Which handsets do you recommend?

[Enzo Matrix]

Traditionally we have been Grandstream resellers (for 3CX), but we are about to move to Vodia MT.

What handsets have been tried and tested by the community, and which do you recommend.  I think I saw Yealink being recommended somewhere, but now I can't find the page.

In terms of functionality, we are really looking at three types of handset for our offering (I have linked what we would generally use from GS):

• Very basic, single line, not fancy (for unattended, and just general use) eg: GXP1610, GXP1615 Basic IP Phones- Grandstream Network
• Mid-range phone, for everyday use, with the ability to expand call control for reception if possible: GXP2140 High End IP Phone- Grandstream Networks
• Wireless (either WIFI or DECT) solution (not currently offered)

Your thoughts are very much appreciated

 

Thanks.

[Vodia PBX]

We have no bias for specific vendors. Our main objective is to make sure that our partners give the user the best phones for their environment if possible. "Best" can mean a well known brand, it can mean CAPEX or it can mean OPEX (usually OPEX is more important)—which is essentially how much work it takes to install and run the phones. 

We do support Grandstream phones. They have a very large product range, and it can be challenging to keep up with their weird way of numbering settings. The relatively new series GRP26xx is a sign of hope because the abandoned the P-values and use "readable" names for the settings. We hope that newer models will support these settings, which will make future integrations easier. For example for Yealink, despite the large range of supported phones, everything can be maintain in one template. Also, Fanvil has recently added great new devices which we support well.

As for branded phones, there are Cisco 3PCC phones which are well known for end users and which sometimes makes a sale easier. Also Poly(com) phones have a very good reputation especially in the USA. There are also other great brands for certain countries, e.g. Gigaset, Snom or Auerswald in Germany. We do our best to support a large range of features on those devices. 

There are also other vendors like Panasonic where the brand name still is very strong but with an aging portfolio. Some clients insist they want to keep their phones, and in that case we support a basic feature set so that those phones can still be used.

[Enzo Matrix]

Excellent response!

Thank you. We have decided that we are going to to give the Grandstream GRP range a go.

We like GS, so don't feel a real need to change brands, just update to a more modern range