– Which Plantronics headset cable will work with my phone?
A question that we are asked daily is, “Which connection cable do I need for THIS headset to work with my phone?”
Well first off, almost all headsets & parts are proprietary into their own brands. So, while there may be a few oddball cables out there that claims to work with the big name-brand’s equipment (ie. Plantronics, Jabra, etc.), let’s keep this simple & stay within the same brand as your headset. For now, let’s assume that you have a Plantronics headset (Called an H-Series Headset).
All corded headsets for Professional Office phones require 2 parts; the headset itself, and then the connection cable. This cable will vary depending upon your phone’s brand & sometimes even the model number. While most of these phone’s will use an RJ9 modular plug, that doesn’t mean that “Any old headset will work just because it has an RJ9 plug.” On the contrary! Each phone manufacturer wires their headset ports different from one another. So remember, just because it fits…doesn’t mean it’ll work.
There are simply far too many phone brands to mention them all in this blog, so for sake of space (And your attention span) I will just list the most commonly used brands & which cables will work with them…in conjunction with a Plantronics H-Series Headset.
- CISCO Phones – For most of the Cisco phones (Generally those with a model number in the 7900, 8900, or 9900’s with a dedicated headset port) you will use the Plantronics Cisco/M22 Cable. However, if you have a Cisco/LinkSys “SPA” model phone, then you would use a special cable, simply called the Plantronics SPA Cable.
- POLYCOM Phones – For Polycom phone’s it can be a bit tricky. For most of the Polycom IP phones you can ONLY use the following model headsets from Plantronics (HW291N, HW301N, HW251, HW251N, HW261, HW261N, H81, H81N), in addition to a cable called the Polaris Cable. However, if you have the following Polycom SoundPoint models (IP320, IP321, IP330, IP331, Pro SE220, or Pro SE225) then you can use ANY of the Plantronics H-Series headsets in conjunction with the 2.5mm to QD Adapter Cable.
- NORTEL, NEC Phones – This is the single most commonly used cable in the industry…called the A10 Cable. This comes in 2 flavors; the standard A10, or an A10-12 High Output Cable (Which is exclusively designed for use with the Nortel phones due to its low level onboard amplifier). Essentially, if you have an NEC or a Nortel phone with a dedicated headset port…you are almost certainly going to be using an A10 Cable, along with ANY Plantronics H-Series Headset.
- SHORETEL Phones – Shoretel’s also use the A10 standard cable, along with ANY Plantronics H-Series Headset.
- AVAYA Phones – Once again, Avaya phones have 2 different cables depending upon your phone model. For the most part, if you have an Avaya 9600 or 1600 series phone (With a dedicated headset port) you will use the HIS Cable. However, if you use any other Avaya phone model and it has a dedicated headset port, you will almost certainly use the HIC Cable instead….again, with an H-Series Headset. Call us if you are unsure.
- PANASONIC Phones – This one is simple…if you have a Panasonic phone with a headset port (Small round hole, called a 2.5mm port) then you can use ANY of the Plantronics H-Series headsets in conjunction with the 2.5mm to QD Adapter Cable.
- My Phone Has No Headset Port – If your phone has no dedicated headset port, then you will have to use an “External amplifier” such as the M22 Vista along with the H-Series Headset. Almost all handset/receiver ports (Even though they are RJ9) don’t have enough power to amplify any headset.
* Important note: Most of these cables look incredibly similar to each other. There are very tiny subtleties that can help to identify them, since they are not always listed on the cable itself. My next Blog will go into how you can tell these cables apart from one another.
Stay tuned…
For more information, contact Sales & Product Specialist at: 1-877-999-3838
