In the month or two since I posted my review of the Gigaset A580IP SIP/DECT phones I’ve been contacted a number of times by people struggling with configuring the phone for their chosen ITSP. In most cases it’s a simple matter of the people not being familiar with some of the terminology common to SIP service providers, and being able to map the terms use by their ITSP to the menus on the Gigaset web admin portal.
After announcements back at CES2009 in January the Gigaset line of cordless SIP/DECT are finally starting to become available in the US. The A580IP model is the entry-level system in the line-up, which we’ve been using around here for the past couple of months.
At the outset of the review process I was a little skeptical about installing an entry-level consumer cordless phone in the house. We’ve tried a lot of hardware and have some fairly clear ideas about what we need from it. However, the A580IP brings with it the possibility of wideband calling over IP into the cordless domain. That proved just too to attractive to not give it a try.
The A580IP system that we have installed consists of one DECT base and a set of three A58H handsets. A starter system comes with the base and one handset. You can add up to five additional handsets to suit your specific needs. In fact, you can mix and match handsets, using the entry level A58H, middle of the range S67H or high-end SL78H all on the same DECT base.
It's now six months since Gigaset Communications announced their intention to release the A580IP and S675IP in the US market. Happily, the wait appears to be nearing an end. Michael White at E4 confirms that they have placed a stocking…