Overview of the DECT IP Phone Yealink W56P

DECT IP Phone Yealink W56P was announced in the spring of 2016. However, his journey to Russia due to various organizational delays dragged on for a long eight months - the first batch of these phones went on sale only at the very end of last year. A few more months it took us to gather our strength and write a review on this phone. Thus, to call Yealink W56P a novelty is, as it were, not entirely correct. Nevertheless, this article can be safely recommended for reading to all lovers of IP-telephony and IT-technologies in general, since this unit turned out to be unusual and interesting.



The W56P model is not the first DECT Yealink IP-phone: for quite a few years already quite successful Yealink W52P model has been produced and is in good demand. Tellingly, the new phone does not come in the place of the old one - they are being produced and will be being produced in parallel. They won't have Yealink in the DECT IP phones line closely, since the models have slightly different positioning and, accordingly, the price category: the W52P is a simpler and more accessible phone, and the W56P is more advanced and expensive.

Base station

Yealink W56P is a kit consisting of a base station and a cordless handset. Since the base station supports connection to it up to 5 handsets, the latter can be purchased separately - they are sold under the model index W56H . The base station itself has not undergone any changes compared to the previous model - this is absolutely the same device that comes bundled with the Yealink W52P. It says so: “Base for W52P and W56P”. Ensuring backward compatibility is convenient for the consumer and characterizes the manufacturer at its best. Especially against other vendors who also relatively recently released their DECT IP phones (Grandstream DP750, Panasonic KX-TGP600), but deprived of their compatibility with previous handsets.
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From the peculiarities of the base station, it can be distinguished that it can be powered both by PoE technology and from the power supply unit included in the kit. The only button is for paging already attached handsets or registering new ones. Three light indicators tell us about the status of power, network and attached tubes. Naturally, the design of the base station implies the possibility of mounting it on the wall.

Charging cup

The charging cup has the same opportunity - not all DECT IP phones support its mounting on the wall (although this function is not so much in demand). Another feature of the charging cup is the ability to power from USB, which is very convenient if there are no free sockets nearby. Again, a power supply with a USB port is included. In the design of the charging glass, I did not quite like the fact that it was necessary to place the tube in it accurately and carefully - the landing at the glass is not deep, so if it is done carelessly - the tube can simply tip over. On the other hand, the charging cup itself is not going anywhere - its supporting platform is generously rubberized around the perimeter, which ensures excellent adhesion to the table surface.

Cordless handset

However, it’s enough to beat around the bush - the main character of the W56P kit is waiting for us - the Yealink W56H wireless handset. The first acquaintance with it almost everyone causes a feeling of mild shock. Its reason is the size of the tube, or rather its length, which is as much as 175mm. In order to understand the scale of what is happening - in the photo below are presented from left to right Panasonic KX-TPA60, Yealink W52H, Yealink W56H and Grandstream DP720. You can see how much the W56H stands out from this range.



However, after the first emotions subsided, it quickly becomes clear that such a form factor has the right to exist. The handset is very nice in the hand, the sensations from working with it are very similar to working with the handset of a landline phone, since they are comparable in size. In addition, due to the large case, the handset was able to get a large display - 2.4 inches with a resolution of 240x320 pixels. For comparison, the screen of the previous model Yealink W52H has a diagonal of 1.8 inches with a resolution of 128 by 160 pixels, and at the same time it looks quite decent. But as soon as you turn on the Yealink W56H, it becomes immediately clear that this is a completely different level. The screen is not only big, but also very juicy, the user interface on it looks great. In Yealink, good designers definitely work — nice fonts, high-quality icons, flat design menus — all of which give the impression of a well-designed, finished product.

Another nice quality of the long W56H tube is the large keys. In the photo above it can be clearly seen in comparison with other phones. As a result, it is much more convenient to work with the handset, the number of misses decreases significantly. And do not think that because of the elongated shape, it is almost impossible to handle the tube with one hand - thanks to competent weight distribution, it can be held at the very bottom, and in this case, the thumb easily reaches all the keys.



At the bottom of the tube between the charging contacts is a 3.5mm jack for connecting a headset. It is worth praising the choice of the right connector of the manufacturer: now you can connect standard headsets from cell phones to the handset, without having to search for a 2.5 mm adapter. But the location of the connector is rather strange, perhaps it would be more logical to place it on the upper end, as it was done, for example, in the Grandstream DP720.

The rear panel is a moderately powerful speakerphone, and the back cover itself is made as a single plastic part. To get to the battery compartment, you must remove it entirely. And this will have to be done at least once, after the purchase, in order to insert the battery into the handset. And here the buyer is waiting for a serious test - it is almost impossible to remove the cover, guided by the accompanying instruction, without using additional tools like a knife or screwdriver (which, in turn, will almost certainly scratch the soft plastic of the phone just bought).

Autonomous work

Since we are talking about batteries, it’s worthwhile to discuss the battery life of the Yealink W56P in standalone mode. I note that the manufacturer in all marketing materials paid special attention to this aspect and positioned a long battery life, as one of the main advantages of the new phone. So, the declared figures are as follows: 400 hours in standby mode, 30 hours in talk mode, full charge time - 3.5 - 4 hours.

For clarity, below is a comparative plate with the stated battery life of various DECT IP phones.

Model	Battery Type	Standby time, hour	Talk time, hours	Full charge time, hour
Gigaset C530A IP	800 mAh Ni-MH 2 x AAA	170	14	6
Grandstream DP715	500 mAh Ni-MH 2 x AAA	80	ten	n / a
Grandstream DP750	800 mAh LSD Ni-MH 2 x AAA	250	20	12
Panasonic KX-TGP500	630 mAh Ni-MH 2 x AAA	200	eleven	6
Panasonic KX-TGP600	630 mAh Ni-MH 2 x AAA	200	eleven	6
Yealink W52P	800 mAh Ni-MH 2 x AAA	100	ten	6
Yealink W56P	1460 mAh Li-Ion	400	thirty	four

As you can see, Yealink W56P really has the most capacious battery and significantly surpasses in this indicator both the products of competitors and its “predecessor” - model W52P. Testing in real conditions showed the following results: after a week of using the phone in a fairly active working mode (an average of one and a half hours of calls per day), the phone charge indicator still showed three out of five divisions. If someone still succeeds in discharging the battery “zero”, which is so capacious for a DECT IP phone, then you shouldn’t worry too much about this: 10 minutes of charging will provide another 2 hours of talk time.

Work with multiple handsets

All modern DECT IP phones support the ability to connect multiple cordless handsets to one base station. This is convenient and beneficial for corporate users - instead of putting each employee his own base station, you can use, for example, one per office, and distribute cordless handsets to employees.

Different models of DECT IP phones support a different number of handsets and, most importantly, the number of simultaneous calls. So, for example, up to 6 handsets can be connected to a Gigaset C530A IP base station, but only two can talk at a time. Panasonic KX-TGP600, by contrast, supports a maximum of 8 handsets and 8 simultaneous conversations (in a narrowband codec). In this regard, Yealink W56P is a solid middle peasant - 5 handsets and 4 simultaneous conversations - he inherited these parameters from his predecessor W52P, which is not surprising, since the base station of these models is the same.

At the same time, each connected handset can be assigned its own telephone number, since the base station supports registration on the IP-PBX up to 5 independent SIP-accounts. At the same time, it is possible to combine between accounts and handsets as you please - at least one handset can assign all five accounts, at least one account - to all handsets. All this is configured separately for incoming and outgoing calls. Additionally, for outgoing calls, a SIP account is specified from which calls will be made by default. In general, this setting is convenient, and most importantly, the most flexible.



By the way, you can use Yealink W56P without PBX at all, since the phone supports the intercom function.

Coverage area

But not only the base station can work with several handsets, but vice versa - each cordless handset can be registered at several base stations (up to four). Naturally, there is no talk about any seamless DECT here - only one base station can be selected at a time and this choice is made manually. However, the ability to increase the base station coverage area exists. This is done with the help of RT10 and / or RT20 repeaters. They are installed in the coverage area of ​​the base station and recorded on it. Installation of up to 6 repeaters per base station is supported, the ability to connect repeaters in a chain is absent. Another limitation of repeaters is that only two simultaneous conversations can be conducted in their coverage area.

The coverage area for both the repeaters and the base station W56P is the same - 50 meters indoors and 300 meters outside. However, one should understand that these are the stated figures for ideal conditions - in reality, they depend on many factors and, as a rule, turn out to be lower.

Phone book

Yealink W56P has ample opportunities to work with phone books. Firstly, each registered handset has a personal phonebook for 100 numbers. Secondly, it is possible to connect five remote phone books in XML format. They will be common to all handsets, users can view the list of contacts in them, search and outgoing calls, and also copy contacts to their local books. In addition, the W56P can automatically search for contacts in remote books when there is an incoming or outgoing call. Also, the phone supports integration with LDAP-catalogs Microsoft AD, Sun ONE Directory Service, Open LDAP and ADAM. BroadWorks users have support for the Xtended Services Interface (XSI).

Network functions and configuration

Yealink W56P is equipped with one 10/100 Mbps network port. Connect to the network via StaticIP, DHCP or PPPoE. Supports VLAN and QoS, as well as 802.1X and LLDP. Initially, the phone also supports OpenVPN, but in the Russian firmware this function is excluded. Possibilities for setting up the phone are standard. Basic settings can be made through the on-screen menu of the handset, everything else is available in a convenient and understandable Web-based interface. For automatic configuration of a large number of phones provided by Auto Provision.

Conclusion

At the time of this writing, the recommended retail price of the base set + Yealink W56P handset is 7600 rubles, the additional Yealink W56H handset is 5100 rubles. On the one hand, this is quite a lot - for example, the Panasonic KX-TGP600 kit will cost the buyer 6400 rubles, and the Grandstream DP750 + DP720 set 6500 rubles. On the other hand, Yealink W56P looks at the background of its competitors by a device of a slightly different level - first of all, thanks to the chic display, impressive battery life, ergonomic case and thoughtful interface. Working with Yealink W56P is not that much more convenient, but it’s definitely more pleasant. Are these feelings of overpayment worth 15 - 20%? In my opinion - yes, and the buyer, as is usually the case, will vote with a wallet.