Siemens vs Snom - Why would one choose one above the other?

[qz]

Heya,

I've been looking to buy a low/mid range voip phone for my testing environment. I was about half an inch away from buying a Snom320 when I decided to have a look at the Siemens range. I was blown away by the functionality of the Siemens phones. Unless I'm missing something the Siemens Gigaset C470 IP phone seems much more advanced from an overview perspective. It is wireless and also allows the user to choose between using a POTS line or VOIP line etc. In terms of budget the Siemens is also cheaper by a few dollars (not much, but still cheaper).

Now I know Snom is a reliable and good VOIP phone brand, but I was wondering if anyone cal enlighten me about why someone would choose a Snom over a Siemens, especially if one had to compare Snom 320 & Siemens Gigaset C470 IP which are very similiarly priced.

Dave

 

[SY]

Hi Dave,

It is a persistent problem to choose between functionality and features especially in case if cost is the same.
Personally, I think you have initiated a very interesting discussion.

Let's compare these phones from different point of view.

Dave, you should make a first step

Thanks

 

[qz]

Thanks Stepan,

You make a good point. The Snom range of phones seems to be aimed at the business market. A market where customers don't walk around in the office and talk on the phone. They also mostly (I have yet to hear any different actually) make use of a single voice communication medium (not counting cellphones), so there will be no need to have the funcionality to switch/choose between a VOIP phone call or a POTS phone call, as they would only have one or the other (and since we are dealing with VOIP we will focus on that of course ) They have no need to check their email from their phones (as they can on the Siemens) and they certainly don't need to make use of the baby monitor functionality. Of course once again, unless the phone will be used at the day care centre of a large corporate

Siemens is however not very clear in terms of the security of the communicaton where Snom makes it very clear that they use SIPS/SRTP, TLS.

The Snom range also offers the ability to use a headset which is ideal for call centre environments.

So in essence, in terms of features the Snom range of phones seems to be the choice for office environments (small/medium/large) where as the Siemens range will be able to satisfy the personal as well small office environments where there are 5 or less phones.

This could make it much easier to understand the different working environments based on their featues, but doesn't quite answer my need to understand the quality of the phone itself as well as the phone calls.

What are your thoughts?

 

[jeroenh]

One of the things I noticed on the c470ip is that r key for transferring a key doesn´t work. So transferring a call is not easy.

 

[qz]

One of the things I noticed on the c470ip is that r key for transferring a key doesn´t work. So transferring a call is not easy.

Mmmm, Has anyone else had this issue? I wouldn't want to buy a device for a client let-alone for testing if it some of the functionality doesn't work...

 

[bluetel2]

One of the things I noticed on the c470ip is that r key for transferring a key doesn´t work. So transferring a call is not easy.

yes it's complicated.

you must take second call, next make link in menu.