cases are on the lower end.  The quality I refer to is buggy
software and poor call quality.  I have been involved with Telecom since the
early 80s and dealt with a lot of phone systems.  The Grandstream phones
just plain feel cheap.  Real "Walmart" quality, not professional business
class equipment.

  The phone functioned ok and was super easy to setup but complaints of echo
and poor volume levels were common.  They may be better as we have not used
them in over 6 months.

  We have recently used their gateways due to good pricing and their
economics fit our solution base well but ran into issues with them.  I
believe their gateways will get improved as both are new and on early
firmware releases.  However, we got upset with poor support.  Either no call
back at all or a useless email a day later with little to no information to
help solve our issue.  In Grandstream's defense it may be we are just too
small to matter and that's ok.  

  We prefer to go elsewhere and deliver product that when the average user
picks it up to talk on it they say "this is quality stuff".  Asterisk is as
talented as the firm that programs it BUT the phone is crucial in the end
user's system satisfaction.   Regardless of what you put in the back room
the phone IS the device that sets the impression to your client if you are
delivering a quality solution.

   We would do Cisco because it is high quality but we don't care to fight
with the configuration or licensing issues.  We would do Polycom, and
probably will, but have not had the time to jump to through the hoops needed
to acquire good enough pricing to make money selling them.  We feel Aastra
is a good compromise in delivering quality product to make the customer
happy with their decision while still making us to make some sort of small
profit for our time.  It's solid and provides a quality feel and function. 

  This said, Grandstream is not junk and this is not meant to be a
Grandstream rant.  I would like to apologize if I jumped in too quick
sounding that way.  Grandstream is just the lower end of quality and should
be deployed in applications where the client is willing to accept that.
That's not our marketplace.  If you want easy to configure, low cost, slam
dunk Asterisk deployments then Grandstream works.  But the end result will
not be as good if you build a system with Cisco, Polycom, Snom, or  Aastra.
We've even tested Avaya 46XX phones on Asterisk.  They sound GREAT!
Probably one of the best.  We just can't get Asterisk to light the messaging
waiting light on the phone.  Arrggg!

  You need to decide what your marketplace offering is and what your clients
are willing to accept.  If call quality is the most important then our
testing shows nobody beats Polycom or Avaya.  Someday we are going to beat
the Avaya message waiting light issue.  If quality of deskset feel is the
most important factor them Avaya and Cisco stand out as best.  We will not
put configuration into a factor simply because the customer uses the tool we
are expected to configure it to their needs.  We won't sell them any device
based on it being "easier" for us to configure.

  I would like to hear what people say about Snom as their sets look very
nice.  

Sorry for the novel, all I really wanted to express is Grandstream is cheap,
look before you jump.
Good luck on your decision...
Jim



-----Original Message-----
From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com
[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Peder @
NetworkOblivion
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 11:36 AM
To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
Subject: Re: [asterisk-users] (no subject)

What is the issue with the Grandstream?  We are getting tired of Cisco
issues, so we have started looking at Grandstream and they seem to be pretty
good.  The Polycom work well, but they seem to die after about a year or so.
We bought 20 of them about 2 years ago and 7 of them have died or had
buttons stop working so we had to replace them.  I haven't had a single
Cisco do that and we have probably 100 of them.

Jim Houser wrote:
> We agree with Drew and no longer use Grandstream.   We have used a few
> Polycom, (best voice quality, hardest to configure).  I have heard 
> good things about Snom but never used them.  We standardized on 
> Aastra.  Good build, sound quality, and feature set.  Easy to 
> configure or upgrade and good pricing.  If you try Snom please share 
> your thoughts.  At present we are sticking with Aastra due to good results
and user feedback.
> 
> Jim
> 
> lists at infoway.net wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> We have a client that needs to setup about 80 desk phones (about 50 
>> in one location and about another 30 in 5 different locations). Which 
>> brand/model would you recommend. We were personally thinking in 
>> recommending either Cisco, Aastra, Polycom, or Snom, for we've heard 
>> great things about them. However, having no real experience with them 
>> makes it hard in recommending one to our customer. The only 
>> experience we've had is a very frustrating one trying to load the IP 
>> software on a Cisco 7970G and so we assume that if we have to go 
>> through that for all 80 phones, we'll probably commit suicide :)
>>
>> Thanks
> 
> We have used Cisco and Aastra, can't comment on Polycom or Snom.
> 
> I cannot recommend Cisco, good sound quality but that's it. 
> Ridiculously overpriced, too few usable features, incredibly awkward to
manage.
> Aastra have good sound quality, reasonable price, configs are plain 
> text and not to hard to work with. We have the 9133i as our basic 
> phone and 480i in the Call Centre for the soft buttons. Both can be 
> fed from the same config templates.
> We used to use Grandstream but quality and support issues have driven 
> us away.
> 
> regards,
> 
> Drew
> 
> --
> Drew Gibson
> 
> Systems Administrator
> OANDA Corporation
> www.oanda.com