Cisco 8800 series phones, our experience after 5 years.
Overall Satisfaction with Cisco IP Phones
Great phones. We have them deployed over the whole campus, and they can be remotely managed and configured individually or in groups. Using Cisco's CDP protocol across our access switches, we can also track and find phones based on their serial number or MAC address. End users also have some customization of their phones which can be done through a self-service portal.
Pros
- Remotely managed and configured
- End user customization through Self Service Portal
- CDP across whole Cisco network
Cons
- Price is high for these phones but ultimately you get what you pay for
- They won't die! Haven't had a single phone break since we rolled them out.
- Multi-purpose: Recently also linked them to our Tannoy system to make campus-wide announcements.
- Easy to use, even for non-IT literate users
Compared to the Grandstream phones, the Cisco phones are much better built and reliable. The extra costs are worth the benefits.
Quality is everything, and the Cisco IP Phone 8800 series phones delivers on this.
Do you think Cisco IP Phones delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with Cisco IP Phones's feature set?
Yes
Did Cisco IP Phones live up to sales and marketing promises?
Yes
Did implementation of Cisco IP Phones go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy Cisco IP Phones again?
Yes
Using Cisco IP Phones
100 - Internal and extrnal calling within the Cisco ecosystem
2 - 1 Dedicated technician and a backup technician. Need to have experience with the hardware and call manager / servers
- Internal Calling with phone directory
- External calling with private phone director
- Single number reach
- Voicemail, with advanced features
- Looking at integration with teams via Kurmi provisioning
- Video calling
Evaluating Cisco IP Phones and Competitors
- Scalability
- Ease of Use
Ease of use - we have a lot of people who are less IT-literate (young students for example), so the devices need to be easy to use and manage
More video phones
Cisco IP Phones Implementation
- Implemented in-house
- Third-party professional services
New Era Technologies
Change management was minimal - None
- Setting up call manager
- learning the Cisco UC backend
Cisco IP Phones Support
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | Escalation required |
Yes - Yes, quickly and efficiently
We accidently bought some additional phones and they were the wrong type (consumer firmware). The Cisco team helped me flash them for call manager with an inexpensive additional license. This saved us having to return the devices.
Using Cisco IP Phones
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using | Requires technical support Lots to learn |
- Simple interface
- Easy to use self-service portal
- getting to the corporate address book could be quicker
Yes, but I don't use it
Comments
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