This is FOR SURE not the only phone that acts this way. Most phones that I've worked with, that were manufactured in the last ten years have had problems with sensitive mics on the speaker phones. They all have been sensitive to ambient noise, frequencies of PC noise, UPS noise, florescent light ballast noise, etc, etc. If it's a conference scenario---get them a Polycom or a Konftel. There's a world of difference between a phone made especially for use as a conference phone---and just a speakerphone. I have customers who just love the Konftels. One customer has 3 of them. I always thought that the best speakerphones made were the old Merlins and the NT 7310s. JMHO. We have an Allworx system in our office. I have to put the phone on MUTE in order to dial out most of the time. My location, I guess, is noisy (I really don't think it's THAT noisy)--and that's my only solution, so far. The phone is duplex and sounds good both ways, but in dialing--the mic is so sensitive it picks up ambient noise and echoes, I guess---while I'm dialing. Not a problem with the Mute on. I even had problems with a squeeky chair for a few months, until I oiled it. If your customers don't want to cough up the money for a good conference phone---then using the MUTE key when not talking, is probably the only solution. Good Luck.

Rockford VoIP