By Brian Van Meter, marketing manager at Grandstream

Grandstream’s IP phones are used around the world by businesses, schools, hotels, and ITSPs. They provide a desktop device that is feature-loaded, intuitive to use, and productivity-focused. The GRP2600 Series of Carrier-Grade IP Phones is the newest line of desktop IP phones and offers both essential and professional-level devices for a variety of deployment scenarios. As the newest series, our GRP IP phones have advanced capabilities that the GXP series of IP phones lacks, and it is important to understand the difference between the two lines when making a purchasing decision. Within this blog post, we’ll be comparing the GXP and GRP series, and explaining where our newest generation of IP phones offer notable improvements.

Unified design

If you’re familiar with our IP phones, one difference between the two lines that will immediately stick out is the overall design of the devices. The GXP1600, GXP1700, and GXP2100 series of IP phones were all released and created at different times, and their overall look shows that. Comparably, our GRP Series has a unified design across all models that gives a modern and advanced feel to a deployment. On top of that, the GRP series possesses a unified user interface across all models. This user interface is not only designed to be more intuitive for the average user, but also focuses on having call handling and productivity-driving features more readily available. Because of these factors, the unified design of the GRP series delivers not only a better-looking workspace but one that is more productive and intuitive to use.

Provisioning, configuration, and management

The GRP IP phones not only have an overall design difference from the GXP series but also offer key features that make them easier to deploy and manage. Each model in the GXP series has its own firmware, while our next-generation devices have a unified firmware across all models that streamlines the process to upgrade GRP devices by any IT team or system installer. Additionally, the series can be fully managed on Grandstream Device Management System (GDMS). GDMS offers a cloud-based solution where installers and IT teams can provision, configure, and manage Grandstream devices such as the GRP series. This empowers installers with the ability to manage all their deployments from one cloud-accessed platform and organize devices into predefined groups for provisioning and monitoring. Lastly, the GRP series has the same alternative provisioning options as GXP devices. Zero-Config is available for all models, meaning GRP devices can be automatically configured and assigned a SIP extension when added to a network with a UCM IP PBX that has Zero-Config enabled. These capabilities come together to make provisioning, configuration, and management of the GRP series simpler when compared with our GXP models.

Clearer deployment purpose and functionality

GRP devices were designed to each have their own clear deployment purpose and use case scenario. While there is some crossover between the number of SIP accounts, line keys, and multi-purpose keys (MPKs), it is easier to decide on the right phone for the deployment based on their features. The GRP carrier-grade line is separated into two categories: essential IP phones and professional IP phones. The essential line (GRP 260x) prioritizes feature-per-price-point affordability, while the professional IP phones (GRP261x, GRP262x and GRP263x) have a higher price point but larger screen sizes, more hard keys for faster call management/MPK usage, and Wi-Fi capabilities. Within the essential IP phone line, devices are separated clearly by lines/SIP accounts and network port speeds, with only one phone featuring BLF/SD keys. The professional IP phones are broken down between line/SIP accounts, MPK amounts, and dedicated area/screen for speed dial and BLF keys. Compared with the GXP series, it is easier for resellers, installers, and businesses to choose a device based on price point and the needs of the phone users within the organization.

The GRP series of IP phones have an array of factors that makes them stand out as our next generation of IP phones when compared with the GXP series. A unified and more intuitive design, better backend configuration and management, and clearer use cases all add together to provide a great IP phone selection for installers and businesses. 

This article was originally published on Grandstream's blog.

Browse Grandstream's GRP2600 Series of carrier-grade IP Phones on TeleDynamics' website, or peruse the GXP series of IP phones. Not a customer yet? Become a TeleDynamics dealer to access special offers and pricing on our website.

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