Smart BLF and Digium D40 IP Phone Comparison

Now your Asterisk can become even more flexible and functional. Just add a Digium IP phone to it;) The

manufacturer has released a new firmware with the number 1.4, as well as a fresh DPMA module .

Thanks to a special connection with Asterisk (not only via SIP protocol), this phone allows you to see the status of colleagues directly on the phone, enter / exit the queue, listen to voicemail, launch your own application, and much more.

Today, Digium introduces another concept: “Smart BLF”. Which describes the behavior of speed dialing keys on IP phones D40, D50 and D70. Compared to the previous functionality of speed-dial keys, Smart BLF provides a whole new world of possibilities.

Are you curious about which ones? And you want to know what else is this unit so good for? I ask you to proceed under the habrakat.

Smart blf

One-touch transfer

What if you are on the phone and want to transfer the call somewhere? Now you can set the speed dial key to the one-touch translation mode and do it literally in “one click” :) And it doesn’t matter where: to the additional employee, queue or parking. This can also work on incoming calls if they have not been answered.

In-call DTMF

Do you use the built-in Asterisk features as configured in features.conf? You probably use existing ones: recording conversations, parking or blind translation. Smart BLF now allows you to configure the speed dial key to send DTMF directly during a call. Suddenly, for example, you want to play a wav file “Thank you for calling our company” or “For quality of service, write to us at [email protected]”. The operator on the phone can do this in one click.

Conditional Dialing

Do you want the phone to dial different numbers by pressing the same speed dial key, depending on what the IP phone is doing or the contact you want? Now you have this opportunity. You can easily set up smart call transfer. If the contact is in standby mode, then the speed dial button will have the function of blind translation. If an employee is suddenly busy, then absolutely the same key will be able to transfer the call to his colleague.

Of course, you can do this with a crazy dialplan. But why complicate it so much?

LED control

Smart BLF allows you to assign a green or red indicator to the user; moreover, you can set the blinking frequency for the status of any contact.

Application Download

With a single button, the user can launch your own application. You can assign any speed dial key and the application will immediately appear in the foreground. You no longer need to go to the menu, see a list of all available applications, and run the necessary.

It is convenient to combine functions in pairs, for example, with a set under conditions. You pressed the call transfer key, but your colleague is busy. It doesn’t matter on the phone, additional information about the caller (from the CRM company) will immediately open, or the calendar of the busy employee will open. You can instantly inform the client of the necessary information.

It’s worth adding that it is possible to assign speed dial keys to existing applications (parking, voicemail, queues, etc.)

Sound indication setting

Your Digium phone can play a given melody, for example, if a call comes to a colleague. That is, some kind of sound notification will be activated ...

What if you really crave to hear the interlocutor? You have the opportunity to make his phone ring, and the only cessation of this will be a call back to you. Interesting entertainment. :)

Smart BLF can do all this, and much more. To start using you only need to familiarize yourself with the documentation, download the latest DPMA 1.7 and the new firmware 1.4.
Almost everything about innovations, let's move on to comparison.

Digium D40 IP Phone Comparison

IP phones, in my opinion, can be divided into three categories.

Budget segment. These are devices costing from 70 to 110 $. They don’t have a phone stand, a small screen, usually with one dynamic line, hard (cheap) plastic, very poor speakerphone quality (bad speakers?)

Recently, the “HD” trend has come up here, but to be honest with those microphones, which are installed in the devices of this class, to real HD, and the full use of the advantages of the G722 is far from them.

For example: Grandstream GXP1160 / GXP1400, Fanvil C56, D-link DPH-150S / F3

Mid-range : The most interesting and popular. These are IP phones costing from $ 120 to $ 160
In this category, a larger screen appears, a more pleasant appearance, PoE, real HD.
And this is where the heroes of today's review fall.
Examples: Cisco SPA504, Yealink SIP-T22P, Digium D40

Top-segment : Price from $ 170 to $ 500 ...

This includes various devices of the level of unified communications, IP phones on the Android family, or with color / touch screens. Quite specific devices, with low demand.
Examples: Snom 821, Polycom CX500 / CX600, Cisco SPA525G2, Digium D70

Digium D40 VS Cisco SPA504

Comparing these two phones, which have almost the same cost, you should start with common features.
Phones with similar ergonomics: ABS plastic, the same number of function keys, a heavy (convenient) handset. Two Ethernet ports, support for Vlan tagging, Voice Vlan. Indication of incoming and missed calls, highlighting active lines. Actually everything. Next, we move on to the differences.

Both phones allow you to connect a headset, but Digium can in addition to EHS, Cisco - no.
Digium D40 has a sharper screen 240 x 120 pixels, against 128 x 64 for Cisco, while the physical size of the LCD display is almost identical, and this means that the phone’s Digium screen will fit more useful information.

D40 has a more recent and pleasant, in my opinion, design. But the main difference between the Digium product and the competitor of Cisco is that this phone has its own API and can integrate with external systems. Using JavaScript, you can write your own application, for example, to communicate with a website or a CRM company.

Digium D40 is a Unified Communications Phone. When connected to Asterisk or Switchvox unified communications platform, the operator receives not only a tool for receiving calls, but also for example will be able to go in / out of the queue, take a break, view his voicemail box, view the list of company employees and much more ... This add. the functionality is already available out of the box, without intervention from the developers.

The Cisco phone is simple and reliable at the same time. It has been supplied to the market for several years now and has a very low reject rate.
In defense of the Digium phone, the following factor can also be attributed: out of 1000 phones sold, only 2 are returned for repairs. A good indicator.

Digium D40 VS Yealink T22P

IPmatika promotes Yealink phones in the Russian market quite successfully. Yealink SIP-T22P is a functional and decent device. It has a recommended price of $ 127, which gives us a reason to compare these two devices.

As an advantage, Yealink should write its 100% localization. Both the telephone interface and its web interface have been translated.
However, Digium does not stand still, and in the last revision they localized the device in a very unusual way: the



English Msgs, Conf, Hold, Redial changed to pictograms.
True, the interface on the screen (as well as the web face) has remained the same. Which introduces some inconvenience for ordinary users. (although this is all a matter of habit. In addition, knowledge of English has not hurt anyone;))

Yealink, like Cisco, is inferior to the D40 in the screen: 132x64 pixels versus 240x120. And he also does not have the ability to connect EHS. By tactile sensations, the T22 plastic is smooth, almost like the budget Fanvils. (everyone remembers the hit BW210?).
In all other respects, these IP phones are similar: a set of codecs, 2 Ethernet ports, auto-provisioning, PoE, clear keystrokes, bright backlight.

And I forgot a little about another interesting difference. Digium phone does not have a handset key. The phone determines its position using magnets. Know-how, which is inconvenient to use in practice. Maybe, of course, this is a matter of habit, but my hand constantly reaches for the reset key when I dialed the number incorrectly. But you have to put the whole pipe ...

Conclusion

Digium - well done, and they do not cease to amaze us with new, functional and high-quality products. Do you still remember that by purchasing their products, do you support the further development of Asterisk? Yes, exactly that Asterisk, which is the engine of probably every second IP PBX in Russia.

And with which phone would you compare the Digium D40?