Which IP phones to get for a lab?

hypnotoad

Is the 7960 or 7940 a sufficient phone for CCNA Voice lab?

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networker050184

Yes either will be fine for a lab.

mikej412

Get both -- then you'll be able to practice placing AND receiving phone calls.

You can start out with just a couple of 7940 phones and add more and "better" phones later if/when you go for the CCVP.

Netwurk

mikej412 wrote: »

Get both -- then you'll be able to practice placing AND receiving phone calls.

You can start out with just a couple of 7940 phones and add more and "better" phones later if/when you go for the CCVP.

I have two 7940's and they rock for a lab. If you are lucky enough to have the softphone executable and a VMWare server you can add phones ad infinitum.

So far I can only call the 7940 I loaned my wife but am quite happy that the phone lab is up and running. I've sidetracked a little from the BCMSN to get the phone lab going but I might wind up going for the CCNA-V to renew my cert. The only downside is that I really need to get off my arse and get my CCNP going.

By the way, if you start a voice lab, make sure you only loan the wife the IP Phone. Otherwise the little woman will keep calling you!

hypnotoad

Thanks guys. Would there be anything inhibiting a lab using something like this:

CISCO CP-7940G, 7940, 7940 IP Phone - eBay (item 250364315761 end time Feb-03-09 14:34:26 PST)

Or are all phones created equal?

mikej412

hypnotoad wrote: »

Would there be anything inhibiting a lab using something like this

That's one of the models you're looking for.... but preferably one with the phone cord and reasonable shipping charges (or better combined shipping charges).

Some phones sell without the handset

-- so keep an eye on that.

Some, like that one, don't have the cord between the handset and phone. I had one phone with a twisted cord that drove me crazy, so I replaced it.

Decide how you're going to power the phone -- power bricks for a few phones are cheaper than getting a PoE switch (but not if you get the cheap ones that burst into flames and burn down your house).

hypnotoad

Thanks a lot Mikej. I assume the handset cords are just plain old curly cords -- i.e. from an analog office phone, which i have thousands of

Daniel333

for the CCNA voice its important to get at least two different phone models. This is important because half way through the training you'll have to install mutliple firmware on the TFTP.

ColbyG

I have a 7940 and 7906, both are great. Lately I've been using Cisco IP Communicator installed on a few virtual machines. It works very nicely.

Netwurk

ColbyNA wrote: »

I have a 7940 and 7906, both are great. Lately I've been using Cisco IP Communicator installed on a few virtual machines. It works very nicely.

Cisco IP Communicator is very cool and very helpful to get things right in a lab

inindix

hypnotoad wrote: »

Is the 7960 or 7940 a sufficient phone for CCNA Voice lab?

Yeah, either the two will be fine for a lab. you may try to take the two for your IP Phone Lab...

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tomset

I just bought a 7905G IP phone, but realized I don't have a license for it. Will it still work with CME 3.3?

surfthegecko

Its worth checking within your CCM which handset models are supported before you buy one.

I dont have CCM handy at the moment so cant tell you where to look its either under the devices tab or the far most left tab within CCM.

I would imagine something like a 7911/12, 794x, 796x, would be fine. The 7911/12 series are more basic so you could try one of these and one of the 4x or 6x models.

tomset

surfthegecko wrote: »

Its worth checking within your CCM which handset models are supported before you buy one.

I dont have CCM handy at the moment so cant tell you where to look its either under the devices tab or the far most left tab within CCM.

I would imagine something like a 7911/12, 794x, 796x, would be fine. The 7911/12 series are more basic so you could try one of these and one of the 4x or 6x models.

I did verify that the 7905G does work with CME 3.3. The only question in my mind is whether I need a license for this phone to have it work with CME? If so, I wonder if I can use this phone as a SIP phone without the need for a license??

APA

another here that users IP communicator soft phones on a few workstations.

7912's should be good enough for a lab as well I would have thought....

If you can get some FXS ports and just plug in plain old analogue extensions as well...