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SPA-841

Created by: wsuff,Last modification on Wed 03 of Sep, 2008 [02:05 UTC] by stevemisel

Sipura SPA-841 (Discontinued)


Image

Image Courtesy of Voiplink.com
Medium cost SIP phone MSRP $100

Features

  • Two (or four) independently configurable line appearances / extensions.
  • High resolution pixel-based display (no backlit).
  • Speakerphone.
  • Headset jack and message waiting indicator with a dedicated message retrieval button.
  • Single RJ45 jack.
  • QOS diffserv setting.

Via an intuitive, easy to operate user interface, the SPA-841 supports,
do-not-disturb, call hold, transfer (blind + consultative), three party
conferencing and more. A personal directory, call logs for made, received
and missed calls and speed dialing is supported. On-hook and off-hook
dialing, directory dialing with name and number matching is also supported.

2 lines by default, 2 more with additional license purchase (USD$30 as of 24 Apr 2005)

They are a decent phone for the money and are probably better than Grandstream, Uniden and maybe even low-end Polycom Phones.

Reviews


Drawbacks

So far drawbacks include:
-keypad: it's very "rubbery" (it may hold back liquids.
-dim display
-no POE
-poor transmitted audio quality

Still a very nice phone for the money. It has a ton of configuration optiona a la Sipura, and it feels very solid and the sound is good (and quite loud).

Almost certainly Sipura will be a major phone contender in the future. High-quality inexpensive sets.

Notes and update:

one of the comments says that Grandstream is a better choice because of the buttons, I didn't yet have a chance to test a SPA-841 phone, and I did test the GS BT102, by the feature listing I don't think that the GS is better:
1. The buttons are very bad on the GS as well. On IRC some ppl were saying it's not so bad on the SPA-841.
2. The 2/4 Line Apcearances makes it a very attractive phone, even without the Dual RJ45, and without the POE.
3, The GS only gives you 10Mbps on the dual interface, and doesn't have POE, so it's only the Dual RJ45 that the GS is better, COMPUSA sells an 8 port 100 Mbps hub for under $20.
When I asked Sipura about thier plans:
I asked:
I would like to know if the SPA-841 supports:

1. Power Over Ethernet?
2. QOS? and if it does, Which type?
3. Dual Ehternet?

Thanks.

This is what I got in response:

(1) currently no, but it is in the roadmap. No dates
(2) we support diffserv setting, so you can adjust the TOS bit
(3) currently no, but it is in the roadmap. No dates

-Sipura Support

Distinctive rings

Like the Sipura SPA-2000, the SPA-841 supports distinctive ring by setting the variable ALERT_INFO. However, instead of using Bellcore-r1 through Bellcore-r8, use the names that you find in the phone's "Ring Tone" setup. For example:

  exten => 100,1,SetVar(ALERT_INFO=Classic-4)

Beware that firmware prior to 0.9.5 exhibits an off-by-one error. For example, if you want to ring "Classic-1" in an older firmware then you have to use "Classic-2". This bug has been corrected in version 0.9.5.

Starting with firmware version 0.9.1, the phones support custom ringtones that you can upload to the phone. You can download the new firmware, along with the ringtone software, from the Sipura Support page.

STUN Bug in 0.91 Firmware

There is a bug in the current 0.91 firmware which makes STUN unusable. If you select STUN and a valid STUN server, your phone will no longer ring audibily and if you pickup based on seeing the red ringing indicator you will have no audio. This is expected to be fixed in the next firmware per Sipura Support.

Auto-answer (Updated 2005-05-21)

Firmware version 0.9.5 supports auto-answer via the Call-Info header. As of version 1.0.4, Asterisk stable branch does not ship with support for this header, but here is a uuencoded patch made against 1.0.4 that implements Call-Info support from the dial plan.


Update 2005-05-21
With latest CVS of Asterisk, you may use the application SIPAddHeader to add the 'Call-Info' header to the SIP Invite message. To have the unit answering the call after 0 ring (immediately), call the application SIPAddHeader with the following arguments: "Call-Info:\;answer-after=0)". For example:

 exten => 100,1,SIPAddHeader(Call-Info:\;answer-after=0)

Open questions

  • How exactly do the triple-colour LEDs work?
  • Is there support for the hint extension like with the SNOM?
  • a 'page' option is available in the settings, does anyone know how to make this work?

Pictures


Tools


Where to buy (Alphabetical by country then domain)

Entries out of order will be deleted






See Also



Comments

Comments Filter
222

333open questions

by chappell, Thursday 12 of October, 2006 [14:38:54 UTC]
<p>Is there any reason we shouldn't delete the Open Questions on this page? I think they have been answered to the extent possible.</p>

<dl>
<dt>* How exactly do the triple-colour LEDs work?</dt>
   <dd>This question is a little vague.  The Admin Guide has some information.</dd>

<dt>* Is there support for the hint extension like with the SNOM?</dt>
   <dd>Could this be a reference to the hint priority?  If so, it is an Asterisk feature which does not require the cooperation of the phone.</dd>

<dt>* A 'page' option is available in the settings, does anyone know how to make this work?</dt>
<dd>I am not sure to which setting the poser of the question refers. Page sounds like it might be auto answer.</dd>

</dl>
222

333I really wish that there were more ringtones for this!

by Gentek, Friday 29 of September, 2006 [19:17:53 UTC]
I have the SPA-841. So far it works well with my Epygi (www.epygi.com) IP PBX. My only complaints is the lack of backlight which they fixed with the SPA-942 and the lousy ringtones.
I think that the handsfree works well, as does all of the other features. It's not quite in the same build quality as the Aastra phones yet but I do think that it's beyond Polycom's. i like the look of it, I like how easy it is to use.
All in all, I'd put it in any office environment where phones are heavily used.
Mike - www.Gentek.com
222

333Very loud tone upon call connection

by Japendranatha, Tuesday 30 of May, 2006 [20:24:25 UTC]
When I make a call with my SPA-841, as soon as the other party picks up the phone blasts me in the ear with an extremely loud very short tone. It's very disturbing. It's so loud it could seriously damage my hearing. My eardrum actually hurts for a few seconds and I become slightly disoriented for a moment after the tone! Does anyone know how to turn that tone down or off?
222

333Problem with WBP54G wifi bridge

by Japendranatha, Sunday 28 of May, 2006 [20:26:21 UTC]
I just got an SPA-841 to test out as a possible phone for some areas of my installation. I also got a WBP54G wifi bridge with it. But the WBP54G bridge doesn't seem to work. Does anyone have any experience with these bridges? When I get through the setup wizard for it, it says it can't connect to my network, and that's that. By the way, I bought the two as a bundle from Telephonyware. Great company.
222

333microphone

by netfly, Thursday 02 of February, 2006 [11:29:10 UTC]
Hi Folks.
I had a problem with my microphone, caus the people doesn't understand me. Now i spent a few hours on the config and after downgrade the codec from G.711u to G.726-40 everything works fine. i have an adsl upstream of 200kb, but it seams, that the 80kb of the G.711 doesnt work.
Just a Tipp for people with the same problem ;)
222

333noise problems sipura

by sshadow, Sunday 04 of December, 2005 [11:47:01 UTC]
@ Tim Hodson
I also noticed the noise problems, sounds like being on the ocean. I've also upgraded to latest firmware, but i'm desperate to get rid of the noise. I think it's something with the microphone hardware. I will not buy another phone of this type.
222

333Excessive hiss

by jezreel, Tuesday 29 of November, 2005 [11:23:53 UTC]
We've been trying out the SPA-841, using firmware version 3.1.4(a), and have had a lot of problems with hiss. The basic sound is fine, but the noise level seems way too high, to me. Using the handset the caller is entirely intelligible with fine tone however the hiss is distracting, being loud enough that the listener might think you are at the seaside near a stony beach. The handsfree is broadly unusable - as well as generating even more hiss, the eratic gain means that the other party can often not make out what the caller is saying. We've tried various gain settings but they seem to boost/cut the hiss as much as the voice. Comparing WAV files generated by the answerphone, the background noise levels are much higher than in calls made from a GSM phone, cordless analogue phone through PSTN or VOIP softphone (x-lite). Indeed the test message we left handsfree had the end truncated by the answerphone since the gain dropped so low near the end of the message. The noise is only an issue with the audio that is being sent from the phone - the receive audio has been comfortably as clear as you might ever need.

Finally, for background, the phone is being used with an internet-based VOIP "virtual PBX service" which I believe uses Asterisk. The same service has been absolutely faultless using x-lite.

Has anyone else experienced this problem, and perhaps identified the source and solution?
222

333MWI answer

by rhealey, Sunday 20 of November, 2005 [10:21:51 UTC]
The light ONLY works for ext 1, all the other lines are stuck with just the stutter tone.
In asterisk's sip.conf file entry for the phone add a line like:

mailbox=extension@vm-context

Where extension is the number of the 841's extension and vm-context is the context you put the phone in in voicemail.conf. If its the default context you can drop the @vm-context part.

Anybody know of a way to generate mini certs and keys using linux/open-source tools?

-Rob
222

333

by Oblixxxx, Friday 18 of November, 2005 [15:15:23 UTC]
222

333message waiting indicator / MWI anybody

by Oblixxxx, Friday 18 of November, 2005 [15:14:28 UTC]
hi all, what do i have to do to get the Message waiting indicator LED to work? any special settings besides programming the voicemail number?