The NEC handsets are all silver over black. The phones themselves are very stylised and one would imagine that some people love the look of them and others don't.
The IP Dterm 4 Button weighs in at 797 grams. The depth of the handset is 220mm while the width is 190mm. There is no specific height or tilt adjuster built into the telephone but there is a small separate riser block which clips into place on the base of the phone taking it from 100mm to 130mm at the rear.
The buttons are round and protrude too far from the handset. The alphanumeric characters are very clearly marked in white on the black buttons, the silver bezel, however, seems to wash them out in bright light.
The handset is nicely moulded and fits the hand well. It is also well balanced and comes in at 183 grams.
Another plus for this phone is the clear display. It consists of a three-line LCD.
As per the name, the 4 Button handles four-line appearances; there is also an eight- and 16-button/line models (see below for the 16-button unit).
NEC IP Dterm 16 Button
The colour of the Dterm 16 is the same as the Dterm 4. It weighs 976 grams and measures 230 x 200 x 70mm without the separate riser block, and 100mm at the rear with it.
The buttons on the 16 are the same as those on the 4, as are the handset and display.
The display, however, has a limited separate tilt range enabling the user to adjust this to suit their requirements.
With minimal differences in terms of pricing and features between the 4 Button, the 8 Button, and the 16 Button, the Dterm range appears to be the best suited phone for a business that wants a no-fuss VoIP environment. You will find there is no great difference in choice or pricing except for the amount of buttons on each handset.
Therefore any enterprise looking to deploy these handsets can perform a simple needs and usage analysis to decide which employees need which of the three handsets.
NEC INASET Dterm IP 320C
Though this unit features the same colour scheme as the other Dterms, the silver is more of a matt finish and lacks the shiny clear plastic bezel surrounding the keypad, which means the numbers on the keypad stand out better.
The 320C weighs in at 1332 grams. Its footprint is 250 x 210 x 120mm through to 220mm high when you extend the uniquely designed "foot" underneath, and if you also use the separate tilt mechanism on the large colour display.
The buttons are the same shape as the DTerms but do not seem to protrude as much from the phone. The absence of the shiny plastic around the keys also means that the white numbers stand out better on the black buttons. The handset is the same as the other Dterms.
This is a very interesting telephone and the most futuristically stylised of the lot. This communications device definitely looks like it came directly from George Jetson's workplace, with a large round honeycomb speaker grill that dominates the area to the left of the keypad. There are 12 large context-programmable keys around the colour display.
In terms of adjustability, none of the other phones came close; the designers at NEC have really done a superb job with this phone, but unfortunately it shows through in the pricing -- at almost AU$2,000 it is double the price of any other VoIP telephone handset submitted for this review, and it really has no stand-out features that set it apart from some of the other top range models.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1%
8%
ISP's are currently battling the broadband war. The race for customer aquisition is aggressive. What is the holy grail... VoIP or basic broadband revenue? The answer lies in the current broadband price offerings of ISP's.
The cost savings of VoIP to corporations is unquestionable and the future economic benefits of widespread adoption is inevitable. One just needs to review the developments of such products as 'Skype' over the last 12 months to arrive at the realisation of just where VoIP is heading. Companies in Asia have even commenced manufacturing 'Cisco ATA type' devices which interface with skype enabling VoIP calls from your normal PSTN phone. The future of VoIP is cemented and the war for market share is definitely on.