EASY3CALL GIP300 Review
I was struck by the low price of this phone and managed to get one for testing.
This is a two-line IP phone and can register to two independent ITSP's (Internet Telephony Service Providers). The two lines can be switched by pressing a key and the display indicates which line is currently in use.
In addition it supports 3-way conference and works well with Asterisk (although it's SIP only). I setup a 3-way conference on an Asterisk platform facility, making two calls provided by two separate ITSP's.
Finally, the most interesting thing I found from this phone is that it could show me specific call status indicators such as SIP 100 trying and 180 ringing etc on the LCD. It may be of no use to your average customer, but it is very useful when making a system deployment.
You can get the specifications for this Phone from the company website here:-
www.easy3call.com/products/index.htm
In Use
The phone in this review is the black model without PoE (Power over Ethernet). I like the appearance and design of the GIP300 - it would comfortably suit either office or home environment and can be wall mounted. It features a 10/100M Ethernet port, one 5V power adapter jack (just a little bigger than my thumb) and one 3.5mm headset jack.
It was easy to understand and operate the keypad even without the manual. The two Ethernet ports can be configured as either switched or router mode. This design is quite helpful from a security perspective. When it is configured as switched mode it simply acts as a two port switch. When configured in router mode, it acts as a NAT device with PPPOE and DHCP Server functions (a SoHo router in other words).
The LCD display is abundant with details - the status of the two Ethernet ports, the history of missed calls, call transfer, received/dialed call and message waiting indicator all shown clearly. There is also a green LED on the phone panel to indicate registration status.
Besides the IP address assignment, the more advanced settings can be configured through a simple web-based configuration page. There is a curious item entitled "VPN" which appears to be a special function for use with another of the same model phone, enabling P2P interconnection over VPN and avoiding ports blocking of VoIP by some ISP's. [Sounds interesting - if anyone has any info on this, please send it in... Ed]
The GIP300 supports NAT traversal completely. I have tested the setting of the Outbound Proxy which can cooperate with our system very well. I have not tested the device with STUN.
The GIP300 can support downloading files directly including firmware, ring tongs and dial plan. All downloaded files can be selected from the web-based configuration page. Settings are retained during firmware updates.
The GIP300 supports entire dial plan settings, something I have only previously experienced with Sipura products.
Shortcomings
First, it’s a pity that the LCD display is not pixel-based but a segment digital screen. Secondly, the 8 memory keys (M1-M8) are also used for other functions, making the front panel a little complex.
Finally there is no IAX2 support.
Conclusion
All in all a great product at an affordable price. It's 2-line ITSP facility, 8 memory key and 3-way conference functions collectively make it a good business phone. Coupled to the low price, it turned out to be the IP phone that I’m looking for.
Added: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Reviewer: Steele
Score:
Related web link: Easy3Call
hits: 5772
Language: eng
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