Selecting Phones for Teachers

[kylejwx93]

Hi All, I'm going through the supported phones list and trying to figure out what would be best to deploy for our users. Requirements are pretty simple.

1. Supported by 3CX
2. Reliably makes and receives phone calls
3. Dual Gigabit ports, VLAN tagging, and PoE
4. Secure (No back doors to foreign governments, e.g. China.)

I'm looking at Yealink, Fanvil, Grandstream, or whatever else you suggest. To me, the Grandstreams seem extreamly similar to Yealinks. Is one a rebrand of the other? I notice that both Yealink and Fanvil are based in China. Should I be worried about that?

 

[craigreilly]

Grandstream is not a rebrand. A little cheaper feel than Yealink but I have not any issues to speak of.
Yealink is a VERY SOLID device, but at a price.
I have a handful of Fanvil X4 - not a fan. No issues, just don't like the layout.

And, although Grandstream is headquartered in the US, the phones are made in China.

 

[HRMNY]

Yealink is rock solid. Grandstream is ok. 80% of the phones we've deployed are Yealink. The remaining are Grandstream, and some issues have come up over time, mainly firmware.

How many phones are you looking to deploy? What type of deployment?

 

[BrenttG]

Yealink all the way, here are the options i would recommend

Cheap, Basic - T46S - Meets your Reqs, and is on the basic side with color screen.
Better - T53W - has bluetooth and WiFi built in just in case its needed.
Better 2 - T54W - everything of the T53, plus better specs and color screen
Best - T58A/T58V - Full Video calling, touchscreen phone that smokes all your requirements and then some.
Note, T58A does not include camera, its sold seperately, T58V includes the camera in the box.

 

[cobaltit]

Pretty much everything is manufactured in China. As @BrenttG mention, if you just want the best phone for 3CX I would have to agree with him on Yealink. But if you are worried about the Chinese influence then Snom or the recently fully supported Polycom VVX xx1 series.

 

[kylejwx93]

@HRMNY I'm deploying about 70 phones for my school. 95% of the time, the phones will sit unused in the classrooms. The are just there for emergencies and communication between the office and classrooms. In the main office, the phones are used much more and I will buy nicer models.

 

[kylejwx93]

@BrenttG Thanks for the details here. I consider the T46S to be a higher end model. I think T42S would be the fanciest I would get for classroom phones that will barely be used. I'm seeing some Grandstream and Fanvil (X3G) phones in the $50 - $65 range. That could really reduce the cost of this deployment compared to spending about $110 on Yealinks.

 

[kylejwx93]

Ok, next question. What do you think of buying refurbished phones. Here's the VVX 311 for $42.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DLD25MG

At that price point, the failure rate would have to be crazy high to lose money vs buying new.

 

[cobaltit]

I think it's worth it. Anything to save money for schools!

 

[kylejwx93]

What vendors/distributors do you recommend? It seems that VoIP Supply has pretty good SEO because they always come up in my searches.