OBiTALK Community

Does anyone have a recommendation on a good phone to use with OBI?

Desires
Good Microphone with background noise reduction\cancelling
Good speakerphone

No preference on wired vs wireless. No preference on if it supports a headset or not.

Currently I use Google Voice with a OBI110 which is connected to a Panasonic KT-TG7742S. http://shop.panasonic.com/shop/model/KX-TG7742S (http://shop.panasonic.com/shop/model/KX-TG7742S)

My reason for thinking of replacing it is the desire to have a better sounding speakerphone for both parties. The sound on my side is OK, but others say it sounds like i am in an auditorium frequently. I do not know if this is the phones fault, a setting i need to tweak on my OBI device, if I should just buy a bluetooth device that will work with my existing phone, or something else.


Regarding my network it seems to be pretty solid.

Phone: Panasonic KT-TG7742S
Internet: 60mbps down, 10mbps up
Router: Asus Ac66u with QOS setup for the OBI device to have highest priority
OBI110: plugged directly into the router, phone plugged directly into the OBI110

Speed tests, line quality tests, VOIP simulation tests online all come back with high rankings. I also do not see anything that appears to be bad when looking at current call status while on a call. Below are my service stats from the last 2 days.


PacketsSent   1517712
PacketsReceived   1502490
BytesSent   260840700
BytesReceived   258407440
PacketsLost   14382
Overruns   0
Underruns   182

I'm sure that you'll get a diverse batch of opinions and recommendations.

In general, home-class speakerphones are just not going to sound that great.  If you really prefer using a speakerphone over using a headset or handset, look at a full-duplex, business-class speakerphone or conferencing phone from Polycom.  Their products are the "gold standard" in corporate offices.

Otherwise, the best business-class headsets are from Jabra/GN Netcom and from Plantronics.  More expensive than the crappy consumer headsets, but the sound quality, wearing comfort and hearing safety are far superior.

Thanks I will starting looking into polycom phones with full duplex speakers

I guess I should have also mentioned Obihai's own solution:  the OBi 1032 IP phone.  I have one, and I can testify that it has one of the very best speakerphones I've ever used.  The combination of a pure digital IP connection (no repeated analog/digital conversions with an ATA and analog telephone), plus a lot of engineering effort put into HD audio sound quality, makes for extremely clear and rich sound.  I highly recommend it if it fits your budget.