SIP phone suggestions

[klussier at comcast.net]

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Cole Tuininga <colet at code-energy.com>
> 
> Hey all - I'm finally foraying into the world of Asterisk.  I have a box
> to dedicate to it, I have Trixbox (http://www.trixbox.org/) downloaded
> and ready to install ... now I just need some phones.
> 
> I was wondering if folks could suggest (or at least relay experiences)
> on phones?
> 
> I'm looking for one fairly nice office phone.  Something multi-line
> capable (which I still don't really get - shouldn't that be inherent?)
> with a decent speaker phone.

I have been using the Sipura SPA-941's. Sipura was bought by Linksys, which is owned by Cisco. They look almost identical to all of the Cisco phones that you see on TV (usually the Cisco 7960). You can get them in two-line or four-line, and they only cost about $130 a piece. The SPA-942 is also good, and it has the added benefit of havin a built-in switch. Mass-configuration is pretty easy using a simple config script on a tftp server. 

I have used the Cisco phones in the past, and they aren't worth the money. They are good phones, but at anywhere from $300 (for a refurb) to $800, they are way to expensive for mass deployment in a small company. 

FYI,
Kenny