[Asterisk-Users] Any suggestions for an IP phone?

[Tom]

Since there are so many Polycom fans here....

I bought a new Polycom IP500 about 8 months ago to compare with a Cisco 
7940g while we where still in selection mode.  We ended up going with Cisco 
7960g and 7905g IP phones as our standard.  If anyone wants to trade me 
Cisco for this Polycom, please contact me off list.  It only had a couple 
of weeks of use and is just gathering dust here.

A big part of our decision was not about features (which are very similar) 
but instead about form and function.  Pick the handset up and use the 
phone.  Cisco won hands down with our test subjects.

Tom

At 06:17 PM 7/13/2005, you wrote:
>Great points but I think the ease of config on Polycom via FTP along
>with the ease up firmware updates is a real winning combination.  I have
>yet to need the kind diagnostics you refer to while troubleshooting.  I
>copy a valid config, change the values as needed and load it to the FTP
>server. Boot the phone and we have tone.  No tone?  Check the config
>file and that is about it.  For the average Joe, that would suffice.
>
>At least for me anyways...
>
>Cheers,
>W
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com
>[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of
>jjones at quiddesign.com
>Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2005 12:42 PM
>To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
>Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Any suggestions for an IP phone?
>
>
>On Jul 13, 2005, at 8:44 AM, dbruce wrote:
>
> > Feature for feature, the polycom phones are much better than the cisco
> > phones.
> >
> > Presence: Polycom = yes, Cisco = no
> > Messaging: Polycom = yes, Cisco = no
> > Microbrowser: Polycom = yes (on IP600, xml), cisco = yes (on 7940
> > and 7960 -
> > cmxml - much harder to program)
> > Auto-Answer: Polycom = yes (via configuration files and Alert-Info
> > header),
> > cisco = yes (through a manually configured second line)
> > Call Appearances: Polcom = yes (up to 8 per configured line), cisco
> > = yes
> > (up to 2 per configured line)
> > Ringtones: Polcom = yes, Cisco = yes
> > Upgradable Firmware: Polcom = yes (simple procedure), Cisco = yes
> > (not so
> > simple, sometimes very complex procedure
> > Sound Quality: Polycom = excellent, Cisco = excellent
> > Configuration: Polycom = very comprehensive, Cisco = basic
> > Price: Polycom = $300USD (IP600), Cisco = $320USD(7960)
>
>First we are a Polycom shop and have been very happy with them. But
>one area which is lacking that Cisco is MUCH better at is
>diagnostics. By telnetting into a Cisco you have access to everything
>on the phone. You can also view layer 2 info and much more which you
>cannot do on a Polycom. When troubleshooting this is vtial
>information to have.