[Asterisk-Users] Which IP phone to use in Australia

Tue Feb 15 02:37:10 MST 2005

Hi guys,

I haven't had the opportunity to play with any Polycom products, 
although they will probably be the best IP phone available.

I have used the Grandstream BT-101/102, the HOP-1003 (upgraded 1002) 
and Zyxel telephone adapters.

My recommendation out of the tried ones would be the Grandstream BT-102 
where the phone is on a closed network. My problem with the HOP is that 
there is no transfer button, this can be worked around with key 
sequences (*2 for attended transfer, # for unattended transfer) and (if 
I got it working) the flash key but they aren't optimal in an office 
setup where un-techno people want to just transfer a call with a button 
and the overall receiver volume seems to be lower (definitely than the 
analogue adapter). The HOP does have one advantage: it only beeps once 
when you get an incoming call along with a message on the display 
unlike the BT-101/102.

The Zyxel equipment works great for us and it supports callerID (only 
the number) but it does mean the cost of an analogue phone. If you have 
an issue with network cabling, the Zyxel is good because you can run 
two analogue phones from one network cable, and there is a hub built 
into the back which allows inline connection to a PC. This having been 
said, because they are analogue, you need to use the *2 and # keys for 
transfer etc.

I would be interested in trying (and have been offered but haven't had 
the time) a new Sipura telephone, it includes two line indicators. 
Whilst this isn't ideal for a  receptionist (I think Snom would be the 
only option for a receptionist with the additional indicator panel) it 
would be nice for a general office worker who needs one direct line and 
one general ring group / reception button. They can be expanded to four 
lines with some sort of software upgrade.

One thing to be aware of - where you will be setting up standalone 
offices (i.e. one person at home behind DSL) you should consider the 
firewalling etc but seeing as the original question came from the 
experts - they should be able to sort it out! Our experience is that 
some hardphones will even have troubles with specific firewalls, yet 
they will work quite happily with a Billion style product (sorry to 
bring that up....).

Hope this helps.

Kind Regards
Stuart

On Tuesday, Feb 15, 2005, at 15:33 Australia/Perth, Howard Lowndes 
wrote:

> On Tue, 2005-02-15 at 18:05, Adam Goryachev wrote:
>> On Tue, 2005-02-15 at 17:54 +1100, Howard Lowndes wrote:
>>> On Tue, 2005-02-15 at 17:43, Adam Goryachev wrote:
>>>> Personally, I quite like the polycom phones such as the IP300 and 
>>>> IP600
>>>> I've never really bothered with the IP500...
>>>>
>>>> There are a few issues I have with them though, the main one being 
>>>> that
>>>> I can't disable call waiting on the phone. There are workarounds for
>>>> this though (in asterisk dialplan).
>>>
>>> ...which is something to be said for the HOP 1002 - you can disable 
>>> call
>>> waiting.
>>
>> Have you actually used the polycom phones? If so, how do they compare 
>> to
>> the HOP 1002, or, would you call the polycom IP600 and HOP 1002 
>> exactly
>> equivalent in all respects except for the call waiting factor?
>
> Unfortunately I have never used, or even seen the polycom phones, so I
> cannot comment on the comparison.
>
> I do know that the HOP 1002 serve my purpose and are quite robust.
> There was a date issue with the software pre v1.41.007 and I have found
> out how to get a brand name to display on the screen.
>
> I have also discovered that, under SIP at least, the phone will only
> display the caller ID number and not the caller ID name, though that
> latter is not often sent anyway except for calls from mobiles as
> "MOBILE".
>
> Basically they are very robust, almost brick shithouse robust. :)
>
> The online manual is about 47 pages of Chinglish which is an Alexander
> (downer). (Oz joke there for all you yanks)
>
> The only down side that I can see is that the 2 port hubbing is only 10
> mbps which shouldn't really be a problem for most users who connect
> their PC in line, but could be a real bummer for the power user PHBs 
> who
> want to do gaming.
>
>
>>
>> I've not seen/used the HOP 1002, I just find it hard to accept that it
>> would be as good as the polycom IP600 phones....
>>
>> Note: I would be *pleasantly* surprised if you say it is as good!
>>
>> Regards,
>> Adam
> -- 
> Howard.
> LANNet Computing Associates;
> Your Linux people <http://www.lannetlinux.com>
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