Can anyone recommend a reasonably priced IP phone for use with Trixbox/Asterisk?
We're looking at picking up about 8 of them... thanks!
On a side note, can anyone recommend a good choice of hardware for the actual Asterisk box? We'll need either 2 or 4 POTS lines for incoming/outgoing calls.
- Keith Palmer
keith@academickeys.com
AIM: superwormy
Phones: Polycom, Aastra, Snom are what we have had success with. Grandstream IMHO is not a good purchase (although price is cheap)
Cards: Sangoma and Rhino with echo cancellation are the best bet (if you don't want headaches).
While the bulk of my deployed phones are GXP-2000, I have an Aastra 480i in one location that is hands down a substantially better phone.
i had all of them.. starting from cheap no names to grandstream,polycom, linksys, aastra..
they were all functional and reliable.. but when you put your hand on a snom phone like the 320 and 360 you will immidetly feel the differnce.
I prefer Polycom, but Aastra makes a nice phone as well. As far as FXO cards go, I love my Rhino card. It was relatively simple to setup and has worked like a champ since it was installed.
For SIP phones, I'm very pleased with our CISCO 7960's, which seem to be very popular.
I have most models of cisco phone through the 7975 and really like them and once working are VERY good - maybe the best in terms of quality. i agree with the gentleman from texas that the 7960 (also the 2 line version 7940) is an excellent choice due to the fact that it is truly a very robust telephone as cisco phones go and much harder to do evil to than their newer models. The 7940/7960 have been tried and tested in the sip/asterisk arena and are workhorses with lots of functionality.
The more complex cisco phones, while beautiful and do a great job at what they do - once they get going - but are prissy and require finesse to get them operational. (im getting confused now as to whether im writing about phones or my girlfriend - but you get the idea)
note how it was said "once working" ;)
I have tried all of them - ipdialog to cisco, and if you want the phone with the most features and the fastest setup - the aastras are hands down the best phone. - just set option 66 on your dhcp server to point to your trixbox ip, install aastra firmware and xml services from the package manager (which cisco wont allow - must somehow 'find' firmware on their site),run setup-aastra at the prompt, then use the endpoint manager to start assigning your phones - reboot phones - done. - The prebuilt xml services are what makes it, they have a number of really nice features that adds. The 480i is an older lower costing workhorse (20 lcd keys) with cordless option, and the 5x series are the newer ones with the 57i being top notch, also having a cordless option.
-cards - any mentioned above are fine.
server - anything that doesnt resemble a video gamer pc should work fine, a P4 2 ghz or better with 512 ram should fit you fine - try not to use cutting edge hardware - they sometimes have driver issues, and brands like intel, supermicro, dell are almost garunteed to work.
--my PBX is run on 2 V8's
fyi - now found under the hardware section:
http://www.trixbox.org/wiki/Best_Phones
--my PBX is run on 2 V8's
I used be a Cisco guy--that is, until I got fed-up with their lack of support for the SIP standard. Forget features like presence (BLF) with the SIP firmware, at least for the time being. Also, getting them set-up is hell--now that I've done it so many times, it's easy to do, but I see almost a post a day on various forums that relates to the Ciscos being stubborn in flashing over from SCCP to SIP. Once you do get it running, expect only basic call features, and little-to-no customization, other than ringtones, background images, and line labels.
In terms of quality, ease of setup, reliability, and SUPPORT, I can say that Polycom has proven itself to me. I didn't even realize how stressed the Ciscos made me until I switched over. Don't get me wrong--the Ciscos have incredible potential--they just need a company that's dedicated to making the phones and SIP firmware work right with open-source software like Asterisk, which they are not going to do unless there's a policy shift, because they are selling a competitive product (CallManager).
The Polycom SoundStation IP650s have INCREDIBLE sound quality, much better than the Ciscos I've used (7940s through 7975s). Both the handsets and speakerphones have good response in the lower-mid frequency range, allowing a very "warm" voice presence. Features like BLF, transfer, conference, hold, etc., all work "out of the box", and if you need help, the phones are well-documented, both officially through the Administration Guide Polycom issues, as well as unofficially, like here on these forums. Finally, and most importantly to me, Polycom is very much in support of making their products work well with Asterisk. It is easy to contact them for assistance, both via official and unofficial means.
No, I do not work for Polycom--I just couldn't believe how much easier it was to setup and manage the Polycoms from the Ciscos, once I got the courage to switch over.
Just my opinion--good luck--I'll be interested to know what you choose.
Preston Edwards
Hint hint
Preston makes a good case for Polycom, but I have to disagree.
My experience has been just the opposite. I have had to RMA more than a dozen Polycom phones for various reasons, till I gave up and started using only Cisco 7940/7960 units. Although, I will be purchasing a 2W wireless conference phone for a customer in the next few weeks.
The XML for the polycom seemed broken, never could get time & date to work well. I would speak with Polycom reps at various shows about issues, and be promised support. But never get any, despite numerous follow up e-mails. Using a non-open source product with Polycom I was told that the configurations to make it wok were to complex for me to have access to the XML files on their TFTP server. Finnaly, I had anumber of phones bricked when TB first started to make the EndPoint manager Polycom aware.
On the other hand getting the Cisco 7970 programed has also been a nightmare !!
I also like polys, their HDaudio is awesome, but in a demo install to a cell phone wholesaler (hardcore phone 'critiques') last year, I placed all the major sets on the CEOs desk for 2 weeks - Cisco, Aastra, Snom, Polycom - he hammered on each one, and the one thing that got him was the "bass" that the Polycom produced, but it still seemed to have problems achieving the volume that a 57i produced. On top- the prebuilt xml apps for the 57 made it an easy sell.
And to date I have sold probably 4000 aastra phones (since 2000) and have had a very low failure rate, in fact most were damaged in shipping - less than 1 in 100 died in service. The polycoms, I have probably sold just under 100 and have had 3 die - their RMA department has been a nightmare, becoming a reseller was a nightmare. They are still great phones, but it feels like they think they are "bigger" than their customer base when it comes to support - they have more important things to do. You will note that Aastra is "humble" enough to have several support representatives monitor our forum and provide us with support directly (you will see polycom is on here too, but to date personally I have not seen any interaction from them to assist us - I may have missed a post). I would love to see them step it up a notch, they have so many great models.
On the cisco side - sorry i just cant seem sell/install them, its like you have to sign a marriage certificate to download a firmware sometimes, and config time for me feels dramatically longer. Also aastras hit lower pricepoints with more features (like 9 lines) when compared to the ciscos. I would like to sell them because its name recognition and for the ill-advised [in the tech world] Cisco seems to be "number 1" - meaning I am pushing the top-notch products. To date I have had several clients express desire for Cisco, but shy away when the price comes up - if I had nothing else to offer I would probably push the sale because they are already interested, but thats not the case.
--my PBX is run on 2 V8's
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