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Recent posts by Tom on VoIP Insider

Aastra Discontinues 3 of Their 6700i Series Phones
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So far 2014 has been a busy year for Aastra. In late January their acquisition by Mitel was completed and then in March they released the Aastra 6800i series of VoIP phones, which marked the first new line of desktop VoIP phones from them in quite some time. Now after a few quiet months some more changes were announced last week with the discontinuing of 3 phone models due to issues sourcing components.

Aastra 6700i

The Aastra 6757i, 6755i and 6753i were the cornerstone of Aastra and some of their most popular VoIP phones for close to a decade and with the utmost respect for these phones, I believe their time had come.

While them being put out to pasture may have been accelerated by the …

Badly Photoshopped VoIP Phones as Spaceships
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Since I first started at VoIP Supply in 2008 I’ve spent a lot of time selling, researching, writing about and testing VoIP phones. On the side I’ve also spent a little bit of time “unorthodoxly testing” VoIP phones by using them as shot-puts, discuses, for archery practice and hockey shot accuracy to name a few.

Another side to my time with VoIP phones takes me back to my time in high school where on a Friday afternoon my mind would drift and I’d start doodling in the margins of my notebook but now instead of classes I’ve got a job and instead of a notebook I’ve got Photoshop. So sometimes on a late Friday afternoon or after a particularly long day my mind starts …

First Look: Sangoma PBXcelerate
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For many years Sangoma has been well known for making PCI cards that can be used inside IP PBX’s but had never made the crossover to being an IP PBX manufacturer. Their first foray into this market came in June 2012 when they released the Lync Express. Now, with the release of the new Sangoma PBXcelerate, they’re making further inroads into the PBX appliance manufacturer market and their first to the SIP and open source IP-PBX marketplace.

Sangoma PBXcelerate

What Is It?

The Sangoma PBXcelerate is a highly customizable IP PBX appliance designed for use in small to medium sized offices as well as branch offices.

The first of the customizable features of the PBXcelerate is the PBX software that is loaded or lack thereof. This Sangoma …

First Look: Grandstream GXP2130
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Grandstream GXP2130 First LookI’m starting to wonder if the off switch at the Grandstream new phone model assembly line is broken because today they announced another new VoIP phone with even more on the way. The newest model off the conveyor belt is the Grandstream GXP2130.

What is it?

Of the latest enterprise grade VoIP phones in the GXP series Grandstream GXP2130 is the entry level phone; although, entry doesn’t mean it is a stripped down phone. Quite to the contrary the GXP2130 has many of the same features as the GXP2140 and GXP2160 that were released at the end of last year. These similar features include a TFT Color LCD Display, dual gigabit RJ45 ports, support for PoE and EHS support with Plantronics headsets.

What separates …

First Look: Grandstream GXP2140 and Grandstream GXP2160
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Grandstream GXP2140 and Grandstream GXP2160Earlier this year I posted about the amount of changes Grandstream phones had gone through over the course of two years. At the time of writing the post 5 phone models had been discontinued and 10 new models had been released. Now here we are 10 months later and we can add one more to the discontinued column, Grandstream GXP2124, and add two to the new model column, Grandstream GXP2140 and Grandstream GXP2160.

WHAT IS IT?

The GXP2140 and GXP2160 are the two latest enterprise VoIP phones from Grandstream and are the replacements for the Grandstream GXP2124. Within the GXP family of phones they will be the higher end phones above the GXP2120 but don’t have as many features as the Android based GXP2200. Additionally …

First Look: Yealink SIP-T19P and SIP-T21P
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Yealink SIP-T19P and Yealink SIP-T21PEarlier this year Yealink broke their mold, aesthetically speaking, when they released three new VoIP phones. These new phones featured a new design that looked quite different from the models they have been producing for the last couple of years. This doesn’t mean that they’ve completely changed their ways and to see the proof of this you only need to look at their two latest entry level phones, the Yealink SIP-T19P and Yealink SIP-T21P.

WHAT IS IT?

The SIP-T19P and SIP-T21P are two new entry level VoIP phones from Yealink. As previously eluded to these two models follow the design of the existing T2X and T1X phones. So much so that out of the gate we had a small game at the VoIP Supply …

Are You a Headset Hoarder? Help is Available
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This is my desk. There are many like it, but this one is mine. . .and boy is it a bit of a mess.

I am a Headset Hoarder

So why am I reciting a variation of the Rifleman’s Creed and showing a cluttered photo of my desk?

Partially to publicly shame myself into taking some action and clean it up but also to talk about a small problem I have that is shown in the photo, that I can now admit to openly and take steps to conquer.

I am not talking about the layer of dust over everything that rivals a mid-winter snow storm, the fact it is one of the last Fridays in the summer and I’m at work, or the two phones on my desk but, …

I Want My TouchScreen VoIP Phone
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Before I go any further I have to be honest, when the touchscreen VoIP phones first came out I was somewhat skeptical. Sure it was cool but it seemed a little unnecessary and, dare I say it excessive, to have a touchscreen on a desk phone. But in the years since my opinion has shifted and now I want a touchscreen VoIP phone on my desk.

I think maybe this ‘want’ is just an extension of the fact that a lot of the things I own and use touchscreen. My cell phone is touchscreen. My laptop/tablet is touchscreen. While my displays for my desktop computers at work and home aren’t I’ve found myself touching the screen only to be disappointed when nothing happens, so: In …

Optimized for Lync 2013 vs Compatible with Lync VoIP Phones
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Lync LogoOver the last couple years Microsoft Lync, formerly Microsoft Office Communicator, has been gaining a larger share of both the enterprise and the SOHO/SMB unified communication market. If you ask a room of people in the know about UC platforms what Lync 2013 is you’ll most likely get a group response reminiscent of students repeating a lesson back to a teacher that “Lync is a unified communications platform that provides a single client experience for presence, instant messaging, voice, video and a great meeting experience” or something along those lines.

Ask a follow up question what the difference between a device that is Optimized for Lync compared to one that is Compatible with Lync and you’re more than likely to hear the sound of few …

Cheng Zhang from Yealink Talks About the New Yealink SIP-T4 Phones
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In May Yealink announced a new series of VoIP Phones that marked a change from their current line of SIP-T2 and SIP-T3 VoIP phones. To get a better understanding of the decision to release these new models and how Yealink seems them fitting in the current VoIP phone market I talked with Cheng Zhang, Marketing Manager at Yealink.

Yealink T4 VoIP PhonesVoIP Supply: While I am looking forward to learning more about the new Yealink SIP-T4 phone models before we start for those who aren’t familiar with Yealink would you be able to tell me a little about Yealink?

Yealink：Founded in 2001, Yealink is the Global Top5 SIP Phone Supplier and a leading provider of VoIP Phone and IP communication solutions. Yealink focuses on VoIP products characterized …