[Asterisk-Users] Cisco 79xx series IP phones

[Rich Adamson]

> One problem a colleague and I discussed moments ago is the system may 
> preform "better" if we're using a Layer 3 switch.  Which I would like 
> anyway, but isn't very cost effective for an office with 10 phones and 5 
> workstations.  A L3 switch would be almost half, if not more, the total 
> cost of the project build.  I guess it also depends on the amount of 
> traffic and calls made from the office.  But, other than the 4 sales 
> people, I don't imagine the office having a high volume of traffic in 
> and out.  It is a small publishing house not a call center or support 
> company.  The most they use the phone system for, other than selling 
> ads, is talking to each other and calling writers.

Layer-3 switching won't add any value unless your network is rather
large and you already have a need to segment it into broadcast domains.

I do a fair amount of professional network performance work and we've
actually been involved with a flat (layer-2 only) switched network 
that has over 900 active non-voip devices. Adding a couple of voip 
devices (for testing only) into the mix resulted in excellent quality. 
But, all of that depends upon how well managed the network is in the 
first place.

Rich