i’ve been asked at very short notice to quote for an Asterisk system with a difference. they only want 10 fixed phones, but they also want 20 cordless DECT phones to operate in a factory that’s about 200m by 50m with very little internal walling.
obviously, 20 FXS ports and “normal” DECT/GAP phones aren’t going to cut it, and from what i’ve found on the wiki/google, there don’t seem to be many options for a bigger system that isn’t proprietary.
the KirkDECT system stands out though as it’s H.323 (certified for Cisco and a couple of others at least), which reduces the cabling to a single CAT5, can be extended with repeaters (i figure 6 for this install) which ensure the call is kept as the user moves around.
but 3 things bother me …
the sheer cost … GBP 6000 for hardware. the handsets themselves are GBP160 each as a minimum.
the fact it’s H.323 (it does SCCP as well, but you wouldn’t would you !). Asterisk never seems to like stopping when H.323 is loaded.
none of the resellers seem to have had much experience with anything other than Cisco software/integration.
so back on topic … does anyone have experience of KirkDECT or an alternative ?
edited 4 times … forum doesn’t like the pound sign !
Hitachi-Cable WirelessIP5000 is a Wireless SIP IP-Phone designed for business, healthcare or goverment applications . Its non-intrusive design, small size and light weight make it feel like a cell phone and its crystal clear sound will give wireline quality when roaming in your office or campus 802.11 b network. This high-end phone has vibrate mode, Message Waiting Indicator, can send and receive SIP IM (Instant Messages) and with a stand-by time of over two days and 4 hours plus talk time truely fulfills the need for mobility and reachability in the workplace. This Wifi phone supports UPNP and outbound proxy as well as almost every SIP IPBX we tested with. (Allworx, Asterisk,Epygi, Shoreline, Zultis and many others Including Broadsoft and other hosted IPBX Platforms.)
(edit) (Hitachi make a 5000 -E-A model as well but I can’t tell what it does differently)
Found these too:
Linksys WIP-330
Stylish, Full-Featured Mobile WiFi Phone for VoIP Service
* Make Low-Cost High Quality VoIP Calls From Wireless Hotspots
* Easy Set-Up on WiFi Network
* Superior Range and Performance with 802.11g
* Intuitive User Interface
i considered WiFi … but the whole system worked out a bit cheaper, and the handsets don’t have the ruggedness or the battery life that giving them to a welder on a 12-hour shift is going to need.
as it turns out, i spoke to Kirk yesterday, and we designed a slution over the phone using their 600v3 system that talks SIP. it has a few limitations, but it’s the baby for the job.
We use a kirk 4020 and 4040 (one of them is the water- and shockproof version) in our office. We use the KIRK Wireless Server 600 together with 1 repeater (for the office upstairs).
I must say we’re pretty happy with it, it currently runs with SCCP, working very well.
If only there existed a Kirk-alike phone with wifi, that would suit our needs even better… (I have also tested over a year ago a cisco wireless phone with wifi, but I like the Kirks much more!)
But you seem to have found a solution with the 600v3 system, could you explain a bit more on the limitations it has? (speaking SIP is much better then sccp naturally )
i haven’t had this confirmed from Kirk yet, but a user in France i chatted with told me that the 600v3 doesn’t do DTMF properly, and call waiting fails too. luckily, both are unneeded in this install as they are not having VM and outbound calls are forbidden … and call-waiting was expressly ruled out for the factory.
the 4040 is the one i’m going for, they look weird, but the IP54, end-weighting and rubber edging should make for a good phone. when you add in the hurricane headsets that allow full hearing protection with handsfree use, we should have a winner.
according to the importer, AirBus have 44,000 handsets in use on a much-expanded 600v3 system … can’t be too shabby !
Kirk hae been bought by the spectralink people, The last ones I worked on where ISDN2 connected. You may be better looking at Ascom as they scale better and have recently bought Detewe so may well be intergrating Detewes IP dect technology soon but their own dect server can have sip or ISDN interface to switches and when I did a proposal 6 months ago they did confirm that it would work with Asterisk.
But if the kirk cost worries you then Ascom will scare the pants off you.
Commercial dect is not cheap, The technogy involved in handovers is the same as GSM and as such the contoller has a lot of work todo keeping track of channels and signal strengths. A large site survey is going to take a day with the survey kit.
I can dig out my Ascom quote if you want. (contact me direct)
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