 It's really an American phone..., 2006-03-23
I initially thought this would be a great phone to use in a home office environment. I often work from home and thought that a good quality speaker phone would be worth the steep asking price. It's also one of the few that supports dual lines, which I needed. I'd used Polycom equipment in a commercial environment before and I'd always been impressed by the sound quality, and true duplex features. Unfortunately I was not as impressed with this phone, especially when the second (rear) microphone was activated. To be fair I did not have the phone for long, but when I did try to use the conference facility, I found that voice levels would raise and fall (I think the phone was trying to automatically determine the correct setting) but it never seemed to settle, and so bits of conversations were lost.Polycom did get some things right, for example; there was a nice long combined power/telephone line cable allowing both input lines to be connected at the wall, which really helped to reduce clutter. There were plenty of buttons to assist in accessing both lines. The setup utility allowed for wide customisation to that it would probably work fine with most PABXs (not tested). I did find the display a little narrow, and hard to read, unless I was almost directly over the phone. The clincher for me, however, was lack of CallerId support. Sure it has memory to log heaps of incoming/outgoing calls, but without the CallerId this was next to useless. I double checked the Amazon listing, and sure enough CallerId was a listed feature, it's even listed on the outside of the box. It's only when you open and unpack it that you find a note inside saying "CallerId not supported". I called the UK Polycom support line and was informed that the phone only supports "Bell Systems" (i.e. American CallerId). According to their support representative there are no plans for a fix either; "...it's just not worth trying to support all the European standards". Amazon were very supportive through the returns process, but I'm still searching for dual line/speaker phone that works in the UK, so seeing this listing still un-modified, I was prompted to post a review to help would be users.
 Good quality and value conference phone, 2010-07-17
I have used this as a speaker phone for the last 6 months and it has worked very well in that time. The handset on it is not great (very tinny), but the speaker functionality is excellent.
Great for conference calls, 2008-11-28
I've had one of these for 2 years now. As a conference phone it's great for working at home. Very good on speaker phone, lots of controls and of course the 2 way facility is very useful on conference calls (ever tried to interrupt someone when they're on a one way phone?) With a Plantronics 2 part headset it is even better.
It is not very good when used via its own handset, where there is a lot of echo that I've never worked out how to eliminate.
A Very Competent Home Office Speakerphone, 2008-10-25
I have been using one of these in my home office now for over 6 months. In that time I have found it to be a very useful piece of kit.
The sound quality is good and the controls well laid out and easy to understand. In a typical working day I use this phone for 3-6 hours, mostly on conference calls.
The phone sits next to me on my desk, maybe a couple of feet from where my head is and usually picks up my voice just fine. On a very few occasions people have had trouble hearing me, but if all else fails I can pick up the handset. I've probably done this only 2 or 3 times since buying the phone. I also bought a headset with the phone, but have only really used this to test that it actually works.
A big selling point for me was the ability to plug in 2 phone lines, so I can also answer or dial out on the home land line from my office without needing a separate handset.
The phone also has a rear microphone for use when more people are present. I have never used it in this sort of situation so I can't say how well it works.
As another reviewer has said, this phone does not support UK caller line ID. I would agree that this is its biggest drawback, although in practice I have not found it to be a big issue because I mainly use it to dial in to audio conference bridges and give out my mobile number for incoming calls.
It is also a very good looking phone.
Overall, I've given it four stars because it does the job I want it to do very well. If Polycom would support UK CLI, then I'd probably give it 5 stars.
 A great phone - when it works!, 2009-07-10
I wanted a good quality speakerphone for my office, and having had excellent service in the past from its bigger brother (a true conference phone) I decided to spend the additional money required to buy the Polycom Soundpoint. When it's working properly it is very good indeed, but I am now on my second replacement unit - which is behaving very much as its two predecessors. For a minority of calls, both myself and the other party find that the volume levels have dropped to the inaudible - I literally have to shout in order to ask the other person to hang on whilst I switch to an old deskphone I now have to keep nearby! I have had the 'phone lines into my office checked by an engineer, and have loaned the three polycom units now sent to me to colleagues in order to verify that everyone experiences the same problem.
That this affects only 10% of calls is irrelevant in that each failure causes annoyance and frustration. I have decided to 'write off' the money spent and to move on to another manufacturer - this time I'll do it on the basis of personal recommendations. What a shame, what a waste.
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