<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><html>On Mar 19, 2008, at 12:16 PM, <a href="mailto:asterisk-users-request@lists.digium.com">asterisk-users-request@lists.digium.com</a> wrote:</html><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">I understand the maximizing pricing and branding aspect of phones but</font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">when you look at feature set it just doesn't make sense.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>And as far as</font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">purchasing the phone you can get it without a contract at the same</font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">price.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">When I starting thinking about it, can anyone else see a time when desk</font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">phones are replaced by smart phones? Why would a company pay for work</font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">cell phone and desk phone when one device could potentially do it all?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">I know there are issues that need to be considered like safety (911) for</font></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">one. But can anyone else see where I'm coming from on this. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></font></p> </blockquote></div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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?</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><br><div><div><div>Norman Franke</div><div>Answering Service for Directors, Inc.</div><div>www.myasd.com</div><div><br></div></div></div></body></html>