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Cisco IP Phone 7940
by Ellendel
Ah, the Cisco IP 7940, my greatest adversary, always ringing for the provision of bad news or additional work!
I'm not a huge fan of this phone, and not just for the aforementioned reason; but lets start with the good points. It can be connected in a variety of complex and bountiful fashions. As it's wired into a network port, ... you can have multiple identifiable lines (2) on the same phone, and one line can lead into more than one unit. This is great if you want to set up a call centre, or share a phone line between a few members of a small business or team. Equally, whilst sharing a phone line, you can use your second line as a conduit for personal calls; which is highly practical.
The phone can access a directory of numbers (if one has been created by your business), allows floating identifications (i.e - you can log in and out rather than having a static line, which is good for hot-desking), operates in conjunction with your network answer-phone service, can allow telephone conferencing, and has a variety of hands free, volume and loudspeaker options. This all sounds great, and is probably not an exhaustive list of its capabilities, but that's more or less where my praise ends.
The call quality on these phones is poor. A workplace telephone system should aid you in providing a great communication experience, not hinder you. I work in an environment whereby I communicate with people with different nationalities regularly. Accents and language can be problematic in both directions, and so call clarity is absolutely key to enable you to adjust you hearing, and your communication style so as to develop understanding, or rapport. The dull, muddied tone offered by the 7940 does not lubricate this process, and in fact, actively restricts it. Later Cisco phones resolve this issue substantially, presumably simply by using a higher quality speaker. On such an expensive phone, that is largely dependent on external networking tools to provide the majority of its functions, cost cutting in this department seems sinful.
My second gripe, is that despite being quite massive, this phone only has a basic array of buttons, some of which are quite user friendly (in my opinion), and others which are not. Navigation of the various screens - some of which are required to access functionality mid-call - tends to be a bit cumbersome, as is typing out names with the number pad, and the result of this can be delays in transferring calls etc, unless you happen to have memorised the number you require, or keep your own written/digital records, which slightly defies the point of this phone's functionality!
I don't understand why companies like Cisco don't take their lead from companies like Microsoft, Apple and Google, and make systems simple and efficient to use. Just because someone walks into work and sits down at their desk does not make them a technical specialist; and even if it did, people do not draw satisfaction from using cumbersome systems. The same people using Cisco phones at work, are also buying Android phones and Ipads. These are much more complex devices, with fewer peripherals, that manage to make processes infinitely easier and more time efficient.
Other than these issues, the phone is functional. If it were my business though, I'd expect more, especially considering the large level of ICT resources & expertise these phones require, and thus their overall minimum expense.
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Mitel Networks 5312 IP Phone
by James2807
We have recently has a new batch of phones delivered and set up in the office. The mitel 5312 IP phones seems to be pretty common amongst offices (it's the batch that BT tend to recommend) but is not a practical phone for home use.
The first thing you notice about the phone is that there are a lot of buttons and the face of ... the unit its pretty big yet I feel it looks quite good. The phone takes a bit of getting used to as it has such a huge range of functions. We had a guy who set the phones up give us an explanation of the basic functions and I would recommend you do the same if you purchase these phones.
The unit has the standard number buttons as well at 10 special function buttons. There are also 12 other buttons which are used access other lines or extensions. There are the basic functions such as hold, redial, volume control, voicemail etc. There are pretty much standard on all office phones. However the MItel has additional features which makes it stand out from our previous phones. There is night service activation mode which allows the phone to automatically play prerecorded message to anyone that calls and diverts them straight to the voicemail box, which is very handy to set during breaks such as Christmas. There is also a call forward button which allows all calls to automatically be diverted to a mobile of different number, which has also proved very useful.
The phone has a large screen which constantly displays the time and date and has a blue back light. When someone calls their number is displayed on the screen which I find very useful. It is also very handy for if a call is missed or you forgot to take someone's number as you can scroll back through the call history and recover it (just like a mobile). You are able to create and address book so when someone calls their name will appear on the screen, but we have not tried to set this up yet so cannot comment on its reliability or usability. I have been informed that the phones can be used for VOIP (calls made via the internet) but have no idea how this works, we use it as a normal, everyday phone.
Once of the huge benefits of the phone is that you do not need a separate power connection. The power and the connection is made through the same LAN cable which makes it easy to move about and it cuts back on the amount of wires scattered under the desk.
The sound quality is very good in general (obviously the other end also has an impact on this) and the volume of the call can be altered which is handy as some people are painfully quiet on the phone. However this is common place on most phones so nothing to get particularly excited about.
The headpiece of the phone is a good size and fits well in the hand. The cable is a bit short but for me this is a good thing as means less clutter on my desk.
This is a great phone for the office. I have only covered basic functions but we only use it as a basic phone. We pay monthly for the phones so cannot give you an exact price but deals can be made, especially with BT who we went through.
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Cisco IP Phone 7941G
by milly234
We have these phones at my workplace and I therefore use them everyday. I think that they are brilliant for the office, but they aren't really home phones. They work well in the big company but each phone does seem to take up quite a bit of room on our desks.
I don't have any dealings with how the phone is set up or how ... expensive it is so I will just talk here about how easy it is to use and that sort of thing.
The phone has a handset but you can also use it on speaker phone and you can plug a headset in but I have never done that. The speaker phone system is really good for when you are on a long conference call and you really want to do other things at the same time. You can also mute the speaker so that no one can hear you at times - another thing which is really useful during conference calls. Don't forget to check if you have this on or not when you say something!! I know that this has lead to many embarrassing moments!
So the phone has a lot of buttons on it and they are great. You can change the call/ringer volume on the set easily and this is good if you are speaking to someone who is really quiet, or if you don't want the phone to ring too loudly i.e. if you are expecting a private call perhaps. There are also the standard numbers buttons but there are others like the ones I mentioned for mute, speaker etc. There are some buttons too under the screen and some up and down buttons and these are great for navigating through the on screen menus.
The menus are easy to understand and they take you to what you are looking for pretty easily. You can use the phone to put people on hold, transfer calls, use redial, edit peoples numbers before you dial them, conference calling and it also has an answering machine.
The answer phone is great and it tells you when you have missed calls and messages. Mine is also linked to my outlook which means I can hear the messages through my computer. You need a password (number) to listen to your messages which is good because it means it is nice and secure. You can record your name and your own number and you can also save quite a lot of messages.
You really can do all sorts on these phones like customise the display to have a logo on there, or have one of a big range of ring tones. I have found this phone very useful in my day to day work life.
Another quick thing is that on its display this phone has the date and time on it which are really useful as I am always glancing at it when I need to know the time or the date which is great.
Overall I really recommend these phones if you have a big office!
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