Hi Reza, I have more than 5 years experience deploying Asterisk/FreeSWITCH systems using ATAs /VOIP phones, I have Polycom/SNOM/Aastra phones of different models. I agree with your comments regarding Polycom phones, they are the BEST and just work once you set them up properly, just no doubt.
But to be honest, you recommendations about Aastra phones are beyond their technical capabilities and real life performance, Aastra phone firmwares always have some kind of bugs and Aastra technical supports are really **SLOW*** if I don't use the word **non-competent**, and the sound quality of Aastra phones is OK if you don't have any Polycom phones or higher end Cisco phones around to replace. I recommend Aastra phones for deployment where their bugs will not have any impact to the business environment. If I compare the SNOM phones to Aastra and Grandstream phones, definitely I won't put SNOM together with Grandstream, in my opinion, SNOM better than Aastra, Aastra better than Grandstream, in terms of comprehensive technical performance of their phones, but Grandstream ATAs have been pretty reliable and just doing their jobs. Just my $.02 Chris On Thu, Sep 2, 2010 at 1:04 AM, Reza - Asterisk Consultant < [email protected]> wrote: > One of our Asterisk servers we have close to 200 Aastra phones > connected that I can speak of personally. Combined with our > resellers and other ITSPs who purchase bulk trunks from us, our last > count of known Aastra phones deployed exceeded over 2,000 in the past > 3+ years. > > Within my 200+ phones personally deployed, not one had been returned > after deployment. Clients who had the Aastra phones for over 5+ years > now, are still happy and phones are working great. > > + POLYCOMS: At the quality & stability - I will say Polycoms are > **THE BEST**. However provisioning them is a REAL PAIN in the behind > and boot up time is a real pain too. Their firmwares are all > standardized and firmware for one unit is compatible with the rest of > the product line. Overall, I will say POLYCOM has the best > engineering efforts put behind them but they have one major flaw: > Provisioning and Bootup time. > > + AASTRA: At the deploy-ability, ease of configuration and short boot > up time - Aastra phones have been beyond perfect in our real world > deployments and MUCH easier to troubleshoot. The customer service & > support from Aastra (at least to me) has been beyond what I expected > (direct access to their engineers if needed). > > + LINKSYS/CISCO: Linksys/Cisco Phones (the new ones) are equally > reliable and competitive. But I don't like them because they look > like toys (We are a Linksys/Cisco partner but I hate their phone > designs. I think it needs to look more business like and their series > needs a face lift in terms of design) > > + SNOM - I know a lot of people like them, but to me they look like > cheap plastic toys (Sorry SNOM supporters) > > + GRANDSTREAM - Grandstream phones - Well, I know my good friend Henry > will stand by them! I think he's had good luck with them. But my > experience with Grandstream phones has been extremely poor in terms of > reliability. Another good friend stands by the product and has > requested me to give Grandstream a 2nd chance. Supposedly they've > changed their philosophy and vision and now making good products. > (I'll let others give feedback on this) > > + No Name Chinese Aastra Knockouts - stay the heck away from them! > > I can also tell you first hand, that everyone who had SNOM or > Grandstream, when we provided our loaner Aastra units to try out - > never looked back on Snom or Grandstream. I think because the Aastra > phones (original design bought out from Nortel) - are phones that most > corporate users could relate to, as they somewhat resemble their OLD > Meridian/Norstar phone systems. > > My preference is Aastra mainly because their phones have **never > failed**. The phones that were broken because of negligence were > replaced. They are also a Canadian company with amazing executives, > tech support staff and engineers, most of whom I know personally. > > I am *very* pleased with the Aastra product line. If you like to be > connected with the distributor of Aastra or wish to be a reseller, > contact me off list and I will be happy to make the proper > introduction. > > Alrighty now... enough postings for a day here :). I will visit > again in a week or two. > > Cheers! > Reza. > > > On Wed, Sep 1, 2010 at 6:49 PM, Mark Little <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Hey, > > > > Just wondering what phones you go with/recommend instead now? > > > > > > Cheers, > > Mark > > > > > > On 01/09/2010 5:09 PM, Reza - Asterisk Consultant wrote: > >> > >> Erik: > >> > >> Trying to send you the necessary files but google is preventing it. > >> Please send me a userid/password with an SSH account and/or FTP > >> account (off-list) and I will drop the necessary files. Where did > >> you buy the phone from and how much? These phones are considered > >> "End of Life" -- and are not the best SIP phones if you ask me. We > >> no longer use this phone on a production basis, but we do use them as > >> test tools and demo units for customers. > >> > >> Kind regards, > >> Reza. > > > > -- > Toronto based VoIP / Asterisk Trainer, > I.T. Consultant and Hosted PBX Solutions Provider. > +1-647-476-2067. > http://www.linkedin.com/in/seminar > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] > >
