Aastra MBU 400
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Please note:
- Disclaimer 1: We often test single phones in a lab environment. Real-world experience on your network might produce different results.
- Disclaimer 2: More importantly, these are REVIEWS and not RECOMMENDATIONS. Please read the review carefully for the features you are looking for to see if the reviewed phone has the features you are looking for. Our RECOMMENDED phones for OnSIP are found here.
- This phone currently does not support our Music On Hold feature.
Aastra MBU 400: At a Glance
| Category | Rating (0-5) |
|---|---|
| First Impressions |
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| Phone Configuration |
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| Junction Networks Interoperability Testing |
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| Voice Quality |
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| Ease of Use |
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We recently got our hands on the Aastra Mobility Base Unit (MBU) 400, and a few of the Aastra 420d handsets that go along with it. The MBU 400 is a Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) solution designed especially for small businesses. If you or your employees ever need to be mobile while on the phone for whatever reason, then this might be what you’re looking for; the Aastra MBU 400 lets you get up to 150 feet away from the gateway. Our office isn’t 150 ft long but we did try conducting calls in the hallway outside, and everything seemed to work fine.
The Aastra MBU 400 Gateway supports 8 unique SIP registrations, one FXO analog port, and can be used with up to 8 of the Aastra 420d handsets, each with their own VoIP telephone number and extension. You can conduct 4 simultaneous calls, which is a nifty feature that most other cordless solutions don’t have. The system also comes with a sizable set of other features like intercom, speakerphone, directory, transfer, hold, forwarding, DND, etc.
MBU 400 Feature Overview
- Class: DECT solution
- Application Targets: ‘Mobile’ Offices
- Up to 8 SIP registrations, 8 Aastra 420d handsets, 8 numbers/extensions
- 4 simultaneous calls (3 SIP and 1 analog)
- 150 ft indoor range
- Pricing: ~$>200
Aastra 420d Feature Overview
- Backlit graphical color display
- Talk time 12 hrs/Standby ~200 hrs
- Speakerphone
- 170 entry call directory
- Intercom between handsets
- Business class features
- Pricing: ~$>130
First Impressions
The Aastra 420d handsets are sleek. They’re thin, black, and glossy with a nice colorful display that reminds us of the cell phones we used before everyone and their mother got a smartphone. The setup of the dial-pad, navigation buttons, and menus is also almost identical to that of older cellular phones. The buttons have a squishy feel to them and each time you press one, the phone makes a "keypad sound" that you can change.
While the Aastra MBU 400 does support 8 unique SIP registrations, it also supports an FXO port, which means that you can make calls using VoIP or your landline. This is a nice little addition for customers that have both VoIP accounts and a traditional POTS line in their home or business. The MBU automatically fails over to use FXO for outbound calling if the user’s VoIP service goes down unexpectedly.
Phone Configuration
Full configuration instructions can be found here.
Adding SIP registrations and more phones to the MBU is easy. Simply type the IP address of the Aastra 420d you wish to add into your browser and you’re taken to the same web interface that you use for Aastra VoIP desk phones like the 57i. Enter in the appropriate settings, and your MBU will reboot for about a minute. The entire process takes about 2 minutes.
Junction Networks Interoperability Test
At Junction Networks, we put each of the phones we use through a multi-step interoperability test in which we put the phones through 30 test cases. An example of a test case would be the following:
“Test phone calls phone B
B picks up
B puts Test phone on hold
B calls phone C
C picks up
B transfers test phone to C
Call must be transferred correctly to C. B must be released correctly after the transfer. When C picks up, audio must work in both ways between test phone and C. When test phone is on hold, there is no audio between it and phone B.”
The Aastra MBU passed most of the test cases in our interoperability test. Since the 420d phones do not have multiple lines, we decided that some of the "setup and registration" test cases were irrelevant.
We did have problems getting the call forwarding to work. If you maneuver through the settings on the phone itself, you can easily find where to configure the call forwarding options under "telephony settings". However, it does not seem like you can actually configure settings through the phone since we were unable to select any of the three call forwarding options ("Busy", "No Answer", "Unconditionally"). The web interface can be used to set up call forwarding, but calls were not forwarded successfully after the phones were rebooted. It seems like the call forwarding function is broken at this time.
All tests were conducted on firmware version 2.20.
Voice Quality
The voice quality on the Aastra 420d is adequate. It’s neither great nor terrible. In January of this year, a “bbarnett” posted a rather scathing review of the MBU 400 and the 420d handsets on Voip-info.org (the post itself is too opinionated to be a wiki page if you ask us). We didn’t have as big of a problem with using the devices as “bbarnett” did, although we will acknowledge that the audio is a far cry from the HD voice you can get with other Aastra desk phone models.
“bbarnett” did mention that the speakerphone was very quiet, and we’ll agree with him here. If there’s a lot going on around or if there’s even someone talking near you, then you probably won’t catch everything the person on the other end is saying if you’re using the speakerphone.
Ease of Use
The 420d handsets are very easy to use, and come with a nice set of features that complement a business environment. Features like 3-way conferencing and the intercom between handsets are some of the ones you might not find in other cordless solutions. Other phone features are easily accessible by using the soft-keys and the nice, backlit graphical display. For example, during a call the two soft keys allow you to mute or hold the call. Press “hold” and you get an “options” button that allows you to transfer the call or invite another person via intercom.
The center black button takes you to a main menu where you can check your call log (which holds the last 30 missed, outgoing, and incoming calls), see your contact list, get your messages (both landline and VoIP), change settings, and intercom with other handsets. The relatively large graphical display can fit up to 5 selections on the screen, but the navigation wheel is intuitive enough that finding what you need in the phone never seems like too much of a hassle.
Final Thoughts
The Aastra MBU 400 is a solid choice for businesses looking for a DECT solution. With the addition of landline calling via the FXO analog port, this Aastra model actually has a leg up in terms of functionality over some of its competition. It's clear from the belt clips and headset jacks that the handsets are designed for mobility. They look, act, and feel like cellphones, which may or may not be what you're looking for. While we appreciate the design, it would be nice to see a mobile solution that incorporates some of the hard dedicated buttons that make business desk phones so easy to use.
