[cisco-voip] overhead paging vs ip phones

[Jeffrey Ollie]

On 2/26/08, Lelio Fulgenzi <lelio at uoguelph.ca> wrote:
>
> I'm just wondering what people think about overhead paging. I know it's old
> school, but I like it's independance from the phone/network system in the
> event of an emergency. Plus, it's much cheaper considering the phones you
> have to buy and licence and the paging software you have to buy/licence as
> well. Granted it gives you two way communication if you need it and you can
> use the phone for other things as well, but in a tight budget situation, I'm
> thinking over head paging is the way to go.

In our case, we chose to install a Berbee InformaCast system that will
be broadcasting to both IP phones and IP-enabled overhead speakers.
We're installing the overhead speakers to cover areas where there are
no phones installed nearby.  I don't know where the cost breakdowns
are, but we already had IP phones with speakers so we added just
enough IP speakers to cover the additional areas.  Plus using
something like InformaCast allows us to initiate broadcasts from
almost anywhere.

> I'm also guessing a real speaker is going to be louder and clearer than an
> IP phone speaker.

Atlas Sound makes a device that allows you to hook up a standard
speaker/amplifier to a Berbee InformaCast system.  I'd provide a
direct link to their web site but it seems to be having problems.

As far as being louder, sure - the IP phones have relatively small
speakers and amplifiers built into them.  As far as quality goes
that's debatable... You have the same quality audio going to both the
IP phones and the external speakers.

Jeff