Cisco IP Phone Network

Hi there…

I’m looking at building an Asterisk box in the next little while. The box will be fed by a few POTS lines and a few SIP connections from a provider.

I’d just like to make sure my thoughts will work before starting into a lot of work and $$$ :smile:

My setup would be pretty much Cisco 7970G on my desk, three Cisco 7960G phones throughout my house, and a Cisco 7920 for roaming about. Yes, for my house but this includes business lines etc.

Asterisk would do auto-attendant, intercom and voice mail features pretty much.

Any surprises with these models, my concept etc? Just a general question but appreciate any feedback before I order these phones etc.

Paul

Will you be using the SIP firmware? I’ve used 7960s with SIP firmware and Asterisk. But I don’t know if the 7920 has SIP firmware.

Generally Cisco phones and Asterisk play very nice together as long as you’re talking SIP.

Yes, I would be using SIP primarily… I’m not fixed on particular models but I’ll be sure to make sure they are SIP based…:wink:

Thanks for the feedback…

Paul

As far as I’m aware, the 7970 does NOT support SIP. I’m not sure about the 7920 - you’ll need to check the Cisco site.

You might have success using the 7970 or others with SCCP - check the various links around the asterisk/voip-info.org sites relating to compatibility.

Also bear in mind that when you purchase the phones, you’ll need to purchase a software license to match (either SCCP/CallManager or SIP)

If anybody learns whether the 7970s have a SIP firmware available, please post here. I’m considering buying several but need to be sure they run SIP.

The 7970 doesn’t support SIP:

cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/ … 963a.shtml

Also note the additional power requirements of the 7970.

I’d be surprised if Cisco didn’t come out with SIP firmware in the future - whether or when this is going to happen would be a question best posed to Cisco pre-sales support or your supplier may be able to fire the question at them.

[quote=“seg”]The 7970 doesn’t support SIP:

cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/ … 963a.shtml

[/quote]

good news, check the cisco download page. Cisco has released a SIP image for 7970 today! My 7970 is talking SIP now

7970/7971 SCCP vs. SIP feature list:

cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc … 70difs.htm

.

Now THAT is good news. I was playing with chan_sccp because we’re about to buy 7 7971G-GEs. chan_sccp works well for the most part except when you call a MeetMe conference. Then either the phone freezes or, worse, Asterisk crashes. Now I can buy the phones knowing they will work with Aterisk.

Hopefully the chan_sccp developers will work out the bugs because I’ve found that using SCCP is more resposive than SIP on the Ciscos.

(BTW, Cisco has placed the SIP firmware in their NON-SIP download page.)

I’m glad to be corrected :smile:

I don’t know where you pull the funding for 7x 7971G-GE’s though! Maybe you should share some secrets?

I thought somebody might ask me that. :wink: The phones aren’t for me, they’re for a wealthy individual that likes to own the latest, greatest and most impotantly, the most expensive :open_mouth: . At least I get to play with the phones.

That was supposed to read importantly. What a Freudian slip, ha!

Ah, I see. Score.
We have some 30 VIP’s lying around - I think they’re pretty impotent; your acquaintance might like these :wink:

But I digress… (sorry pstewart)

Hi, I just bought a 7970 for private use, but man was I disappointed when I had to buy a servicecontract just to get the phone working with SIP.
Is the firmware downloadable anywhere else on the web? (which doesn´t require a contract).

Best regards,

Andy (With a useless 7970)

[quote=“flx”][quote=“seg”]The 7970 doesn’t support SIP:

cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/ … 963a.shtml

[/quote]

good news, check the cisco download page. Cisco has released a SIP image for 7970 today! My 7970 is talking SIP now

7970/7971 SCCP vs. SIP feature list:

cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc … 70difs.htm

.[/quote]

[quote=“andybeolink”]Hi, I just bought a 7970 for private use, but man was I disappointed when I had to buy a servicecontract just to get the phone working with SIP.
Is the firmware downloadable anywhere else on the web? (which doesn´t require a contract).[/quote]

You should be able to specify to your supplier/reseller that you want the SIP license with the phone, not the SCCP license. It should then be provided preconfigured with SIP. At least that’s what has happened in the past with other models. That said, the service contract is probably cheaper than the license, though I don’t think that technically gives you the right to download the SIP firmware unless you have a SIP licence (though some Cisco documentation is ambiguous about this).

The Cisco website is the only place the firmware is legally downloadable.