Comments on: Cisco Systems unveils new VoIP phones

By: Garrett Smith

Garrett Smith — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:18:36 +0000

@ “VoIP Guru”

Ah, what “features” are businesses demanding which SIP based IP phones are not delivering? I certainly have not heard many, if any, businesses complain about SIP phones lacking features.

By: Voip Guru

Voip Guru — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 11:36:47 +0000

The real issue is “features” that end-users expect on their phones in “real businesses”. No body wants to buy a phone just because it has “SIP” in it (except the techie guys). People/businesses want ip phones for features. And they are not interested in loosing feeatures they have been using for decades on traditional desktop phones.

Sadly – SIP is still in 2009 – not able to deliver the features that proprietary protocols can. Or – we can all go back to MGCP – which can provide a whole lot more features easily.

Bottom line:
1. If you want basic features only (like the good old SLT / Black phones / Residential phones) – stick with SIP (and it works well for the carriers).
2. If you want traditional desktop phone features for business phones – you are better of using MGCP, SCCP, or a proprietary protocol.

Cheers!

By: Compare VoIP

Compare VoIP — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 06:57:48 +0000

It never ceases to amaze me that companies continue to try to compete against the Internet’s ability to quickly and effectively distribute open source initiatives. Rather than embrace it, they seem to try everything to built walled gardens and retain their existing business models. Learn to embrace & profit from open source in different ways.

By: Garrett Smith

Garrett Smith — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:04:00 +0000

@ Sam

I think the only reason SCCP is around and people still use it is because “It’s Cisco.”

By: Garrett Smith

Garrett Smith — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:03:02 +0000

@ Mike

I heard they designed these during the mandatory two weeks off at the end of last year

By: Sam

Sam — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:17:33 +0000

Nice write up, Garrett.

I think I found a minor google bomb: search for “why sccp” (no quotes) and get the suggestion “why sip”. Plus a couple 4 year old articles predicting SIP winning out over SCCP!

But I suppose Cisco is big enough to launch a niche phone that’s designed for customers already using their CallManager.

I can’t see it appealing to anyone else – why would I upgrade my phones to a proprietary protocol when there are so many great SIP phones out in the market?

Sam

By: Koos van den Hout

Koos van den Hout — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:50:01 +0000

At least those Grandstream phones have a price which matches the “it’s the simplest SIP phone which works and we could not afford a designer”.

I do hope the shielding is better on those Cisco phones: I recently powered a Grandstream bt-100 up near a working radio scanner and suddenly there was interference on at least half of my programmed channels. That’s what you get for 39 euro…

By: Mike White

Mike White — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 01:20:21 +0000

WOW! Cisco makes a phone that rivals the Grandstream line in fugliness..

By: Advantia VoIP

Advantia VoIP — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 21:03:03 +0000

One more reason to stick with Aastra and Polycomm. If it has to be Cisco, the venerable 7940G is still leagues ahead of the pictures above. Interesting move regardless.

Thanks for sharing this story with us Garrett