Graves On SOHO Technology

Last week I received a question via email from reader Marshall Wilgard. It seems that he is having trouble with a Grandstream BT-200 desk phone.

For five years, I used a Grandstream BT-200 IP phone without any problems.  Six weeks ago, a loud hum appeared on the phone as soon as I picked up the handset.  About 10 days later, the hum vanished, for no apparent reason.  However, about 10 days after that, the hum came back, for no apparent reason.  Despite my rebooting the phone three times, the hum remained.  Then approximately 10 days after the hum returned, it vanished again, for no apparent reason.  My phone has had the latest firmware for more than a year, and my VoIP provider says the problem is not with it.

Hum like Marshal describes is usually an analog phenomenon, not something that I’d associate with firmware. It sounds to me like a problem with the hardware. Issues of hum tend to revolve around a problem with the power supply. Given the age of this phone I’d guess that most likely some kind of capacitor is failing.

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Grandstream has today introduced a pair of new cordless SIP/DECT phones. According to their press release the DP715 is the basic system, including the DECT base/charging stand and one handset. The DP710 is an additional handset with a simple charging stand.

Looking into the details I see specifications typical of the current generation of consumer DECT systems. A DP715 base supports five registered handsets and up to four concurrent calls.

The claimed cordless range is also typical of DECT systems…that is very good indeed. I’d expect excellent battery life as well.

The handsets have a built-in speakerphone, which can be handy in a home office.

They are described as having three ring-modes:

“Linear Mode, all phones ring sequentially in the predesignated order

Parallel Mode, all phones ring concurrently and after one phone answers the rest phones may place new calls

Shared Line Mode, all phones ring concurrently and always share the same line, similar to an analog phone”

The system supports remote configuration via a web portal or provisioning server. That last part is critical for uptake by ITSPs who want hands-off provisioning at an end-user site.

What I don’t see in the specifications is any support for HDVoice. They list support for all the usual suspects (G.711, G.723.1, G.729A/B, G.726 and iLBC) with respect to narrowband codecs.

The company’s web site lists support for TR-069, IP v6 and Skype as “pending.”

Grandstream has long been a price/performance leader. Priced at $85 and $49 respectively, these new devices extend that pattern. They should prove interesting to SOHO users on a budget.

Announced in December of last year, the GXV-3175 is Grandstream‘s latest entry into the multi-media phone arena. Reading the companies press release I thought the phone to be, in principle, a very ambitious undertaking.

The GXV-3175 is a kind of marriage of a desk phone and touch screen tablet. Perhaps most interestingly, it runs Google’s Android operating system.

On the basis of all this potential I reached out to Grandstream and requested a sample. Happily, after just a little consideration, they responded by sending me a pair of GXV-3175 for evaluation.

While I’ve had the samples a few weeks, and actually been using them, I’m one who likes to take my time forming an opinion about new hardware. A formal review will come eventually, but not for a bit.

In the mean time, the folks over at OnSIP have just posed their own review of the GXV-3175. Leo, who works in their phone lab, told me that they had some samples in-house. We had a short video call last week as he was experimenting with the phone. As we had not met previously, it was nice to see Leo, even if just on the 7″ LCD.

Earlier today Skype announced the pending launch of a beta program for an SDK called SkypeKit. SkypeKit is intended to allow hardware developers to embed Skype client functionality into their devices.

SkypeKit seems to be a logical next step after having recently partnered with LG, Samsung and Panasonic to build embedded Skype clients for their newest HDTVs. I mentioned this previously.

There’s a bunch of coverage of the SkypeKit launch available at various places online. Engadget has their say and some nice pics of the Grandstream GXV-3140 Media Phone running Skype. Also a Litl webbook that looks like it’s running Skype with video.

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Chris Heinrich over at VoIP Supply’s VoIP Insider blog has a nice little post about selecting headsets for IP phones. They’ve faced the common problem of not knowing what type of connection each phone provides, making it difficult to know which headsets are compatible. So they have created a handy matrix chart in PDF form that lists all the phones they sell against the common headsets. Nice.

In the way of adding value I’d like to point out that FWD’s Dan Berninger has indicated that the Grandstream BudgeTone Series IP phones support G.722 wideband audio but that the hardware is simply not adequate to the task. Others have said that when paired with a good headset the BT Series actually deliver the improved audio performance, just not with the transducers in the basic handset.

I’ve always believed that a good headset was essential for business applications. Also, that most cordless headsets just don’t cut it.