Just finished test driving the Aastra 57i
Submitted by markwho on Sun, 03/16/2008 - 5:38pm.
I always like it when someone gives feedback on the equipment and software they try, so I thought I would return the favor.
I ordered an Aastra 57i to test drive, kick the tires etc.
I read about the look and feel of the 57i, and the xml scripts that were available, so I thought I would order one and see if the hoopla was correct.
I have a customer demo going on with 10 phones and the Polycoms (although a very good phone) aren't cutting it for this customer.
I have to say I AM IMPRESSED!
I updated the firmware as soon as it arrived (to 2.2.0.166) and installed the xml scripts.
That BIG brightly lit LCD display is excellent!
The Park and Parking Lot scripts are VERY VERY nice. Almost makes me forget about SLA.
The voice mail script is awesome! Especially with the option in the cfg file to make it work without the customer entering their password! (I put in a softkey to dial the customer's catchall vm box.)
And the Day/Night mode script is out of this World!!! To have a key lit when it is in Night mode, along with "Night Mode" on the phone's screen....(just makes me tingle all over). The only change we made was to have it change the 0 (zero) index instead of 1.
The phone along with the xml scripts makes a friendlier environment, which equates to ease of use for our customer, which equates to happy customer, which equates to more sales and more profits, which equates to happy boss (me). ; )
This phone just seems to do what you EXPECT a phone to do in the business world. I used this phone at my desk for several days (before it went to the customer demo site) and it is just EASY to use. And the options on the softkeys add to the "EASY".
FYI: Customer feedback is, "We love the Aastra, order 7 more and 2 with the cordless handset."
Compared to some other phones I've tried:
The Cisco I used for a while was good, but not great. The adjustable stand was excellent. Features were very limited.
The Polycom is a GOOD phone, but navigating to Directories and xml scripts was a horror to me. Never could get buddies to work correctly.
The Aastra 9133i is a GOOD phone. Just doesn't hold a candle to it's newest sibling.
The 57i takes a lot of the worry off of our company for things like: teaching the customer an excessive amount of feature codes...and keeping the customer from freaking out when they lose the SLA capabilities of their old system. (Did I mention that the Park and Parking Lot scripts are VERY VERY nice!!!)
We will definitely be switching to these phones (along with the 53i, 55i, 57i CT) for all of our future installations.
A big Thanks to Aastra and
Ethan at Schmooze Communications.
I know this may sound like an Aastra commercial...but trust me...
if something falls into the "SUCKS" category
(Seriously Unusable Crappy Knuckleheaded Systems)
I would be the FIRST to say it sucks.
Downside: (if you can call these downsides)
I ended up changing the key "Callers", which is on a key once you press "More" on the bottom of the screen, by putting it on one of the top softkeys where it is available immediately so the customer will be able to check missed calls more efficiently.
Not enough adjustment in the base (stand, feet..whatever they're called on this model) for me. I would like it to angle a little higher. (but that could be because the Cisco spoiled me on that)
The handset could be a better design, but it's not bad.
Now, everyone on my staff wants me to replace our ciscos, polycoms, and older aastras with the 57i.
LOUDER - just chiming in,
Sun, 03/16/2008 - 6:36pm
LOUDER - just chiming in, these are great phones, I put them in front of a client that was a cell phone wholesaler (they get to rate a lot of phones=picky) they picked the 57i over the Ciscos, Polycoms and others.
I find the Polycoms have a much "richer" bass tone to them than the Aastra phones, it sounds like a noise from a well tuned home audio system, but the Aastras make a louder speaker that still comes in loud and clear when cranked all the way up - volume is important, but i dont think it needs to sound luxurious, as long as the clarity is there - so the 57i wins.
Also deployment is far nicer, and the configs are much friendlier than the polys. if the kinks get worked out of the new 2.6 + xml scripts, they will be awesome.
pca wrote:
Are you comparing
Sun, 03/16/2008 - 7:19pm
pca wrote:
Are you comparing to the newest Polycoms 550 and 650?
Not yet. The customer wasn't happy with 501's, 601's, 430's or 330's, so we opted not to test the waters again with a Polycom (with them). And I haven't purchased a 550 to play with. Price is higher for one thing, and the 57i impressed me so much that I'm reluctant to spend the money just to see the 550 in action.
Not to mention the fact that they wanted to add cordless capability and Polycom doesn't seem to have an answer.
I would like to hear from someone, though, who has put the 550 and 650 through a test drive.
csgcomm wrote:
How would you rate the speaker in comparison to Polycom's?
The speaker quality is as jahyde says. It's not as "rich" and bassy as the Polycom, but it's not bad either. More like I am used to hearing on a standard phone system. Polycom's speaker sound is excellent, I will give them that.
Another note:
The 57i is a lot easier to set up. And it doesn't take too long to reboot. This always hacked me when it would take forever for a polycom to reboot.
The 550/650 Polycom's are
Sun, 03/16/2008 - 10:20pm
The 550/650 Polycom's are very nice phones (but pricey-er as you say). The backlit display and new look is really nice and makes a statement above the older models. But, I think we are really talking functionality (more Aastra) vs call quality of phone (Polycom). I only have experience with the older Aastra's- 480i and 9133i. Both are fine phones with programmable buttons (way easy) better than Polycom (imo). XML applications can make the difference here also. There does seem to be more work done recently in that area for Aastra... and they did take the lead with the 480i scripts on this forum. To me the recent Polycom's have outstanding call quality, but need a lot of thinking and tinkering to make them more functional. (I haven't tried FW 3 yet). The only other thing I would mention on the 480i ct and I think it is the same on 57i ct is that the cordless is a little low on volume (even tweaked), a little short on function (out of the box) and it is a little sparse on battery life (for a phone hound like myself)... about 3-4 hours. I think I will just have to shell out for a 57i to test apples to apples (as it were).
they do on certain
Mon, 03/17/2008 - 8:31am
I have been using the
Mon, 03/17/2008 - 5:00pm
I have been using the speakerphone on my 57i daily for a few weeks now. It is very very good just like the older Aastra phones. People often don't know I am on speakerphone unless they hear some ambient noise or a siren outside. I can whisper from a few feet away and they can still hear me crystal clear.
It's gotten to the point I don't want or need to use the handset anymore unless I have to for privacy.
I transferred between the 57i and the 9133i speakerphone and the people on the other end said it sounded about the same in terms of quality. Not exactly the same but could of had something to do with the physical placement of the phones.
57i, great phone, getting better
Thu, 03/20/2008 - 2:47pm
I have a dozen 57i's, struggled for a while with how to handle parked calls effectively before setting up the XML scripts, love 'em Comments:
*Be careful not to use any harsh chemicals on the phone, the plastic screen cover on one of our phones is ruined with some sanitizer, spots. Aastra has no replacement part for the screen cover, they even deny there is a cover over the screen, but just not quite a spretty without.
* Day Nite script was fantastic also THX
*Intercom and speaker phone are great
*config scripts are a bit buggy some times, unable to clear a softkey in order to allow it to be set by config file, need to reset the phone to factory if you have done anything on the web guii for the phone and want to use config scripts
*gonna get sidecars for most of the phones, just not enough softkeys, the more feature should be able to be turned off so you can just use six post
Eventually I want to have agent logon xml script for the phones, to have a user sign into a phone, is there such a thing out there?
Cheers,
Nathan
So what's the channel ??
Thu, 03/20/2008 - 8:24pm
Quick update for anyone
Tue, 04/08/2008 - 4:46pm
Quick update for anyone curious about the Aastra phones we installed around three weeks ago.
We put in seven 57i's, two 57CTi's and one 51i.
The firmware was updated to 2.2 and the xml scripts that Ethan Schmooze wrote (obtained from pbxinaflash site) were added to the trixbox setup. The day/night mode and voicemail scripts are EXCELLENT...more than excellent, more like STUPENDOUS!! And with Ethan's Park and Parking Lot pick up scripts the customer hasn't missed their old key system. So Double STUPENDOUS on that aspect.
When Ethan's presence script becomes available it will be icing on the cake.
The phones have not exhibited any problems, they work great and the customer loves them.
I have another one on my desk and I have to say I am still impressed. The 57i has fast become my favorite phone (I have used Cisco and Polycom before).
I can't live without the large display (lit or unlit choice is yours).
And I have to add, that the placement of the power plug and LAN and PC cable jacks are very good and easy to access now.
The phone is what I expect a business phone to be...and with the xml scripts that are available now in the package manager (new stuff, wooohooo!!) for it and more to soon be available...it just gets better and better.
: )
We have been using the 57iCT
Fri, 04/11/2008 - 6:31pm
We have been using the 57iCT in house since they first came out. We are big fans of 9133i and 480i/480iCT phones. The 57i is a great phone, almost as good as the 480i IMO. Hopefully they have fixed the issue with the 57i and it's sidecar color differences. The 9133i is an awesome call center phone, much better then the 53i or 51i IMO. We have about 80 9133i's out there and only one or two have given us a problem. Mostly from users getting mad and slamming them down after a call. :)
It's tied to the base and it
Sat, 04/12/2008 - 9:28pm
It's tied to the base and it shares that extension. Further, you can not make simultaneous calls with the base phone and the cordless.
If you need those two particular features I'd suggest getting the non CT version, then getting some other cordless DECT or wi-fi phone to run in tandem.
Maybe the Snom M3, or even an ATA and an analog cordless, then tie them with the base using a follow-me or something.
Edit: hey, I'm wrong. I just tried with my 480i CT at home, and you can make simultaneous calls with the base and the cordless. You can't give it a different extension though.
Not sure if this is the
Sat, 04/12/2008 - 9:30pm
Headset Question --
Sun, 04/13/2008 - 8:17am
Looking seriously at this phone, but I need headset operation and a NENA 911 compliant interface would be even better. Since besides regular (BlueTooth GN-6210) headset operation, I would also like to interface with the Telex-Vega HB-3+ Radio Over IP headset controller for a call center.
Can someone comment on what the operation is like when on headset please ..
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So let me get this straight...
Mon, 04/14/2008 - 10:56am
My questions about the cordless functionality are because a I thinking that might be a good fit for a client. They have an existing phone, standard phone with pots going directly in. It is a 4 line phone and when someone is on one of the available lines inbound calls still ring the other phones.
Is this how it will work? If someone is on one cordless, then an inbound call will ring the other cordless handsets and the base?
Thanks.
If you are on the cordless,
Mon, 04/14/2008 - 12:35pm
If you are on the cordless, and someone calls your extension, it will appear on the display of the 57i, but it will not ring.
If you are on the 57i, and someone calls your extension, then the cordless handset will ring one time.
I just got the 57i CT, and I haven't really explored the options to see if this can be changed.
fsit - if you have multiple
Tue, 04/29/2008 - 11:36pm
fsit - if you have multiple 57i CTs (complete base units) - then yes, you can use a ring group to do that, and ring available cordless handsets.
but if you just have only 1 57iCT with several cordless handsets attached to it, they are all considered a single extension, having multiple cordless sets is only for convenience, it is not for multiple users/extensions.
57i and 560M side car brightness
Wed, 04/30/2008 - 1:01pm
After reading all of the nice replies I ordered sidecar for testing with my existing 57i which was working for couple months in my house. It appears that sidecar has MUCH brighter screen than 57i itself which bothers me a lot. I tried to play with Display option but was not able to make them look close enough since there is no separate brightness control for side car.
Could it be because my 57i's screen faded out over few month of use?
Member Since:
2006-09-24