RP Tricks

Review of “AastraLink RP” (Part 3)

A review of AastraLink RP - a Microsoft Response Point phone system.

Note: Because this review is quite lengthy we’ve had to split it up into three posts. This is Part 3 of 3.

In Part 1 we looked at the hardware that comes with the AastraLink RP system.

In Part 2 we took a look at the software that is used to configure the AastraLink RP system.

In this article we’ll take a walk through the system and we’ll reveal how we like it when used on an everyday basis.

Unpacking and Setup

Unpacking

In typical Aastra style, the system arrived in a number of white boxes, unmarked except for a label on each box. Every box contains a single component. Everything is well packed.

Build quality of the phones is excellent.  The base and gateway are constructed robustly and run cool.  I don’t foresee overheating problems with either of these units.

The phones include:

• Phone itself
• Handset
• Handset Cable
• Power Adapter
• Wall-Mounting Hardware
• Paper strips for programmable keys (where applicable)
• Good quality ethernet cable

The 6757i RP CT also includes the cordless handset, a charging base and power adapter, and a Li-Ion battery.

The RP500 Base unit comes with:

• Base Unit itself
• A CD containing the Response Point Administrator and Assistant programs
• Power Adapter
• US-style power cable
• Quick Start Guide
• Ethernet Cable

The RP540 Analog Gateway is supplied with:

• Analog Gateway itself
• Plug-in Power Adapter (US Version)
• Installation Guide
• Four CAT3 cables with RJ11 plugs at each end (for connecting to the public phone system)
• Ethernet cable
• Wall-Mounting Hardware

Physical Installation

The Quick-Start guide is a double-sided 17×11 sheet that walks you through the setup process. The front side deals with physical installation.

The Analog Gateway can be table or wall-mounted.  This means that you can put it on your back-board next to your telco lines, and just run an Ethernet cable to your network switch.  If you table-mount it, the top of the gateway has indents that fit the feet of the RP 500 Base Unit, so you can stack them.  In fact you can stack multiple gateways in this manner, so you end up with a nice, tidy looking installation.

Setup is as simple as plugging everything into your network switch or router, plugging your phone lines into the back of the gateway, and powering everything up.

Talking of power, all 3 phone models support the 802.3af Power-over-Ethernet (or PoE) protocol, which means that if your network switch also supports PoE, you can power the phones directly from the network cable, and you don’t need to provide power to the phone via the supplied adapter. This is a very nice feature. Of course, you’ll still need to provide power to the base unit, analog gateway(s) and the charging base for the cordless handset (if you have one).

You’ll want to plug everything into the same network that you currently use for your computers. The phones won’t interfere with the computers, and vice-versa - they simply share the wiring. You’ll also need to ensure that your network has a device on it that can hand out IP addresses. This is called a DHCP server and is typically built into your firewall/router, but it could also be located on a Windows Server if you have one. If all you have is a DSL or Cable modem you’ll want to invest in a firewall/router - this will protect your network and provide the DHCP feature that Response Point needs.

Here you can see the cabling for the RP 500 Base Unit and the RP540 Gateway. The two blue Ethernet cables connect to our in-house network switch. The black cables with the white plugs are analog line cables (supplied) that connect to the public telephone network (PSTN).

As you can see in the picture, plugging in the cables to the phones is simple. The empty ethernet jack on the left can be used to provide a network connection to a desktop PC via the phone’s built-in 100Mbps switch.

Setup

Once you have everything hooked up, press the big black button on the front of the unit and your system will come alive. The next step is to install the Response Point Administrator software on any PC on the network. The reverse page of the Quick Start Guide explains this nicely. Follow the guide to connect to the base unit, set up the date/time, and add users, phones and so-on.

Finally, you’ll want to install the Response Point Assistant software on any desktop computers that have a phone next to them. This system-tray app allows you to import Outlook contacts and do click-to-dial. It also allows you to see parked calls, and it will tell you who’s calling you.

And that’s it. You’re done.

Daily Use

Okay - who thought of putting a power switch on a PBX?  Seems odd to me.  Worse still is the fact that the system doesn’t automatically power up after a power failure.  I suggest you invest in a UPS to avoid having a phone system outage after a brief power failure.  That’s really the only odd design decision we’ve come across.

We have been using the AastraLink RP system for our day-to-day activities for a couple of weeks. During that time the system has been stable and handset audio quality has been great.

We tested the speakerphone.  It works fine - audio quality is acceptable.  It’s not as good as a dedicated conference phone of course, but suitable for occasional use.

Ergonomically we find that the Aastra phones are the nicest of the current crop of RP phones. They look sophisticated and the soft-buttons have a classy appearance. The large display on the 6757iCT RP gives you much more information than you can see with any other RP phone. The phones can be set at a number of angles by attaching the legs using different holes in the phone.

We really miss a “Do Not Disturb” (DND) button on the phones. It’s possible to set one of a phone’s programmable buttons to DND but it seems to have been implemented in a strange way. The phone does not ring physically, but the caller still hears the ring tone. Still, it’s better than no DND at all (which is what we’re stuck with for the other current RP Vendors).

Programmable buttons on the phones cannot be set up with the Administrator software. Instead you have to press the “Advanced” button on the phone setup wizard within Administrator, which takes you to a web page where you can set up the programmable buttons and make other changes to the phone. Bear in mind that it’s possible to really mess up your phone using this advanced configuration option, so be careful!

Transfers seem to work just fine using the voice-activated park/transfer method.  Simply press the magic blue “Response Point” button and the call gets auto-parked.  Say “Transfer to <insert name here>” and you’ve completed your transfer.  Easy huh!

We did find some confusion regarding the line appearances.  Initially we set up the 6753i RP and 6757i CT RP phones with multiple appearances, but it got complicated trying to figure out which line was being used for inbound and outbound calls.  Perhaps it was just me, but I would prefer that the phone always selects line 1 when you make a call, unless explicity told otherwise.  What the Aastras do is remember the last line you used.

Aastra’s documentation says that you can use their phones even if your RP system is from another vendor.  We were also able to do the opposite, and added a Syspine phone to the AastraLink RP system without a problem.  Very nice.

Conclusions

We really like the AastraLink RP phone system.  It’s a welcome addition to the line of Response Point solutions.  Retail pricing is roughly comparable with existing solutions - the slightly higher price is, we feel, justified due to the higher quality desktop phones and the choice of a cordless handset.  At the time of writing, this is the only solution that supports both PoE and can support more than 8 analog lines (with additional analog gateways).

The limitations we’re seeing with the system is mainly due to the lack of features in the Response Point software rather than a hardware limitation.  As Response Point continues to mature we’ll see these problems going away.

The system’s not quite perfect hardware-wise - notably the power-switch issue mentioned above, and the lack of a good conference phone.  So, we’re giving the AastraLink RP system 4 out of 5 stars.

Reviewer: Andrew Swingler.  July 14 2008.