asterisk users - Oct 2007 - Receptionists Phone suggestions? (Not Snom370)

Does anyone have any suggestions for a decent receptionists phone?
Aastra?  Grandstream?

Something with (potentially) lots of BLFs, large(ish) screen, headset
and most importantly the ability to transfer calls?

I've installed five Snom 370s that seemed ideal but my client is very
very unhappy as the Snom 370 can't transfer a call correctly if there's
another call coming in (details below if you/re interested).  I've
verified this problem with Snom who's response is that the receptionist
should answer all of the incoming calls before trying to do a transfer -

That's just Bonkers!

So... any suggestions?


Details of Snom 370 problem for the record:

Snom370 gets a Call (Call A). 
Snom370 answers Call A. Call A wants to be transferred to Phone C. 
Snom370 has another call ringing (Call B). 
Snom370 presses HOLD button gets Dialtone. Call A is on Hold, Call B
still ringing. 
Snom370 Dials Phone C (Call C). 
Snom370 talks to Call C. 
Snom370 presses TRANSFER. 
 
The display shows: 
  
        < CallA 
        > CallB 

The soft keys now show "<<" and ">>". Pressing
them does nothing.

When the TRANSFER button is pressed again, CallA is connected to CallB
(the original caller is now talking to the previously unanswered party)
not what one wanted to happen!

It's not difficult to see why my client is throwing their toys out of
the pram and I'm going to have to replace the Snoms at my expense :-(


-- 
 Regards,
     Russell
 --------------------------------------------------------------------
| Russell Brown          | MAIL: russell at lls.com PHONE: 01780 471800 |
| Lady Lodge Systems     | WWW Work: http://www.lls.com              |
| Peterborough, England  | WWW Play: http://www.ruffle.me.uk         |
 --------------------------------------------------------------------

Russell Brown wrote:
> 
> Does anyone have any suggestions for a decent receptionists phone?
> Aastra?  Grandstream?
> 
Linksys SPA94x/6x perhaps.  I don't know if it has the transfer problem
or not.



/Per Jessen, Z?rich

-- 
http://www.spamchek.com/ - your spam is our business.

On Fri, 2007-10-19 at 09:12 +0100, Russell Brown wrote:
> Does anyone have any suggestions for a decent receptionists phone?
> Aastra?  Grandstream?
> 
> Something with (potentially) lots of BLFs, large(ish) screen, headset
> and most importantly the ability to transfer calls?
Personally I'm happy with a Linksys SPA-962 + the 932 sidecar.  With the
latest firmware, the Busy Lamp Fields work well, and can also be used as
Speed Dial buttons at the same time.  I've also heard good reports from
people using Polycom and Aastra phones.


-- 
Jared Smith
Community Relations Manager
Digium, Inc.

Or your could use a touch screen with Flash Operator Panel.  Just a
suggestion out of left field.

-----Original Message-----
From: Russell Brown [mailto:russell at lls.lls.com] 
Sent: Friday, October 19, 2007 1:12 AM
To: asterisk-users at lists.digium.com
Subject: [asterisk-users] Receptionists Phone suggestions? (Not Snom370)


Does anyone have any suggestions for a decent receptionists phone?
Aastra?  Grandstream?

Something with (potentially) lots of BLFs, large(ish) screen, headset
and most importantly the ability to transfer calls?

I've installed five Snom 370s that seemed ideal but my client is very
very unhappy as the Snom 370 can't transfer a call correctly if there's
another call coming in (details below if you/re interested).  I've
verified this problem with Snom who's response is that the receptionist
should answer all of the incoming calls before trying to do a transfer -

That's just Bonkers!

So... any suggestions?


Details of Snom 370 problem for the record:

Snom370 gets a Call (Call A). 
Snom370 answers Call A. Call A wants to be transferred to Phone C. 
Snom370 has another call ringing (Call B). 
Snom370 presses HOLD button gets Dialtone. Call A is on Hold, Call B
still ringing. 
Snom370 Dials Phone C (Call C). 
Snom370 talks to Call C. 
Snom370 presses TRANSFER. 
 
The display shows: 
  
        < CallA 
        > CallB 

The soft keys now show "<<" and ">>". Pressing
them does nothing.

When the TRANSFER button is pressed again, CallA is connected to CallB
(the original caller is now talking to the previously unanswered party)
not what one wanted to happen!

It's not difficult to see why my client is throwing their toys out of
the pram and I'm going to have to replace the Snoms at my expense :-(


-- 
 Regards,
     Russell
 --------------------------------------------------------------------
| Russell Brown          | MAIL: russell at lls.com PHONE: 01780 471800 |
| Lady Lodge Systems     | WWW Work: http://www.lls.com              |
| Peterborough, England  | WWW Play: http://www.ruffle.me.uk         |
 --------------------------------------------------------------------

shadowym wrote:
> Or your could use a touch screen with Flash Operator Panel.  Just a
> suggestion out of left field.
>
>   
<snipped a bunch>

shadowym:

Do you have a specific setup w/touchscreen that you have deployed and 
that works well?

Thanks,

Mike

I think most phones somehow have this kind of behaviour : "transfer button
applies to ongoing call" and so on.

What happens if you don't press TRANSFER again (when display shows < Call
A
> CallB) ?
Have you tried call parking ?
What if you used blind transfer instead ?
If receptionist is busy, assisted transfer might be confusing under
pressure.

Regards
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I hope 2 things need to be clear.

1) One call per line, needs to be set on the VoIP.
2)We user Polycom 501 for all Desktop & Polycom 601 for reception.
http://media.polycom.com/usa/en/products/voice/soundpoint_ip/601/demo/index.html

OK, what I mean by one call per line....
-- Polycom of SIP Phones usually comes with 3,6 etc line display for extensions.
-- And each line display can accept/call/hold total of 8 active phone calls per
line.  This will cause problem  if all is on the same  line feed.
--So one needs to accept only one call per line in the VoIP phones config file.

I am not sure how ur line feeds are setup.  I just wanted to let u know that
there can be aproblem with transfer if u have multiple calls comming on same
line display.

Or, may be I am wrong in understanding ur email.

--
Deepak
 





Russell Brown <russell at lls.lls.com> wrote: 
Does anyone have any suggestions for a decent receptionists phone?
Aastra?  Grandstream?

Something with (potentially) lots of BLFs, large(ish) screen, headset
and most importantly the ability to transfer calls?

I've installed five Snom 370s that seemed ideal but my client is very
very unhappy as the Snom 370 can't transfer a call correctly if there's
another call coming in (details below if you/re interested).  I've
verified this problem with Snom who's response is that the receptionist
should answer all of the incoming calls before trying to do a transfer -

That's just Bonkers!

So... any suggestions?


Details of Snom 370 problem for the record:

Snom370 gets a Call (Call A). 
Snom370 answers Call A. Call A wants to be transferred to Phone C. 
Snom370 has another call ringing (Call B). 
Snom370 presses HOLD button gets Dialtone. Call A is on Hold, Call B
still ringing. 
Snom370 Dials Phone C (Call C). 
Snom370 talks to Call C. 
Snom370 presses TRANSFER. 
 
The display shows: 
  
        < CallA 
        > CallB 

The soft keys now show "<<" and ">>". Pressing
them does nothing.

When the TRANSFER button is pressed again, CallA is connected to CallB
(the original caller is now talking to the previously unanswered party)
not what one wanted to happen!

It's not difficult to see why my client is throwing their toys out of
the pram and I'm going to have to replace the Snoms at my expense :-(


-- 
 Regards,
     Russell
 --------------------------------------------------------------------
| Russell Brown          | MAIL: russell at lls.com PHONE: 01780 471800 |
| Lady Lodge Systems     | WWW Work: http://www.lls.com              |
| Peterborough, England  | WWW Play: http://www.ruffle.me.uk         |
 --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Agreed - handling multiple calls and transferring them on a Snom is a
problem. Too fiddly.

Polycom phones work well in reception situations, if set up well.

Haven't tested the new Aastra's (but the Aastra transfer function works
well) but they would probably be OK too.

PaulH


On Fri, 2007-10-19 at 09:12 +0100, Russell Brown wrote:
> Does anyone have any suggestions for a decent receptionists phone?
> Aastra?  Grandstream?
> 
> Something with (potentially) lots of BLFs, large(ish) screen, headset
> and most importantly the ability to transfer calls?
> 
> I've installed five Snom 370s that seemed ideal but my client is very
> very unhappy as the Snom 370 can't transfer a call correctly if
there's
> another call coming in (details below if you/re interested).  I've
> verified this problem with Snom who's response is that the receptionist
> should answer all of the incoming calls before trying to do a transfer -
> 
> That's just Bonkers!
> 
> So... any suggestions?
> 
> 
> Details of Snom 370 problem for the record:
> 
> Snom370 gets a Call (Call A). 
> Snom370 answers Call A. Call A wants to be transferred to Phone C. 
> Snom370 has another call ringing (Call B). 
> Snom370 presses HOLD button gets Dialtone. Call A is on Hold, Call B
> still ringing. 
> Snom370 Dials Phone C (Call C). 
> Snom370 talks to Call C. 
> Snom370 presses TRANSFER. 
>  
> The display shows: 
>   
>         < CallA 
>         > CallB 
> 
> The soft keys now show "<<" and ">>".
Pressing them does nothing.
> 
> When the TRANSFER button is pressed again, CallA is connected to CallB
> (the original caller is now talking to the previously unanswered party)
> not what one wanted to happen!
> 
> It's not difficult to see why my client is throwing their toys out of
> the pram and I'm going to have to replace the Snoms at my expense :-(
> 
>