We all knew it was coming, but it’s done. The Plantronics CS50 wireless headset has been discontinued by Plantronics to make way for the new 1.9 GHz Plantronics CS55 wireless headset.
Thank you, CS50, for all the great years of service you provided and still provide thousands of happy customers.
Welcome, CS55. We’re going to introduce you to as many people as we possibly can.
Have a great day.
The problem I’m about to describe is probably partly my fault, but I’ll ponder it anyway.
Why is it that people are still purchasing Nortel 3×8 phone systems?
I mean, they are good systems and all, and I’m sure there are people who genuinely need them, but there are so many other options out there that are frankly speaking, pretty damn good options that are less expensive than Nortel’s offerings that, well, I’m a little amazed.
Now, to be fair to my boss, he’s built his business on Nortel products. So, that’s what you’ll see on the homepage of the site. However, we also offer Avaya – which has made the leap to the front page as well.
Some of the smaller systems are pretty good though, so I’d like to shed a little light on them.
The first is anything by TalkSwitch. This is a great analog phone system with everything you can think of built in. Voicemail. Auto-attendant. The amazing “track-you-down-at-any-number-you-can-be-reached-at” feature (one of my favourites) plus a whole bunch more. It works with any analog phone, or you can buy TalkSwitch phones to go with the system.
Oh – and if you purchase the optional VoIP module, suddenly you have a VoIP phone system at a very low price compared to anything from Nortel.
TalkSwitch phone systems – ideal for small business owners.
For those who are planning their data network to do data AND voice, there’s the really simple Venture IP phone system. Really straightforward – buy ONE Venture IP Gateway (supports up to four incoming lines). ADD Venture 480i IP phones anywhere on the LAN. The phones automatically find the gateway and configure themselves with an extension AND they find all the other phones on the LAN and configure themselves together. Add up to 200 phones on the LAN and you’re all set.
This system also comes with voicemail, auto-attendant etc., which are EXTRA features on most mainstream phone systems.
I personally think these phone systems are really great values for small business owners. Both are produced by well-established companies so there’s really nothing to worry about from a “fly-by-night” perspective. Just something for everyone to think of in the new year, especially if you’re just starting a business.
I’ve been using a Chameleon 2001 headset for the past month or so.
Overall, it’s done pretty well. I’m using it for a cellphone and my home cordless phones.
The cellphone (Motorola V635) has a built-in headset 2.5 mm headset jack. The 2001 headset works fine with it, but the phone’s not so good for the headset. You can’t adjust the transmission volume, which means you sound REALLY LOUD when using the phone. Also, because the transmit is so high, while the noise canceling microphone tunes out a lot of stuff, even the stuff that’s muted gets sent through quite audibly. Not great. In addition, I found the cord of the headset acted as an antenna for the phone, so there was an audible hum on the line until I removed the antenna from the phone.
I’m told by others in the know that this is a problem with corded headsets and digital phones. If you have an analog cellphone (a rarity in these days), you won’t likely have that problem. I suppose this is why most digital phones are bluetooth enabled…
Anyway, I attribute the problems more to the phone than the headset.
I also use the headset on a couple of cordless phones I have at home and there, it performs flawlessly. The microphone’s better than what’s on the phones. One of my callers noted that my voice sounded clearer and had more bass to it when I put the headset on compared to when I was using the handset alone.
I suggest though if you’re going to use a headset on a cordless phone that you get a cordless phone with a good range of volume adjustment. The VTech cordless phone I has the low volume setting rather high, even at the lowest setting. Sometimes it’s necessary to move the headset a little bit off the ear when speaking to a loud caller. On my GE cordless phone, I just lower the volume and no headset adjustments are necessary.
In short, the headset works fine. The locking quick disconnect on the cord stays put as it should, even when my daughter’s pulling on it with all of her might, so that’s a neat feature. It’s durable, having gone from the car dashboard to the floor several times as well as being stepped on my my daughter a couple of times (the microphone boom only, fortunately – not the speaker).
I use a cordless headset at work, so I don’t use the Chameleon there, but in the home environment, which is sometimes more hectic than work, it’s performing very well.
So well in fact that my wife wants one too.
Not sure what happend here, but the Nortel IP 2007 VoIP phone was missing in action from our site.
If you haven’t seen one of these before, here’s what they look like:
Not just cute, but practical too!
The biggest thing about them is the colour touchscreen and the added functionality that feature brings to the phone.
Essentially, the IP 2007 combines the functionality of the Nortel IP 2004 VoIP phone and with the touch screen, gives you a ton more options.
Many of the options depend on what version of Nortel’s communication servers you’re running, but if you have the support for it, you can get maps & directions from websites directly on your phone, see footage from your security cameras, give your staff information on guests in hospitality environments or send out company-wide bulletins over the phone.
There are a lot of possibilities that can dramatically improve your organization’s efficiency by distributing information quickly to all staff with access to these phones.
The Nortel IP 2007 VoIP phone – no longer MIA from the Telephone Magic website.
Sometimes it’s hard to see the forest for the trees.
Having been charged with the upkeep of the website, I’ve been trying to fix inconsistencies with the navigation. Sometimes it works. Sometimes not.
Take for example, Meridian Phones. There were pages to help one navigate through the T and M series of Norstar phones but there wasn’t one master page to send people to so they could easily get to the Meridian M2000 and M3000 phone pages.
Well, that’s changed. Here’s the updated link to Meridian Phones:
http://www.telephonemagic.com/meridian-1-phone-system.htm
You can find Meridian M3000 and M2000 phone as well as cards for the Meridian 1 PBX systems that these phones run on.
Oh, all at wholesale prices too, I might add.
I hope you enjoy the update.
One thing I’ve noticed as a newcomer to the telecom industry is that lots of companies like to make their stuff proprietary – only working with other products that they make.
Headsets are a prime example of this.
First of all, headsets have to adapt to the phone. Plantronics gets around this by creating two different lines of headsets – Polaris and H-series – to connect to different types of phones either directly, or through an amplifier.
Of course, you can’t use a Plantronics amplifier with a GN Netcom headset – and the opposite is true as well.
Then you get a subversive product like the Chameleon 3007 universal phone headset amplifier.
Yeah – subversive. You read correctly.
This product is truly universal – accepting headsets from Plantronics and GN Netcom – and pretty much any other major headset manufacturer. It also connects to virtually any business phone.
Compare that to the “universal” headset amplifiers from Plantronics, which connect to virtually any business phone but only accept headsets within the Plantronics universe. I guess that’s how they can call it “universal” – referring only to the phones it can connect to.
One of the neat features about the Chameleon is a “magic switch” as they call it, which eliminates the “speaking into a tin can sound” that can sometimes happen when used with high transmit application. One flick of the switch and the call clarity is boosted tremendously. It’s amazing nobody else has thought of this before.
So, if you have a Plantronics of GN Netcom headset and need a new amplifier, I strongly suggest you look into the Chameleon 3007. It works great and will probably make your existing headset work even better than with its former amplifier. It’s also the best looking of the bunch, in my opinion.
Do you know what makes a Polaris-series Plantronics headset different from an H-series headset?
They look the same.
They feel the same.
They smell the same.
The difference is . . . impedance.
????
Impedance is “resistance to alternating current” and is measured in ohms.
A Polaris headset has different impedance than an H-series headset.
This is why a Polaris headset can be plugged directly into a telephone that has an amplifier, but an H-series headset requires an external amplifier to work.
This is also why Polaris headsets cost more.
Interestingly, Chameleon call center headsets can be plugged directly into a telephone with a built-in amplifier (like the Norstar T-series of phone) AND it can also be used with an external amplifier.
I learn something new every day.
If you’re in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area, Canada, eh?), Telephone Magic’s running a special promotion for phone systems.
If you purchase or lease a new Norstar CICS Digital Phone System with voicemail and 4 T7316e phones, you’ll receive a free USB digital message on-hold announcer and a professional generic message production!
The cost of this on a lease is $66 / month (O.A.C., plus taxes, first and last in advance, buy-out at end of term – installation extra).
This is a limited time offer, so call Jim Mucciarone at 905-356-9199 x 3006 for more details.
My boss took a look at this product and started humming the theme to the original Casper cartoons. “Casper – the Friendly Ghost, the Friendly Ghost…”
This is a friendly product – both for use and on the bank account.
The Casper USB call recorder is a full line-tap device that records all conversations on the line to computer through a USB connection. It can be installed before the phone system on each line to capture all calls made on that line, thus eliminating the need to have one unit per PHONE, which is how a lot of other systems work. Because of this, it can be a less expensive way to record all the calls in your call center or business.
For more information on the Casper and other USB call recording devices, click here.
Yet another friendly product available wholesale through Telephone Magic.