Product Review: Poly VVX 450 Business IP Phone
Poly is a leader in telephony and communications product offerings. In our exploration of the VVX series of Poly phones, we’ve already looked at the VVX 350 and today we’re evaluating the Poly VVX 450 and putting it through its paces.
Features and Overview
The Poly VVX 450 is a business IP phone that brings a fantastic price to value offering that features:
- A large 4.3” color display
- HD Voice support with support for the G.722, G.722.1, G.729AB, G.711 codecs
- Group intercom paging — you can broadcast messages out to other Poly phones in your office
- 12 line key buttons — including a Power Keys Service that enables you to manage up to 6 live calls at one time or monitor status of 4 other extensions
- Two (2) gigabit ethernet ports
Opening the Box
Poly’s packaging for the VVX 450 is straightforward and gets to the point. The company only ships using recyclable materials and when you open the box, you’ll encounter the expected phone base, power adapter, handset, cord and ethernet cord.
The Poly VVX 450 offers power over ethernet capable (PoE) but comes with a power adapter, which is a value add amongst competitors.
Lastly, there’s an included stand that enables you to customize the angle the phone sits on your desk. This phone model is easy to assemble and to connect to your network — it took me less than 30 seconds to get the phone physically ready to use.
Setup and Provisioning on SkySwitch
Once I had the VVX 450 out of the box and onto my workplace’s wired network, the phone booted up for its’ initial set up and I was ready to provision and start using it.
Luckily, getting the new Poly handset operational and ready to use was an easy three-step process:
- Find the MAC address using the Poly VVX 450s on-screen menus
- Add the phone to my PBX set up on Poly using the MAC address
- Use the Poly’s on-screen setup screen, setting the server type and address
Note: while some desk phones can use an integrated web page user interface to provision and set these preferences on the device, I read this Skyswitch Knowledge Base article and found that for Poly phones, you set this easy configuration up using the phone’s menus, not the Web UI.
That said, phones ordered via the SkySwitch store are shipped already provisioned.
So, in my case, I simply:
- Navigated to the Admin settings, then Network Configuration,
- Chose Provisioning Server
- Changed the Server Type to HTTP and set the server address to http://sipcfg.io/cfg – then, the Poly VVX 450 power cycled itself and the phone came back ready to use!
Performance and Real-World Usage
I’ve been using Poly VVX 450 to dial landlines, Skyswitch office mates’ extensions and mobile numbers in the US, UK and France. The audio quality on my handset is dynamic and easy to hear. My callers can hear me clearly and I can hear them. I find the ergonomics of the handset to be a pleasure to use as Poly has placed buttons and call functionality in ideal spots on the phone base. The color screen is ideal to work with and the programmable softkeys bring conference lines and colleagues into one-touch reach.
When I deploy the speakerphone, I’ve been told my voice can be heard despite my office space’s high ceiling and ambient noise. Paired with my Plantronics Savi 8220 headset – which is supported by the VVX 450’s headset jack – calls sound pristine and clear.
Conclusion
The Poly VVX 450 is a solid handset that offers a price to value that can’t be matched. Its monster screen and easily accessible function keys bring your colleagues easily in touch with one-click accessibility.