Just got my hands on a Cisco SPA50G, this is the revised SPA942 (probably the most popular voip phone)
The SPA942 was a very nice voip phone - it offered extensive features at a very nice price. There were some things that needed improving. The SPA504 fixes most of the problems. The one problem I was hoping it would improve immensely was the speaker phone but I am out of luck here.
Although with recent firmware upgrades for the SPA942 the speaker phone became usable its still was not a "great" sounding speaker phone compared to Polycom phones. Seems that Cisco just can't figure out the speaker phone.
The SPA504G has the following improvements:
1) Support HD/g722 codec
2) Handset - heavier - more polished -sounds better - sounds deeper
3) Buttons - have more of tactile feel - don't feel cheap anymore
4) Speaker phone - louder (no improvement is sound quality)
5) Sidecar - all the SPA phones now support the new and old 32 button sidecar - you do not need a "receptionist" phone anymore - anyone of them can be turned into one - all have the AUX expansion
6) Configuration Interface is more polished - looks modern (same options though)
7) Line/nav buttons and MWI are smaller now
8) Unit is a little heavier - seems more solid
Overall a nice improvement - if you don't need g722 and louder speaker phone your better off getting an SPA942 while they are still available since there is such a huge price difference.
Showing posts with label bad speaker phone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bad speaker phone. Show all posts
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
The Truth About the Grandstream GXP2000
This phone is really great if you are learning Asterisk and want to test most of the features. It has many advanced features for a really low price. You can easily find the GXP2000 for around $85 at many online stores.
The first time I encountered this phone was at a clients site. The clients setup was done by someone who decided try their hand at VOIP. From my understanding they decided it was not worth the trouble and took a job in the Bahamas (idiots get all the breaks).
The client had numerous issues regarding dropped calls, echo, static/pop sounds, and general inconsistency with dialing certain numbers.
Many of the issues were to do with just sloppy configuring on the initial setup.
The only items that I could not fix were the static/pop sounds - I found it strange since all the phones were GXP2000 but only some of them were causing problems. A firmware update did not fix the problem phones.
I later purchased one of these phones for my own personal use and testing. I updated the firmware and used it for several months. To my surprise everything worked great. No pop or static sounds and even the speaker phone worked well.
My initial thought was that Grandstream fixed everything with a new firmware. At this point I thought this was is not a bad entry level phone for some clients looking to save some money. Even recommended the product when someone would ask.
Over time I figured out what the main problems were with the GXP2000:
1. Different versions of hardware - the more recent versions support an additional green LED instead of just a red LED for the line and speed dials buttons. The newer phones come with 2.5mm headset jack - the older ones come with bigger jack and 2.5mm adapter.
2. The speaker phone quality greatly varies from different batches. I have used versions which sounded great and other that were terrible
3. General quality is bad - over time these phones have a high failure rate. They will develop various problems. One issue is the static/pop sounds and the other is the "buzz" which comes and goes.
4. If the phone is configured to be a remote extension and at some point the phone is brought into the office and simply plugged into the local network it create all kinds of havoc on the call quality of the other phones. You need to do a "sip show peers "in asterisk command console. Look for any phones that have an IP address that points to the router (you need to fix those)
The first time I encountered this phone was at a clients site. The clients setup was done by someone who decided try their hand at VOIP. From my understanding they decided it was not worth the trouble and took a job in the Bahamas (idiots get all the breaks).
The client had numerous issues regarding dropped calls, echo, static/pop sounds, and general inconsistency with dialing certain numbers.
Many of the issues were to do with just sloppy configuring on the initial setup.
The only items that I could not fix were the static/pop sounds - I found it strange since all the phones were GXP2000 but only some of them were causing problems. A firmware update did not fix the problem phones.
I later purchased one of these phones for my own personal use and testing. I updated the firmware and used it for several months. To my surprise everything worked great. No pop or static sounds and even the speaker phone worked well.
My initial thought was that Grandstream fixed everything with a new firmware. At this point I thought this was is not a bad entry level phone for some clients looking to save some money. Even recommended the product when someone would ask.
Over time I figured out what the main problems were with the GXP2000:
1. Different versions of hardware - the more recent versions support an additional green LED instead of just a red LED for the line and speed dials buttons. The newer phones come with 2.5mm headset jack - the older ones come with bigger jack and 2.5mm adapter.
2. The speaker phone quality greatly varies from different batches. I have used versions which sounded great and other that were terrible
3. General quality is bad - over time these phones have a high failure rate. They will develop various problems. One issue is the static/pop sounds and the other is the "buzz" which comes and goes.
4. If the phone is configured to be a remote extension and at some point the phone is brought into the office and simply plugged into the local network it create all kinds of havoc on the call quality of the other phones. You need to do a "sip show peers "in asterisk command console. Look for any phones that have an IP address that points to the router (you need to fix those)
Linksys/Cisco SPA941 - Don't buy
One of the first SIP phones I ever worked with was the Linksys SPA941. This was a great for learning but with newer firmware releases this phone became worse instead of better. If you find a great deal on it and want to use for learning its still ok. It's not okay to deploy for new customers - the SPA942 is better choice.
The SPA941 is very similar to the SPA942. The only differences are:
1. No Backlit display
2. No PoE - You have to use the AC adapter (it is included)
3. No Dual switch (you cannot plug a computer to share network drop)
4. Terrible speaker phone
5. Low volume
The SPA942 shared the Low Volume and bad speaker phone with some of the releases. With the current firmware (as of this posting) the speaker phone and low volume for the SPA942 have been improved - but it still not perfect. You are not going to get Polycom speaker phone quality out of these devices - but you are also not paying anywhere near the amount for similar features.
For testing the SPA941 is good, for deployment use SPA942.
The SPA941 is very similar to the SPA942. The only differences are:
1. No Backlit display
2. No PoE - You have to use the AC adapter (it is included)
3. No Dual switch (you cannot plug a computer to share network drop)
4. Terrible speaker phone
5. Low volume
The SPA942 shared the Low Volume and bad speaker phone with some of the releases. With the current firmware (as of this posting) the speaker phone and low volume for the SPA942 have been improved - but it still not perfect. You are not going to get Polycom speaker phone quality out of these devices - but you are also not paying anywhere near the amount for similar features.
For testing the SPA941 is good, for deployment use SPA942.
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