The Grandstream WP-825 is a SIP compliant Wifi phone. The phone was $130+tax from Amazon. While there were a couple of places that sold it cheaper, I wanted to the phone ASAP, and this one came 1 day after ordering it. I am sure the phrase SIP compliant Wifi phone means little to most, so I will go into detail what that means. SIP is an open protocol for Internet telephony. Wifi is obviously for the Wifi Network that your phone likely uses when home. When using SIP, you need a SIP UID, a SIP Password, and the SIP server. You would probably also need a credit/debit card as most SIP providers do not provide their service beyond network calling for free.
The Good
There are a number of things that makes this phone a worthwhile choice. First, the build quality is superb. It is designed to take a beating and keep working. I am not doing drop tests, or soaking the phone into water, but I have confidence it will have a good chance of survival. The phone also has a big color TFT screen which most Wifi phones have a smaller screen. The phone feels pretty capable, and I was able to make a call with good voice quality. Obviously, this depends on the internet connection served by the network it is on, but that is more than sufficient with most carriers. Because of the higher latency, I will not recommend satellite internet. The phone has a side button below the volume keys. This button can either do a Push to Talk, or mute the microphone during a call. The phone came with a charging station which uses two bar like contacts for charging. The phone also support micro-USB.
The web interface was pretty good and functional. You don’t need anything flashy or with flare. In the web interface, I was able to add my SIP provider’s credentials for my primary account. Since the phone has support for 2 accounts, this was nice. The default password is located on the back of the phone where you would place the battery in there. If you decide to get this phone, I would recommend writing this password down before inserting the phone. You would need this if you intend on not driving yourself insane by using the phone interface.
The Bad
Despite the good qualities, the phone is not perfect. First, the charging cable plugs into the charging cradle, but this took about 10 minutes to do because of the awkward space that the port is in. Also, the charging port on both the phone and charging cradle is micro-USB which while functional, I am concerned about getting cables or the such if I should need to replace a cable. While not completely proprietary, it is not something I would have want. USB-C has been a standard for years, and Grandstream has the ability to make their Wifi phones charge with USB.
There is also a means of adding contacts through the web interface – although this portion was a bit flaky with a nearly invisible check box that has to be selected to work. I was able to figure it out, but not sure how it would deal with multiple numbers even though there is an option to add multiple numbers under a contact.
Last, the belt clip that came with the phone refused to plug unto the phone at all. I am sure I am doing something wrong, but it should really be easier than it is. While this phone is relatively new, it is using too much older technology. For that, I am not happy about. Still, I am keeping those things in mind while using it. It hasn’t interfered with the needs of the phone.
The Ugly
While not affecting me personally, the phone only supports 2 SIP accounts. For people or small businesses, this is likely fine, and I don’t see an instance where a phone needs to have more than 2 accounts, but I feel this should be 4-5 making it a little overkill, but will handle almost everyone’s needs.
Pressing and holding down the 1 key will not take you directly into your voicemail. Instead, you would see a setting to show you how many voicemails you have, and then the option to call the voicemail. It just makes more sense to dial *86 from the phone to access the voicemail. There is an indicator light that turns red when there is a voicemail, but that could be misleading as red usually has to do with the battery. Still, it is nice that there is some indication.
Verdict
All in all, I am satisfied with the phone. If you use SIP for your home phone needs, and need a good quality phone, then it would be hard to go wrong with this phone. Obviously, this phone won’t do any good if you don’t have a SIP account, or would rather use software on your smartphone or computer to make calls, but this phone is a good step in the home phone feel with the better standards of technology. At least in my area, my POTS (copper line telephone service) phone provider is not supporting new accounts or people that move. If you are in a similar position, then SIP is the way to go as long as you choose a good provider. I personally use Callcentric (https://callcentric.com). You should also be able to port your POTS phone number to Callcentric, and pay less than $10/month if you budget correctly.