Comments for Yealink SIP-T28P Review

Yealink SIP-T28P Review

2010-06-24T20:15:09Z

Yealink, a Chinese manufacturer of IP phones is starting to make inroads in the U.S. market with their line of VoIP phones. Several months ago Yealink sent me a Yealink SIP-T28P IP phone to review. The SIP-T28P is a 6-line phone sporting a large 320x160 LCD screen and has full HD voice support (wideband codec, wideband handset, wideband speakerphone) . The SIP-T28P was one of the first IP phones to support the G.722 wideband codec that is now all the rage in the VoIP market.

My first impression of the SIP-T28P was that I liked the large LCD and the sleek ergonomic design which had large easy to press buttons and a useful 4-way arrow navigation keypad. I connected it to our network and logged into the Web admin page to configure the phone. The web interface was easy enough to navigate. I had no trouble adding the SIP credentials, configuring the NTP server, adding speed dials, and other various configuration options.

The web interface displays a message when the phone is registered so you know immediately if you put the SIP credentials in correctly. I have to say, I really loved how every change I made DOES NOT require a reboot. I've never tested a phone that didn't require a reboot, especially after putting in the SIP settings. Even after putting in the SIP settings on the SIP-T28P, I didn't have to reboot. It auto-registered immediately.

Polycom phones are the worst when it comes to required reboots - even after the simplest change. Sometimes Polycom phones would even force a reboot when I still had other changes to make. But not so with the SIP-T28P! Granted, IP phones should only be configured once and then should be bullet-proof with no need of reconfiguring, but test engineers in the VoIP space certainly don't want to wait 60s or longer in-between each configuration change & reboot. Plus, companies have turnover, so sometimes you do have to change the phone configuration. So while rebooting may not be the #1 consideration in phone engineering design, phone manufacturers should consider that IT folks hate waiting for things to reboot. So add it to your engineering budget! - Or perhaps, just perhaps we might jump ship to another phone vendor.

In any event, after registering the phone on an Asterisk-based IP-PBX I made a test call. The voice quality was excellent. I switched over to speakerphone mode and it too had excellent quality with no echo. I definitely noticed a difference with the wideband HD support on this phone.

From the web interface you can manually add contact names or even import them. This is useful if you want to convert the CallerID phone number to the person's name. You can also add them to the blacklist section and the caller with automatically be sent to your voicemail.

Yealink Contacts Tab with Blacklist

Dial Plan
The dial plan was a little bit different than some of the other IP phones I'm used to. It does allow for matching a digit or a range of digits and you can replace digits, but I couldn't seem to figure out how to send a terminator key to end the dial string and cause the phone to immediately dial. I could manually terminate the dial string by pressing the # key on the phone, but I find that a bit of an annoyance. I prefer to just dial the phone number and the phone recognizes when I press the last digit (by matching the dial plan) and simply dials the number.

For instance, if I dial a 3 digit extension with no '9' prefix, that means it's an internal call. The call should immediately connect to the internal extension after I press the last 3rd digit. If however, I start my dialing with a '9', that indicates an outbound trunk call. Then depending if I dial "1" or "011" the rest of the dial string is either exactly 10 digits long (U.S. / Canada call) or varying length for international call. Thus, if I dial 9 + 1, the phone should immediately dial the number after the 10th digit. Alas, I have to hit "#" on the SIP-T28P or the Send button on the LCD. A minor nuisance perhaps, but I'm so used to not having to do that.

There was a bit of a workaround. Under the dial plan was a feature called "Dial Now" as shown here:

I was able to add my phone's extension to the list (149). Then when I dialed from the Yealink to x149 it dialed it without requiring me to press '#'. Still, it was about a 0.5s delay before it would dial and not quite instant. Also, this workaround is only for 10 phone numbers and not for matching any phone number you dial.

The hotline feature is pretty nifty, though it probably has very niche applications. You simply put in a phone number into the hotline field and it will instantly dial that number when you pick up the handset (both internal extensions and outbound numbers work). This is great for CEOs/executives to instantly reach their personal assistants and vice versa.

Another interesting feature that ringtone fans will certainly like is that you can upload your own ringtone to the phone. The phone supports NTP servers for keeping the phone's clock accurate and it supports daylight savings time. It also supports auto provisioning via TFTP/FTP/HTTP/HTTPS. It's worth mentioning that the SIP-T28P supports both PoE and the use of an AC adapter. One last cool feature is that you can customize the Yealink logo using your own greyscale image.

Specifications
Chipset: TI TITAN
Flash memory: 8MB
SRAM memory: 32MB
Dimension: 273x204x42mm
Power consumption(approx.): 1.6-2.6W

Connections
LAN & WAN ports: 10/100Mb
PoE(802.3af) built-in
Handset(RJ-9)
Headset(RJ-9)
Expansion module

User interface
Display type: 320x160 graphic LCD with 4-level grayscales
LCD Backlight
Total Hard keys= 48
Line keys 6 3 3 2
DSS keys (except line keys): 10
Soft keys: 4
Navigation keys: 6
Fixed feature keys: (Message/Headset/Conf/Hold/Mute/Tran/Redial/Handsfree)
Programmable keys: 16
Power and ring indicator
SIP Accounts indicator
DSS keys with dual color
Message indicator
Headset indicator

Voice
HD voice: HD Codec, HD Handset, and HD Speaker
Wideband codec: G.722
G.711 A-law/μ-law, G.726, G.723.1, G.729AB
iLbc/GSM: Optional
HAC(Hearing aid compatibility)
VAD (Voice activity detection)
CNG (Comfort noice generator)
AEC (Acoustic echo canceling)
PLC/AJB/AGC
Side tone
Quality of Service(Qos): 802.1p/Q, ToS/DSCP

Telephony features
Total SIP Accounts: 6
Hands-free full-duplex speakerphone
Redial, Auto redial
Mute
3-way conferencing
Caller ID display
Call hold, Call waiting, Call transfer(blind/attended), Call forward
Call History(all/missed/received/dialed/forwarded): 100 entries
DND
SMS
Voice mail
Message waiting indicator(MWI)
Speed Dial
Ringtone selection, Import of individual ringtone
Tone setting
Phonebook: 300 entries; Phonebook search/import/export
Black list
Phone lock(keypad lock)
LCD display logo
# or * key as Send function
Hotline
Localized language

IP PBX and IP Centrex features
BLF(Busy Lamp field)
BLA(Bridged Line Appearance)
Paging
Intercom
Call park, Call pickup, Call completion, Call recording
Anonymous call rejection
Auto answer
Emergency call
Call return
Group pickup
Group listening
Distinctive Ringtone
Music on hold(via PBX)
Dial Plan
Dial now

Network and Time
WAN Static IP/DHCP/PPPoE
PC port mode Bridge/Router
DHCP server for PC port
VLAN(802.1Q and 802.1P)
SNTP/NTP

Security
HTTPS (server/client)
TLS (Transport Layer Security)
SRTP (RFC3711)
AES for auto-provision
3-level privilege: Admin/VAR/User

Web Interface
Embedded webserver HTTP/HTTPS
Edit phonebook via web
Send SMS via web
Dial via web

Management(config/upgrade)
Configuration via LCD
Configuration via web
Configuration via autoprovision
Automatic firmware update
Manual firmware update
Auto provisioning: TFTP/FTP/HTTP/HTTPS
Auto provisioning with PnP
TR069 Optional
SNMP Optional
System log export

SIP
SIP v1 (RFC2543)
SIP v2 (RFC3261)
UDP/TCP/TLS
Out-of-band DTMF(RFC 2833)
In-band DTMF
SIP INFO DTMF
STUN client (NAT traversal)
Rport (RFC3581)
Digest/basic authentication Digest (MD5)
Peer-to-peer SIP link mode
Loose routing and strict routing support

Advanced features
XML phonebook (Central)
XML screen/browser
Hot-desking
OpenVPN
802.1x
LDAP phonebook Pending Pending Pending Pending

Pricing: The MSRP price for SIP-T28P is $189.

Ratings	Score
Installation
Features
Usability
Performance
Value
Overall

Conclusion:
Although I griped earlier about having to press # to initiate the dialing, which affected the Usability score, overall I really liked the SIP-T28P. The large LCD was very easy to read and the HD components (wideband codec, handset, speakerphone) truly gave this phone superb sound. Both the web interface and the LCD were very easy to navigate to perform functions or change configurations. The phone never crashed on me once in the few months that I tested it. It's very reasonably priced at $189 for such a feature-rich HD phone and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

Update #1: Look at some of the comments regarding my dialplan gripe. Looks like their is indeed a solutions

Update #2: Sheesh! Amazon sells the SIP-28P phone? What doesn't Amazon carry?

Comment from Michael Lacroce on 2010-06-25

2010-06-25T20:18:55Z

I enjoyed reading this review, because I had the exact opposite feeling when I demo'ed the Yealink SipT28 phone. the web interface was completely temperamental and would refuse to function at different points in submitting different changes. The phone would not handle shared call appearances correctly (we are on a broadsoft platform). I could not use some headsets due to 1 way audio issues (most are plantronics headsets), upgrading the phone caused ever single value on the website to be wiped out (even the preconfigured ones). Yealink had no support on their website and absolutely no descriptions as to what any of the configuration values mean. I am used to the polycom phones and their thorough descriptions as to what each option does, yealink had none of that (which would probably have made it easier to configure and utilize). I do agree the part about the rebooting and that polycom phones do reboot after every little change. And I also agree about the sound quality (definitely the best out of any VoIP phone I have tried), but unless Yealink releases admin guides and additional documents commenting on proper booting and upgrading procedures,it is way too flawed for me and I refuse to deploy it to any of our customers

Comment from lunaleonardo on 2010-06-25

2010-06-26T03:56:23Z

Hi Michael

Sorry to hear you ran into some issues with your Yealink phone.

As Yealink distributors in the US we are here to help you. Our support staff knows the phones really well and hopefully can help you sort out these issues.

Please contact us at support@commlogik.com or write me directly at sales@commlogik.com.

Thanks

Comment from hads on 2010-06-29

2010-06-30T01:24:45Z

Good review.

Thankfully your only real gripe about not being able to create a dialplan is actually incorrect.

I've created an example here (for our New Zealand customers);

http://nice.net.nz/y000000000000.cfg

This shows how to put patterns in the "Dial Now" fields (up to 20). There is still a small delay as you mentioned but this will allow it to dial all numbers without having to press send or # etc.

hads

Comment from Tom Keating on 2010-06-30

2010-06-30T16:13:13Z

Thanks for the tip. I didn't notice on the Dial Now screen that on the right side it did list wildcard rules I could use. You can indeed have it instant dial in many cases. I couldn't figure out how to create an international calling dial now rule because international calls have varying lengths of digits. So don't think you can create a rule to match. That's where a timeout value should come into play. i.e. if more than 3s occurs before digits, assume that is the end of the dial string and dial now. Many IP phones do have that timeout feature. Yealink should add that.

Comment from hads on 2010-06-30

2010-06-30T23:19:29Z

I agree, a timeout is something they should implement. Also fixing the small delay for "Dial Now" rules would be helpful.

The only other gripe I have is no DNS SRV/NAPTR support for failover support etc. - hopefully they will implement that soon.

Overall I'm very impressed with the phones though.

Comment from Dan Wood - Globalinx Communications on 2010-07-02

2010-07-02T14:31:07Z

Michael,
I got a yealink t28p to use Shared call appearance. Let me know if you need an assist.

Thanks,
Dan W

Comment from Michael Lacroce on 2010-07-02

2010-07-02T14:48:56Z

Dan W,

yes that would be beneficial... If you have a config you could send over that would be great.. i should be able to figure it out form a config. My e-mail address is mlacro02@gmail.com. Thanks!

Comment from Kevin on 2010-08-05

2010-08-06T02:19:38Z

Sorry to hear that some people have had issues with the Yealink phones because I have not. The thing about VOIP is that it markets itself as some perfect scenario that any idiot can handle. The truth is you have to understand codecs, networks and VOIP to do this. That said, I'm probably above average on VOIP - not perfect. This phone setup in less than 2 minutes for me with no issues on a 3cx system. First, as always upload the most recent firmware and then configure. I followed the steps on the "account" page and when I clicked confirm it worked. I dialed a call and it was crystal clear. Totally different than our Polycom, Cisco, Linksys and Aestra experiences. It was different because it was better.

Nice work Yealink - we'll be reselling the T28 from now on.

One note as well - this phone is a mixture of the good between the Cisco 79xx series and the Polycom IP5xx series phones. It has the Polycom navigation and the Cisco look with the Polycom style speaker, actually much better, and the Cisco handset.

This phone is a real dream to use and the price point makes it awesome.