EC500, Nokia Symbian OS, and me

[heathersue]

Hi,

I'm loving the idea of using the Nokia global cell phones in conjunction with the EC500 feature on CM PBX's. Only issue is its a Nokia cell phone - not a data-centric device or something more similar to a 'Blackberry'. Has anyone heard any whisperings or anything regarding new Symbian OS hardware that will work with EC500 feature, while being carrier agnostic?

At my company we are looking to rollout wireless mobility devices - integrate outlook, internet, VPN, etc... but I worry that the solution we decide on may not work with the EC500 feature and it seems to be a big seller. Anyone got some hints on devices other than series 60 stuff coming down the pipe?

Heather

 

[nohuhu]

heathersue,

first, ec500 is already carrier agnostic. it doesn't require any data transmission ability from a phone, it deals only with did phone numbers so it works with absolutely any carrier.
second, avaya has plans for platforms other than symbian/nokia 60. afaik there will be release for windows mobile somewhere next fall, in september if i remember correctly.

 

[NX01]

The EC500 feature is as reliable as your outgoing trunk. I have found (for outside sales) that a blackberry with a voiceplan works GREAT with EC500. No need to add a voicemail box on your Intuity or even assign a coverage path on the switch...

In the future everything will work...

 

[heathersue]

Thank you both for your replies

It is good to hear that windows mobile will also work like the series 60 - I know that the Ec500 works with any cell phone/ any carrier, but I really like the ability of the Nokia's to work more like a desk phone/ with transfer, conference etc...

Thanks!!

 

[h5n1]

did anyone here sucessfully made ec500 work on non isdn trunks?

 

[nohuhu]

h5n1,

i tried but no luck. it doesn't work.

 

[h5n1]

hey dwalin,

i've heard and read about loopbacks and ip trunking to cheat the system in order to have ec500 to dial out on trunk groups other than isdn....gonna give it a shot

cheers...

 

[nohuhu]

h5n1,

don't think it's worth your effort. you see, ec500 works two tricks: incoming calls and outgoing calls. for incoming calls, i.e. when somebody's calling your extension and you want this call to ring both extension and cellular phone, a call to cellular is placed immediately but even with isdn it takes two to four rings to reach cellular phone, because (at least here in russian gsm networks) cellular network has a significant delay in setting up a call. i fear to think what time it would take to reach cellular phone through t1 cas or even analog co trunks. no caller would wait ten rings and you'll never even know that somebody has called you.
as for outgoing calls, i.e. when you want to make a call from a cellular phone to some internal extensions, it may work but i'm not sure how would it take to be routed through several trunks. what i'm sure about is that disa-like things do not work, i tried. so it takes a real did number over an isdn trunk for every ec500 feature extension, and that's a fact.