asterisk users - Aug 2004 - Could use some advice/reality check from someone knowledgeable

Have been experimenting with Asterisk for about 2 months now.  Have
developed a configuration that I feel is ready to deploy for our own in
house use.  Our primary motivation for considering an IP based phone
solution is to provide connectivity to remote tele-workers that for all
practical purposes emulates an office extension.

As deployed, we will have an Asterisk server at our main office with 4 IP
and 11 legacy analog extensions on an ancient Panasonic KX-T61610 KSU. The
main office has a T1 line to the Internet.  It is a business class setup
with multiple IP addresses.  Suspect will put Asterisk in the DMZ and have
it fairly exposed to the outside world.

We will also need to deploy 8 additional units at remote locations that are
on consumer type internet connections.  Mostly cable and DSL but one is on a
satellite ISP (guy lives in the woods but writes beautiful code.  These
remotes will need to traverse consumer grade NAT firewalls to reach the
Asterisk server at the main office.

My lab setup has been configured using a few cheap Grandstream phones. The
things work well but really look and feel cheap. When we do our roll out, I
want to deploy something that is going to look decent, feel like an office
phone, sound good, but is not unusually difficult to configure and deploy
(if the one out in the woods stops working, I am the one who will have to
drive 100 miles to fix it).  But of course I don't want to spend a dime more
than I have to.

I have admired the Cisco 7960, the Polycom 600 and the Snom 200 more or less
in that order of appeal. All seem to be available in about the same general
price range of $275-$350 street price (used ones for less on eBay). I am new
enough to IP telephony gear that I have missed some other players that I
should consider.  Last time I took a hard look at VoIP was about 5 years ago
before it was ready for prime time. Things have changed a lot since then.

What I hope to get from the group is a little guidance from folks out there
who may have already made a mistake that I should avoid. Info on any
gotcha's that I should be aware of would be appreciated.

Thanks

Gary G. Hendershot
Chief Technical Officer
Advanced Digital Technologies