[asterisk-users] Advice on best operator phone (with attendant console)

Wed Apr 9 00:27:53 CDT 2008

To be fair to the engineers at grandstream - an update to the latest
1.1.6.16 firmware seems to make the phones very very stable. I now have
a couple GXP2000s running at high call volume for the past 3 days
without any issue (usually it would happen within an hour).

Problem is that Polycom/Aastra seem to not be interested in sales
outside US and Europe. Their channel management seems quite weak and
their sales people simply seem uninterested in third world country
sales. After being on the phone with Polycom US for 30 minutes I still
could not get hold of a person responsible for APAC/EMEA sales (my call
got transferred 6 times). Maybe its just my bad luck but it has happened
twice now :)

Grandstream on the other hand is extremely helpful in negotiating good
deals, giving heavy discount, arranging for shipping from nearby
warehouses etc..

I think the problem may be that they release their firmwares WAY too
quickly, earning them a bad reputation.

On Sun, 2008-04-06 at 09:41 +0500, faraz wrote:
> Guys thanks a lot. I should be going with a Polycom 650 for all such
> jobs.
> 
> If grandstream receives such bad reviews- how are they selling anything?
> Phones hanging or voice cut-outs are simply unacceptable!!
> 
> On Sun, 2008-04-06 at 14:12 +1000, Rob Hillis wrote:
> > I'd find that very strange considering that the 57i itself has
> > facility for at least 20 BLF buttons and each attendant console has
> > facility for another 60!
> > 
> > 
> > Matt Watson wrote: 
> > > We are using 57i + 560M combination as well... though we are not using the 57i ct... but the idea of giving them a cordless is a good idea.
> > > 
> > > The only downside to the Aastra 57i + 560M is that it can only subscribe to 50 extensions for BLF... i haven;t run into this cap yet myself, but I have heard others talk about it... I think it was a cap introduced in one of the newer versions of firmware... not sure though, and not sure why.
> > > 
> > > I'm running the latest 2.2 firmware on it... the addition of one-touch transfers in the last firmware was very nice so operator can transfer very fast, instead of having to do xfer->BLF key->xfer (for attended transfer), now they can just hit the BLF key for a blind transfer.
> > > 
> > > 
> > > --
> > > Matt
> > > 
> > > ________________________________________
> > > From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com [asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Sigma Networks [sigma at easymail123.com]
> > > Sent: Saturday, April 05, 2008 12:52 PM
> > > To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
> > > Subject: Re: [asterisk-users] Advice on best operator phone (with attendant console)
> > > 
> > > We have been marketing ipPBX systems based on asterisk for 3+ years.
> > > For the last year we've been placing Aastra 57iCT with 560M sidecars.
> > > Our attendants like the idea of a cordless handset so the attendant can
> > > go to the copy room, etc.  The LCD based sidecar means you can keep it
> > > up to date without marking up paper strips.   We deploy Thirdlane PBX
> > > Manager which allows us to setup the BLF (busy lamp field) via a web
> > > interface.
> > > 
> > > Aastra 57iCT:
> > > http://neobits.com/aastra_-_a1758-0131-10-05_-_57i_ct_p11471.html
> > > Aastra 560m: http://neobits.com/aastra_-_a1760-0000-10-55_-_560m_p11472.html
> > > Thirdlane PBX Manager: http://www.thirdlane.com/products/pbxmanager
> > > 
> > > Feel free to contact me off list if I can be of any assistance.
> > > 
> > > Regards,
> > > Jim
> > > ph: 408-701-9929
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > Faraz R. Khan wrote:
> > >   
> > > > One of our clients is using a Grandstream GXP2000 with an attendant
> > > > console. We have used the same phone with past clients successfully
> > > > however this particular operator processes around 200 calls a hours and
> > > > the GXP2000 for sure does not like the quick line shuffling and call
> > > > volume. We get the following problems randomly:
> > > > 
> > > > 1. menu stops working
> > > > 2. transfer key stops working
> > > > 3. Line 1 LED gets stuck
> > > > 4. Voice 'gaps' (blackouts) for 4-5 seconds
> > > > 5. The phone also completely locks up regularly
> > > > 6. ping response goes from 8ms to 3000ms (after which the phone locks
> > > > up)
> > > > 
> > > > Wondering which operator phone would work best. I have the following
> > > > choices:
> > > > 
> > > > 1. Linksys SPA 932/962 with attendant console
> > > > 2. Polycom 601/650 with attendant console
> > > > 
> > > > I cant confirm online whether the BLF functionality will work with
> > > > Asterisk 1.2.26. Is somebody using either of these phones in a high
> > > > volume environment successfully?
> > > > 
> > > > Thank you.
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > >     
> > > 
> > > 
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-- 
Faraz R Khan
Chief Architect
Emergen Consulting Pvt Ltd
+92.21.111.111.320 x200
www.emergen.biz