Cordless recommendations???

[edisoninfo]

I have a retail store client that needs two cordless phones. They have set desks out on the showroom floor and there are no computer jacks anywhere near them and no way to get one there. So what do you guys/gals recommend in this situation?

I thought of a couple of options:
1. PAP2T with standard cordless phone attached
2. Some sort of SIP cordless such as the Gigaset units
3. SipDroid or Bria or similar on a wifi enabled cell phone
4. ??

If you think the SIP cordless is the best way, what brand and model have you used and can confirm it works great? This is kind of a touchy client and I don't want to "experiment" with a model and find out it is junk.

The phones will be used all day in a sales role.

 

[wardmundy]

No comparison IMHO between lousy cordless SIP phones and a PAP2T-NA with a good cordless DECT phone such as Panasonic which also has a 2-line model.

 

[edisoninfo]

Thanks Ward! My only question (concern?) with the PAP2 setup is how difficult it is to use the "features" of the piaf box? Dialing the various *xxx feature codes, parking calls, picking up parked calls, and things like that. The PAP2 seems to want to grab all those dial strings and not send them on to the piaf box. Admittedly, I have only spent a short time trying to get this to work. If someone has a canned config for the PAP2 that may be the way to go.

 

[randy7376]

You can disable the feature codes on the PAP2 so they don't interfere with the PBX. Just set the feature code field to an empty entry.

We use a couple of PAP2s as one of the buildings on the premises doesn't have Ethernet (and doesn't need it). So, we just made use of the existing phone lines. They work quite well considering the 700+ feet distance.

 

[dswartz]

Agree with randy.

 

[lifespeed]

No comparison IMHO between lousy cordless SIP phones and a PAP2T-NA with a good cordless DECT phone such as Panasonic which also has a 2-line model.

Aren't there good-quality DECT SIP phones available now? Analog phones with ATA are often a recipe for echo.

Or have you already tried the newer DECT SIP phones from Gigaset and found them lacking? My cordless SIP experience is limited to iPhone/Android with Bria over wifi, which I have found to be fine, but probably not appropriate for a business with rotating employees.

 

[wardmundy]

I've got a Gigaset sitting on my desk. It loses its IP connection about twice day forcing a reboot. Wouldn't touch another one with a ten foot pole.

 

[ronw]

I purchased a Gigaset A580IP about six months ago. The wife is currently using it. The A580IP uses DECT technology to the handsets. It is SIP to the base. It works great in a hosted pbx environment. We use the PSTN interface for local and 911 calls. I was using a Linksys spa3102 which always had echo problems on the PSTN line. The Gigaset has no echo.

I installed a spa3102 with the Panasonic Dect cordless handsets for one of my neighbors. It is also a great combination.

I have ordered one of the OBi110 adapters to see how well the fxo works with PSTN.

 

[dad311]

I vote option one. I have a customer with two if these PAP2T boxes with three different cordless phones connected. I don't like the setup, but it works well and its what the customer wanted.

If you buy the PAP2T boxes off ebay, you might want to buy a 1-2 extras. Ive had about 25% failure rate on the PAP2Ts.

Oh, also try to buy a cordless phone WITHOUT a internal answering machine. Sooner or later someone will enable the voicemail on the cordless phone and hose the call flow. You might also be able to increase the # of rings on the cordless phone voicemail to avoid this issue.

 

[lifespeed]

I purchased a Gigaset A580IP about six months ago. The wife is currently using it. The A580IP uses DECT technology to the handsets. It is SIP to the base. It works great in a hosted pbx environment. We use the PSTN interface for local and 911 calls. I was using a Linksys spa3102 which always had echo problems on the PSTN line. The Gigaset has no echo.

OK, so the vote of no-confidence on Gigaset DECT/SIP is not unanimous. And the ATA analog echo is confirmed with the SPA3102.

I know of a few people who have echo issues, usually associated with ATAs.

 

[wardmundy]

If you're getting echo on the SPA3102, it's not configured correctly. With the out-of-the-box settings outlined in the FreePBX article, there is no echo.

 

[dswartz]

Ward, I'm sorry, but this is just not true. The SPA-3102 (and predecessors) have always been very iffy in this respect. Some people have had no issues at all, and others have never been able to solve the echo problem (with identical configurations). If you don't believe me, google for it - you will find threads going back years on this...

 

[Fala]

I will have to agree with Ward on this issue. I have three SPA3102, two at my office and one at a friend's house. In two of the installations, I have an T-Mobile "ATA" attached to the line port and the other a AT&T POTS Line and I have NEVER had a echo problem with the default settings.

The Echo issue seems to occur when someone call into the SPA-3102 FXS line, get a dial tone and bridge the calls to the FXO line to make outgoing locals calls through the POTS line. I have only experiment with this type of setup and did not experience any echo problems.

 

[dswartz]

A sample set of three is not very large. Like I said, google and you will see what I mean. I'm glad it works for you, but it has not worked for many other folks, and it doesn't do anyone any favors by making the kind of sweeping statement he made. Also, I'm not sure I understand what you were saying? My understanding is that most people using a 3102 in a home setup want to use the FXS and FXO ports (else why have them?) If the only sure way to get rid of the echo is to not use the FXS port and use the 3102 for POTS access only, that's kind of crippled, IMO...

 

[ronw]

The Linksys SPA3102 is a hit or miss when it comes to echo. I have one neighbor who has echo problems using the spa3102 and one neighbor who does not complain about echo. They both have the same configuration. I have tried every fix found on the internet to solve echo on the spa3102. I currently own three of these devices and have spent months testing different configurations.

 

[lifespeed]

The Linksys SPA3102 is a hit or miss when it comes to echo. I have one neighbor who has echo problems using the spa3102 and one neighbor who does not complain about echo. They both have the same configuration. I have tried every fix found on the internet to solve echo on the spa3102. I currently own three of these devices and have spent months testing different configurations.

No doubt the particular analog phone to which it is connected is a significant variable.

I will also take a moment to suggest that it is fundamentally incorrect to use a digital cordless phone to do an A/D conversion in the handset, send it over the airwaves, do a D/A conversion in the base, send it over the phone cord, and then A/D it again in the ATA.

 

[ronw]

I will also take a moment to suggest that it is fundamentally incorrect to use a digital cordless phone to do an A/D conversion in the handset, send it over the airwaves, do a D/A conversion in the base, send it over the phone cord, and then A/D it again in the ATA.

DECT 6.0 cordless phones work great when connected to an analoge interface. This is afterall, what it is designed to do and where it is used most. In a typical PSTN call, there can and will be multiple A/D & D/A conversions.

 

[lifespeed]

DECT 6.0 cordless phones work great when connected to an analoge interface. This is afterall, what it is designed to do and where it is used most. In a typical PSTN call, there can and will be multiple A/D & D/A conversions.

Actually, in a typical PSTN call made via a SIP trunk, there is an A/D conversion at the source phone, and a D/A conversion at the recipient 'box' (don't know the terminology, CLEC?) connected to the analog phone line. This is the best case, and it is commonly achieved. Remember the 56K computer modem from years ago? This was only possible with an all-digital connect to your ISP (excluding the last mile analog twisted pair), and was possible for many, many people. The PSTN has been largely digital for awhile. Many of us using PIAF do not use analog phone lines at all.

Adding unnecessary A/D conversions can only be detrimental. Yes, it works, but our expectations of quality set by decades of legacy 3.5 KHz phone calls are pretty low.

 

[ronw]

Actually, in a typical PSTN call made via a SIP trunk, ...

Fact: Typical PSTN calls are not yet made over a SIP trunk.

While SIP is growing in popularity, a "typical PSTN" call is made using a combination of digital and analog devices. SIP just happens to be a digital protocal that at some point interfaces with the PSTN. The majority of residenial phones today are analog.

Many of us using PIAF do not use analog phone lines at all.

If you place calls to the Public Switched Telephone Network, then your calls also interface with analog devices.


Wireless cell technology is the reason residetial customers are moving away from analog, not SIP.

 

[lifespeed]

Regardless of how the call is made, the minimum number of A/D conversions is two: one at each end. This is accomplished with a corded analog phone at each end, or a SIP phone using SIP trunk. Still same two conversions, tho the location of A/D conversion differs, either phone company A/D or SIP phone A/D.

You add two extra conversions when you use a digital cordless phone over analog, but this is the point: when you use a cordless digital SIP phone over SIP trunk you're still accomplishing the minimum A/D conversions of two. You can't do this with analog phone lines because the cordless phone adds two extra conversions.

Whether this is important or desirable is up to each individual user. But it is fact.