Home Office - ATA w/ cordless or IP phones?

[jbiggs77]

I have been wavering back and forth between a Sipura ATA w/ a 5.8Ghz cordless (2-line) setup or going with IP phones (Grandstream GXP-2000 or Polycom 500/501's).

Is there going to be any voice quality difference between an ATA and IP phone? I want a setup where I can use a headset at my desk and maybe a speakerphone sometimes (thus the Polycom consideration). I was going to go with the Grandstream but found it has an odd headset jack setup (a single 3.5mm jack).

This setup will be over straight VOIP (multiple providers) and will be used for both home and home office in conjunction with *@home.

[PhoneBoy]

The Grandstream headset jack is a "standard" as I recall, i.e. it should be the same headset as a typical cordless phone.

The voice quality between an IP Phone and an ATA with an analog handset is fairly negligable for most people. However, you get a lot more "functionality" on an IP phone since you have buttons for all the features versus having to remember star codes. You also can get Caller ID prior to the first ring, unlike an analog handset (in the US anyway) where you have to wait for the first ring to complete.

[jbiggs77]

PhoneBoy - Thanks for the response. Which IP phone(s) would you recommend out of the ones sold here?

I read that people have been having problems with the Grandstream headset jack because most phones either have 1 2.5mm jack (cordless) or 2 3.5mm jacks.

The added functionality would definitely be nice, as I really like using our phones here at work (build in speed dial for ~200 remote sites). I am just not sure I can justify the price difference in equipping my whole house with IP phones.

[PhoneBoy]

It would probably be bad form if I were to comment here on which IP Phone I like best, given that I work here.

[jbiggs77]

Certainly fair enough. Would anyone else care to chime in on their favorites and why?