Happy Thanksgiving! I’m recovering from my dinner, and thought some updates were in order. Today I’m doing a review of these free to me Polycom VVX IP sets.
I found them at a local business that apparently moved. They were outside for “Free” so hey, why not?
These phones are an improvement from the SoundPoint IP sets that I still loathe to this day. Such improvements: you can adjust the set using a plastic thing on the back to three levels; second there is a tuck in space for the handset or headset cable. And BLFs most likely use the AUX jack and doesn’t do that infrared thing that I had doubted the reliability for a long time. Also in this range features wideband calling or high dynamic (HD) voice quality; and a backlit display (seen here) and a single LED with multi colors to show lamp status (or should I say in IT-speak “presence”?) and supports nearly 24 unique lines (or should I say “SIP sessions”?) It has cute screensavers too. If you want to see it, I have posted on my friends-only Instagram feed from mid October.
These sets use SIP out of the box, but Lync 2010 compatibly is supported in this firmware. Polycom has been Microsoft’s right hand vendor for their software defined telephony system, that I believe it’s now called Skype for Business. The sets are Gigabit Ethernet based, and thankfully there was a power cable that came because it makes it easier to take advantage of GE when I have only Fast Ethernet POE switching. Unfortunately these sets don’t register into my Asterisk box yet. Administration can be easy or tricky. There is web based administration, but like I’ve said before SIP based technologies is an experience in itself.
The pages are complex, and there is help functionality when you hover around the various fields (that’s if you are using a modern Web browser.) I played around with these Polycoms when the time comes to cut over from a “temporary” PBX service, going back to a VOIP setup where I’ve totally believed sticking with Cisco would be a lost cause. But the SIP to analog trunking will be performed on my Cisco router. I’ve been able to do local calling on a set of new Aastra 480i sets without no problems.
If you wondered why I went to Aastra, I did that because I did through research given Cisco is lame for SIP desktops, Polycom (before I found these) and others are eff-it mentality. I thought given the Aastra 390 that I’ve had for a few years was already used as the house phone for a direct line in case of the PBX acting up, that the training would be minimal. (Remember the PBX was supposed to not be put onto production but more on the collection side.) In less than a day, the Aastra VOIP sets worked just fine thank you! The Polycom on the other hand…
I’d love to blame Polycom because unlike the Aastra, the user design is a little more straight forward for someone with a telephony background. A server admin or a networking dude would find the Polycom phones to be admin friendly; because being complicated as it is to be is good for them.
I don’t like to say I hate things complicated. I understand some technical dudes like challenges. The problem is if you want to do a turnkey solution, sometimes tinkering around for the fun of it is not an option. The complexity of IP plus improper setups and the demand of oIP/IOT with an improper setup makes the situations worse. I want a device that functions like an office telephone, not some device that talks on an IP network and set it up like its a generic purpose PC.
This would look nice in the dining room or living room as it would be the best looking phone in the house!
*