Request: Phones for Asterisk 6
I apologize for being off-topic…
The new office is gettting some new phone lines installed and our immediate goal is to just have multiple phones with a few lines available. However, we are looking to move to an Asterisk server in the next few months. I’ve been working off of cellphones for several years now and really don’t know much about this area.
Are there phones that will work witha normal phone line AND/OR a PBX (like Asterisk)?
Any tips or links would be appreciated. :-)
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Well, there are devices like the Sipura SPA3000 that will “fail-over” to a normal phone line when the network is down, but it’s really only a one line solution. So you could use that along with a
However, it sounds like maybe you should just put the hussle on getting asterisk running. Although a lot of the terminology is confusing at first, getting it running is actually pretty easy once you understand some of the basic concepts.
There’s a good O’Reilly book (http://oreillynet.com/catalog/asterisk/) available for free and anything you can’t get from there is probably available at http://voip-info.org.
Also, I know there are at least a few of us in the local PDX.rb crowd with some asterisk experience, so you might ask around if you need help.
Your local Software Association of Oregon (SAO) Development SIG is hosting a lunch session with some Asterisk experts:
http://db.sao.org/calendar2/event_description.htm?eventID=3/30/06
We really like the Grandstream GXP2000. They are a good price and have a wide array of features. They work well with Asterisk.
You can buy an Analog Adapter for fairly cheap until you get your VOIP network up and running. Then you can eBay them off to recoup a good part of the cost if necessary.
I would suggest just jumping straight to Asterisk first though and save the pain. :)
The Grandstream’s that Derek linked are the cheapest hardphones I’ve seen with a good feature set. I’ve used Grandstream Budgettones in the past and they work well but are really chintzy. I’ve heard good things about the GXP2000 with the exception of the speakerphone is apparently kinda wonky.
An asterisk guru friend of mine is installing a large (300-phone) system with Polycom 501. They’re comparable in features to the Cisco 7940 (apparently) but have better speakerphones and some other benefits.
I’ve been seriously thinking about picking up a Linksys SPA-941, which was Sipura before Linksys bought them. Cisco build quality but no crazy XML configuration.
If you want phones that will work with both a traditional phone system and Asterisk, then you’re going to want to get traditional analog phones, just like you’d plug into the wall at home. They aren’t all that great as office phones, but they’ll work. You’ll need some sort of FXS adapter for Asterisk, either an internal card or something like the Sipira/Linksys/Cisco 2000 series boxes.
If you’re looking at pure VoIP phones, then I suspect that the Linksys SPA-941 will be your best bet. I’m reasonably happy with the older SPA-841, and the 941’s supposed to be a solid improvement. Some people love the Grandstream GXP-2000, while other people have had serious problems with bugs. If money’s no object, Cisco’s 79xx series phones and Polycom’s 501 or 600 phones are all good, but expect to pay $300+ for most of them.
It’s probably possible to buy VoIP phones and tie them to something like a SPA-3000 without an actual PBX, but it’s going to be a scary hack. Frankly, a really basic Asterisk install isn’t all that complex these days. Download an Asterisk at Home CD and play with it, I doubt it’ll take very long to set up a simple dial plan (ring everyone on incoming calls, dial everything out an analog interface).
Then, once that’s working, go take a look at RAGI—it sounds really cool. One of these days, I’ll have time to check it out…
You could get a ready-to-run Asterisk server from Asterisk@Home
Maybe that will simplify the implementation process.