asterisk users - Apr 2008 - Advice on best operator phone (with attendant console)

One of our clients is using a Grandstream GXP2000 with an attendant
console. We have used the same phone with past clients successfully
however this particular operator processes around 200 calls a hours and
the GXP2000 for sure does not like the quick line shuffling and call
volume. We get the following problems randomly:

1. menu stops working
2. transfer key stops working
3. Line 1 LED gets stuck
4. Voice 'gaps' (blackouts) for 4-5 seconds
5. The phone also completely locks up regularly
6. ping response goes from 8ms to 3000ms (after which the phone locks
up)

Wondering which operator phone would work best. I have the following
choices:

1. Linksys SPA 932/962 with attendant console
2. Polycom 601/650 with attendant console

I cant confirm online whether the BLF functionality will work with
Asterisk 1.2.26. Is somebody using either of these phones in a high
volume environment successfully?

Thank you.

-- 
Faraz R Khan
Chief Architect
Emergen Consulting Pvt Ltd
+92.21.111.111.320 x200
www.emergen.biz

Faraz R. Khan wrote:
> One of our clients is using a Grandstream GXP2000 with an attendant
> console. We have used the same phone with past clients successfully
> however this particular operator processes around 200 calls a hours and
> the GXP2000 for sure does not like the quick line shuffling and call
> volume. We get the following problems randomly:
<snip>

Our call volume is no where near 200 call per hour, however we do handle
all of our calls via a switchboard.  We started with a Polycom 601 with
2 sidecars (we have 30 stations) and had problems with Paging and the
sidecar lights to being accurrate.  It appears the 601 didn't have the
horsepower to accept the presense updates (Buddy Watch) when we paged
AND accept a call at the same time.  It would reboot the phone.

We updated to a 650 and haven't had a problem yet.  Moral of the story
is, if you choose Polycom, definitely go with the 650 over the 601.

HTH

Bill

Your problems reflect what grandstream phones do.

I have been using a Polycom 650 with 2 sidecars as well as 601 with no
problems, we don't do paging, but the 650 does around 300 calls an
hour. With no problems.
Asterisk 1.2.x does support BLF. Earlier versions of 1.2.x would lose
subscriptions on a reload, which meant rebooting the Polycoms, but it
was fixed somewhere around 1.2.1x not sure exactly.

On Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 1:19 AM, Faraz R. Khan <faraz.khan at emergen.biz>
wrote:
> One of our clients is using a Grandstream GXP2000 with an attendant
>  console. We have used the same phone with past clients successfully
>  however this particular operator processes around 200 calls a hours and
>  the GXP2000 for sure does not like the quick line shuffling and call
>  volume. We get the following problems randomly:
>
>  1. menu stops working
>  2. transfer key stops working
>  3. Line 1 LED gets stuck
>  4. Voice 'gaps' (blackouts) for 4-5 seconds
>  5. The phone also completely locks up regularly
>  6. ping response goes from 8ms to 3000ms (after which the phone locks
>  up)
>
>  Wondering which operator phone would work best. I have the following
>  choices:
>
>  1. Linksys SPA 932/962 with attendant console
>  2. Polycom 601/650 with attendant console
>
>  I cant confirm online whether the BLF functionality will work with
>  Asterisk 1.2.26. Is somebody using either of these phones in a high
>  volume environment successfully?
>
>  Thank you.
>
>  --
>  Faraz R Khan
>  Chief Architect
>  Emergen Consulting Pvt Ltd
>  +92.21.111.111.320 x200
>  www.emergen.biz
>
>
>  _______________________________________________
>  -- Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com --
>
>  asterisk-users mailing list
>  To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
>    http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
>

We have been marketing ipPBX systems based on asterisk for 3+ years.   
For the last year we've been placing Aastra 57iCT with 560M sidecars.  
Our attendants like the idea of a cordless handset so the attendant can 
go to the copy room, etc.  The LCD based sidecar means you can keep it 
up to date without marking up paper strips.   We deploy Thirdlane PBX 
Manager which allows us to setup the BLF (busy lamp field) via a web 
interface.

Aastra 57iCT: 
http://neobits.com/aastra_-_a1758-0131-10-05_-_57i_ct_p11471.html
Aastra 560m: http://neobits.com/aastra_-_a1760-0000-10-55_-_560m_p11472.html
Thirdlane PBX Manager: http://www.thirdlane.com/products/pbxmanager

Feel free to contact me off list if I can be of any assistance.

Regards,
Jim
ph: 408-701-9929



Faraz R. Khan wrote:
> One of our clients is using a Grandstream GXP2000 with an attendant
> console. We have used the same phone with past clients successfully
> however this particular operator processes around 200 calls a hours and
> the GXP2000 for sure does not like the quick line shuffling and call
> volume. We get the following problems randomly:
>
> 1. menu stops working
> 2. transfer key stops working
> 3. Line 1 LED gets stuck
> 4. Voice 'gaps' (blackouts) for 4-5 seconds
> 5. The phone also completely locks up regularly
> 6. ping response goes from 8ms to 3000ms (after which the phone locks
> up)
>
> Wondering which operator phone would work best. I have the following
> choices:
>
> 1. Linksys SPA 932/962 with attendant console
> 2. Polycom 601/650 with attendant console
>
> I cant confirm online whether the BLF functionality will work with
> Asterisk 1.2.26. Is somebody using either of these phones in a high
> volume environment successfully?
>
> Thank you.
>
>

For a receptionist, you generally want to go with a quality phone since 
they're going to be the heaviest user of the phone system in the 
building.  (Inbound/outbound call agents may take/make more calls, but 
their requirements are far more simple than the complex call juggling a 
receptionist can do)

Go with the Polycom 601/650 with attendant consoles - the fact that the 
display is LED and is automatically updated whenever the directory 
changes is going to be a big plus here, and the sound quality of the 
Polycoms outperform anything else on the market.

The only drawback is that IIRC the directory will have to be configured 
through an XML file - the web interface will allow you to add entries, 
however I have a sneaking suspicion that you /can't/ configure BLF 
through the web interface.


Faraz R. Khan wrote:
> One of our clients is using a Grandstream GXP2000 with an attendant
> console. We have used the same phone with past clients successfully
> however this particular operator processes around 200 calls a hours and
> the GXP2000 for sure does not like the quick line shuffling and call
> volume. We get the following problems randomly:
>
> 1. menu stops working
> 2. transfer key stops working
> 3. Line 1 LED gets stuck
> 4. Voice 'gaps' (blackouts) for 4-5 seconds
> 5. The phone also completely locks up regularly
> 6. ping response goes from 8ms to 3000ms (after which the phone locks
> up)
>
> Wondering which operator phone would work best. I have the following
> choices:
>
> 1. Linksys SPA 932/962 with attendant console
> 2. Polycom 601/650 with attendant console
>
> I cant confirm online whether the BLF functionality will work with
> Asterisk 1.2.26. Is somebody using either of these phones in a high
> volume environment successfully?
>
> Thank you.
>
>   
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