[asterisk-users] RANT (was Re: Which IP Phone is really the best?)

[Anselm Martin Hoffmeister]

Am Sonntag, den 06.01.2008, 21:05 -0600 schrieb Alejandro Kauffmann:

> As long as this is an official rant thread....
> 
> Good to know no new phones have hit the market since the last time this 
> question was asked and answered.  It's also good to know
> opinions about specific products don't change over time.  It's great to 
> know that no bugs have been found in any of the "best" phone's
> firmware that might drop them in the ranking since the last time this 
> question was asked.

And the OP would have had proper use for an answer of the form "I
preffered the ACME 4711 until they burliwooped the blobber function in
their latest firmware"?

As one of the more often mentioned sources on "asking questions",
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html , suggest, the OP
could at least have let everyone known that he found and read the
previous threads about "the best phone".

Asking something like


===
I am searching for an IP phone for a customer's system. It should
- have decent speakerphone
- integrated phone directory
- second Ethernet port for PC

I read about the ACME 511, the Smon 370 and the Ccorsa 480j, although
the ACME seems a bit on the expensive side. All of them seem fit for the
job. Any other suggestions? How did your setups work out, what where the
most common complaints about those phones? And how about manufacturer
support / firmware releases?
===


would have triggered less of a rant.

> I wonder if this rant thread would exist if the OP had not mentioned he 
> was preparing a quote for a customer?

I guess so. There is a visible resistance against supplying service for
free when the OP just hands the answer through to the customer and earns
$$ with it - in my opinion a reasonable point. Nevertheless most writers
here seem to be willing to at least help the people find an answer - not
perfectly prepare one for them, but give them the few and necessary
hints (just as in the above mentioned document). Counting all in,
atmosphere is rather friendly on the mailing list - a few things like
the response of "Check your extensions.conf" for the empty mail a few
days back are the necessary part of sarcasm that I personally do not
count as unfriendly as such.

Enough cents for now, BR
Anselm