Siemens Gigaset S685IP

kels :

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.

Glad you sorted it.

I have a triple set of the S685IP (bought from DSTele.com)

Base setup is as follows:

3x Siemens S68H handsets
2x BT Freestyle (rebadged siemens?)
1x Cocoon Outdoor 2200 (£30 from Lidl for an IP54 rugged system, not even bothered unpacking the Base Station from it)

4x sipgate accounts
1x other VoIP provider
1x asterisk account

gigaset turned on + landline connected

Internet connection via BT ADSL with a Netgear DG834PN

First off, the system works very well. I had an S450IP Quad set before this, which is now deployed in the office.

Built-in VoiceMail system is very slick, and great quality recording.

@nickhill
1) LCR is provided by number only. Provided options are:
Number begins with, Dial via (or block call), and a comment.
I would dearly like to see Siemens add time based LCR, as most UK landline providers offer cheap/free evening/weekend calls!

2) Distinctive Ring is not supported, but the handset displays (on the Siemens handsets) do tell you which line the call is coming via. On the S68H handsets, you can add call groups and custom ringtones per address book entry, but I warn you, most of the built-in ringtones are shocking!

3) Redirection appears to only be from the SIP accounts, and not via landline as someone else stated. I would suggest turning on the "announcement only" instead of answer machine, and leave a message for landline callers asking them to re-dial you SIP number, and then redirect that.

These handsets are noticeably louder than the S45H (S450 ones), and the speaker quality is good.

I did fancy the Ruggedised Siemens handset, but it's £50-60. Lidl currently have the "Cocoon" (Belgian made), boxed as "DECT Cordless Telephone", but it's water and dust resistant, and rubberised, and it is GAP DECT compatible, so registers fine with the S685IP base station. It means the nice shiny Siemens phones won't get trashed in the kitchen/garden!

I have noticed some slight issues with both the S450 and S685, which has to do with service providers or internet connection drops. The Siemens base station tries to register to the SIP provider, fails, and for some reason, reboots itself. If I watch my network's DHCP server, I can see the base station re-requesting an IP address about every 20-30 seconds. Even once the internet connection comes back up, it continues to do this!

Removing the power, and connecting it back up again does NOT solve it. You have to logon to the base as fast as possibly, and disable one of the SIP accounts. This appears to break the loop, and then re-enabling it works fine.

Siemens' technical support asked me to do a hard-reset on the base to see if it resovled it, but it doesn't. (Disconnect all the cables from the base, hold the page button in, reconnect power for 22-25 seconds, whilst holding page in. Disconnect power again, wait 5-10 seconds, reconnect the power, THEN release the page button. You then have to spend 10-15 minutes configuring everything again.

Has anyone else experienced this problem with the base rebooting? I wonder if it's some strange DNS/Router issue caused by the combination of Netgear router and Siemens phone. Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

The only other problem with the S685IP is that the "Info Services" tab in the web configuration screen is corrupted in the latest firmware, so you cannot change the settings to turn it off or on!

What a super piece of kit this is. I bought a set (with two telephones) recently whilst I was staying with my family in the UK. Being somewhat impatient I set the phones up for VOIP whilst staying with one daughter using her ADSL line so was able to make VOIP calls (at no cost to her) using my S685IP handset. I then moved on to stay with daughter number two so plugged the Siemens base unit into their router - again instant access to my VOIP provider and use of (my own) telephone at no cost to my daughter. Moved onto daughter number three and repeated the exercise - again use of my own phone (without having to ask permission to use her phone!) So VOIP worked well in the travelling mode with my Siemens Gigaset.

Now back home France with the whole kit set up properly so that I can receive incoming calls on my landline I am well pleased. Well done Siemens!

Now I do a lot of travelling, staying with friends and family, so wouldn't it be good if Siemens did a piece of kit similar to the base station (without the landline bit) that I could just plug into any available internet connection so that I could continue to benefit from making my VOIP calls wherever I was with one of my (two) S685IP handsets? Perhaps I will pass this by the development people at Siemens, or should I patent it first?