Any upcoming support for 'Poly' phones?

[dandenson]

Just wondering if there is any effort into supporting new phones from 'Poly'. Major brand here, even more so with the merger. They also do active product placement and advertising so people recognize them. That goes a long way in our sales efforts.

There are currently zero recognizable brands on the supported list. Fanvil, Yealink, and Grandstream may make good phones, but people's first take is that it's a generic.

First class support for Poly (or even Cisco) would enhance our sales tactics.

Thanks.

 

[cobaltit]

There are currently zero recognizable brands on the supported list. Fanvil, Yealink, and Grandstream may make good phones, but people's first take is that it's a generic.

Yealink ships more Open SIP desktop phones than Cisco or Polycom. And I don't think you can find a phone system (hosted or premise) that doesn't support Yealink and they are right there on the front page of recommended phones next to Polycom and Cisco and sometimes even the preferred phone.

I don't see them working on it since one of the major underlying issues with Polycom support and 3CX has to do with the firmware which is going to be a issue no matter the model. Now the OBI software based ones might be another story. Polycom told me they were talking to 3CX about testing when I was testing the OBI based phones on our hosted platform.

 

[dandenson]

I don't care about volume shipments here, I care about what customers recognize in the field.

On my asterisk systems, the cisco endpoint often seals the deal because they see 'cisco' and the same phone they just saw on TV or in a movie etc. I've moved away from them though because I want endpoints that can work well with whichever system I use and I've been moving more 3CX and it gives me less grief.

I personally love the yealink T4x and T4x line, I think they are great phones. The only problem is that no voip 'muggle' has ever heard of them.

Polycom is my #2 want on the list. They are somewhat less recognizable than cisco but still pretty well known.

Both brands do active advertising and product placement. 3CX supporting these gives us access to free marketing.


Marketing is expensive. Any chance to latch on to a brand's own marketing is a win for us.

 

[BrenttG]

We have thousands of phones out in deployment, and here is what I know from it, ive been doing SIP/VoIP deployments for ~10 years, including time before we got into 3CX as a platform..

Cisco phones are a last resort unless the actual pbx/host is cisco, their stuff is filled with little proprietary nooks and crannies, just because they preach it as being industry standard, and "better" it is not.... And im a long time student of their training courses mind you.... Cisco's mantra is, lock in, lock in, lock in, and then milk for licensing, it will never change. those proprietary bits are part of their lock in, so that certain things dont work, without the cisco backend, or they are made overly difficult.

Polycom, i have lots of experience with the vvx400-600 series, and i hate them, for numerous reasons, but ill take them over cisco in many cases.... We usually run into them pre-existing from a prior vendor or system, and the client is trying to cut cost by reusing all or some of them, which may or may not be vendor locked. Even once they are unlocked, they aren't reliable without an SBC, the usability of features on them sucks compared to others.

Yealink phones work as if they were designed for 3CX, because they utilize open standards, and the team that writes their firmware seems to have a well established code base. We spend the least time setting up, and supporting Yealink compared to all others. The T5 series are especially solid.

Our sales team does a good job and the issue of a customer never having heard of yealink, is never even on the radar of being an issue during a deal, after all just because something is seen on TV, or in a movie does not mean it works well, or is a good product.

 

[phintec]

I just spoke with a Poly rep at Channel Partners and was pointed to the latest revision of the Obi firmware.

https://support.polycom.com/content...ce/business-ip-phones/vvx350-obi-edition.html

Take a look in the release notes...
Release Notes (PDF)
"3CX Plug-and-Play Provisioning"

I have not tested it yet but from what I understand it is ready from the Poly side of things and they are finishing their 3CX Testing. Fingers crossed

Todd.

 

[cobaltit]

Yep, that's what I was alluding to in my post. I haven't heard anything from the 3CX side of things.

 

[dandenson]

case in point on the TV marketing. Big bang seem to have made a point to choose camera angles that could see the cisco phones.

If Poly is being worked on that's great. I prefer Yealink but I hate to lose out to someone selling Poly(com) just because of brand recognition.

Also, I've already had to pitch against someone selling Poly as 'complete' with phone and headset etc and doing a smooth trashing of anything that is mixed brand. 'Unified solution' etc.

It would be MUCH better to be able to offer that and neutralize that angle.

 

[BrenttG]

You could just counter pitch that the Yealink's use open standards, support bluetooth or corded headsets, using USB or RJ connectors, and will work with any bluetooth headset/phone, so they can choose whichever fits their ear most comfortably, or use the one they already have, give them the freedom of choice.... Make them see that freedom of choice as what it is.

I believe the newest Yealinks also support something the Polys do not unless theres a model im not familiar with... the T5x Yealink phones have the ability to do bluetooth and wifi simultaneously, where as the polycoms can do 1 or the other i believe....