Not sure if this is the right spot to post this, so if not Mods please move.
I’m just wondering what everyone’s favorite brand and/or model of SIP Phone is. I know everyone has their personal favorites and I just want to see what the experts here at FreePBX prefer as the easiest phones to use, most features, easiest provisioning, best cost to value ratio, or any other grounds you want to base your choice on.
As I don’t have much experience beyond Avaya, Grandstream, Snom, Cisco SPA series and 79xx series, and Aastra phones, I’d like to see what everyone likes.
Thanks for taking the time to read and hopefully answer this!
So far I have tested Aastra 6731i series, Cisco SPA504G and Yealink TP22. I guess my favorite so far is the Cisco since it has a backlight and the VM button. I needed POE as well as a reliable brand that works with Asterisk. The Aastra had good reviews. The Cisco and Yealink had the back light and all were in the under $140.00 price point. The Aastra less than $100 but no backlight. The Aastra has an easy to use provisioning script in Asterisk the Cisco and Yealink are a little more convoluted but its just probably my learning curve. They are probably just as easy once you do it enough. I need more experience with those two phones. They all let you set the Codec and I use the G711u (which my SIP provide likes) since is low bandwidth and the voice quality is acceptable. Well, hope that help you a little.
Polycom phones have arguably the best sound quality currently available. They are also built well and don’t break as often as some other brands. The new VVX series are really nice phones that are extremely well priced for what they offer. I would highly suggest looking that those phones as an option.
Now I agree the earlier versions of Grandstream were crap, I kept working with the company to make them better and I can say their new releases 2100, 2124, etc are great. I have deployed only about 200 this year but all Good. The Grandstream is b/c clients like their buttons. I have tried the Yealink and there are a couple of functional issues but if you don’t need those then you are fine and they are good enough. The Cisco’s are solid but lack the features and the buttons but are strong and TRANSFERING at a high rate is horrible. The polycom, OMG take to much to program but are good phones. I can program 6 Grandstreams to one polycom in time frame. All in all the Grandstream has the best price point and are making greater software now which equals better phones.
All I have used is Grandstreams (GXP1400 and GXP2100 phones and GXW4104 and GXW4108 gateways) and X-Lite softphones and so far the Grandstreams have worked fine, no complaints. Sorry I can’t offer a comparison with anything else.
I just wish the little rubber feet would stop falling off the Grandstream phones. They need to use a better glue!
