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Selkowitz Technology | Seattle’s small business network and telecom consultant

(5 votes, average: 4.6 out of 5)

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I recently had the pleasure of installing an AastraLink Pro 160 IP Phone System for a client. I’ve found no real-world review of deployed AastraLink Pro 160 systems, so to fill the gap, here’s my thoughts.

Background
AastraLink Pro 160 is a newer phone system, it came out in May 2008. Aastra however has been around since the 80s, making it a safe bet for long term support. The system is based off the open-source Asterisk platform, but with a simplified configuration interface and some beneficial new features. We’re using the 1.21 software which is based on the Asterisk 1.4 release.

Hardware
The AastraLink Pro 160 hardware is quite impressive for the price. Its enclosed in a metal case with hardware included for desk, wall, or rack mounting. The system has 6 PSTN phone line ports, two analog extension ports, a LAN port, WAN port (currently unused), audio in jack for music on hold, audio out for paging, and relay connectors for door controls. On the front is an ample 1GB flash drive for voicemail storage. The AastraLink Pro 160 only supports Aastra IP phones as primary extensions - an extension can however have a secondary handset of any make, so you can use a softphone on the road.

General Features
The AastraLink Pro 160 has the standard feature set I’d expect of a modern PBX. The system has one auto-attendant with day/night mode routing - though I’d like to see multiple. The system supports intercom, handset paging by group, and overhead paging. Standard call routing like transfers, park, etc are all there. I was even happily surprised to find not just 3 way conferencing but impromptu conference rooms of greater capacity.

Voicemail
The voicemail is quite impressive - there’s more ways to access voicemail on the AastraLink Pro 160 than any small business phone system I’ve seen. The traditional method of listening from your desk phone or calling in from cell works as expected. One of the more advanced methods is “visual voicemail” where you can see the inbox from your phone’s screen and play/save/delete from the screen - this is best from the 6755i and 6757i as they have large screens. Voicemail can also be accessed from the user web portal or voicemail to email.

VoIP
Also impressive for the price is the VoIP capabilities - it supports SIP phone lines, multisite dialing (calling between offices), and teleworker (remote IP phones). These features work well but are a bit basic in implementation - there’s no least cost routing to pick local or VoIP line automatically based on cost and the VoIP lines have a different dial prefix (8 for VoIP, 9 for PSTN) - other systems more smoothly integrate VoIP and PSTN. Site to site calling is dialed by the prefix 7, the site code, and the destination extension - so 72218 would dial extension 218 at site 2. Other systems like the Allworx do this easier - just dial the destination extension.

Call Routing
One of the major jobs of a phone system is call routing. The AastraLink Pro 160 has an okay but not great set of options. The standards are there plus find-me-follow me and direct inward dial on SIP lines. What’s lacking is making a group cascade - say first two rings go do Tom and Valerie, but the next two rings you add in Bob and Susan - and integrating cell phones into a ring group isn’t possible. What’s most surprising is extension call routing can’t be changed by day/night mode, the only thing that changes is the autoattendant greeting. Call queueing and round robin ACD aren’t available, though I wouldn’t consider them must have features for a system of this capacity and price point. Bottom line is many small businesses will be okay with the capabilities but some will find it lacking.

Capacity
One of the main limitations to the AastraLink Pro 160 is the CPU - while the system has a hard-coded cap of 50 extensions, the CPU will only support 12 host routed sessions. That means 12 simultaneous SIP trunks, multi-site calls, conference calls, voicemail access, or auto-attendant use. Heavy phone use offices of a moderate size will overwhelm the system, but for small offices or large offices with light use it will be fine.

User Web Interface
Each user has access to a web portal to control their own settings. Users can enable/disable do-not-disturb, forwarding and find-me-follow-me, see their call list, manage voicemail, modify the directory, and even change phone button configuration on their extension. The interface is quite easy to use and is a boon as it reduces dependance on technical staff for common changes.

Issues
My biggest knocks on the AastraLink Pro 160 are refinement issues due to its newness - I found two bugs in my first day of testing, along with a few typos. All were reported to Aastra support - one resolved, the other is being addressed by development. The installation manual is fairly through but I couldn’t help sometimes not understanding the implications of some features or and even found some items missing from the manual - for example does “lock service admin” disable that account, prevent changes, or something else entirely? My biggest hope is they introduce inline support into the web interface.

The teleworker support (having remote IP phones) isn’t the easiest setup I’ve seen. It wants specific model uPNP routers on both ends, or manual port forwarding - most systems just require that on the PBX end.

Bottom Line
Overall I like the AastraLink Pro 160, though its definitely not a fit for every small business. If it works for your business needs its certainly a great value - its by no means as capable as an Allworx 6x, but at just $999 some businesses won’t mind.

22 Responses to “AastraLink Pro 160 Phone System Review”

1. Vic Says:
   June 17th, 2009 at 11:57 pm

   Thanks for the review. Like you I could not find ANY real world reviews for this product. That is quite frustrating coming from the Asterisk world where EVERYTHING is out there wide open and talked about in great detail by many people.

   None of the shortcoming you found bother me. I would be interested to know if you found anything that could be a show stopper like lock ups, busy signals etc.

2. Kevin Selkowitz Says:
   June 19th, 2009 at 12:30 pm

   I have two systems out in the field, we had problems with the FXS ports on one system but got that swapped out. Overall I’m impressed, no showstoppers at this point.

3. Vic Says:
   June 19th, 2009 at 6:09 pm

   I see you also looked at the Response Point system some time ago. Have you installed any of those? If so which would you choose? I’m asking because I have an opportunity to install a system into a small business. So far I am leaning towards the Aastralink Pro or rolling my own Asterisk. The Aastra rep in my area told me the Response Point is much more popular. Not for technical reasons mind you but because of the Microsoft connection.

4. Kevin Selkowitz Says:
   June 21st, 2009 at 3:48 pm

   I chose not to get involved with Response Point, I just don’t see a compelling case for the product. Recently I’ve talked with a few companies with RP, none like it and one was shopping a replacement.

   I don’t like the risk of roll your own Asterisk. Few businesses would run a fleet of kit cars, yet that’s exactly the Asterisk approach to phone systems. There’s so many quality affordable phone systems that for a small business why take the risk?

5. Vic Says:
   June 22nd, 2009 at 11:13 am

   Thanks again for the response. That is pretty much the conclusion I have reached as well. Roll your own Asterisk is very flexible and cost effective for larger installations but doesn’t make as much sense for smaller businesses.

   One last question. Have you tried the SLA functionality on the Aastralink? The business I am talking to has that now with their old KSU and expect to use it on the new system.

   The Aastra rep told me they were having problems with it but that was with v1.2.0. I am hoping they have addressed the problems in v1.2.1. Hard to get objective answers out of Aastra about problems.

6. Kevin Selkowitz Says:
   June 22nd, 2009 at 8:33 pm

   Good question, I haven’t had a chance to fully test SLA on the AastraLink Pro 160. The basics work, but I realized afterwards other test cases I didn’t cover.

7. Vic Says:
   July 6th, 2009 at 4:26 pm

   This should come as no surprise. Looks like M$ is bailing on ResponsePoint.

   http://www.asteriskvoipnews.com/voip_news/microsoft_declines_to_commit_to_releasing_response_point_20_pbx_future_unce.html

8. Dave Says:
   August 16th, 2009 at 8:21 pm

   We mostly install Avaya IP Office systems but need a lower end unit for small offices. We bought 2 of these when they came out for testing and have never felt they were ready for prime time. SOMETHING has always not worked. We have constant problems with remote phones and SIP trunking. Like Kevin mentioned, there are some features that are not fully documented. To us, the tech support is not responsive enough, and bug fixes and features are too far and in-between. I personally had a lot of hope for this system and was really pulling for it, but at this point, I think it’s time for ebay and to start looking for a new solution.

9. Kevin Selkowitz Says:
   August 18th, 2009 at 1:57 pm

   I’ve found it fairly solid but only used the 1.2.1 series. SIP trunking was easy and I’ve found it reliable. I agree remote phones are tough due to the limited router support, manual configuration works but requires a static IP. Tech support is slow, no denying that. But what can you expect for $999?

10. Kevin Selkowitz Says:
    August 18th, 2009 at 2:17 pm

    I should mention I’ve used Bandwidth.com SIP trunks - as with any IP-PBX your results will vary by SIP provider.

11. George Newman Says:
    September 4th, 2009 at 3:26 pm

    The thing that is steering me away from it is their lack of support for any SIP phone as a primary extension, requiring their proprietary phones. I would feel a lot more comfortable being able to use this with a Polycom conference room phone, a Cyberdata door station, etc. If it’s Asterisk-based, lack of compatibility with standard SIP phones means that Aastra has deliberately hacked it in order to force customers to buy their proprietary handsets.

12. Kevin Selkowitz Says:
    September 7th, 2009 at 10:42 pm

    I wouldn’t call their phones proprietary - its uses their normal SIP handsets, they’re every bit as standard as Polycom. Aastra SIP handsets are pretty reasonably priced too - starting at $99. But yes, its a limitation, though not one that’s too problematic as there are two ports for analog devices.

13. Krish Says:
    September 10th, 2009 at 1:15 pm

    I am knee deep in attempting to install a Pro with the 30i phones and one 57i. The main issue is remote phones all seem well with internal phones, but as remote and SLA is important am learning. I am using Linksys WRT54G for remote and an AT&T U-Verse. Seemed ok on ATT for acouple days until a factory restore to the phone sent it to neverland like the 2 Linksys. Now no remote works. I installes latest Sept update today on the pro, but remote still a problem, awaiting support to get back to me.
    Except for current issues with renote is a very good machine for small offices.
    Anyone familiar with the remote setup, seems office side is setup correctly as per their docs!!!!
    Else, need a device like this!!!any ideas?

14. Kevin Selkowitz Says:
    September 10th, 2009 at 2:34 pm

    Typically I’ve found the remote phone problems revolve around non-compatible routers. Ensure your routers don’t have SIP ALG features enabled. For the main site I prefer to manually configure port forwarding instead of relying on UPnP.

15. Krish Says:
    September 11th, 2009 at 1:48 pm

    For the main site I am not using UPnP and works well, I feel (???) I have resolved the unreliability by setting the phone’s ip in the phone and outside the DHCP range (in the phone net settings).

    I need UPnP as the phones are often in different locations…a bit complex but should work as we did a days worth of testing now at various locations… feeling better at this point, I will report back for reliability after a while of confidence with the remote phones, the inside phones are solid.

    Thank you.

16. Krish Says:
    September 11th, 2009 at 1:55 pm

    BTW, here is the setup, Aastralink pro 160 located behind esoft instagate appliance on a LAN with six phones located in Jamaica. 2 remote phones outside the LAN at sales locations in JM and one in Florida. Its great to pick up and call an extension. Calling JM is expensive and outgoing calls in JM are charged by the minute…Using VoIP providers is inexpensive compared to using JM local lines.
    Will expand to extensions in Montreal, Canada and South Carolina after test period of a month and added remote sales folks in JM.

17. Ian Says:
    December 7th, 2009 at 5:26 pm

    We have continued frustration getting the remote phones to work reliably. Our server in the main office is behind a DLink GL4300 router; our remote office uses the same (behind a VOIP-compliant Comcast cable modem). Things work great for about a week at a time, then the remote phone loses its connection to the server. Typically it takes the following steps to fix: 1. halt the UPNP option on the Aastra applicance; 2. reboot the DLink router in the main office; 3. In the remote office, reboot these in order: cable modem, DLink router, Aastra phone. Usually it fixes the problem, but not always, and not today sadly, after two end-to-end restarts. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is manually mapping the ports on the server the way to go?

18. Kevin Selkowitz Says:
    December 9th, 2009 at 11:03 pm

    I never use uPNP on the PBX side, I’ve tried and had less than stellar results. Definitely do port forwarding on the PBX site.

    For teleworkers its just a matter of having a compatible uPNP router or static IP and port forwarding.

    Also watch out for SIP ALGs on some routers.

19. Ian Proffer Says:
    December 24th, 2009 at 12:08 pm

    Thanks for the reply Kevin. Our remote office is still not working reliably: the latest symptom is the caller cannot be heard at the remote office for all incoming calls - there is no sound whatsoever. It works fine on outbound calls.

    We have tried every possible combination of manual port mapping on both ends, along with SIP enabled/disabled and still not getting it to work. We have spent dozens of unproductive hours on this now…can you recommend a specific router that you KNOW works at the PBX side with a remote office? We’ll try anything at this point. Thanks.

20. Kevin Selkowitz Says:
    December 27th, 2009 at 10:39 am

    Lets actually back up one step - make sure the Comcast gateway is set right. Log onto the gateway (default 10.1.10.1) go to firewall, then make sure “Disable Firewall for True Static IP Subnet Only” and “Disable Gateway Smart Packet Detection” are checked.

    Then make sure your routers are set to the static WAN IPs (you must have static IPs from your ISP). I use shieldsup to then test the ports manually:
    https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

    One problem with the Aastra is most of the certified firewalls are no longer in production! You really either need to manually port forward (which we’ve done many times successfully), create an IPSEC VPN between sites, or locate a compatible router (list on the release notes).

21. Ian Proffer Says:
    January 6th, 2010 at 12:37 pm

    Hi Kevin, thanks again for all the advice. We are still unable to get the remote phone working properly. My Arris modem (model TM602G/CT) from Comcast has no configurable settings; it’s a black box. I can access the admin page at http://192.168.100.1/ but there is no way to change anything, no admin login of any kind (and no indication of a firewall in use).

    Can you tell me which router make and models you have had success with? We have DLink GL4300s, which do not have “traditional” port forwarding settings (where you map a WAN port to a LAN port) but rather allow traffic from specific IPs to specific ports/port rangers.

22. Kevin Selkowitz Says:
    January 9th, 2010 at 12:04 pm

    I’m not familiar with the Arris modems, I’m accustomed to the SMC gateways from Comcast Business.

    Most commonly we use the Netgear Prosafe FVS338 with the 3.0.4 firmware (the newest release adds a SIP ALG so we don’t use it). To work with the ALP 160 this unit requires a static LAN IP and can be setup for manual port forwarding or IPSec.

    For remote sites the Netgear WNR3500 with firmware version 1.0.22_6.0.22NA is your best bet for an Aastra tested uPNP router which is still in production.

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