Use Cisco 8841-3PCC-K9 with Asterisk running ooh323

[supportguy]

I need to add a phone to an Asterisk phone system running the OOH323 channel driver.  The phone I add *MUST* support H.323...later on I may switch it to SIP, but for now it must use H.323

Does the 3PCC firmware mean that it support H.323 ?  Or does 3PCC force it to use SIP?

A local vendor has used 8841 phones for sales, but if they won't do H.323 please recommend a 7xxx or 8xxx phone that will work with H.323 and Asterisk.  (Big color screen is nice, but I'll sacrifice whatever is necessary to get something working).  In a previous post someone recommended  7945/7965/7970/7971/7975 or 9951/9971 as "more compatible" with Asterisk...just not sure why/how

[Leo Laohoo]

Majority of voice providers are unable/unwilling to support H.323/H.264. 

[Nithin Eluvathingal]

MPP versions are SIP-based, and all the latest Cisco phones are SIP-based. The older phones support both SIP and SCCP, but never H323.

VC endpoints used to be H323 devices.

Even Cisco has sunset H323, and most vendors have done the same, as @Leo Laohoo  mentioned.

[Roger Kallberg]

No Cisco phones has ever to the best of my knowledge done H.323.

[supportguy]

I have to create an add-on for an Asterisk PBX that uses H.323, and in order to test this I need to buy an H.323 phone.   I was sure that most older Cisco phones with 3PCC supported H.323 (see https://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/voice_ip_comm/cuipph/7905g_7912g/3_3/h323/english/administration/guide/7905ovr.html as an example)

A company I used to work for ran cisco 7xxx  with an Asterisk server over H.323....I'm pretty sure 

[Nithin Eluvathingal]

The 7905 reached EOS on February 6, 2006, and EOL on June 30, 2011, almost 14 years ago. These devices were discontinued when I was in college. Technology has changed significantly since then. Looking for something from 20 years ago doesn’t make much sense. If you really want to use an H.323 device, try using a softphone that supports H.323. You can find options by searching online

[Leo Laohoo]

I can make video calls from one extension to another with a 9971, however, calling outside of Asterisk to another may not be supported.

There are no 79XX that can support video calls.  9951/9971 was the first to support video calls.  

[supportguy]

I don't need video, just audio is fine.  I've tried all of the H.323 soft phones I could find but only Ekiga and Yealink VC even run properly.  But I'm having trouble connecting to my Asterisk server, so to avoid chasing software issues I just want to plug a known good H.323 hard phone into the network.

[Nithin Eluvathingal]

In that case, please ask your question in the Asterisk community because you need something that works properly with Asterisk. This can be suggested by the Asterisk community and not the Cisco community.

[supportguy]

The Asterisk community got me as far as configuring H.323 with Asterisk, and based on their feedback I've narrowed it down to a few brands of phones.  One of which is Cisco - I just want to get some Cisco expertise before I buy!  I bought an Avaya H.323 phone based on Asterisk community comments, but it turns out Avaya's flavor of H.323 is proprietary (and making it work with Asterisk is hit or miss).  So that's $75 now sitting in my junk pile.

I just want to ensure I'm picking a Cisco phone that does standard H.323, without additional license requirements, communication manager dependencies, etc.  Just want something simple, basic, standard H.323.  (Even searches on 3PCC vs MPP leave me scratching my head...).  I'm hoping someone in the Cisco community says 'oh just use model XXXX, it works great as H.323 with my asterisk server'

[Leo Laohoo]

---

@supportguy wrote:
I don't need video, just audio is fine. 

---

I am getting confused. 

If video is not required, why go through all the issue with H.323/H.264 instead of using other voice-only codec like, say, G.711 ulaw/alaw?

What business case for voice traffic that H.323 has that G.711 ulaw/alaw cannot provide?

[supportguy]

I've never asked for Video capabilities, or even mentioned a codec.  I'm just asking about H.323 as the signaling protocol instead of SIP.

[Nithin Eluvathingal]

Cisco does not have any phones that support H.323. All their new phones are SIP-based, and they no longer support even SCCP.

[supportguy]

I realize I would be buying a old (used) Cisco phone.  I'm just not familiar enough with Cisco technology to avoid buying something locked/incompatible.