Polycom conference phones
Polycom Conference Phones for Every Room Size
Polycom conference phones are sized by how far their microphones reach, not by how many people you can fit around the table. Put a huddle-room unit in a boardroom and the people at the far end sound like they are calling from the hallway. No volume setting fixes it. Measure the table first, then match it to a model below. One thing worth knowing before you shop: expansion microphones only fit some models, and they are a separate purchase.
Choosing between Polycom conference phones
Match the model to the table, not to the size of the company. A Polycom speakerphone picks up a fixed radius around itself, so the only question that decides this is whether everyone seated falls inside it.
| Room | Seats | Polycom model | Expansion mics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Huddle room | 2-4 | SoundStation IP 5000 | Not supported |
| Small meeting room | 4-6 | SoundStation2 | Not supported |
| Midsize boardroom | 6-10 | SoundStation IP 6000 | Not supported |
| Large boardroom | 10-16 | SoundStation IP 7000 | Supported |
| Long or L-shaped room | 16 and over | Trio 8800 | Supported |
What you may have to buy alongside it
Expansion microphones, on the models that accept them. The SoundStation IP 7000 and the Trio 8800 take a pair; the smaller units have no port for them. In a room longer than the base unit reaches, that pair is the difference between a call people can follow and one they cannot.
If you are still narrowing the category, the wider conference phones range covers other manufacturers, and the Polycom SoundStation collection covers the analog models on their own.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
The SoundStation IP and Trio models do. Polycom conference phones in those lines register to a SIP platform over Ethernet and pull the same directory and extensions as the desk phones already on the network. The SoundStation2 line is analog and needs a standard phone jack instead.
Nothing. A Polycom speaker sitting in the middle of a conference table and a Polycom teleconference phone are the same hardware under two names. Both describe a unit with microphones facing outward in every direction, which is what separates it from a desk phone with speakerphone mode.
Only on models with the port for them. A Polycom conference telephone such as the SoundStation IP 7000 or the Trio 8800 accepts a pair of wired expansion microphones that extend pickup down a long table. The huddle and midsize units have no such port, so a bigger room means a different base unit rather than an add-on.
Somewhere between a four-seat huddle room and a sixteen-seat boardroom, depending on the model. Polycom conference phones are matched to a room by table length rather than headcount, because two people sitting at opposite ends of a long table are harder to pick up than six people sitting close together.