best IP phone under $150

[fdisk]

Now that I have pbxiaf set up- only took 1.5 weeks and lots of swearing. turned out to be just a delete any/any and add it back in.


I am looking at these ip phones;

aastra 51i or the
Polycom SoundPoint IP 330

I want in order;
stability
good reciever and speakerphone sound
easy setup (only need 1 phone)
non flaky firmware upgrades that break everything.


are the polycoms worth the setup and maint. headache?

 

[wardmundy]

In a word... no

 

[jehowe]

If you've gone through a week and a half of swearing, i'd recommend Aastra. Polycom does have a stellar reputation in regards to handset/speaker audio quality. But they are a hassle to upgrade/setup compared to the Aastra's, which I find have excellent voice quality through the handset and speaker.

I would recommend saving up and spending a little more for the 57i. The extra screen real estate is worth it, not to mention Ward's customized 57i script. You may want to ping ednunnemaker, a member who has offered excellent deals to users on this forum- no matter what phone you ultimately decide to get.

 

[ErikU]

Lot's of people seem to really like the Aastra phones...

I purchased an Aastra 57i, a Polycom 330, and a Polycom 550 to do a little side-by-side comparison before making the major purchase decision.

They are all good phones, but I decided on Polycom for the following reasons:

- General look and qulaity feel. Side by side, the Polycom phones look and feel higher quality than the Aastra. The polycom has a much heavier handset and slightly better finish materials. The hi-res display quality of the Polycom 550 is much better than the low-res display of the Aastra.

- I would say that they were equally difficult/easy to setup. There are plenty of third party setup guides on the web. Setting up the first one is a pain, but it's really a one time thing so long as you provision everything via t*f*t*p. The nerdvittles scripts for the Aastra are VERY nice, however, the Polycoms can do the same thing if someone took the time to write the scripts.

- I personally liked the layout and use of the Polycoms better... but this is a personal choice.

They are all decent phones!

I will sell my new Aastra 57i if anyone is interested..

 

[Q99]

Go for unlisted (stealth) option #3, and try the Grandstream GXP-2000's. They're available for abt $80 (last I looked). I've had four of them, and they've all been good to work with. Now, I'm going to tinker with the D-Link DPH-140S...

 

[foneman]

Just say no!

I am sorry, and I usually do not "bash" any products but I would not use the GS for any production environment. Yes, they are cheap but man o man, issues I have with some that are out there. Echo, unregistering from the server, poor audio, poor speakerphone and I won't even go into their wonderful support...
Spend a few bucks and go with Aastra, even the 9112i is a very good phone for under $100.
</rant>

 

[Alex728]

Linksys SPA942? Not too painful to configure, works well on PiAF and they are about £74 here so you should be able to get one for around $150 in the USA

 

[dghundt]

I have not priced them lately, but I really like the snom 300, 320 phone. I had grandstreams and had to get rid of them fast. The snom's just work. Upgrading is easy, but really don't need to.

Handset can produce some feed back on hangup, probably a settings issue; headset is fabulous and can be had on ebay for cheap. 320 buttons are hard rubber that can accumulate some discoloration (can be cleaned) if you get any make-up on your fingers. The 300 buttons are hard plastic which I prefer.