Lunch Hour Review: Polycom VoiceStation 500

I spend a huge portion of my day on the telephone, predominantly on conference calls. For the past year I have been using a Panasonic multi-handset DECT6.0 cordless phone with speakerphones built into each handset. Honestly, I wasn’t terribly impressed with the voice quality and often found myself struggling to be heard, especially in conversations where one person tended to dominate. In these instances the Panasonic just wouldn’t let me interject clarifications or corrections at the appropriate moment. This was a major source of frustration, and led to a search for a good conference room phone, similar to those used in most offices.

I do not have a digital phone system at home, so I needed a conference phone that supported an analog line (actually a Vonage line in my case). As I researched PolyCom phones, which have always been my favorite conference phones, I happened upon the PolyCom VoiceStation 500 on Amazon.com. This phone works with analog lines, but the most exciting feature is support for Bluetooth phones and direct connection from your computer. In a single product I could have my Vonage line, my iPhone and even my computer all connected to a single device for conferences. I placed an order immediately.

Image of PolyCom VS500

First impressions:

The VS500 is very easy to install. It comes with a power “brick” which has three ports, a few cables, and the familiar three-mic base unit. To install, you plug in the brick, connect the included cable with RJ-45 ends to the brick and the base unit, and connect your analog phone line directly to the brick. Both power and voice are carried on the single RJ-45 cables, thus reducing the number of cables you must drape across your desk or conference table. The phone looksgreat, with a grey top and darker grey lower section, built in keypad, mute, and volume controls. The top of the VS500 has three LEDs which shine a bright red when the phone is muted, and green when a call is connected (unmuted) via the analog line or when the analog line is ringing. There is also an analog auxiliary port in the brick, in case you want to connect a fax, modem, or handset behind the conference phone.

Likes:

• Bluetooth connectivity
• Clarity of speaker
• Superb volume range - I can hear it from the other side of the house at maximum
• Multiple microphones with 7-10 foot range without shouting

Dislikes:

• LEDs do not light up when talking on a call using Bluetooth - Blue LEDs would have been cool to distinguish from an analog call
• Re-establishing Bluetooth connection for a paired device that was out of range - sometimes gives me trouble
• Cannot use the keypad on the VS500 to dial the mobile phone - not too bad since my iPhone sits in a cradle next to the VS500

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5