PBX features without the PBX

The idea behind Aastra’s VentureIP 480i SIP phone system is a good one: Use the features of SIP to create phones that don’t need a PBX when placing calls. Aastra, which took over Nortel’s desktop telephone product lines a few years ago, is certainly in a position to make the idea work. The company’s long-standing, now-discontinued Venture line of PBX-less phones had capabilities similar to those of the VentureIP but used analog lines.

The move to IP phones pushes Aastra into a fundamentally different, much more competitive market. Because IP telephony vendors are fighting so fiercely for market share, their phones are typically inexpensive and laden with features. Although they are easy to set up, VentureIP phones aren’t as easy to use as — and don’t have the features of — other IP phones on the market.

PBX-less calling

To do without a PBX, VentureIP phones must support a number of features within the phone itself. Management and functional software are loaded onto each phone, which thus have to be sophisticated and loaded with a lot of memory — in this case 8MB of flash and 16MB of RAM.

Each phone can stand on its own on a company network. As you plug in additional phones, each obtains an IP address using DHCP, discovers the other phones on the system, and then trades information such as extension numbers and user names. To reach the outside world, you must install the VentureIP Gateway, which provides a pathway to as many as four analog phone lines.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that it’s an SIP-based IP phone, the VentureIP cannot currently use external IP telephony services, so you can’t call long-distance using IP services and you can’t link separate phone systems. According to Aastra, this capability is planned for the future using a currently installed, but nonfunctional, Ethernet port on the gateway.

The phones are fairly easy to configure. Each user can enter his or her user name, a password, speed-dial numbers, and calling features either through a menu on the phone or via a built-in Web-based management tool. You have to log in using the phone’s IP address, but that’s easily determined by pressing the octothorpe key.

The phones also include an optional Web Administrator package, but you’ll need a $75 key to enable it. Fortunately, you only need one key for multiple phones. The Web Administrator software allows you to control some basic functions such as dialing rules or which extension is used by the operator, but you can’t control individual phone features, such as speed dial or soft keys. For that, you must exit Web Administrator and access each phone individually. Switching between the Web Administrator and individual phones during setup can become a real annoyance.

Although setting up the phones may be easy, the physical installation may not be. If you already have Ethernet switches equipped for POE (Power Over Ethernet), you can simply plug in the phones. In the more likely case that you don’t have these switches, you’ll either have to change out your network infrastructure, add new switches, or buy a POE adapter for each phone for $50. There’s no provision for inexpensive power supplies like the ones that other IP or analog phones use.

Less than crystal clear

Using a VentureIP phone is similar to using a PBX-attached phone. You can use speed dial, dial from your call list (phone calls you recently made or received), or use on-hook dialing — in which you enter the number and then call it, as you would on a cell phone.

To call another VentureIP phone, you simply dial the extension. To call anything else, you must exit to the analog world. The ability to call other SIP devices or other IP phones directly doesn’t currently exist, restricting you to your own network for IP communications.

When connected to an internal extension, call quality is very good, but when calling outside to the analog world, those on the receiving end of my calls said they heard varying degrees of distortion — some minor, some not so minor. By comparison, using an analog version of a PBX-less phone — an AT&T 955 system with similar capabilities — generated no distortion complaints.

Incoming callers will encounter a standard automated call attendant. This application, which runs on the operator’s phone, allows callers to enter an extension or a name. There is no directory available, however, so a caller must know the correct spelling of the name of the person he or she is trying to reach. The attendant has both day and night settings, and as long as you know the extension number of the person you’re trying to reach, it works nicely.

For a company that needs only a few extensions, an automated attendant, voice mail, and the ability to transfer calls, the VentureIP is worth considering. But for needs that are even slightly more involved, the VentureIP represents an expensive option. This is especially true when you consider that other telephony options, including analog phones, provide basically the same features as the VentureIP; some are even likely to include features — such as unified messaging — missing in this phone.

Even smaller businesses will find that PBX-based SIP solutions can be less expensive and more flexible. The soon-to-be-released Siemens HiPath 2000, for example, should be substantially less expensive per user, and it has features similar to the high-scoring HiPath 8000 we tested recently. Plus, you can use any SIP phone with it, unlike the VentureIP system.

Although Aastra’s VentureIP phone system worked as advertised, there were problems, including some problems performing upgrades, that kept this from being an ideal solution. Add to this the fairly limited management capabilities and the relatively high cost, and you have a solution that makes sense for a limited set of customers.