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There’s no denying Polycom is the best known brand in conference phones and they make a great product. However in any industry its often the case that the number two vendor in the industry has to deliver better value to compete. Konftel is newer to the US but has a strong presence in Europe and builds a great product for a terrific value.

Below we compare some of the Konftel lineup to Polycom. We’ve found both systems deliver great audio quality when the room is of appropriate size, so we’re mostly delving into other metrics for comparison.

Konftel 100 vs Polycom VoiceStation 300
These are the entry level products for each brand, designed for small conference rooms. They deliver good sound quality but little in the way of features - no expansion mics, no LCD for caller ID or dialing info, and no recording features. Having said that, both do a great job in the right situation.

The big difference is room size - the VoiceStation is designed for a mic pickup of 7 feet, assuming they’re referencing the radius that means a square footage of ~150 feet. The Konftel covers a room of 300 square feet. Konftel also tops the Polycom with a 2 year warranty vs. the Polycom’s 1 year. The Polycom retails around $300 while the Konftel retails $350-400. Unless you have a tiny conference room the Konftel clearly is the best option

Konftel 200 vs Polycom SoundStation 2EX
These are the midline systems for each brand, ideal for average conference rooms of ~300 square feet or ~750 square feet with optional expansion mics. Both feature LCDs screens, audio output for recording, and optional mic expansion.

Here the range and feature sets are about the same, but again the Konftel 2 year warranty best’s Polycom’s 1 year warranty. The big difference here is price, the Polycom runs $600-700. The Konftel 200 runs $450-500.

Konftel 300
The Konftel 300 doesn’t have clear competitor in the Polycom lineup, though they both offer higher end systems their focus is different. Konftel focused on adding a variety of unique features - connections to more kinds of phones, recording to SD memory cards, optional wireless headset for presenters, software upgradability, and the new OmniSound2 controls for better than ever audio quality.

Aside from that the Konftel 300 features a very slick design - it certainly looks good on a conference table. All things considered if you need the features, its a great value for $800-900.

Konftel 50
The Konftel 50 is an “odd duck” that took me a while to understand where it fit in. Its based off the Konftel 100 but isn’t a phone - you connect it to an office phone. The appealing thing about this is you get the full office phone feature set and ease of use while having conference phone abilities.

It also is well suited to IP phone setups, most conference phones are analog phones, though there are IP conference phones they’re expensive and compatibility can be a big issue - for example Allworx tech support recommended against the Polycom SoundStation IP4000 due to problems they’ve experienced in the field. The Konftel 50 bypasses both of these issues.

Conclusion
Konftel has a terrific lineup of systems which are well suited to most small and medium sized conference rooms. Given their strong value position, excellent sound quality, and longer warranty they definitely deserve a look.

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