TIPS Good Phone, Lots of Buttons

[edisoninfo]

I am looking at a project with 60 phones and a dozen lines. Their current phones have 36 buttons down the side for BLF. I'm not aware of any SIP phones that have that many other than the Digium D70 and you have to scroll to see them all. Any recommendations? I'd prefer it to be a fairly good phone like a Polycom or Aastra or something.

If I end up going with 60 of the D70's, which version of PiaF should I use?

 

[briankelly63]

Look at the Yealink T46G

 

[rossiv]

I think Grandstream has one with like 20 keys. Personally I like the Snom 720, but it only has 18(?) keys.

 

[krzykat]

Yes - the Grandstream GXP-2124 - has 24 side buttons in addition to all the normal ones. - it's actually 24+4 potential BLF's possible. Plus it has Gigabit ports and HD audio.

 

[AndyInNYC]

The Mitel 5224 has 24 programmable buttons as well as available side car. Good speaker as well. It can also be registered to a second PBX. Others may have these features as well, but I can only speak to the Mitel.

Andrew

 

[rossiv]

I am also a fan of the Mitel phones. However, BLF support is lacking. You can only do in-call BLF, not ringing or on-hold. Can't beat the sound quality and build quality. I have eight of them in my house and I love them!

 

[edisoninfo]

Thank you for the suggestions. I will explore each one.

For the second question, if I go with the Digium D70 phones, which is the best version of PiaF to use?

 

[wardmundy]

Thank you for the suggestions. I will explore each one.

For the second question, if I go with the Digium D70 phones, which is the best version of PiaF to use?

PIAF-Green with or without Incredible PBX 11 includes full support for Digium phones.

 

[leemason]

Might be better to get a lower spec phone plus using some on screen software to better show extension status for lots of other extensions. You could have a look at iSymphony from Schmooze Com or if you don't fancy that you could have a look at FOP2. Both will work well with PIAF.

 

[EndeavorPBX]

I'm confused. Why would anyone use a phone other than the Aastra 6757i?

 

[krzykat]

I'm confused. Why would anyone use a phone other than the Aastra 6757i?

Well, for starters the person posting this needed lots of buttons - other phones have more buttons than the 6757. But just for kicks, why don't you look up the specs differential between the Aastra 6757i and the Yealink T46 and then I'd ask you the same question. Why would someone not want to use the T46. The Aastra is only 100 Meg, many newer phones including the Yealink are Gigabit. Yealink has color screen, option for Bluetooth, etc. That's why I'd pick it over the Aastra every time, but to each their own.

 

[EndeavorPBX]

What phones have more buttons than the 6757i? The 6757i has 12 buttons (48 with the additional screens). You can add a sidecar (40 buttons, I think) if you need more buttons.

The T46 has fewer buttons and is more expensive. My experience with Yealink phones is that they have a very slow UI and a poor UI (for example, the power LED is where the voicemail LED should be and BLF's don't operate the way most people would expect).

How does Gigabit help you? The last time I checked, each VOIP audio path uses 120 kbps.

Having Gigabit on a VOIP phone is like having a Ferrari in a senior community. If you're using the pass through, you'd be better off buying a gigabit switch and spending the rest of the money you saved on calls.

 

[MGD4me]

Having Gigabit on a VOIP phone is like having a Ferrari in a senior community.

Yeah, but it's the bragging rights!

 

[krzykat]

Have to totally disagree here. I have had clients that have 10 phones in 10 different rooms that only have one Cat-5 running to the Gig switch in the computer room. For them to be able to use Gig pass-through to their phone is a necessity. And if they went with a Gig switch for each of those 10 rooms - how on earth is that cheaper?

 

[Brian Simmons]

You are both right. Gigabit is really nice for pass-through. It isn't really needed otherwise.

 

[edisoninfo]

Exactly why I want gigabit. Most of my installs are smb's and non of them have extra network jacks for phones. They all use the pass-thru port. No sense in throttling the gigabit network they just upgraded to.

 

[EndeavorPBX]

Often it's cheaper to install a gigabit switch in the room with the phone than to spend the extra money for a phone that supports gigabit just to use pass through. Plus, the need for gigabit is no justification for installing an inferior phone...

Exactly why I want gigabit. Most of my installs are smb's and non of them have extra network jacks for phones. They all use the pass-thru port. No sense in throttling the gigabit network they just upgraded to.

 

[edisoninfo]

For 1 or 2 phones that might work. Although it means buying a small PoE switch or the power brick for the phone, and a UPS. Not sure that cost justifies itself.

 

[leemason]

If you're going to have PCs connected through the internal switch on a phone it's best to have a switch that will support VLANs and QoS as well. That way the data from the PCs won't affect the voice quality on the phones. If I can justify the cost I will always try to go for HP Procurve switches. They are a bit expensive but work really well.

 

[EndeavorPBX]

If you feel like you gotta have Gigabit passthrough, just buy the 6757i and a TP Link TL-SG1008P, which is an 8-port gigabit switch with 4 POE Ports for $50 from Amazon.com. The $50 switch is cheaper than the additional cost for the gigabit phone. Plus, you'll have lots of extra ports, and you can feed the 6757i with POE and avoid having to run a separate power cable.

If you want a managed POE Switch, Ubiquiti makes a very nice one for $189 called the TS-8-PRO.

I feel strongly that it's bad form to use passthrough. Do you really want them losing their computer's connection to the internet if the phone fails, or the power supply on phone the suffers a voltage drop?

Why would you spend $75+ more for a gigabit phone when a switch is cheaper and better?