Aastra – Graves On SOHO Technology

The Aastra 6739i & Bluetooth Headsets

June 11, 2010
Michael Graves
VoIP

Aastra 6739i Desk Phone It certainly seems that the Aastra 6739i is the new king-of-the-hill with respect to feature-laden enterprise class SIP desk phones. Amongst it’s myriad features you will find included the ability to use a Bluetooth headset .

For the past nine months I’ve used the Savi Go Bluetooth headset around the office. In that case I’m using the headset with a soft phone since the Savi Go is provided with a class 1 Bluetooth USB dongle. The Savi Go is kinda unique because it supports wideband audio over Bluetooth.

PBXact: Using The Magic Button To Call VUC

May 26, 2010
Michael Graves
VoIP

I just stumbled across this today. It's a video clip of Michael White from E4 Technologies using the "Magic Button" feature on a PBXact system to voice dial the VoIP Users Conference from an Aastra 6757i CT. That's pretty cute!

Aastra’s 6739i vs Polycom SoundPoint IP650?

May 17, 2010
Michael Graves
VoIP

Aastra 6739i Desk Phone On the VUC call of May14th we were fortunate to be joined by Tony Lewis, CEO of Schmooze Communications, the creators of PBXact. Tony was, to the best of my knowledge, the very first person to join the call using Aastra’s latest uber-desk-phone, the 6739i.

Tony was able to fill us in on some of more details about Aastra’s product line, and specifically their implementation of wideband voice…or as they call it “Hi-Q.”

It was just over a year ago that there was a hint that Aastra has released some firmware for their existing 57 series phones that implemented G.722 wideband capability. However, like snom before them, they were adding wideband voice support to a hardware platform that was not from the outset designed around such capability.

Aastra 6730i: The Most Affordable HDVoice Capable Desk Phone?

January 23, 2010
Michael Graves
VoIP

The folks at Junction Networks / OnSIP have recently posted a review of the Aastra 6730i, a recent entry-level offering in the Aastra lineup.

The entire 67xx series features Aastra’s Hi-Q technology. Hi-Q includes the combination of the G.722 wideband codec and software based compensation for the physical properties of the transducers on the device.

Aastra Adds Support for Wideband Codecs

May 15, 2009
Michael Graves
VoIP

The trend toward wideband telephony continues unabated. Earlier this week I learned that Aastra's recent v2.5 firmware release for their SIP phones has added support for a variety of wideband codecs. Aastra phones have long been a favorite, their 480i…

Aastra MBU-400: Oh Oh?

January 28, 2009
Michael Graves
VoIP

aastra_mbu400_270x270 Since first posting about availability of the new Aastra MBU-400 SIP/DECT system I’ve seen considerable interest in the device, but no-one stepping up with any first hand experience with its use. The device is in fact vaguely related to the snom m3 SIP/DECT systems that I own and enjoy using. Both are based upon reference designs from RTX Telecom.

As an OEM product from RTX Telecom the hardware design is largely fixed, but Aastra has a lot of control over the firmware. I know that snom has made considerable progress with firmware enhancements for the m3 since it was introduced to the US about a year ago.