[asterisk-users] Hardphone SIP phone costs

[Gordon Henderson]

On Wed, 19 Mar 2008, Norman Franke wrote:

> 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?

My mobile does not sound terrible, does not have echo, does not fade in or 
out, and the last time I used it to call the emergency services, I got 
through straight away. I've not had a dropped call for a long time either 
(going through tunnels on the train, or over Dartmoor excepted)

Sounds like your country doesn't have a very good mobile phone 
infrastructure, or operators that don't care.

> 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.

My mobile phone supports SIP (via WiFi) 3G and GSM... So I can move about 
and have coverage via a variety of means, but GSM "just works" in the UK, 
and when it doesn't work - well, I'm usually in a place where I don't want 
to make phone calls anyway :)

It's not perfect and I'm still after the holy grail of the "one device" 
that will work anywhere, but it's getting there..

Gordon