Siemens Gigaset S685IP

Further to my post a couple of weeks ago http://www.voipuser.org/forum_topic_12673.html I have just ordered a triple set of these http://www.home-phones.co.uk/home-phones/siemens-dect-cordless-phones/siemens-gigaset-s685ip-voip-ansaphone/.

The company have confirmed they are in stock and should be with me by Monday at the latest. I will put together a review of these phones, probably on my blog (http://www.theopensourcerer.com), but if you want it here too that's fine.

I will be connecting them to our PSTN line and my Asterisk server. I'll update this thread once I have more to say.

Cheers

Alan

Look forward to your feedback as I'm very tempted.

Quote:

I will put together a review

That will be good, thanks. If you can note the important parts of the setup as you do it, then that will be a useful resource for others finding this thread.

Hello Lord_alan

I haven't seen much on the internet going into detail about the S685IP features, apart from an overall set of bullet points. A detailed review would be very welcome.

Some of the points I would like to know about are:

1) Can the base station carry out Least-Cost routing? i.e. Direct calls via landline or specific VOIP accounts based on number rules and time of day/week?

2) Can the base station cause handsets to ring distinctively based on which line the incoming call is originating from? Or some other way to easily identify what number the caller has dialled? eg a specific ring if someone is dialling my home phone (so my dad will answer it), my sales number (so that only I will answer it), or my premium rate technical support line (obviously, so I can advise the caller of the cost, and give appropriate type of service?))

3) Can the base station re-direct incoming calls (whether from the bluetooth-enabled port on base station, POTS or VOIP) to another number via SIP? (eg if nobody answers the phone at home, incoming calls via POTS or from specific VOIP accounts to be re-directed via webcalldirect (cheapest to mobiles) to my mobile phone?).

Any help appreciated.


Thanks.


Nick.

As far as I can tell, it can't do any of the above. We're really disappointed with them. We've sold alot of the S450 as office mobile extensions, but this particular phone has the look and feel of a home phone.

(gave our sample phone to my mum, she does like the fact that the phone shows weather reports though)

Regards

Hello middletn

Thank you. Your information suggests I would be wasting my money on an S685ip.

You mentioned the S450. Do you know if that does what I need, or know of any other phones out there which can do the things I listed?

nickhill :

Hello middletn Thank you. Your information suggests I would be wasting my money on an S685ip. You mentioned the S450. Do you know if that does what I need, or know of any other phones out there which can do the things I listed?

No it doesn't. The phones only allow call forward on the IP lines which is a shame.

The only way to get around this is to use one of the higher end ATA's (linksys,Grandstream). Still at least you can use out of the box phones then.

While good, the Siemens phones are very limited in what they can do. My guess it's because they don't want to make them too complicated for the consumer market (Tesco sell these phones)

regards

middletn :

While good, the Siemens phones are very limited in what they can do. My guess it's because they don't want to make them too complicated for the consumer market (Tesco sell these phones) regards

Hello middletn,

Let's not feed Siemens rationale for not providing these features (they may be reading!). A distinctive ring UI, for example, would be very easy; A list of all methods a call may come in via (eg sip1 sip2...POTS, Bluetooth), and next to each of these a drop-down combo box each listing all available ringtones. I am sure an average Tesco customer who is savvy enough to get the config screen of their VOIP phone up on their web browser can handle that.

I have sent a message to Siemens asking if any of their phones have this feature set. This may encourage them to implement such features.


Regards


Nick.

Hi there,

I got my triple pack of S685s today. I haven't really given them a thorough test yet but my initial impressions are very positive.

First I should say that these are being used at home. My wife and I both run businesses from our home offices but I was never under the impression that these are "business" phones. They are feature rich home phones.

After playing with the web interface here's the answers to the questions already posed that I know about:

Quote:

Some of the points I would like to know about are: 1) Can the base station carry out Least-Cost routing? i.e. Direct calls via landline or specific VOIP accounts based on number rules and time of day/week?

Not quite as versatile as you wish but there is the facility to configure dial plans based on number dialled etc, and which outbound service to use, but I don't think a time based feature is there. Although I see no reason why that couldn't be added to the feature set. Once I've had more time to play with them I'll explain what the facilities really are.

Quote:

2) Can the base station cause handsets to ring distinctively based on which line the incoming call is originating from? Or some other way to easily identify what number the caller has dialled? eg a specific ring if someone is dialling my home phone (so my dad will answer it), my sales number (so that only I will answer it), or my premium rate technical support line (obviously, so I can advise the caller of the cost, and give appropriate type of service?))

You do see on the handset display which line the call is coming from and the CLI. There is some possibility to set up different ring tones but it doesn't look quite as you wish. Although, as I said, the display shows you which line is calling.

Quote:

3) Can the base station re-direct incoming calls (whether from the bluetooth-enabled port on base station, POTS or VOIP) to another number via SIP? (eg if nobody answers the phone at home, incoming calls via POTS or from specific VOIP accounts to be re-directed via webcalldirect (cheapest to mobiles) to my mobile phone?).

Basic call forwarding is supported. You set forwarding for each service the base station knows about. Forwarding options are: Off, When Busy, No Reply and Always. Then you enter the number to forward to. Call forwarding doesn't look like it is supported in the fixed line - which makes sense really.

Bluetooth, as far as I can tell, is only supported in the handset and is for Headset use and for getting your directory into and out of other devices such as your mobile.

My experience so far:

I have set up the three handsets to be known as "Kitchen", "Alan's" and "Helen's". I have separate VOIP services for each of these on my asterisk server. Incoming calls from any VOIP provider come via Asterisk, and are then directed to the relevant handset(s). This is really neat. The Kitchen Phone will ring for all incoming calls, My Phone will only ring for VOIP calls for my office number and "the home". Helen won't get my calls and vice versa. It is very simple and flexible to set this up. Each handset uses it's own outgoing VOIP service on the Asterisk server.

You can also select which services get to use the in-built Answer phone and which do not. So our business calls will use the Asterisk voicemail (as it will email us the message straight away and we have different greetings etc.) but calls for the home will go to the built-in answer machine.

You can configure upto 6 VOIP services + the Gigaset VOIP service + the PSTN line. You can have up to three simultaneous calls going on (2 VOIP + PSTN)

They are still charging currently, so I haven't done much else yet, but in a few days I'll post something more on my blog with some photos, screenshots and the like.

I'm very impressed with them so far. The web based User Interface is intuitive and straight forward and the handsets work and feel just like any other mobile-type handset. Nice big screen too.

Al

PS - Tesco used to sell a "locked" version of the C450IP, I believe. Looking on their website now, they don't have these listed.

Hello

I have also just received a S685ip Twin - but it seems I have a problem with the second handset. I can't get audio through the earpiece, only through the speaker.

Do you perhaps know of any settings I may have overlooked?

Despite this, I think it's a really well built phone with many useful features.

kels

kels :

Hello I have also just received a S685ip Twin - but it seems I have a problem with the second handset. I can't get audio through the earpiece, only through the speaker. Do you perhaps know of any settings I may have overlooked? Despite this, I think it's a really well built phone with many useful features. kels

I haven't had much chance to play with the handsets so far but I can't think of an option that would disable the earpiece, other then plugging in a headset or using a bluetooth one.

I've set up a couple of local voip calls just to run the batteries down after their first full charge. Connections are rock solid. Been up for hours! Talk time would seem to be as specified. Many, many hours...

Al

Seems like it's a faulty handset.

Now I'm having trouble with voipuser setup, any help would be greatly appreciated

Hi all,

I managed to get a couple of hours to write up a post on my blog regarding these phones.

http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2008/04/27/siemens-gigaset-685ip-phones/

After using them for a few days, I think they are the dogs...

Sound quality is great, battery life more than enough, flexibility for a home phone system is awesome.

Stick an Asterisk server between them an the outside world and you have almost everything you could want for a small telephone system.

Cheers

Al

kels :

Hello I have also just received a S685ip Twin - but it seems I have a problem with the second handset. I can't get audio through the earpiece, only through the speaker. Do you perhaps know of any settings I may have overlooked? Despite this, I think it's a really well built phone with many useful features. kels

Hi there,

Have you checked that your handset volume is up? Settings>audio settings>handset volume? Other than this, is your speakerphone button (lights up red) sticking?

JP

Hip-IP.com :

kels : Hello I have also just received a S685ip Twin - but it seems I have a problem with the second handset. I can't get audio through the earpiece, only through the speaker. Do you perhaps know of any settings I may have overlooked? Despite this, I think it's a really well built phone with many useful features. kels Hi there, Have you checked that your handset volume is up? Settings>audio settings>handset volume? Other than this, is your speakerphone button (lights up red) sticking? JP

The handset was faulty, sent it back.

In Settings>audio settings>handset volume>Earpiece you should hear a beep as there are only 3 settings - I wasn't.