Wireless and Cordless Phone - How To Select the Right Solutions for Your Avaya IP Office

Avaya IP Office and Server Edition clients often have difficulties selecting the right wireless and cordless telephone solutions for their business. Converged Communication Systems can assist in finding the right option to meet your needs. Below are Frequently Asked Questions, and be sure to read about other questions to ask and take a look at our quick reference guide for more help.

Purpose: Avaya IP Office and Server Edition clients always have difficulties in selecting the right wireless and cordless telephone solution for their business. The intent of this document is to give more assistance in selecting the right option based around your business needs.

How Do Wireless and Cordless Phones Work: All cordless and wireless phones have at least a single base station or antenna that allows the phone to connect wirelessly. That base station or antenna is then connected to the Avaya IP Office phone system by means of analog extension port, digital extension port, H323 / VoIP resources, or SIP trunk or endpoint licenses. This allows for concurrent calls to the cordless or wireless device.

Frequently Asked Questions:

• Q: Can I use any analog cordless phone?
  A: Yes. Analog phones work on analog extension ports. Special buttons on the phone however are not supported. If you need to initiate specific features of your Avaya IP Office then you can use the "Flash" button and a System ShortCode.
• Q: How do I know what phones are compatible with my phone system?
  A: Locate the Avaya IP Office Product Description that specifically has been created for the release of your phone system. Within this document notice "Wireless and Remote Phone Solutions" under the "Telephones" section.
• Q: What are common accessories that might I need to purchase with my cordless or wireless phone?
  A: Belt clips, ear pieces, headsets, extra batteries, extra chargers, extended batteries, etc.
• Q: If I have wireless access points (WAPS) in my facility, can I purchase wireless phones and connect them to the existing WAPS?
  A: No, not necessarily. Some wireless phones are however compatibility with specific manufacturer and specific model.
• Q: I have 4 Wireless Access Points in my building for random Laptop usage. These WAPS are compatible with the wireless phone solution that is offered. Do I need to be concerned with anything else?
  A: Yes. Typically, when businesses build out a wireless access point design they put access points specifically where they need laptop access. Keep in mind if you need a wireless phone and that phone needs to go down the hall typically there is no current coverage. Thus, we would have to look at your floor plan again and review.
• Q: Can I easily transfer a call on all wireless or cordless phone?
  A: No. You need to select a more robust solution. Most, if not all, solutions can leverage flash hook to access system access codes (shortcodes) to access other phone system features. But this is not easy.
• Q: If all I need to do is run over to the copy machine which is near my desk, which cordless or wireless solution might you recommend?
  A: In this case, you might simply need a wireless headset to pickup and hangup a single call near your desk.
• Q: Are the ranges indicated on the cordless/wireless phone guaranteed?
  A: No, these vary from business to business. These numbers vary most specifically on clients environment (i.e. walls, ceilings, interference, saturation, open environment = no walls, etc.).
• Q: What frequencies are commonly used for cordless phone technologies?
  A: 900MHz (Year 1993), 1.9 GHz (Introduced for use with DECT), 2.4 GHz (Year: 1998), and 5.8 GHz (Year: 2003). Wireless phones were developed to run over WiFi standards such as 802.11a/b/g.
• Q: How many concurrent phone calls can I make from/to my cordless or wireless device?
  A: It is based on the number of connections you have in your phone system to the base station. Some base stations allow for multiple cordless/wireless devices; however, how many physical connections indicate how many concurrent calls you can make/take. If you are using IP technologies (IP Dect or WiFi) then its based on your number of H323 or SIP Trunk connections to your phone system. The concept can get confusing. If you have specific needs please discuss with your design engineer.