[asterisk-users] WiFi SIP phones

[SIP]

In all honesty, things have NOT moved very far since you last saw them.

Battery life has, overall, gotten somewhat better. Range is still 
abominable in most of them, and they're not, as a general rule, all that 
easy to deal with. We've mucked about with the Linksys WIP3XX series, 
the UTStarCom F1000G, and F3000, and the Nokia WiFi-enabled GSM phones 
(E60, E61). Of those we've played with, the Nokias are by far the most 
reliable to connect and remain connected (but perhaps the most annoying 
to set up).

For in-office stuff, you're still not liable to beat ATAs + DECT phones. 
Outside the office, it really doesn't hurt to try and consolidate your 
Mobile and SIP service in one of the Nokias that support it (granted, if 
you're in the US, you'll have to buy them elsewhere, as the US Mobile 
providers have done their best to avoid using any sort of WiFi-capable 
GSM phones in their networks (Nokia has, for instance, the E62 for the 
US Cingular/AT&T market which is, in every way, like the E61 except that 
it doesn't come with WiFi/SIP capability)).

Some people swear by the UTStarCom phones, but we found their support to 
be incredibly substandard, their phone programming to be lacking in an 
understanding of the market, and their hardware to be flashy (in the 
case of the F3000), but troublesome with constant loss of connection and 
a difficulty to reestablish.  The Linksys phones are, alas, just as 
annoying.

It's kind of a shame, really. One would expect that to be a decent 
market -- IP phones that, you know, actually work well. But apparently, 
not so much.

N.


Chris Bagnall wrote:
> Greetings list,
>
> What are people's experiences with WiFi SIP phones?
>
> When I last looked into them about 18 months ago, they were incredibly expensive, had very limited range and poor battery life. In the end, it worked out much more cost effective to simply use ATAs + DECT cordless phones where there was a requirement for portable devices.
>
> I assume things must have moved on somewhat since then. What models are currently out there people would recommend I look at?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Regards,
>
> Chris
>