My experience begins with an installation in a new small office that was part of a larger facility. As I had been evaluating Asterisk, and then Asterisk@Home, and finally Trixbox as development has progressed over the past few years, I felt that a Trixbox install might be just the thing for this new install.
For this install, I chose the following hardware:
Dell Poweredge 1950 server - $2650
Sangoma A101D-X PCI express w/ echo cancellation - $1000
16x Grandstream GXP-2000 IP telephones - $1400
Connect everything to my workbench Cisco Catalyst 3550 switch, installed Trixbox (flawless), configured it, added extensions, configure the phones (server IP, authentication info, turn on QOS), which are running firmware 1.1.1.14. Everything works! Run test calls, borrow other people to test call quality, and everything is just peachy!
Time passes, and now it's time to install at the site. Take the phones there, and ... they can't get an IP from DHCP... odd... factory default a phone from the phone's UI, and it does. Seems that the Netgear GSM7352s won't accept packets from the phones when QOS is enabled, because the packets that the phone generates are corrupt (thank you Wireshark). Apparently, the Cisco switch ignores just the bad QOS info, while the Netgear switch ignores the packet.
Filed a ticket with Grandstream, and actually got a response in about four hours, with a new firmware version attached, version 1.1.3.1! As time was running out, I flashed a phone to confirm that it could get an address from DHCP, and then flashed the rest of the phones. This turned out to be a very bad mistake. Sound quality is bad. Very bad. Static, weird electrical noises, echo, hiss, popping once per second. Dropped calls. Worst case scenario for sound quality. Oh, and once you go 1.1.3.x, you can't go back. Don't install it.
Other phones on the same switch, attaching to the same Trixbox, don't have issues. Aastra 9133i, Aastra 9112i, Polycom IP301, Polycom IP430, Snom 300. All of them are slightly more expensive, but are still better choices. Pick one of them instead.
I've now had that ticket open for nearly 3 months, and I'm basically screwed on those GXP-2000's. I'm replacing them with Aastra 9112i handsets.
2007 July 05 - Don't link directly to the files, link to http://www.grandstreamsucks.com/ If I'm paying the bandwidth bill, your users can read my drivel.
2007 July 06 - Ok, so I've been testing 1.1.4.14 for a couple weeks now, and it seems to be much improved over the 1.1.3.x series Grandstream firmware. One of the biggest complaints was the clicking and popping, and this new firmware seems to have taken care of that issue. I have just finished flashing the GXP-2000's and have put them back into production. We'll see how this goes...
Firmware available |
Release notes |
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1.1.5.3 - thanks, iDLEx! 1.1.4.25 - thanks, iDLEx! 1.1.4.24 1.1.4.22 1.1.4.20 - thanks Randy 1.1.4.18 - thanks iDLEx 1.1.4.17 - 1.1.4.16 1.1.4.14 - first available 1.1.4.x series. Thanks, iDLEx 1.1.3.2 - sucks. don't use this. 1.1.3.1 - sucks. don't use this. 1.1.2.27 - probably the best available. 1.1.2.25 - updated ringtones. |
1.1.4.18 more beta |
Grandstream problems? Questions? Just want to talk?
Grandstreamsucks.com forum
A wealth of information on Grandstream phones is in the Grandstream section of the Trixbox forums.
The closest thing to an authoritative guide to the GXP-2000 is the Wiki Page at voip-info.org. Read up.
| Notes from the community |
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Martin Wallice e-mailed me the following warning:
John Huang of GS Support writes: "Good catch. Yes, this is bug and we will fix it in next f/w release."
- The file must be named gs_screen.xml
- Place this file in your TFTP server's main directory
- Navigate to the GXP-2000 config page and go to the advanced settings tab
- At “Idle Screen XML Download” select “YES, TFTP”
- Set Idle Screen XML Server Path: <IP address of your Trixbox>/ (no brackets, but I think the / at the end is important)
- Reboot the phone
- Go into the phone menu (not via the web, but on the phone itself)
- Go into preferences
- Select “Download SCR XML”
If you have new firmware versions, e-mail them to me at 
and I'll post it.
