[asterisk-users] Good comparisons on cheaper VOIP phones

[Fred Posner]

On Dec 21, 2008, at 8:27 AM, Rob Hillis wrote:

> Michael wrote:
>>
>> My experience with Grandstream is that are one of the better  
>> 'cheap' ones, but
>> cheap non the less.
>
> I am yet to run into a worse IP phone than the Grandstreams -  
> although having said that, I should say that I've always steered  
> clear of most of the Chinese "no-name" brand phones.  They're  
> unstable, temperamental and upgrading the firmware is a crapshoot  
> half the time since you never know what new bugs will be introduced  
> and quite often you can't downgrade the firmware if you don't like  
> the newer firmware.
>
> My suggestion would be to look at the Snom 300 (although they are  
> very simplistic phones), the Polycom IP330 (I have a feeling the  
> 320s don't support PoE) or the Linksys phones.  I noted an earlier  
> post saying that these phones were overpriced and designed to lock  
> you in to Linksys gear - my experience has been completely  
> different.  The SPA-942 is quite cheap and integrates nicely with  
> Asterisk.  The SPA-962 is considerably more expensive - but  
> considering the size of the colour LCD screen, they're not that  
> badly priced. (as an aside, the button banks for the SPA-962 are one  
> of the cheapest available!)

One person's trash is another's treasure.

I've used many linksys phones, including the SPA962 and found the  
sound quality and usage to be simply sub-par. In several set-up's I  
found the sound quality of a Grandstream 286 ATA to be much better  
than a SPA962 IP phone. But, I agree in I find the polycom to be  
amazing phones — and you end up paying for it (although on long term  
cost of ownership it might not be that bad. I bought a Polycom 601  
years ago, use it heavily, and it sounds just as good today as the day  
I bought it. The SPA962 went on ebay within 3 months of me buying it.  
I have a few grandstream 286's I like to use for traveling and placing  
in remote areas of an installation.

Fred Posner

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