Awesome hardware - software needs work, October 31, 2009

I ordered the Siemens as a replacement for an aging Panasonic system that we needed more handsets for anyway. Prior to buying the Siemens, I'd fooled around with VoIP using a Sipura ATA (SPA-3000), and while it was decent, the configuration practically required a technical certification to decipher and properly program all on its own. That may be wonderful if you already know your way around outbound proxies, DTMF, hook-flash delays and other arcana of the telephone industry, but if you're like us, all that together in one big sticky lump was a pretty steep learning curve, especially if all you want to do is get the phone to ring reliably. We did NOT want to go the Vonage route, because Vonage's business model is to partner with vendors that will make Vonage-specific phones which require virtually no installation...but have proprietary hardware and software which locks you in to only using that hardware with Vonage's services, which is where they make all their money. It's exactly...

While the phone itself works well (both land line and VOIP) with great sound quality, there are some serious shortcomings in the software:* phone book transfer is seriously broken - it removes initial digits from the number, making it useless (reading back the phone book from a hand set and sending the same file back without any changes will result in different entries that what was originally there!) I had to manually edit every single entry after the transfer* VOIP username is limited to 32 characters (which made it impossible to use my current OneSuite account, requiring me to create a new one just for the phone to be happy)* response on the hand set when doing anything is extremely slow - I guess I have to work on my patienceI hope that these issues will eventually be resolved (though I have been told by support that the 32 character limit cannot be changed) as it is only software. The hardware itself is great and I would buy or recommend this phone...

Have been using the phone for ~6month.Other reviews have covered the nifty features, so I wanted to concentrate on theday-to-day usage.* Sound: quality seems to be good i.e. cant complain, but the volume is low. Sometimeshard to hear the other person, yet the sound when navigating through menu(s) is very loud.* Speed: the phone is slow to react to key press, both in menu navigation and number dialing.* DTMF tones: do not work reliably. Happened several times when calling to an IVR the systemwould not recognize responses that are dialed in. I guess the phone does not produce the DTMFtone for long enough time for systems to recognize it.* Phone book: slow to upload the contact to the phone, seems like 10 seconds per contact.What is worse intentional phone are NOT transfered correctly.* SIP calling: seems no clear way to dial somebody by a sip address. Which is the whole point of an "IP...