[asterisk-users] Decent Voip Phones for enterprise

[Daniel Hazelbaker]

On Oct 28, 2008, at 5:13 PM, Kev Szaszvari wrote:

> Hi there
> Can anyone reccomend any voip phones( Cisco, Polycom, SNOM ) that have
>
> * Central Management for all the phones (We dont mind if we have to  
> buy the software to manage them)
> * Programable shortcut buttons, So i can program in on certian  
> phones quick dials to queues.
> * Optional but bonus, The ability to have a shared address book  
> accross the phones.

We just rolled out Snom phones and it was the easiest thing in the  
world.

1) Yes, you can centrally manage your phones.  If you realtime SIP  
with a database then you can do a complete plug&play setup.  We use a  
few scripts to do this here.
     a) Script to respond to the Snom plug&play request (SIP broadcast  
message), redirects to PHP script (b).
     b) A few PHP scripts that update the firmware, provision the  
phones (via the database), define all the standard buttons, and allow  
overrides based upon extension number.

2) The Snom's let you program every single button.  If you want to re- 
program the conference button to be a hold button, *shrug* go for it.   
You can program a button to function as a BLF, speed-dial and call- 
pickup button all at the same time. (Current 7.3.7 has a bug that only  
lets you speed-dial and call-pickup when the phone is on-hook, latest  
beta fixes that).

3) Nearly perfect support for LDAP directory.  I say nearly because if  
you enable the number lookup feature (in addition to the name lookup)  
then anytime you dial it will immediately match by name and not let  
you see the number you are dialing. It basically forces you to dial-by- 
directory, kind of annoying.  I got a bug report in on that.

In regards to 1b, the PHP script gets the MAC address from the phone  
(via the URL requested), queries the database, sends back an XML file  
with all the registration information.  With SIP realtime, what this  
means is that you get a new phone, put in the registration information  
in your database along with the MAC address of the phone, then plug  
the phone into the network.  Come back 10 minutes later and it has  
updated itself to the latest firmware and is ready to make & receive  
calls.  If you want more specific information on this I would be happy  
to give you the scripts.

As others have noted, the Linksys may be able to do what you want.   
But if you do end up switching I recommend the Snom if you want the  
best bang for your buck.  Cisco & Polycom are good phones, but getting  
a big enough phone that has programmable buttons etc. gets really  
pricy. Grandstream is okay, but after comparing them with the rest of  
the phones they audio quality just isn't there.  And for us, the Snom  
is the only phone I could successfully program to do single-button  
call parking, which was a major requirement.

Daniel

> Thanks in advance
>
> Regards,
> Kev

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