Hi there Our company is using the Linksys SPA-942 Phones, and they are pretty useless. They dont have any central management or provisioning, as well as a pretty bad interface. Can anyone reccomend any voip phones( Cisco, Polycom, SNOM ) that have * Central Management for all the phones (We dont mind if we have to buy the software to manage them) * Programable shortcut buttons, So i can program in on certian phones quick dials to queues. * Optional but bonus, The ability to have a shared address book accross the phones. Can i use the Cisco phone managemenet software and the Cisco phones with Asterisk, Or is it 100% cisco. Thanks in advance Regards, Kev The information contained in this e-mail communication may be confidential. You should only read, disclose, re-transmit, copy, distribute, act in reliance on or commercialise the information if you are authorised to do so. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail communication, please immediately notify the sender by e-mail and then destroy any electronic or paper copy of this message. Any views expressed in this e-mail communication are those of the individual sender, except where the sender specifically states them to be the views of Mail Call Couriers. Mail Call Couriers does not represent, warrant or guarantee that the integrity of this communication has been maintained nor that the communication is free of errors, virus or interference. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/attachments/20081029/a79851d9/attachment.htm
You can use Cisco phones as long as they have a SIP image. Kev Szaszvari wrote:> Hi there > > Our company is using the Linksys SPA-942 Phones, and they are pretty > useless. > They dont have any central management or provisioning, as well as a > pretty bad interface. > > Can anyone reccomend any voip phones( Cisco, Polycom, SNOM ) that have > > * Central Management for all the phones (We dont mind if we have to buy > the software to manage them) > * Programable shortcut buttons, So i can program in on certian phones > quick dials to queues. > * Optional but bonus, The ability to have a shared address book accross > the phones. > > Can i use the Cisco phone managemenet software and the Cisco phones with > Asterisk, Or is it 100% cisco. > > Thanks in advance > > Regards, > Kev > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > The information contained in this e-mail communication may be confidential. > You should only read, disclose, re-transmit, copy, distribute, act in reliance > on or commercialise the information if you are authorised to do so. > If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail communication, > please immediately notify the sender by e-mail and then destroy any > electronic or paper copy of this message. > > Any views expressed in this e-mail communication are those of the individual sender, > except where the sender specifically states them to be the views of Mail Call Couriers. > Mail Call Couriers does not represent, warrant or guarantee that the integrity of this > communication has been maintained nor that the communication is free of errors, > virus or interference. > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > -- 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-- Alex Balashov Evariste Systems Web : http://www.evaristesys.com/ Tel : (+1) (678) 954-0670 Direct : (+1) (678) 954-0671 Mobile : (+1) (706) 338-8599
There are some decent third part central management systems for the Linksys phones (the company I work for write one of them) - the same piece of software will also manage Polycom and Snom phones (As well as Aastra phones and a few others) With regards to programmable buttons, the snoms are decent. The Polycom's can do this with their expansion modules, but they cost a bit more. (but are nicer, IMHO) I run an Aastra 480i on my desk here, and I like that. All of the phones will do a shared address book, and the Snom's can query LDAP. Haven't used this function myself. Don't know anything about the cisco phones. Over the past 4 years working on Asterisk I haven't really touched them. PaulH Kev Szaszvari wrote:> Hi there > > Our company is using the Linksys SPA-942 Phones, and they are pretty > useless. > They dont have any central management or provisioning, as well as a > pretty bad interface. > > Can anyone reccomend any voip phones( Cisco, Polycom, SNOM ) that have > > * Central Management for all the phones (We dont mind if we have to > buy the software to manage them) > * Programable shortcut buttons, So i can program in on certian phones > quick dials to queues. > * Optional but bonus, The ability to have a shared address book > accross the phones. > > Can i use the Cisco phone managemenet software and the Cisco phones > with Asterisk, Or is it 100% cisco. > > Thanks in advance > > Regards, > Kev > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > The information contained in this e-mail communication may be confidential. > You should only read, disclose, re-transmit, copy, distribute, act in reliance > on or commercialise the information if you are authorised to do so. > If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail communication, > please immediately notify the sender by e-mail and then destroy any > electronic or paper copy of this message. > > Any views expressed in this e-mail communication are those of the individual sender, > except where the sender specifically states them to be the views of Mail Call Couriers. > Mail Call Couriers does not represent, warrant or guarantee that the integrity of this > communication has been maintained nor that the communication is free of errors, > virus or interference. > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > -- 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
Kev Szaszvari wrote:> Hi there > > Our company is using the Linksys SPA-942 Phones, and they are pretty > useless. > They dont have any central management or provisioning, as well as a > pretty bad interface.This is completely incorrect. Linksys SPA-942s *do* have the ability for central management. It's done via an XML file - the details on which you can get by opening your web browser and going to http://<ip.of.your.phone>/admin/spacfg.xml which will return the full configuration of your phone as it currently stands. As for the interface, whilst it's not the best I've seen, it's far from the worst.> Can anyone reccomend any voip phones( Cisco, Polycom, SNOM ) that have > > * Central Management for all the phones (We dont mind if we have to > buy the software to manage them) > * Programable shortcut buttons, So i can program in on certian phones > quick dials to queues. > * Optional but bonus, The ability to have a shared address book > accross the phones.Snom phones (320 and above) have all the features you ask for here.
...as others have mentioned, yes they do have the ability to be centrally managed, provisioned, configured. Also, from the latest firmware, 6.x.x: - Ability to use line buttons as quick dials - Ability to query centralized LDAP for directory (I haven't tested this one yet) So, the phones you have may be able to address all your needs, without forcing you to replace them with something else. -- exvito
You can use the Cisco phones with either the SIP of the SCCP image. Though I do agree that the SIP image is a bit easier to setup and auto- provision, the SCCP image is a more native (obviously) implementation. The chan-sccp-b project has nearly every feature usable on these phones working in * at the moment. Dave On Oct 28, 2008, at 8:39 PM, Alex Balashov wrote:> You can use Cisco phones as long as they have a SIP image. > > Kev Szaszvari wrote: > >> Hi there >> >> Our company is using the Linksys SPA-942 Phones, and they are pretty >> useless. >> They dont have any central management or provisioning, as well as a >> pretty bad interface. >> >> Can anyone reccomend any voip phones( Cisco, Polycom, SNOM ) that >> have >> >> * Central Management for all the phones (We dont mind if we have to >> buy >> the software to manage them) >> * Programable shortcut buttons, So i can program in on certian phones >> quick dials to queues. >> * Optional but bonus, The ability to have a shared address book >> accross >> the phones. >> >> Can i use the Cisco phone managemenet software and the Cisco phones >> with >> Asterisk, Or is it 100% cisco. >> >> Thanks in advance >> >> Regards, >> Kev >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> The information contained in this e-mail communication may be >> confidential. >> You should only read, disclose, re-transmit, copy, distribute, act >> in reliance >> on or commercialise the information if you are authorised to do so. >> If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail communication, >> please immediately notify the sender by e-mail and then destroy any >> electronic or paper copy of this message. >> >> Any views expressed in this e-mail communication are those of the >> individual sender, >> except where the sender specifically states them to be the views of >> Mail Call Couriers. >> Mail Call Couriers does not represent, warrant or guarantee that >> the integrity of this >> communication has been maintained nor that the communication is >> free of errors, >> virus or interference. >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> _______________________________________________ >> -- 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 > > > -- > Alex Balashov > Evariste Systems > Web : http://www.evaristesys.com/ > Tel : (+1) (678) 954-0670 > Direct : (+1) (678) 954-0671 > Mobile : (+1) (706) 338-8599 > > _______________________________________________ > -- 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
Daniel Hazelbaker
2008-Oct-29 07:19 UTC
[asterisk-users] Decent Voip Phones for enterprise
On Oct 28, 2008, at 5:13 PM, Kev Szaszvari wrote:> Hi there > Can anyone reccomend any voip phones( Cisco, Polycom, SNOM ) that have > > * Central Management for all the phones (We dont mind if we have to > buy the software to manage them) > * Programable shortcut buttons, So i can program in on certian > phones quick dials to queues. > * Optional but bonus, The ability to have a shared address book > accross the phones.We just rolled out Snom phones and it was the easiest thing in the world. 1) Yes, you can centrally manage your phones. If you realtime SIP with a database then you can do a complete plug&play setup. We use a few scripts to do this here. a) Script to respond to the Snom plug&play request (SIP broadcast message), redirects to PHP script (b). b) A few PHP scripts that update the firmware, provision the phones (via the database), define all the standard buttons, and allow overrides based upon extension number. 2) The Snom's let you program every single button. If you want to re- program the conference button to be a hold button, *shrug* go for it. You can program a button to function as a BLF, speed-dial and call- pickup button all at the same time. (Current 7.3.7 has a bug that only lets you speed-dial and call-pickup when the phone is on-hook, latest beta fixes that). 3) Nearly perfect support for LDAP directory. I say nearly because if you enable the number lookup feature (in addition to the name lookup) then anytime you dial it will immediately match by name and not let you see the number you are dialing. It basically forces you to dial-by- directory, kind of annoying. I got a bug report in on that. In regards to 1b, the PHP script gets the MAC address from the phone (via the URL requested), queries the database, sends back an XML file with all the registration information. With SIP realtime, what this means is that you get a new phone, put in the registration information in your database along with the MAC address of the phone, then plug the phone into the network. Come back 10 minutes later and it has updated itself to the latest firmware and is ready to make & receive calls. If you want more specific information on this I would be happy to give you the scripts. As others have noted, the Linksys may be able to do what you want. But if you do end up switching I recommend the Snom if you want the best bang for your buck. Cisco & Polycom are good phones, but getting a big enough phone that has programmable buttons etc. gets really pricy. Grandstream is okay, but after comparing them with the rest of the phones they audio quality just isn't there. And for us, the Snom is the only phone I could successfully program to do single-button call parking, which was a major requirement. Daniel> Thanks in advance > > Regards, > Kev-------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/attachments/20081029/0fbab881/attachment.htm
On Wed, 29 Oct 2008, Kev Szaszvari wrote:> Hi there > > Our company is using the Linksys SPA-942 Phones, and they are pretty useless. > They dont have any central management or provisioning, as well as a pretty bad interface. > > Can anyone reccomend any voip phones( Cisco, Polycom, SNOM ) that have > > * Central Management for all the phones (We dont mind if we have to buy > the software to manage them)I always wondered about this - my target is the SME - say 4-150 seats - people don't move desks, change office that often, staff "churn" is typically low, so I program the phones once then leave them there. If you move desk you take your phone with you. If you leave then the phone can be renamed via it's web interface relatively easily. Maybe I'm just dealing with simple (dumb?) offices, but I'm curious as to what people do with the phones that require this sort of central management. (And regular phone updating)> * Programable shortcut buttons, So i can program in on certian phones > quick dials to queues.How about implementing this in the PBX.> * Optional but bonus, The ability to have a shared address book accross > the phones.Same here. So some phones do have nice programmable buttons - and that's good, but in my PBX I have the space for about 600 speed-dials (3-digit extensions) which are web managed by the admin, and 30 personal ones settable on the phone *00 through *29 ... (I know this sometimes might clash with a phones own 'star' codes though) But maybe this is just me ... When I started playing with asterisk I bought a small number of different phones to get a feel for them and was frustrated by a lack of common functions across them, so put all features back into the PBX - things like diverts, follow-me, voicemail and so on are all handled by my asterisk system rather than relying on a particular SIP phone to handle it... However if you want to know what phones I use, it's mostly Grandstream for now. I provision them using gsutil, and when customers want something a bit more posh, it's Snoms. Gordon