Graves On SOHO VoIP

True to their promise Polycom has introduced a new low-end model in the SoundPoint range, the IP335. A sample unit arrived here just before the Christmas holidays and I’ve been using it as my principle desk phone for about a week.

The primary raison d’etre for this new model is extending the reach of their HDVoice offering into the lower-priced, entry level models. Yes, the IP335 is HDVoice capable, supporting the G.722 wideband codec.

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As opposed to elsewhere, where I do in depth reviews of certain devices, this is a little mini-review that reflects the experience of my first month carrying the new Blackberry 9700, aka the Bold2. If you’re looking for a more general overview of the device I suggest Crackberry.com’s review.

In the weeks just prior to the Thanksgiving holiday my 3 year old Blackberry 8100 was failing. The mechanical trackball from which the models “Pearl” nickname was derived was simply failing. I cleaned it a couple of times but each time it would again become unresponsive after just a few days. It’s time had come.

I wasn’t settled upon another Blackberry as it’s replacement. I had been happy with the handset for a long time, but felt that a full keyboard would better meet my needs moving forward.

Further, while I was interested  in Android powered phones, I wasn’t willing to change carriers based solely on hardware availability. I’m basically happy with T-Mobile. I wasn’t about to move to Verizon Wireless just to get access to a Motorola Droid.

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This morning I was told that Gigaset have released some new firmware for their SIP/DECT lineup. Since I have the A580IP in service I decided to have a look at the release notes and give it a try right away. The new release is version 02214.

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This morning’s round of email includes sales flier from BUY.COM that shows they’re offering a Belkin Desktop Skype Phone for $50.00 after mail-in rebate. This is a real freestanding device that doesn’t require a computer running the Skype client. It’s not just a USB attached audio device like so many similar, but cheaper models. If you make a lot of use of Skype this could be a good deal. I’ve not used it myself, but that price is about 50% off the $99 list price.

Using Skype with such devices comes with some caveats. The Skype hardware developer program doesn’t support the use of any wideband codecs so the call quality will not be as good as the Skype soft client. Even so the unit appears to have a speakerphone capability, which is certainly convenient.  I’d be curious to know how well it performs. If you buy one please let me know.

Update: This deal is even better than the listing I found for the device on Overstock.com, where it’s offered for $86.02.

I wanted to be working on reviewing the Dreamwave SIP-D28p by now, but that effort has been delayed due to a firmware issue. The phone is powered-up and running. I’ve been able to use it a bit, exploring its firmware, web GUI, etc. It shows some promise. There are some nice features in the device.

However, I came to a screeching halt when I found that the phone doesn’t provide sidetone into the handset. This stopped me dead in my tracks. The lack of sidetone makes using any phone very unnatural. Thus I’ve not been able to put it on my desk and actually use it as my primary phone. That’s the process that forces me to gain enough experience with a device to write about it sensibly.

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Some time back the folks over at VoIP Supply posted something about a collection of new SIP Wifi handsets. Whereas in the past that would make me take notice, even catch my interest, I found myself completely disinterested. In fact, it was surprising how little appeal these gadgets had.

Over the years I’ve tried various SIP Wifi handsets and come to a very simple conclusion. That is, for my home office application they have no merit at all. The fact that I have a solid cordless SIP solution eliminates the possible interest that any of these new products might have.

In everything experiment that I’ve ever tried DECT/CATiq products soundly beat any dedicated SIP Wifi handset. Now that there are affordable SIP/DECT products from sources like Gigaset and Snom dedicated VoWifi handsets just don’t measure up for many applications.

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Here’s  a nice little tidbit for you. One of the more annoying tings about setting up a Gigaset cordless SIP/DECT phone is the sluggishness of the web interface. In the first draft of my A580 review I made specific mention of this, but it was dropped in a later revision. I curse those editors! A few people have since commented about this as well.

There’s been a long running thread about the Gigaset line over at Broadband Reports VoIP Tech Chat forum. “Jan1973″ recently posted advising that browsers other than IE or Firefox don’t exhibit this problem at all. That suggests that the matter truly isn’t the Gigaset web server, but rather how the browsers are rendering the pages. “Jan1973″ further suggests using k-meleon, which is  free download from SourceForge.

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Earlier this week Asterisk guru Ward Mundy pointed out an E-bay auction for a phone that looked kinda familiar and purported itself as offering “HDVoice” – the Dreamwave Networks D28p. A quick Google online revealed that Dreamwave Networks are based in New Jersey, and their web site looked to have both a brochure and some documentation about the device. I even found a tutorial on setting up the phone for use with various Asterisk distributions.

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