[asterisk-users] which phones to use ??

[C F]

On Sat, Mar 1, 2008 at 9:31 AM, Michael Graves <mgraves at mstvp.com> wrote:
>  When in doubt there is only one sure answer....Polycom. Without a doubt the
> best functionality, performance and reliability....even in the lower cost
> models. Although the lesser models are still over $100.
>

While I agree with you that once they have booted and are configured
the way one wants, they are the best. But here are the downsides on
them:
1. Way tooooo slooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwww to boot
2. Lack of features, can't reconfigure the buttons to show something
decent, like BLF, and the buttons you could configure are limited even
though they are soft buttons. Compare that to the Aastra 480i

Here are the upsides which in my opinion makes it still the best SIP
phone, and the best for your money even though it's the most
expensive:
1. Boots reliable.
2. LAN side Ethernet does NOT go down on a reboot.
3. Very reliable and good sound quality, with no tricks attached, just
works without playing with configuration files to adjust volume etc.
4. Extremely easy to use, you only have to teach an end user what the
difference between a blind and attd xfer is, and they know how to use
it.
5. They stay on, unless you reboot them manually. Unlike ANY other
phone out there that I tried, it's the only one that didn't reboot or
froze when not asked to. The following phones did freeze or reboot out
of the blue: Aastra, Cisco, Sipura, GS and Snom. Although I have seen
on certain firmwares that it's not responsive to a certain command
under certain conditions, I have never seen them lock up completely.

As far as the config files go, at this point I don't consider them
hard, since what I'm trying to do is doable and they have great
documentation. The XML files are just confusing because of the layout,
searching within vi is not that hard.
However, it's not something that is easy to teach oneself overnight.
Compare that to Cisco or Aastra config files and you have a nightmare.


>  Michael
>
>  --Original Message Text---
>  From: Rob Hillis
>  Date: Sat, 01 Mar 2008 11:07:58 +1100
>
>
>
> For your own sanity's sake, steer as far away from Grandstream as possible.
> The firmware is appalling and isn't improving a great deal. They make great
> steps in one area while another gets worse and worse.
>
>
>  randulo wrote: On Fri, Feb 29, 2008 at 1:12 PM, Agnello George
>
>
>  <agnello.dsouza at gmail.com> wrote:
>  but it does not mention the phones that i need to use .... could i use any
>  USB phone !!! ???
>
>
>
>
>  I would recommend you start by using free softphones like X-Lite,
>  Gizmo project, Zoiper.
>  Then, when you're ready, choose a hardphone by price and quality
>  needed between Grandstream, Sipura, Polycom and Cisco not to mention
>  Snom or Aastra that have a lot of models as well.
>
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>  --
>  Michael Graves
>  mgraves<at>mstvp.com
>  http://blog.mgraves.org
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>  c713-201-1262
>  sip:mjgraves at pixelpower.onsip.com
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>  fwd 54245
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