One for the IT Boffins

[paceman]

Team
We are rearranging the offices here and will have everyone within 10ft of each other ... all on the phone all day, with foghorn voices... - Finance, sales, CSR's, you name it - a plan which will fail, but they wont listen.
Looking for noise cancelling headphones to use on the PC and mobile fones (apparently the desk phones that everyone uses dont matter... nobody uses mobiles, but thats critical... ?? )

Ordered a plantronics set, but the noise cancelling isnt what I expected.. maybe Im hoping for too much
- wireless
- blue tooth

what do you use around the office... ?

are you looking for noise-cancelling headsets?  or just headphones?

we've actually just gone through the process of removing all of our desk phones, and everyone just has a mobile now...

we are waiting on deliveries of plantronics bluetooth headsets for use in the office.  haven't got them yet...

i don't believe they are noise cancelling...

if it's headsets you are after, then plantronics are a pretty good buy... you may not get much better noise cancelling in a headset.

[D4D]

My previous office was setup like this. It's a nightmare as there is always one person who has a loud voice and is on a con call. You need at least dual earpiece headphones and noise cancelling, we had Plantronics, but even that doesn't work. This type of office design is the best way to make sure nobody sits at their desks.

[Wazza999]

AFAIK noise cancelling uses phase shifting and is only effective for noise with a set pattern such as aircraft turbines, not random noise. I think the headphones simply muffle the noise so perhaps ordinary headphones with good ear coverage would be just as effective.

2011 NT Pajero; 2007 Goldstream Crown 4B

[Kangaron]

But they're all still going to be 1.5m apart

10' is about 3m

[Bird]

But they're all still going to be 1.5m apart

Yep... new desks are 1.5 and not as deep as current ones... to fit 2 screens, phones, PC, keyboard, paperwork, trays, etc....  "it will be fine" apparently.... says the bloke that is leaving after the ****up is complete. We all have printed off and laminated A3 "WE TOLD YOU SO" banners.

My previous office was setup like this. It's a nightmare as there is always one person who has a loud voice and is on a con call.

You've met Leanne and 1/2 her team have you? We call her Foghorn... In her 60s' and doesnt understand the concept of you dont need to yell into phones for the person at the other end to hear you... Its not 2 paper cups and string.

You need at least dual earpiece headphones and noise cancelling, we had Plantronics, but even that doesn't work. This type of office design is the best way to make sure nobody sits at their desks.

yea we got some Plantronic 8200UC and the boss wasnt happy. I think the idea is a back door way to get people to work from home. But many cant.

[Bird]

AFAIK noise cancelling uses phase shifting and is only effective for noise with a set pattern such as aircraft turbines, not random noise. I think the headphones simply muffle the noise so perhaps ordinary headphones with good ear coverage would be just as effective.

yea I got a set of these to try zero noise cancelling but amazing sound..
https://www.logitechg.com/en-au/products/gaming-audio/g533-wireless-gaming-headset.981-000636.html

[Bird]

are you looking for noise-cancelling headsets?  or just headphones?

we've actually just gone through the process of removing all of our desk phones, and everyone just has a mobile now...

we are waiting on deliveries of plantronics bluetooth headsets for use in the office.  haven't got them yet...

i don't believe they are noise cancelling...

if it's headsets you are after, then plantronics are a pretty good buy... you may not get much better noise cancelling in a headset.

yea not a fan of the idea of mobiles
They break, they go missing, they get stolen, they break - I have a box of 28 broken mobiles here from last few years - inc 2x s9's with broken screens n 2 with dead batteries which nobody seems to want to pay to get fixed

Noise killing/murdering Headsets.  I bought Logitech G533 gaming headset thinking that may work, but it doesn't I can still hear foghorn. She would make a rocket exploding on take off sound like a mozzie fart.

Maybe expectations and reality are too far apart  as going off reviews on youtube etc all seem to say the plantronics 8200's are great...

[GGV8Cruza]

These work really well

https://www.bunnings.com.au/3m-worktunes-call-connect-bluetooth-earmuffs_p0095130

GG

[Wazza999]

I bought Bose Quiet Comfort for the wife, they are pretty amazing, but at $350+ they'd want to be. I have Sennheiser HD450 not bad at half the price. But with both you can still hear conversations. I reckon industrial ear protection is the way to go.

2011 NT Pajero; 2007 Goldstream Crown 4B

[Bird]

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-noise-cancelling-headphones,review-5566.html

https://www.techradar.com/au/news/audio/portable-audio/best-noise-cancelling-headphones-1280490

https://au.pcmag.com/headphones/3341/the-best-noise-cancelling-headphones

https://www.wired.com/gallery/best-noise-canceling-headphones/

[gruntle]

We get good results with Jabra Evolve 80 or Jabra Evolve 75 headset (4 people in the same small office running a service desk). We use simplyheadsets.com.au (ask for a loan you might get lucky !).

Worked with a foghorn and turns out they were actually a little bit deaf (didn't know it), increasing the headset volume reduced the noise in the room. Might be a hard subject to bring up 

[Fizzie]

Worked with a foghorn and turns out they were actually a little bit deaf (didn't know it), increasing the headset volume reduced the noise in the room. Might be a hard subject to bring up 

Don't tell her!

Just set the volume on her headset to 90% before passing them out

[Bird]

Worked with a foghorn and turns out they were actually a little bit deaf

na this one is just inconsiderate and likes to feel important by making out she is busy all day every day

[lloydus67]

Bose qc35 excellent in all conditions, but have a slightly odd sound when noise cancelling is switched off due the the 3 external microphones
They can be difficult for the person you are talking to in excessively noisy environment. As they cancel noise for you not the person you are talking to


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bird]

New question for the Boffins

Anyone using SOFTPHONE's Tested, happy with ?? steer clear?? thinking of using them?


I've played with x-lite softphone (now called Bria) which worked pretty well.
https://www.counterpath.com/bria-teams/

[Bird]

New question for the Boffins

Anyone using SOFTPHONE's Tested, happy with ?? steer clear?? thinking of using them?


I've played with x-lite softphone (now called Bria) which worked pretty well.
https://www.counterpath.com/bria-teams/

nobody using software phones on IP?

[lloydus67]

Yes I had voip phone for a few years, brand was whatever the TPG recommendation and bought from them. It’s as good as your bandwidth and how you prioritise your connection. During heavy download and upload use of connection I would lose phone connection, but that was with adsl2 but speed was only 2mb
I don’t have a phone connected now as it was only ever scammers and sales people that ever rang me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bird]

Ias it was only ever scammers and sales people that ever rang me.

I've had 4 calls on the mobile today from them

[rossm]

I've had 4 calls on the mobile today from them

“Nicole fron nbn co” now has my mobile number.
Blocked the number, see whether she shows on a new one.
First scammer on my mobile.

[gruntle]

nobody using software phones on IP?

We use Bria (150 lic) and its been pretty solid. Managing licences is is bit of a pain as they are assigned to users (would prefer  a pool based on concurrent use). Also we haven't been able to include the setup in the install package, but I know we are not on the latest version.

The Bria licensing model changes for us later this year and we will take a look at web based soft phones to avoid any local installation if it's viable/good.

[noel_w]

We are moving to Enterprise Voice with Skype for Business. Total sh!tstorm as far as I am concerned. I manage our concurrent NEC 8500 pabx and much prefer it but EV does give mobility to work from home with a vpn connection. Seems to me that EV is out as much as it is working. MS teams is on the agenda as a replacement.

[Bird]

We use Bria (150 lic) and its been pretty solid.

Good to know, I know that x-lite was easy to use.

Managing licences is is bit of a pain as they are assigned to users (would prefer  a pool based on concurrent use).

thats not good.. like you I'd want the pool as we have a high turnover.

Also we haven't been able to include the setup in the install package, but I know we are not on the latest version.

Do you mean a std config across them all?

The Bria licensing model changes for us later this year and we will take a look at web based soft phones to avoid any local installation if it's viable/good.

Interesting. My issue is time is against me

We are moving to Enterprise Voice with Skype for Business. Total sh!tstorm as far as I am concerned.
I manage our concurrent NEC 8500 pabx and much prefer it but EV does give mobility to work from home with a vpn connection.
Seems to me that EV is out as much as it is working. MS teams is on the agenda as a replacement.

From 1 MS dud to another I feel your pain..

Worse for me being part of a Global company, your stuck with what you can use.. if it works well for head office in France, then GAGF your using it. Like Orange communications.. had a link down for 12 mths last year... and then one went down mth or 2 ago, so its Telstra from street to building, Optus from building to server room, and orange from there to router.... Try dealing with that Shit.

[gruntle]

Do you mean a std config across them all?

Yes can't seem to get the config (server port etc) set in the package as you normally would with other tools. We also haven't got SSO running on this service so its simple enough to hand out instructions to cover config and how to login.

I hope its the version we are running rather than a current limitation.

[paceman]

finally had to replace the drive setup in my faithful old file server for home...

i've been using a HP N40L Microserver (running windows 2008 R2), with four 2TB in RAID5 (installed as to maximise space at that time), as my main repository for over 10 years...

the seagate 2TB drives weren't new when i put them in, but finally one of them gave up the ghost...

ended up buying two new WD Red 6TB drives, to run in a mirror config (trying to avoid RAID5 from now on), as a replacement for these drives.

our space requirements have lessened now that we have a plethora of streaming apps at our disposal, so haven't needed to acquire and store as many movies and TV shows, as required...

luckily, i have Bird's old QNAP NAS running as my backup and the transition was painless, apart from the file copy...

should give me a few more years of service... i estimate an average up-time over those 10 years as over 95%...

[Bird]

Question for those in the know

What backup solutions are you using for business...?
Round 4TB of data across 4 site BNE/PER/MEL/SYD plus several VM's.