atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Samsung Telephones & Systems OS7200 Wireless IP Phone

Hi,

We are considering purchasing a SMT-W5100E cordless phone. We have read in the past (I forget whether it was online or on this forum) that the phone would operate over an existing 802.11b wireless infrastructure although it would not be supported by Samsung.

Has anyone actually done this and could provide us with some information on how it would be setup?

Our problem is that we really only have a need for 1 wireless user in our warehouse which is already wireless via Cisco Aironet hardware. While we could justify the $xxx price tag of the cordless phone to allow better access to our "mobile" warehouse manager, it would be extremely difficult to justify a $xxx+ price tag for 1 user to deploy a second wireless network infrastructure to cover the warehouse for cordless phone usage. We already have an MGI card for desk based VOIP users, so that cost would not be a factor.

Edited for pricing

The "Official" answer to that question from the Samsung Distributor in Australia, is that Samsung do not support third party AP's

The real answer is that the phone will almost certainly be able to register, and make calls, but Handover between bases might be a problem.

Guess it depends on the size of the warehouse, and how many AP's are required to provide coverage.

Cti,

It would most likely take 2 AP's to cover the area we would need to cover.

As far as the official answer, that is the same that I have been given here in the US. However, like you I don't see how if the phone is 802.11b compliant any network would not function in a limited capacity unless they intentionally disable it in the hardware somewhere. As previously mentioned, I also recall reading online somewhere that it is possible.

I was hoping someone here may have actually done it previously to confirm this information and be able to provide some information if any default settings needed changing or any other general tips for making it work.

Hi,

Sorry, I wasn't sufficiently clear.

The phone will register to a third party AP, and it will make calls. I have done that, and there is no special configuration required.

However, when you walk out of range of one AP, during a conversation, the phone may not handover correctly. As I understand the situation, the SMT-R200 AP's have a Samsung protocol running that controls the handover. This protocol is not defined in the 802.11 b/g specification and there is no approved standard for voice handover.

This is the reason Samsung will not guarantee operation with Third party AP's.
(and nor will Cisco, or Avaya or any other manufacturer).

There are also some QOS and other features in the base station that optimise WIP use.

If its only one phone why not use an off the shelf 900MHZ cordless?

Even if you were to deploy Samsung base stations you may run into some problems with channel reuse unless you get rid of the Cisco AP's which their IT mob won’t like because the Samsung AP’s don’t have Cisco stamped on the case.

We don't want to use an off the shelf 900MHz mostly because we have 8 lines coming into the building and it would be a real pain to "conference" an incoming call into line accessible on the handset as I think the biggest phone available has a 4 line max capacity. Also, the warehouse manager is typically mostly contacted by internal staff members, so taking up 2 lines to contact them doesn't sound too hot (1 outgoing, 1 for him to answer). Unless of course you are suggesting that there is someway to make a standard cordless phone an "extension" on OS 7200.

The QOS issue is not that big of a deal to us because we are only dealing with 1 user that for the most part will be talking to internal employees only. Secondly, the Cisco's APs can be VLANed and provide QOS to the wireless handset assuming it is 802.1p capable.

Despite being Cisco partners, we have no real "problem" with the Samsung equipment. The problem is moreso that our needs do not justify the cost of redeploying a new wireless network, yet we'd still like to be able to use the functionality if possible somehow.

Your last comment regarding the "Cisco" badge is interesting :-) as typically that comment refers to it being overpriced for what it does, nonetheless, the Samsung AP's actually cost a good bit more (street pricing wise, don't know the Samsung margins as we don't deal in Samsung).

cti,

Based on your info we are going to be ordering the phone. Did you basically simply leave everything unchanged in the Samsung config, like MMC xxx-xxx. Or did you need to set something to get the OS7200 to recognize the AP, so that MMCxxx's system ID changed to something other than WBS24?

Edited for mmc's above admin/user level :thumb:

Samsunghelp:

You need to set the AP type to Dual in MMC xxx, and enable registration. Caution, this will cause a system restart.

Enter a fixed IP for the phone in MMCxxx.

When registering the phone, enter the SSID and the Security key you have preconfigured for the AP's.

That should be all you need.

Regards

Edited for mmc's above user/admin level. Please pm this information to the topic starter :thumb:

Hi Guys,

I have a idcs 500 running 2.75B with MGI16 and i would like to know if this worked as well, i just ordered a SMT-W5100 to test it. I would appreciate all the tips from you.