BIOS: Technology Means Business

The IP-290 (£94.99 ex. VAT) is Elmeg's latest Voice-over-IP (VoIP) phone. With familiar and easy-to-use telephone networking features, the IP-290 would make a neat value-based choice for small businesses migrating to IP telephony for greater cost efficiency and improved workflow. The major selling point of the phone is that it's designed to allow businesses to switch to VoIP quickly, simply and relatively cheaply without losing quality of service or features.

The wholly black (also available in white) IP-290 looks like a regular desktop business phone. It integrates a non-backlit graphical display, robust keypad and ergonomic height adjustable base to make it as simple to use as a standard telephone. Unlike other VoIP phones, the IP-290 (25.5x21x90mm, 690g) has many of the features provided by conventional telephones and networks including programmable keys, call holding, blocking and transfer along with callback and forwarding.

Other key features include a caller list, speed-dialling, hands-free speaking, support for 12 different languages and an address book for up to 100 entries. Calls on hold are indicated on the display, and with a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) connection the waiting caller hears music. Equipped with a two-line graphical display, the IP-290 supports alphanumeric caller ID and an extra Ethernet port enables you to daisy chain the phone with your PCs without the necessity for an extra LAN socket. For hands-free operation, a standard PC headset can be used.

The address book lets you import and export contacts as CSV files, and missed/dialled/received calls can all be viewed on-screen. Call waiting indication is also present, along with a clock, daylight saving, call timer, caller-ID, call blocking (deny list), programmable function keys, auto answer mode and privacy settings. The phone also has national language support (NLS), a log-on wizard, URL dialling support, selectable ringing melodies, and downloadable custom melodies.

The phone is based on open standards, with support for H.323/H.450 and the new SIP standard. An additional Ethernet port with VLAN support means that it can be connected directly to a PC without needing a LAN port. It operates with software such as Microsoft's Messenger and Skype, and standard hardware devices offered by other manufacturers allow you to set up a VoIP system that can be tailored to your specific needs. In particular, connecting the IP-290 directly to a SIP provider - such as SIPCall, RadiusIP, 1899.com, sipgate or CallUK - should deliver relatively inexpensive and uncomplicated IP communications.

Connecting the IP-290 to your network or desktop PC is relatively easy. First you have to connect one end of the handset cable to the handset and then to the jack on the left-hand side of the phone. You then have to plug the supplied Ethernet cable into the phone's RJ45 connector. Once the other end of the RJ45 cable is plugged into a network ports, a data link can be established. A second RJ45 connector at the edge of the phone is available for daisy-chaining further Ethernet devices without the need for a second Ethernet connection line, and the supplied external AC adapter powers the unit. If you want to use a headset, it can be connected to the audio output jack on the rear side of the IP-290. There's also an audio input jack for hooking up a microphone.

The phone has a built-in DHCP client. It will receive an IP address and other Network-related settings (Netmask, IP gateway, DNS server) from your network's DHCP server. If, on the other hand, DHCP is not used, you will subsequently be asked for a static IP address, Netmask, IP Gateway, and DNS server settings. In SIP, an administrator can also set up authentication requirements for each registration on the phone. The password for each account name on its realm (domain/registrar) can be set up through the Web interface of the phone. If the authentication password is not set, or is set wrongly, the account will not register on that domain and the phone will be challenged for that line.

If you find the phone's built-in display and menu system a little frustrating, you'll be pleased to know that its settings can be configured from a Web browser. The IP-290 has an integrated Web server for this purpose. If the phone is connected to a network that provides DHCP, it can be immediately accessed via a browser after boot-up. If you do not want to use DHCP, you must specify the IP address, netmask, gateway, DNS domain and DNS server statically to ensure correct operation. To change the settings, you simply need to enter the phone's IP address as the URL (such as 192.168.0.100). You're then presented with a selection menu, whereby you can then drill down through sub-menus and alter the phone's current settings.

The IP-290 comes with quite a lot of high-end features and its audio quality is high, but it's not without its shortcomings. In particular, the display isn't backlit, there's no high-resolution colour touch-screen display for easy access to communication information, timesaving applications and feature usage, and there's no support for developing Extensible Markup Language (XML) applications for the display.

It also lacks support for Power over Ethernet (PoE) and IEEE 802.3af PoE, isn't Hearing Aid Compatible, and doesn't have a built-in Web camera for video calls. Having considered all these additional options, you'd have to spend a lot more money (around £400 ex. VAT) to get a top-of-the-line VoIP phone, such as those from Cisco. If you simply want to lower your organisation's call charges, Elmeg's IP-290 is a solid product. [7.5]