Archive for the ‘IP Phone’ Category

How to Connect a Plantronics Wireless headset to the Panasonic KX-UT670

Posted: January 30, 2012 in IP Phone
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The KX-UT670 has both an EHS (electronic hook switch) and 2.5mm headset port on the side.
Being that the Plantronics CS70n is one of the supported headsets I hooked it up to the phone using the following setup:
Plantronics 3.5mm hook switch port to the Panasonic 3.5mm EHS port
Plantronics RJ9 to Panasonic 2.5mm headset port

When pressing the “hook” button on the Plantronics headset the phone would answer and disconnect after a second.

If the hook switch wire is disconnected the headset works and if the headset wire is disconnected the
hook switch works but it wont work together.

I sent an email to Panasonic and they sent me back the following fix:
The phone doesn’t support both the EHS and 2.5mm headset at the same time.
To use the EHS with the Plantronics headset you must disconnect the handset from the phone, plug a RJ9 cable from the phone to the Plantronics and then plug the handset into the Plantronics.

See the following Power Point Link for the exact setup.

Configuration settings for IP Camera to connect to the Panasonic KX-UT670

Posted: January 29, 2012 in IP Phone
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As of this posting Panasonic only officially supports five of this IP Camera with the KX-UT670. Link

All the manual says is that the camera must be set to VGA or 720p.
What it doesn’t tell you is that it only supports H.264.

I tested with the Panasonic WV-NW502S (Retails for over$1,000) and it worked fine.

Hopefully they will add support for their less expensive IP Cameras.

How to Add a Second Extension to the Panasonic KX-UT670

Posted: January 27, 2012 in IP Phone
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By default when the first extension is added to the phone it automatically assigns two Flexible Buttons as line keys.

When you add the second extension by it will register the extension but wont except calls and there is no way to place calls from the new extension.

Here are the steps required to get the seconds extension working.
This going to assume that the first and second line settings are already configured on the phone.

1) Press the “Phone” button
2) Press the “Flexible Button” key (It looks like a circle with an arrow pointing left)
3) Press the “Menu” button and then “Start Flexible Button Prog Mode”
4) Press an empty box and select “Phone Function”
5) Set the following: Type: DN, Parameter: Ringtone 1 [New Extension Number], Label name: [Label of Extension]
6) Press “OK”. Repeat steps 4 and 5 to add additional line buttons to the same extension or add new extensions
7) When you are done press “Back”

Now you can receive and place calls by using the buttons that were created by the steps above.

Bluetooth support to be added to the Panasonic KX-UT670

Posted: January 26, 2012 in IP Phone
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Panasonic just confirmed that it will be enabling Bluetooth support on the Panasonic KX-UT670 IP phone.

The firmware is scheduled to be released May 2012.

Panasonic’s website says that the phone is Bluetooth enabled but as posted before(Link) it currently is not.

——Update 01/27/2012——-
A third party Bluetooth USB dongle will be required to enable Bluetooth support.

Adding Exchange Support to The Panasonic KX-UT670

Posted: January 18, 2012 in IP Phone
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One of the biggest shortcomings of the Panasonic KX-UT670 is that there is no way to automatically sync your contact list and calender. (See my previous post: Link to post)
It does support IMAP and POP email but my assumption is that most users will not be sending emails from their office phone since they are sitting in front of their computer.

We use Exchange in my office so my goal was to get my contacts and calender synced to the phone.

I found a program called TouchDown from NitroDesk which is an Exchange ActiveSync client for Android.
Being that there is no Android Marketplace on the UT670 I had to navigate to NitroDesk’s website and download the .apk from from there.
Once it was downloaded and installed setup was a snap. I entered some information about my Exchange account and about five minutes later my emails, contacts, and calendar were all synced to the phone.

TouchDown includes Widgets that can be placed on the home screen. I have mine setup to show my calender and unread emails.

In my opinion this makes the UT670 worth purchasing. Without it I would have to manually sync my contacts with the SD Card which is pointless.

TouchDown is a relatively expensive app at $19.99 but without it I would not recommend purchasing the UT670.

Review / Shortcomings of the Panasonic KX-UT670

Posted: January 17, 2012 in IP Phone
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———– Update 01/26/2012————-
Panasonic has been in contact with me regarding these issues and it seems that many of them will be addressed in firmware updates. Please see the follow up posts on the KX-UT670 at Link

The Panasonic KX-UT670 is an Android based 7″ SIP Phone.
It has all the bells and whistles you would expect of an Android phone.
The screen is bright and nice, interface is quick and snappy, and Panasonic provides a great SDK.

Here are the shortcomings I have found:
1) No Exchange support
2) No Bluetooth. Even though their site says it supports it I can not find a setting for it
3) Firmware upgrade does not work from the web admin. (The option is there but it doesn’t work)
4) Handset volume does not go loud enough
5) Screen is not dual touch (no pinch zoom) and does not scroll smoothly with light swipes
6) No marketplace
7) Can not add “Flexible Button” (BLF, speed dial, etc.) properties from the web admin
8) Officially supports only about 5 of Panasonic’s most expensive cameras (see next)
9) I can not get even the officially supported camera to work. There is an error saying that it does not support the camera’s settings but does not indicate what they should be
10) When you pickup the handset the “Check Voice mail” buttons disappears. You need to press the button and then pickup then handset
11) The sound quality is not as good as the other Panasonic IP phones. I am not sure if the handset is bad or it’s the phone
12) When you press the voice mail button and pick up the phone the dial pad disappears I then have to press the dial pad button before I can enter my password
13) Can’t make any changes without an SD card, install programs, change ring tones, etc but it doesn’t come with one
14) The touchscreen is a little off, I need to press below the key for it to register the correct key

At first looks it’s a great phone but the short coming above really limit its use.
Until at least some of these are corrected I would say stay away.

Reliability of Yealink Phones

Posted: January 11, 2012 in IP Phone
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In the past year I have deployed more Yealink phones then any other brand.

These phones are definitely the best bang for the buck and have good sound quality. (Not as good as Polycom or Cisco but close enough to be used as a business phone)

Once you start looking at reliability though these phone do not match up to the main stream phone manufactures.

I have had more DOAs then any other brands.

In addition as the phones approach the one year mark I have seen them have various sound quality issues such as static and random momentary loss of audio.
Some of these were able to be fixed with a simple swapping out of the phone cord but others needed to be replaced all together.

I will continue to deploy these phones due to the price point and relatively good sound quality but these are not on the same level as the big players.

Factory Reset Yealink Phone

Posted: January 9, 2012 in IP Phone
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The Yealink phones can be factory reset by simply holding down the “OK” button for about 10 seconds.

The phone will then ask to confirm the reset; once you OK it the phone will reset back to defaults.