Third party wireless phone options for CM

[n.mulvihill]

I think its fair assumption at this point that 8821's don't work well for a lot of organizations without a boat load of tinkering. To fill that void in our org we use yealink w52's and have about 200 bases deploying. I'm curious what other companies are using to supplement their wireless phone needs.

[Rolando Valenzuela]

We had troubles with older models of 8821 as soon as we upgraded our wireless, since those old phone only really work well on 802.11a/b which SUCK!
After upgrading to 8821G it was pretty much plug and play and we do not have problems with them, but any wireless phone that supports SIP should be a feasible alternative.

Regards.

Rolando A. Valenzuela

[n.mulvihill]

I'll have to checkout the 8821g maybe that will fix some areas. I don't think they'll replace the yealinks anytime soon due to the upfront cost.

[n.mulvihill]

Is there a different part or mfg for the 8821g?

[Rolando Valenzuela]

Not anymore, since the old model was retired a few years ago but the phone we have are CP-8821-K9-BUN

[Jonathan Schulenberg]

In my experience, the Cisco wireless phones on Cisco WiFi when properly deployed is the best audio experience you can get on unlicensed spectrum. The emphasis is on properly deployed - there’s an entire deployment guide dedicated to the topic.
https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cuipph/8821/english/Deployment/8821_wlandg.pdf

The 8821 had firmware problems when it was first released, both in the phone itself and the wireless infrastructure due to newer protocol use. All of those have been fixed in current versions on _both_ platforms.

Comparing DECT base stations running on 1.9GHz and WiFi phones on 2.4GHz or 5GHz is apples-and-oranges. DECT is using relatively empty airspace after all.

To answer your question as-asked: the other option I’m aware of people using is Spectralink, either DECT or WiFi. I believe some models are even on the Cisco price list now under SolutionsPlus.

[n.mulvihill]

We've deployed it to almost every best practice in Cisco's guide and still cannot get it working 100%, I've talked to Cisco employees who say the 8821 doesn't work properly. When your standing in a single ap area its perfect but when you start roaming that's where the trouble comes in. We piloted zebra TC51/56's and those things work amazing, no drop outs when roaming and crystal clear voice with very little modification to our Cisco wireless environment, in that same pilot area the 8821 preform poorly. The zebra's are pretty expensive but it also provides a lot more solutions other than just operating as a voip phone.

As far as dect vs 8821 5/2.4ghz it is apples to oranges when it comes to technology but for the usability and reliability they should be equal and they are not.