Cisco 8821 EOS (End of Sale) August 2022

chhehr · ‎04-25-2022

Hello Everyone,

I'm not quite sure why hardly anyone talks about the EOS of the Cisco 8821 phones, which is pretty soon, but it's very hard to find any information about a proper successor of the phones or an alternative for that matter. While the Cisco 8821 are getting quite expensive (almost 800€ in the bundle now), the official successor Cisco 840 WW Phone is with 1400$ economically not bearable. Is there some sort of considerable price drop to expect, or does anyone has a plan b for this situation? I would be glad for any suggestions in this direction.

Kind Regards

Chris

Leo Laohoo · ‎04-25-2022

@chhehr wrote:

I'm not quite sure why hardly anyone talks about the EOS of the Cisco 8821 phones

Because nobody need/wants to be reminded how bad they are/were:

8821 had several "roaming" bugs and a few of those bugs could crash the WLAN NIC. It was very easy to replicate by just going out-of-range for <60 seconds. (Example: CSCvn81608) Cisco spent several years to "tame" this bug but it was of no use.
8821 also had a lot of Field Notices affecting the battery compartment gaskets and batteries would "expand" when left on the dock.
Early generation of 8821 had a Field Notice where the metal charging "base" fell off because the OEM had used an inferior glue. We have hundreds of these in our storeroom, unable to RMA them because we did not buy Smartnet on them.

For short, it was a model with a lot of hardware design bugs on top of the software bugs.

@chhehr wrote:

the official successor Cisco 840 WW Phone is with 1400$ economically not bearable

Cisco 840/860 is a rebadge of the Spectralink 95/96. Take note that the Spectralink 95/96 is just an Android-based "mini-tablet" with a SIP application to do the calls. Cisco 840/860 is no different and uses WebEx to make the calls.

We have a growing fleet of Spectralink 96 phones. A few years ago, I did a side-by-side test between the Spectralink 96 and 8821 and I found Spectralink phone was able to detect the SSID a lot faster and were also better in roaming.

Jerry Vander Voord · ‎10-20-2022

@Leo Laohoo is mostly correct. The 8821 had lots of issues from launch to EOS. FWIW, Cisco extended the EOS through the end of their Fiscal Year 2023: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/collaboration-endpoints/unified-ip-phone-8800-series/cp-8821-phone-eol.html

Also, just want to mention that dialer on the 840/860 is actually a purpose built extension of the Android dialer, such that it registers directly with either CUCM or Webex Calling for SIP calling. The phones do not use the Webex application for calling.

Jerry Vander Voord · ‎05-02-2023

In February, 2023, Cisco removed the base model of the 8821 from the EOS announcement. The 8821-EX is still EOS and will reach the milestone on July 29, 2023. Cisco was able to resolve near-term supply issues to ensure availability for customers that want a candy bar-style feature phone.

SivakumarT · ‎06-22-2023

Hey, are you referring to CP-8821-K9-BUN , which is still available to order? and is this a different variant as compared to 8821-EX ? I do face lot of issues in 8821 but recently came to know that CP-8821-K9-BUN has some fixes and am trying to find the difference between two variance of 8821. Would appreciate if anyone can throw light on this.

Jerry Vander Voord · ‎06-22-2023

There are 2 versions of the 8821 - the base model (gray in color) and the EX model (CSA certified, yellow in color). The EX version is the only version currently on the EOS time clock. The base model is the CP-8821-K9= and the EX model is the CP-8821-EX-K9=.

Details for each model are listed on the datasheets.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/collaboration-endpoints/wireless-ip-phone-8821/datasheet-c78-737346.html

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/collaboration-endpoints/wireless-ip-phone-8821-ex/datasheet-c78-737347.html

Leo Laohoo · ‎06-22-2023

@SivakumarT wrote:
CP-8821-K9-BUN

BUN stands for Bundle.

It means the purchase will not just come with an CP-8821 but may include battery, cable, charging cradle and a power brick (for the cradle).

SivakumarT · ‎06-22-2023

Thank you, Leo. Much appreciated. As per Jerry/you, the EX version is in EOL milestone but not the bundled one. Am assuming the handset remain same and it is just that Cisco doesn't want to accept the order separately for the handset (CP 8821-EX) and want to sell it as bundle.

Leo Laohoo · ‎06-22-2023

Must be a failure to communicate with the Documentation Team.

IF the EX is EoS, the EX "bundle" should also be included.

Jerry Vander Voord · ‎06-23-2023

Sorry, but the BUNdle is included in the current, active announcement.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/collaboration-endpoints/unified-ip-phone-8800-series/cp-8821-phone-eol.pdf