I would recommend the 8800's. There have been numerous bugs, but those will get 
resolved in due time. I'd imagine by the time you order, and it gets fulfilled, 
more of the major bugs will be resolved. The 7800/8800/DX/MX/IX is where you 
want to be from the future proof perspective.

Dennis Heim | Emerging Technology Architect (Collaboration)
World Wide Technology, Inc. | +1 314-212-1814
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[chat]<xmpp:dennis.h...@wwt.com>[Phone]<tel:+13142121814>[video]<sip:dennis.h...@wwt.com>
"There is a fine line between Wrong and Visionary. Unfortunately, you have to 
be a visionary to see it." - Sheldon Cooper

Click here to join me in my Collaboration Meeting 
Room<https://wwt.webex.com/meet/dennis.heim>

From: cisco-voip [mailto:cisco-voip-boun...@puck.nether.net] On Behalf Of 
Jeremy Bresley
Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2015 10:48 PM
To: cisco-voip@puck.nether.net
Subject: Re: [cisco-voip] Recommendations for new handsets

On 7/7/2015 4:58 PM, Terry Oakley wrote:
We are in the process of updating our fleet of handsets (most are 7 years or 
older) and looking for recommendations for what handset model we should move 
to.   Currently most of our sets are the problematic 7941/61 with a number of 
7911sets.   In classrooms and meeting rooms we have 7945 and 7965 sets that 
have been very reliable.

We are looking at either the 9900 or 8800 series (color screen) but we are 
seeking your experience and knowledge of those series or what you believe would 
be a series that we should look at.

Thanks

Terry

Terry Oakley
Telecommunications Coordinator | Information Technology Services
Red Deer College |100 College Blvd. | Box 5005 | Red Deer | Alberta | T4N 5H5
work (403) 342-3521   |  FAX (403) 343-4034

We've deployed a couple of sites with the 8851s as the 7945s are getting price 
increases (sign of impending EOL usually).

Plus'es on the 8851s:  Higher res screen (check docs if you have custom 
backgrounds, sizes are different than any previous models, at least one doc has 
the wrong size for thumbnails listed), Bluetooth support, Proximity support for 
phone connectivity (contacts, mobility), USB port for charging a phone (or slow 
charging a tablet except on the 8861s)

Minus'es: Firmware 10.2 had some serious bugs.  Worst ones we hit were related 
to Energy Efficient Ethernet that would cause the PCs to randomly drop 
connection, and unplugging the PC and plugging it back in was the only way to 
recover (or resetting the phone).  Engineers with these phones having to reboot 
4-6X in an 8 hour work day were NOT happy.  Upgrading to 10.3 firmware has had 
them be pretty stable.  If you do run into any code bugs, there are only 3 
total releases of firmware for these phones, so they are fairly new and aren't 
as long lived as the 7900's firmware.

Different: These are SIP only phones.  If all your existing phones are SCCP, 
this has ramifications for things like SRST configs as well as call flow 
troubleshooting.  (This is an issue for the 9900 series phones as well.)
The overlay stickers that come with the 7900 series phones with the text 
descriptions for the buttons don't exist on 8800s, they're pictograms only for 
the physical buttons, may require some additional documentation for users to 
know what the buttons do.
The handsets are the newer slimline design, don't sit on the shoulder nearly as 
well as the 7900s more rounded models, this may make a difference if your users 
don't use headsets.

You didn't mention using any KEMs, the 8800s use the BEKEM which is a 36-line 
(9 buttons per side, two columns, 2 pages) rather than the 24-line of the 
7916-24s.  8851s support 2, 8861s support 3.

Having used a number of 7941s, I'm pretty sure users would be ecstatic with an 
upgrade to an 8800 due to the improved display alone.  The Bluetooth only 
exists on 8851/8861s, not available on the 8811/8841s.  There's also the new 
8845/8865 which are video enabled units.  The 8865 is basically the 8861 with a 
camera, the 8845 is an 8851 minus the USB port and KEM support (does have 
Bluetooth/Proximity)

Jeremy "TheBrez" Bresley
b...@brezworks.com<mailto:b...@brezworks.com>
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