[asterisk-users] Hardphone SIP phone costs

[Norman Franke]

On Mar 19, 2008, at 12:16 PM, asterisk-users-request at lists.digium.com  
wrote:

> I understand the maximizing pricing and branding aspect of phones but
> when you look at feature set it just doesn't make sense.  And as  
> far as
> purchasing the phone you can get it without a contract at the same
> price.
>
> When I starting thinking about it, can anyone else see a time when  
> desk
> phones are replaced by smart phones? Why would a company pay for work
> cell phone and desk phone when one device could potentially do it all?
>
> I know there are issues that need to be considered like safety  
> (911) for
> one. But can anyone else see where I'm coming from on this.


We use Polycom hard phones and Linksys ATAs (now owned by Cisco)  
since both have good prices, good feature lists and are very  
configurable. I couldn't see paying $500 for a Cisco phone when I can  
get a Polycom 601 for $250 that does more than I really even need at.  
Our old PBX phones were fairly pricey, as I recall.

As for why a company would purchase hard phones, several reasons.  
First, we are replacing many hard phones with computers. We have a  
custom application and have been moving folks main numbers to use the  
computer. We can make it "ring" externally and then they just put  
their headset on and hit an fkey to answer.

The reason to not use a cell, in addition to potentially delaying an  
emergency response, is reliability. In any kind of emergency, they  
just don't work. And coverage and dropped calls are a problem,  
especially in office buildings.

However, professionalism is, IMHO, the main reason. Cell phones sound  
terrible, generally have a huge delay (often with a related echo),  
they fade in and out, etc. I actively don't deal with companies where  
their sales people are on cell phones, and I have indeed actually to  
go with other vendors based on this. If you can't be professional  
enough to have an office with a real phone, why would I want to trust  
you''ll support anything you sell?

In the grand scheme of things, phone are cheap. With SIP phones,  
employees can move their phone to another office if they move and  
just plug it in. Companies can also better monitor employees.

Norman Franke
Answering Service for Directors, Inc.
www.myasd.com

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