Cisco Room Phone vs. Dolby Conference Phone (Dolby Voice)

If you are already using Webex and Cisco room video systems, the Room Phone is a fantastic option to enable audio/meeting functionality in small conference rooms and huddle rooms at a very reasonable cost. Audio is fantastic and installation is simple. With split registration capability, this device can meet most, if not all, requirements for these rooms and could even be used for private offices and home offices, a definite value as work from home becomes more ubiquitous

Implementing these units within our business reduced the number of support requests to our internal IT support desk. This was simply because these units are so simple to use. The user books a video conference meeting within Outlook and includes the meeting room they wish to hold the video conference in. Within five minutes, their meeting is recognized on the Dolby Conference Phone (Dolby Voice). Their meeting is also shown on the TV screen within the meeting room so that other people can see who will be using the room. On entering the room, the user simply touches the Join button next to their meeting on the Dolby Conference Phone (Dolby Voice), normally in the middle of the table, and within a few seconds, the meeting room has joined the video conference meeting.

• Easy Webex join experience like the Webex app and room devices
• Large, color display with a familiar Webex look and feel
• Easy setup and management with Webex Control Hub cloud and Unified CM on-prem
• High end audio experience
• Proximity integration for meeting join and screen sharing

• One-touch easy-to-join meeting
• Supports two TV screens
• Supports laptop screens on two TV screens without joining a video conference
• Reduces mess of cables In the room
• Dolby audio sound quality
• Speaker and microphone within the same unit on the table
• Supports wide range of cameras, including their own cameras
• Easy to clean
• Robust

• Wires are bulky (lighter weight HDMI would be beneficial for a cleaner install)
• Far end video (possibly a future enhancement?)

• Support of three TV screens would be nice In some rooms

This rating is given because it is simple for us--a no-brainer to replace these units with a new Dolby video conferencing device. The fact that these units make the room neater and make it very easy for a user to onboard and use, just makes it a must-have item. The Linux version of these units is also easier to use with a little software patching required. For us, we can also use the Microsoft Teams gateway.

Very easy to use for both Webex and on-prem calling.

That this unit is so easy for users to use. To join a meeting is a simple one-touch join. If they have not added the meeting room to their invite, then entering the meeting ID into the unit via the touch screen on the flying saucer is very easy. The mute button is on the top of the unit and shows a red LED circle when on mute.

We have not had any issues with the device, but expect support to be as good as Cisco always has been for us.

When we have asked the question to either BlueJeans or Dolby, we have been given the answer quickly. To be honest, the number of times that we have had to go to support on these units has been very low--maybe once a quarter.

We did not have any key issues during the implementation. The units are very easy to configure for BlueJeans. When you first turn on the unit, you select the video conferencing platform that you are using. The wizard will then request various information (e.g., IP address, network) and then look for software updates. Once completed, the unit can be installed in the meeting room. The unit will run off a PoE network lead, so one lead to the unit.

I've use a lot of the Webex Room devices and the Room Phone is a great transition for the traditional conference phone to a modern UI and platform with Control Hub integration. Like all the other major OS platforms out there, the push to unify the user interface has some real advantages and I think that Cisco is accomplishing that goal here.

The biggest issue with others that we find is that no one has a simple one-touch method for users to join a video conference meeting. With most others, we found you either have to find your meeting or manually enter your meeting. With Dolby Conference Phone (Dolby Voice), you are straight into the room--one touch and in the meeting.

• Expanded the options to enhance the value of small spaces

• 95% reduction in IT support desk requests for help with the equipment
• High-quality microphone and speaker
• Robust, smart, clean looking.
• Supports two TVs
• Supports a number of cameras