Best option for wireless phones

[kurtis]

Hi,

I'm planning on upgrading our current on site Panasonic PBX for a 3CX system. We currently have 4 retail sites of both indoor and outdoor space, we are planning on installing the 3CX system at one site to test and are having trouble finding the most compatible wireless phones. We have the whole of out sites covered in fast wifi with roaming (HP Aruba enterprise). Some members of staff will be using thier own/company mobile phones with the 3CX app, but other staff will need phones. Have been looking at Yealink DECT W59R phones (around 10 of these) along with some W80B base stations accross the site. Because this will be an added cost and because we already have wifi accross the site we would prefer some wifi phones such as Grandstream Wp820 or wp810 phones.

What are the recommendations for which option to go for, or another solution? I've read that none of these are totally supported by 3CX, but I can't find any other alternatives apart from using the 3CX app?

When deployed across all the sites there will be approx 100 users with most of them using cordless phones, so need something that will be reliable and something that will last as there will be a a fair amount of phones

Thanks
Kurtis

 

[leejor]

You may find that a combination of Wifi and DECT sets will work, depending on how far each user has to roam. While a mesh Wifi network would allow a user to move throughout the network, all may not require that, and lower cost DECT could be used by those that remain in a small area. Some DECT systems also offer base extenders if some additional coverage is required.

If you do choose DECT , pay attention to the number of simultaneous calls each base can support.

 

[kurtis]

Thank you for your reply. The majority of the users could be on any part of the site and the smaller on the sites around 150m. I was reading on other forums that DECT is recommended over wifi phones such as the WP810 or WP820, do you have any experience with using these compatibility and performance wise?

The DECT base station I was looking at supports upto 100 simultaneous calls which should be plenty as atm out old panasonic system only supports 4

Thanks
Kurtis

 

[leejor]

Haven't used, so I can't comment on the performance, and things such as battery life, of the Wifi handsets. I know that some older, Wifi only handsets, that I used to use required frequent re-charging so you would want to be replacing the handset on the base, a lot. I'm sure that there are others on the forum with "real life" experience using these. For people that will be roaming everywhere, you will pretty much be forced to use those, or the 3CX App on a mobile.

 

[Evolute IT]

Thank you for your reply. The majority of the users could be on any part of the site and the smaller on the sites around 150m. I was reading on other forums that DECT is recommended over wifi phones such as the WP810 or WP820, do you have any experience with using these compatibility and performance wise?

The DECT base station I was looking at supports upto 100 simultaneous calls which should be plenty as atm out old panasonic system only supports 4

Thanks
Kurtis

Go DECT. The WP series is the worst.

 

[JohnS_3CX]

hi,

Your initial choice for Yealink W80 (or the newer W90) was quite good.

You can install as many W80B repeaters as needed with a single PoE ethernet connection at each point.

Those will generate the wireless signal, and will speak with the W80DM (DECT Manager main base) over ethernet so they can pass calls through reliably wherever a cell is installed.

You might also get better coverage/reliability with DECT due to the frequencies used VS WiFi.