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Wireless IP Phones

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gizbri

IS-IT--Management
Feb 18, 2004
33
US
I currently have a G3si running CM 2.2 with 5 IP licenses , running softphones and a hardphone. Is it possible to add wireless IP phones to this without and extra equipment (besides the phones)?
 
Wireless IP phones have never been popular mostly because a wireless access point is a "hub" style network device, and not a "switch". There's no dedicated bandwidth, and hand-off between access points (if your environment is too large for one to manage the area) can be frustratingly bad. Usually, a call will drop.

There have been improvements with wireless access points and phones, but you'd really have to dedicate a few access points to providing voice services, and not much else. Other wireless (laptops, etc.) network traffic is likely to degrade the audio.

Your best bet is to acquire a wireless phone that has a base station that is IP. Those have had better luck selling, though they're limited by the range of the phone and base station.

If you do decide to go the wireless IP route, you'd need a few wireless access points. Then, of course, the phones.

Carpe dialem! (Seize the line!)
 
dufus2506 thanks for the response. I should have been more clear in the original post. I already have a wireless network in place - Cisco 4402 controller and 1131 AP throughout... I could easily setup a voice wireless network, but is there Avaya IP phones that will connect without any other equipment, like the hard ip phones do ?
 
Not that I know of. There are a few SIP versions out there, but they never got good reviews because of the inherent problems I mentioned.

Like I said, wireless IP phones aren't yet what they need to be. Once they can put some QoS in place on the wireless net, and add some intelligent hand-off between APs so the phones can roam between them, it'll be worth looking into.

Until then, I don't think there's an Avaya IP solution for wireless. There are other Avaya wireless (not IP) phones and systems. Check with your Avaya rep.

Carpe dialem! (Seize the line!)
 
Give this a read:
We've got a couple of 3631's. They do work but have been a little problematic in our specific implementation. From what I've read on the Web, some people love them and other have tons of trouble. (About the same as any technology I guess.)

You don't need any other hardware. You can use DHCP and a TFTP server, but you can also configure them statically.

Jeff
[small][purple]It's never too early to begin preparing for [/purple]International Talk Like a Pirate Day
"The software I buy sucks, The software I write sucks. It's time to give up and have a beer..." - Me[/small]
 
MasterRacker - thanks for the info. I am looking to get 1 pr 2 phones up for the Helpdesk staff when they are away from their desks. We have a Transtalk setup but the coverage is not great on all 3 floors
 
You'll want to thoroughly test your coverage. In our case calls stay up but if a handoff is happening where signal is weak, audio may drop out.

Jeff
[small][purple]It's never too early to begin preparing for [/purple]International Talk Like a Pirate Day
"The software I buy sucks, The software I write sucks. It's time to give up and have a beer..." - Me[/small]
 
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