Introduction to the Polycom IP430

The Polycom IP 430 is an enterprise-grade IP phone, The SoundPoint® IP 430 is designed to meet the telephony needs of general business users – cubicle workers that conduct a low-to-medium volume of calls – by delivering a robust feature set encompassing traditional telephony features such as call, park, pick-up, hold and transfer, as well as more advanced capabilities such as shared call / bridged line appearance, multiple call appearances, and presence.

Polycom IP430 Features

The Polycom IP430 is a two-line desktop IP phone that delivers the outstanding voice quality and smoothness of natural two-way conversations with its full-duplex speakerphone featuring the Polycom Acoustic Clarity Technology.

• 2 lines
• 132 x 46 pixel graphical LCD with line LED indicators
• Full-duplex speakerphone with Acoustic Clarify Technology
• Intuitive user interface
• Robust feature set and security
• Integrated Power over Ethernet Circuitry (IEEE 802.3AF)
• Dual switched 10/100 Mbps Ethernet ports
• Built-in auto-sensing IEEE 802.3af PoE support
• SIP

Polycom IP430 Product Packaging and Documentation

The Polycom IP430 was packaged well and came with all accessories. Documentation consisted of PDF files I downloaded from Polycom’s website.

One thing I noticed about the IP 430 itself is that there is no special notched Ethernet jack like Polycom phones of the past. This type of jack could only be used with their special included notched Ethernet cable. This special cable would be used for Power over Ethernet or as a point where a wall power supply would plug into. The Ethernet jacks on the phone are ordinary, which means that readily available ordinary Ethernet cables are used.

Polycom IP430 Administration, Configuration, and Use

I used the voice over ip phone’s internal web pages to initially configure the phone to get it up and running quickly. The five sections of this page are titled Home, General, Network, SIP, and Lines. The settings on these pages are enough to register the phone and make calls, but more settings can be changed by using configuration files with an FTP server instead. The phone can also be configured through its LCD screen.

Polycom IP430 Asterisk Integration

The version of Asterisk used for this review is 1.4 beta 3. I used vsftpd as an FTP server for configuring the phone via FTP. The phone came with SIP firmware version 1.6.7 and bootrom version 3.2.1.0012. I found out that Polycom allows for the downloading of older versions of SIP firmware from its web site. The most current versions of SIP firmware and bootrom files are only available to Polycom channel partners.

I downloaded a zip file for SIP firmware version 1.6.7. This zip file contains sample configuration files, the SIP firmware, and locale specific files. The home directory I used on my FTP server is /home/PlcmSpIp. I edited the configuration files as needed by referring to a SIP admin guide downloadable from the Polycom web site. After rebooting the phone, the new settings in the configuration files were not being used on the phone. I found out after some more reading that any settings entered via the phone’s internal web pages would override the FTP configuration files. I found a way of erasing these internal phone settings through a menu entry. After rebooting the phone again, the phone took the settings from the FTP configuration files.

The FTP configuration files have many changeable settings. Changes I made included SNTP time sync, turning an audio MWI off, assigning an extension for retrieving voicemail, and making both of the two line appearances active on the assigned extension.General features such as call transfer, call forwarding, conference, and do not disturb all worked fine.

Polycom IP430 VoIP Service Provider Integration

I don’t use VoIP service providers myself. I had no problems getting the phone to be used as an extension on my Asterisk PBX and dialing calls via Ma Bell.

Polycom IP430: The Good

The best thing about the Polycom IP 430 is it’s mass deployment and configuration functions. These features are found on other phones too now.

Polycom IP430: The Bad

Dialing a SIP URL is possible only by using the twelve key number pad. Many key presses are needed to get an output of one letter, which is inconvenient. Entering a SIP URL would be better accomplished by using an internal web page instead.

One of the phone’s PDF files I was reading said the phone has instant message functions. Composing or replying to an incoming instant message is possible only by using the twelve key number pad. This text entry method has the same problem that entering a SIP URL does as a result.

Overall Impressions

The phone sounds as good as other similar IP phones I have used. I recommend this product.

About the Reviewer

Dave Roper is an IT professional with experience in VoIP, security, networking, Linux, and Windows. He has worked with VoIP companies at the carrier and office level and in deployments of PBXs and IP phones. He has been working with Asterisk and VoIP since 2004 and Linux since 1998.

Introduction to the Linksys WIP 300

The Linksys WIP 300-NA Wi-Fi IP Phone enables high-quality voice over IP (VoIP) service through a Wireless-G network and high-speed Internet connection. Connect at home, your office, or at a public hotspot, and make low-cost phone calls through your Internet Telephony Service Provider.

Linksys WIP 300 Features

The WIP300 Wireless VoIP Phone operates in the 2.4GHz band, supports 802.11g and the latest VoIP SIP protocols. The large, full-color high resolution display features an intuitive user interface enabling users to easily and quickly configure the handset using Secure Easy Setup (SES).

• Pixel-based display—Provides intuitive access to calling features
• Nine speed dials configurable in the set
• Comfort noise generation (CNG), voice activity detection (VAD), adaptive jitter buffer, and echo cancellation
• RF and battery level indication
• Local phone book
• Embedded 2.4GHz antenna
• ABS+PC plastic housing
• 1.8” COLOR TFT LCD with backlight
• Simple keypad with backlight
• Remote Firmware upgrading via Wi-Fi
• SIP v2 signaling protocol, RFC-3261
• POP3/SMTP E-mail access (optional)
• SMS (optional, by system default)
• USB charger interface

Linksys WIP300 Product Packaging and Documentation

The Linksys WIP 300 is packaged well in a small box, with plastic packaging to prevent the phone and battery from moving around. Documentation consisted of a quick start guide on paper and a full user guide in the form of a PDF file on a CD. I didn’t read either one since the onscreen menus were intuitive enough to get the phone up and running. An electrical charger is included too.

Linksys WIP 300 Administration, Configuration, and Use

The administrative/configuration interface for the WIP 300 is similar to that of a typical cell phone, in that every menu function is squeezed into the small space of two soft keys, directional keys, a small LCD screen, etc.

You have to get used to the menu structure of the phone and how the buttons operate. There is an easier to use internal web page too that can be used to view or change settings.

Linksys WIP300 Asterisk Integration

I was able to connect the Linksys WIP 300 to my wireless equipment with no problems. For the review, I have a Buffalo WBR-G54 802.11g wireless access point/router. Since my WBR-G54 is not my primary firewall, I had to set it up as a quasi access point to ensure that the WIP 300 and my Asterisk server were on the same subnet. I setup the WIP 300 with manual IP address settings since my own network is generally an exception to the rule. Most often, a wireless VoIP phone would get its IP address from an up-steam DHCP server. This would be the case if a wireless access only product with a separate DHCP server is in use or a wireless access point/router that has its own built in DHCP server is used instead.

Wireless settings were programmed as 802.11g only, a hard to guess preshared key and SSID, WPA encryption, TKIP, and no SSID broadcast. These settings were programmed into one of the default profiles on the WIP300.

Settings for SIP registration were programmed into MySQL for realtime integration. I programmed additional statements in extensions.conf related to other phones I have.

For the review, I programmed my primary desktop IP phone to always forward incoming calls to the Linksys WIP 300. I was able to receive calls with no problems during this test.

Linksys WIP300 VoIP Service Provider Integration

I don’t personally use a VoIP service provider myself for any long distance calls. I have a traditional Ma Bell phone line instead for any local or long distance phone calls. The phone had no problem acting as an extension on my Asterisk server, so I was able to make local and long distance calls as I normally would on a desktop IP phone.

Linksys WIP 300: The Good

The phone is small, lightweight, and would function well as a secondary IP phone. Sound quality was good on the call flow tests I made. A test of sending and receiving email messages via POP3 and SMTP worked well.

Linksys WIP 300: The Bad

The battery cover easily slid off when I handled the phone in my hand.
The cover reminded me of one found on a TV remote control. The latching mechanism needs to be improved.

A blind transfer function test didn’t work properly with Asterisk. I made a call from the WIP 300 to one of my two desktop IP phones. I put the call on hold from the WIP 300 and dialed the other desk phone, then pressed the transfer soft key. I answered the second desk phone. Audio only went only one way between the two desk phones. A similar blind call transfer initiated from the desk phones went fine. There may be a problem in the SIP or RTP implementation of the WIP300. An upgrade of the firmware (1.00.07) and bootloader (1.00.02) didn’t solve this problem. The version of Asterisk for this review is 1.4beta2.

The Linksys WIP 300 does numerical dialing only. This will probably be the case for most if not all wireless IP phones of this type. I tried to dial a SIP URL from the keypad or the speed dial list, but was unable to.

I am not sure how well the battery will perform over time, so further tests of this type would need to be done. I was unable to perform a wireless roaming test since I only own one wireless access point/router.

Overall Impressions

The phone functioned well overall and I recommend it.