Off Topic - What phones are people using?

we are a polycom shop. great audio quality, professional appearance.

We use Cisco 7945's and 7942's running SIP code, great quality screens, only problem we have run into is crappy way of doing paging/autoanswer (we don't use it anyway). XML Services are handy.

Allister

We have hundreds of Linksys SPA-941, 942 - 1000, 2000, 2002, PAP, PSP2T and 2102 - I have a lot of added code over whats in TL, once done will be sending it over to Alex.

We have some Polycom's out there and want to us more simple for the speak phone BUT their documentation is terrible and have nothing but problems getting into them and getting the to provisioning to work..

anyone have a good provisioning guide for the Polycom phones..?

George

use FTP provisioning, dont use the web interface, provisioning is a combination of DHCP options and configuration files. What specifically do you want to know?

We typically deploy Linksys SPA942 (500+), fast boot, inexpensive, great audio, 4 SIP "lines" and POE.

We also deploy Aastra 57iCT for BLF and mobility.

Grandstream, reluctantly, on the low end.

Lots of Polycom.

Jim Sturtevant

CEO

Sigma Networks

I wont even touch a grandstream. If my customer is that damn cheap he can get service somewhere else. Every SINGLE customer we have ever had that we let 'try it and see' with regards to cheap phones or cheap switches, eventually has problems once they get a broadcast storm or virus outbreak on their network. In EVERY case, they screamed and yelled at us, said we sold them shit products, and threatened to sue them. We had to replace their equipment at OUR expence to avoid litigation. If a customer is too fucking cheap to spend even $135 for a polycom 330 they can go F themselves as far as I am concerned :) :)

dodo that Erik, we tested them way back and determined that where junk.. currently we only have 1 customer using them and they know better then to complain as we were VERY clear about what we thought about them.

BTW they bought the phones, we refused to get them for them just to cover our butts..

George

Gee Erik, don't hold back. Tell us how you really feel!

FSD

We use Snom phones, M3 mainly :)

Gee, I came in early this morning started reading this thead with my coffee bloody funny! :-)

Anyway has anyone tried the Zyxel range of phones? Just picked one up yesterday from supplier

V501-T1 havnt even plugged it in yet looks ok, bit pricey though. about $375 NZD Linksys SPA942's

which we are testing at the moment are $175 NZD.

Cheers

I agree with eeman that Grandstream sucks for the most part. Poor (compared to say, Polycom) audio quality even with g711 on a 100MB LAN and 10MB back bone. Power supplies and handsets love to die. They are hard as hell to upgrade, or maybe I've just not spent enough weeks yet on the incredibly poor documentation they offer to perform it. There are only a couple of things I like about them, meaning, of course, the GXP-2000 and up (I don't even consider Budgetones to be real phones). They have 4 lines, displays are kinda nice and can backlight, they have a http-configurable auto-answer/intercom function for a line and a PC LAN port for $80. Other than that they are light and feel like a cheap piece of crap, which is also what it sounds like.

Polycoms and Cisco (made by Polycom) are great across the line especially with the HD feature. Linksys SPA also sound good, and you almost can't beat a PAP2T for an ATA.

ive never used the PAP2T ... how does it compare to the SPA-2102? Has anyone used the SPA-8000 yet? I am considering trying it since the Adtran TA900's are a bit pricey (but then again they work rock solid).

The PAP2-T is a stand alone ATA; Linksys's first adaptation of the Sipura SPA-2002. The SPA-2102 is the same legacy Sipura ATA rebranded with an integrated router. The integrated router is cumbersome in many scenarios and I only use it when required. I think that is only one time so far. The SPA-8000 is a fancy 8-port PAP2-T. Never used it yet, as it's just easier and much cheaper to gang multiple 2-port ATAs behind a small switch. The 8000 might be good if you ran into a higher density FXS requirement and wanted it to look nicer. That's about the only reason to go with it in my opinion.