Avaya 9640G Phone Handset (Executive SIP phone)

The Avaya 9640G IP handset is identical to the cheaper 9630G handset except you get a colour screen not greyscale( even the screen is the same size). Both the 9640G and 9630G are arguably a step up, definitely in price, from the 9611 and 9621. The 9640 phone and 9630 differ from these cheaper models in they both offer POE class 2, have a range of different handset colours to choose from, USB ports and custom faceplate options. All offer Giagbit support as the "G" in the names denote.

Colour screens on the Avaya 9640 phone are definitely easier to use as staff can, at a glance, clearly see what's happening on the screen with the different colour layouts. You do pay a premium for this over the 9630G and it's up to you to decide if it's worth the extra money. The 9640G phone comes in a range of colour offerings with grey, red, yellow, blue, white and silver handsets available. The colour screen display is not capacitive touch and there are 6 administrative buttons on the side of the screen.

The LED buttons next to the 6 keys only come in red (not red and green like the 9611G and 9608). Having different colour LED lights actually make it easier to see status of the buttons at a glance and in some ways having only red LED on the 9640G is arguably not as good. The 6 administrative buttons allow you to see up to 24 items (6 per screen and 4 levels across) so you can see a lot of what's going on with regard to staff/ phone lines, or however you have chosen to program the buttons.

If you're a heavy phone user that needs to see more of what's going on around you, you'd be better off with the 9650 (navigator class). It's actually cheaper than this 9640G and the rest of the technical functionality remains the same. It differs because it only has 3 buttons (not 6) on the side but a further 8 buttons below the screen that allow you to see another 8 functions with the hit of the shift button. In our experience the 9650C can actually be easier to use depending on what the staff are used to. Please take the time to check out the comparison chart at the bottom of the page to see the specific differences between the individual 9600 series handset models available.

When you remove the need for handset colour options, POE class 2 and custom face plates, the 9611 and 9621 are still excellent options and considerably cheaper than the 9640. Both these models offer the same 24 administrative buttons, a colour screen (touch colour with the 9621), red/green LED status lights and everything else. Unless having a specific colour handset for your corporate branding or office aesthetics, you'd be hard pressed to go past the cheaper phone models. If you do, the cheaper 9620C is effectively the same phone as the 9640G for everyday users that don't need 24 administrative buttons, USB and POE class 2 - the rest is on par including colour handset choices.

The Avaya 9640G is designed for the everyday, or essential user in the Avaya terminology, and like all 9600 IP series phones it incorporates premium wideband audio for brilliant IP telephony. The 9630 and 9640 also has the popular soft keys (4) below the display that are contextually sensitive. For a user this means the phone will intelligently present the best options depending on what function you're performing on screen. For example, if you're on a phone call it will show you soft key options for join (conference), drop, hold and cancel. This makes life much easier rather than having to think, or navigate, around the 9640G handset to perform the most logical tasks at that time.

In a typical gigabit environment rollout the Avaya 9611G IP and 9621G phones are normally the most popular. We only see the 9620C, 9630G and 9640G handsets going in where handset colour, not functionality, is the overriding consideration. The cheaper 9608 is still an excellent choice for companies maintaining 10/100MB environments and not looking to upgrade to Gigabit. Whichever handset models you finally decide on, know that the intelligent Avaya IP Office 500 pbx allows you to mix and match from any of the Avaya IP or phone handsets in any of the budget or premium series. This is a great way to only pay for what you need with your solution.

Like all IP handsets, the Avaya 9640 phone handset will connect to any Ethernet port that is active on the Avaya IP Office pabx (must be v.6.0 and higher for the 9640). The 9640 IP phone will automatically register and once you've logged in will bring up your extension number, handset programming and everything else - even if you are at another location, even another state branch. If your staff travel between offices they can simply login to any available IP handset and their extension is automatically activated - even if they don't BYO handset.

To experience the Avaya 9640 IP handset firsthand, give our friendly staff a call today and arrange a no-obligation demonstration. We look forward to showing you how an Avaya IP phone system can transform your business.