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Review: Polycom VVX-1500 Business Media Phone

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Originally published September 24, 2009 at Small Net Builder

A little over a year ago, I was offered the daunting task of reviewing the Polycom Soundpoint IP550 & IP650 desk phones. It was a considerable challenge being tasked with the review of these top-of-the-line products from a company that is considered by many to be a market-leader in enterprise VoIP.

Well, that review was easy compared to my current task of evaluating one of their newest offerings; the VVX-1500 Business Media Phones. I almost wish that I hadn’t agreed to undertake the project, because these devices have a wealth of features. But here I am, having had the phones for a couple of months. So I thought I’d best make good on my promise to describe these beasties in some detail.

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Review: The Polycom SoundStation IP5000 Conference Phone

This week Polycom is introducing the SoundStation IP5000 conference phone at VoiceCon East in Orlando. The SoundStation IP5000 is the latest in a long line of SoundStation models that go back to the very core products upon which the company was founded. Unlike most of their prior offerings the SoundStation IP5000 is a SIP conference phone specifically targeting smaller conference rooms & executive offices. This also makes it suitable for the home office user.

To say the least, I was eager to try the little SoundStation IP5000 from the moment it was offered. When a class leading company like Polycom creates a new product specifically for the SOHO market it makes me take notice. Will they get it right, and deliver the kind of device upon which their reputation was built…yet designed and priced to match the sensibilities of the SOHO/SMB user?

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Making Use of Wideband Voice Right Now!: IdeaSIP

It’s been a while since I revisited this series on Make Use Of Wideband Voice Right Now! Over the past six months a number of things have changed. Google bought Gizmo5 and has for some time shut down new account sign-ups while they work out how to incorporate Gizmo5 into their voice applications.

With the demise of FWD as a SIP service earlier in 2009 Gizmo5 was probably the most high-profile, publicly available free SIP registrar. Their loss has to be felt as something of a setback to those who want to use HDVoice Right Now! Perhaps over time Google will make up for the current inconvenience.

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Point-CounterPoint: Hosted Voice vs. CPE

This post is part of a Point-CounterPoint open debate with fellow telecom blogger Dave Michels. In this new series, we both take extreme positions on a given topic. In combination these two opposed views are designed to provide a more complete perspective of the issue. To read a different perspective on this topic, click here.

Let me get this right out into the open…it seems to me simply insane for a small company buy a PBX. Buying a PBX takes precious capital for something that is often not a strategic asset in the life of the business. It’s at best “a necessary evil.”

We’re a small business, around sixty staff in total. Most of them live out their days in our corporate HQ in Cambridge, UK. But the “we” that I’m describing here is actually the dozen of us who earn our keep in the North American operation.

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ONSIP Becomes First Hosted PBX Service Provider to Support HD Voice for All On Network And Conference Bridge Calls

Nobody’s perfect, but isn’t it great when a good service keeps getting better? I’ll admit that I completely missed it when way back on January 6th Junction Networks’ issued a press release about the availability of HDVoice in their OnSIP hosted pbx service. I must’ve just overlooked the announcement. Of course OnSIP does HDVoice….I’ve been using them with G.722 capable phones for almost two years.

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