Which one do you prefer? Why?
We’re considering both and are unsure as to which one is better.
Thanks!
Build quality and styling of the Cisco phones is excellent compared to any other IP phone out there yet, equally they have one (if not THE) best speakerphone’s going. Clean interface, good features, programmability, SIP support, large base of Asterisk support docs/examples.
Polycom are easier to manage in terms of firmware installation & updates (Cisco can be easy, but you need to know the tricks!). They also have many more buttons on the handset (some people like this, some don’t want the distraction/complication of buttons for features they don’t use that often if ever - personal choice). Technically Polycom’s are cheaper retail; however, street prices for both aren’t that far apart if you look hard enough.
Having used, installed, and worked with IP-500’s and Cisco 7960’s - my personal choice hands-down would be the Cisco phones. On the most shallow aspect, they are the sharpest/best-quality looking phone bar none (including Toshiba, Avaya, Mitel, Panasonic, and others I’ve seen - only the NEC digital/IP phones I think compare in terms of style/presentation … yet these are not Asterisk compatible as far as I have heard or seen).
Just an opinion. Good luck.
How com they are not Asterisk compatibel if they support SIP?
Have no idea if they support SIP, only that they are IP phones using some kind of protocol (possibly proprietary, like Cisco’s SCCP). Equally, they may or may not be compliant with the full SIP specification. Lastly, even if fully compatible I have yet to see anyone in the Asterisk community talking about such handsets at any length with tips on how to get them usefully configured and running.
In fact they support three phone “loads” (firmware downloaded via tftp), the most common is their proprietary SCCP, but they have loads for SIP and H.323 too. I’ve not deduced much about their SIP compliance, but they do have release notes on www.cisco.com.
Thanks for the heads up, but actually am aware of the Cisco support. Was more specifically answering the question about the NEC, Toshiba, etc. IP handsets.