Hi, everyone: I'm in the processing of deciding what IP phones we should use with our Asterisk server, and I wanted to get feedback from the user community on the quality, reliability and ease of operation of Snom phones. What do you have to say about these phones? Are there other phones you'd suggest along with or instead of Snom? Thanks, -Stephen-
<snom-bias> I use them and like them a lot. Like all IP phones they have...charming quirks. But they are IMO no more or no less hassle than other IP phones, and the firmware at least is updated regularly and snom goes through great pains it seems to ensure that the phone is properly supported. They are also the best-documented phones with Asterisk in terms of interoperability, howto's and posts on the lists. I also like the degree of control and relative attention to detail you get through their web admin page, phone setup is super easy in Asterisk and AMP, and I also get little bonuses like a GSM codec. Some people complain about the lightness of the handsets, volume problems, and bad speakerphone; I guess it depends on your environment and business requirement. I have one in a framing shop, covered in sawdust all day, with the most annoying ring on high. You can hear it ring with the saws on. It works. I also have them in an environment where there's four people talking on the phone in a bullpen, and the fifth guy always puts his on speakerphone. That doesn't work. </snom-bias> That being said, the other phones out there keep getting better and better. The Polycoms are well respected on the list. Big name high end phones with SIP like Cisco, Mitel and 3com work, too. Problem with high end handsets is sometimes you get locked into things like a service contract with Cisco just to download firmware images, or the vendor is a dickhead and won't publicly publish firmware like Mitel. There is a horde of SIP and IAX phones that are made by many Happy-Lucky-Fortune taiwainese style concerns, of which Grandstream is the poster child; interoperability, support and firmware updates will vary widely, however I have seen some pretty interesting looking handsets. Seems to me that it's hard to ensure a consistient rollout with these type of phones unless you were ordering n x 2 phones for spares, but with a single phone vendor like Snom, Cisco, or Mitel you could at least have the same *kinds* of interoperability issues to troubleshoot instead of a mongrel of different Chinese phones. OT: Hey, anyone still left reading this, quick poll: ADSI, Dead or Not? -----Original Message----- From: Stephen Bosch [mailto:posting@vodacomm.ca] Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005 10:09 PM To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Snom phones? Hi, everyone: I'm in the processing of deciding what IP phones we should use with our Asterisk server, and I wanted to get feedback from the user community on the quality, reliability and ease of operation of Snom phones. What do you have to say about these phones? Are there other phones you'd suggest along with or instead of Snom? Thanks, -Stephen- _______________________________________________ --Bandwidth and Colocation sponsored by Easynews.com -- Asterisk-Users mailing list Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
On Mon, 03 Oct 2005 22:09:23 -0600, Stephen Bosch wrote:>Hi, everyone: > >I'm in the processing of deciding what IP phones we should use with our >Asterisk server, and I wanted to get feedback from the user community on >the quality, reliability and ease of operation of Snom phones. > >What do you have to say about these phones? Are there other phones you'd >suggest along with or instead of Snom?I used to have some Snom 200's. They were nice and with the right firmware worked well. Others can give you more specifics. I eventually shifted to Polycom 500s and 600s. These are excellent phones. They just feel great. First rate hardware and unmatched speakerphone capability. They are a bit harder to get setup as you really need to use an FTP/TFTP/HTTP server to provision effectively. The LCD display on the 600 is excellent...not quite as nice on the 500. Most recently I've added an Aastra 480 CTi in order to try the cordless extension. This is also a superb phone. The only thing that I've tried that comes close to the Polycoms. They have backlit displays which is something that I wish more manufacturers would consider. By extension I expect that the 480i is also great...just lacking the cordless extension. For my purposes in a SOHO situation the 480 CTI is a far better device than a wifi sip phone. I have a Hitachi WIP-5000 that I will soon resell. Michael -- Michael Graves mgraves@pixelpower.com Sr. Product Specialist www.pixelpower.com Pixel Power Inc. mgraves@mstvp.com o713-861-4005 o800-905-6412 c713-201-1262 fwd 54245
On Tuesday 04 October 2005 06:09, Stephen Bosch wrote:> Hi, everyone: > > I'm in the processing of deciding what IP phones we should use with our > Asterisk server, and I wanted to get feedback from the user community on > the quality, reliability and ease of operation of Snom phones. > > What do you have to say about these phones? Are there other phones you'd > suggest along with or instead of Snom?Stephen I have used the SNOM190 & 360, Grandstream budget-tone100, Swissvoice ip10s and EQtel SNOM190 - nice quality, nice sound, expensive, some obscure features which if not turned off cause havoc (Transfer on Hook, Number guessing). Latest firmware solves the annoying loud beep when second call comes in. (SNOM200 is reputedly better...) SNOM360 - total overkill - only for receptionist but nice and expensive. Grandstream - very nice, nice price, has some convenient buttons (Message button dials own extension so easy to set up voicemailmain), attended transfer via flash button Swissvoice ip10s - nice and small, 4 programmable buttons on front so easily customisable, make sure that you have latest firmware (build 12), has 2 lines so no easy way to tell when transferring to phone that the callee is busy on the phone (phone picks up on line 2) EQtel - chunky militaristic look, battery backup (unique), have not used it much, extensive help on connecting to a SIP provider, voice quality ok, enquiring for the settings on the phone are 'spoken' to you rather than displayed on LCD, attended transfer via flash button My current preference is the Grandstream. Regards Paul -- Paul Hewlett - CottonPickinMinds - www.cottonpickinminds.co.za Tel: +27 21 852 8812 Cel: +27 84 420 9282 Fax: +27 86 672 0563 --
They are good phones they allow you to use speed-dial and "hints" to one button park and intercom. The only bad thing I can say about them is that there is no ground loop detection when using cinch headsets. I only ever had one user complaint with the Snom phones, some users don't like how soft the side tone is, and it can not be adjusted. All and all I like them better then Cisco 7960/40(no support for stun and zero echo suppression) and Grandstream GPX-2000 (good features but can be flaky) Stephen Bosch wrote:> Hi, everyone: > > I'm in the processing of deciding what IP phones we should use with our > Asterisk server, and I wanted to get feedback from the user community on > the quality, reliability and ease of operation of Snom phones. > > What do you have to say about these phones? Are there other phones you'd > suggest along with or instead of Snom? > > Thanks, > > -Stephen- > _______________________________________________ > --Bandwidth and Colocation sponsored by Easynews.com -- > > Asterisk-Users mailing list > Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users > To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users