Review: Roam With Snom M3 VoIP Phone
The Test Center reviewed the snom M3, a wireless SIP phone that works like a normal cordless phone. You can keep it charged, and make a phone call regardless of where you are in the office.
The M3 from German company snom uses the Digital Enhanced Cordless Telephone protocol instead of standard WiFi. Originally created in Europe, DECT technology offers higher call quality, longer battery life, and better phone range for small handsets than WiFi. There are a few wireless SIP phones on the market that connect to the network using 802.11g wireless protocol. The WiFi phones are generally hard to configure, have less than ideal battery life, and dropped calls are common. DECT devices also use the 1.9 GHz band -- well below the 2.4 Ghz that Wi-Fi networks and cordless phones use, thus eliminating interference.
With DECT, multiple handsets register to the same base station. Snom M3 extends this ability to allow multiple handsets to share a single extension or have each phone assigned to an independent extension. A single base station can support up to eight handsets at once. The base station can be set up to have a single extension ring on multiple handsets, have individual user handsets with different extensions, or a combination of the two, as long as the number of handsets don't exceed eight.
It's also possible to register the gateway to point at multiple different PBX servers. So two or three handsets can be registered to one PBX, another two to a different one, and so forth. For companies running multiple PBX servers for load issues, the single base station can route handsets appropriately.
The M3 phone itself is lightweight and measures 2 inches wide by 5 inches long and less than an inch thick. It feels a little toy-like, but it does the job. It has a backlit LCD display featuring 128 x 128 pixels and 65,536 colors. Each handset comes with its own small charging station. The phone has volume controls, speakerphone toggle, a headset jack, along with the basic 12 numeric keys, five navigation keys, and two function keys.
The base station, or the gateway, is a squashed box measuring 5.5 inches wide by 6.5 inches long and an inch thick. The base station is connected to the network switch with a standard Ethernet cable, and plugged into a power outlet. The gateway obtains an IP address automatically from the network. It then looks for a PBX to register with. When the gateway is up and running, it will have three solid amber lights lit.
For testing purposes, Test Center asked snom to provide access to one of its own PBX boxes. Once the gateway was plugged in, it looked for the snom PBX's WAN address on the Internet. Once found, the M3 phone was on that PBX's network, and was able to make and receive calls as an extension on that phone network.
The gateway can be pre-configured beforehand with the extensions and PBX information. If it's not pre-configured, once the gateway has an IP address, the information can be entered into the Web interface for the base station. The IP address of the station can be obtained by pushing the volume-up button on the M3 phone. The PBX info can be on any platform, like an Asterisk system or any SIP-based system.
It's possible to do all this via the phone, but it's easier to enter SIP address and information through the web interface.
When the phone is first placed in the charging station, it automatically scans the network to find and register with the gateway. The gateway downloads the extension and PBX data directly onto the phone. The phone needs to be within 50 meters indoors or 100 meters outdoors from the base station.
For businesses with remote and branch offices or telecommuting employees, this is a very handy and flexible system. The gateway can be plugged in remotely and still get the M3 handset working on the same VoIP network as the rest of the company. The snom M3 would also be a good fit with a hosted PBX system.
Reviewers were able to call a cell phone number from inside the building, and then walk out with the M3 and out into the parking lot without losing the connection. The range is definitely an improvement over WiFi or a basic 2.4ghz cordless phone. The handset held its charge despite being away from the charging station the entire day -- depending on use, it should be able to go without a charge for several days. Snom claims the Li-ion battery can go for 20 hours of calls of 100 hours standby.
The gateway doesn't support power over Ethernet, which is a shame. Having PoE would free up the base station from having to be near a wall outlet, and make it easier to position the unit to give the optimum coverage for the handsets. It also allows only three concurrent calls at once. For a high-activity remote location, multiple gateways may be necessary to handle the volume of calls. But for telecommuters and small branches, three concurrent calls may not be a problem.
The M3 has no way of importing or sharing contacts. Contacts are added manually using the keypad on the phone, and once in, there is no way to easily export, or copy them on to other phones on the system. The phones in generally can't be configured using the Web interface. The Web interface is limited to just assigning extensions, PBX, and routing.
Overall, the snom M3 would be a good backup phone for users working remotely, or as a Find Me device for users who need to spend a lot of time away from their desk.