HTek UC926

The HTek UC926 is an executive IP phone with a modern design and a custom Texas Instruments chipset. As a mid-range device, the UC926 straddles an advanced feature set but ultimately strives for economy in both price and form. The UC926 is targeted for office workers who receive calls on a semi-regular to consistent basis.

The HTek UC926 features six VoIP accounts, six line keys, ten programmable keys, and five-way conferencing. The phone also has dual Gigabit Ethernet Power over Ethernet (PoE) ports, an RJ9 port for headsets, a 4.3” color display, and G.722 HD voice.

The HTek UC926 seems like a sturdy phone that could handle the calling burdens of office life. But how does the device actually perform? We took the UC926 for a test drive to find out.

First Impressions

The HTek UC926 is better looking than comparable models, such as HTek's UC842 and UC862. The phone has a polished and shiny finish compared to the matte finish of the other models. The design is sleek and solid, with smooth rectangular edges that don't cause incongruous jutting. The phone's no-nonsense design is backed up by features that are powerful but necessary, without any useless frills that many phone providers cram into their products.

The buttons are well laid out, but sometimes keys are not responsive, especially the soft keys. There were a few instances where we had to press the keys twice to register a hit. The UC926 has a bright LED indicator, which makes notifications quite vivid. You'll easily notice if you've missed calls, voicemails, or other messages.

Features

With support for six VoIP accounts, the UC926 should meet the account threshold for most offices. Since the majority of people have fewer than six business extensions, the UC926 is a solid phone for standard users.

The 4.3" TFT-LCD screen has fine resolution, and we never strained to make out characters. The screen is much more translucent than a lot of the screens we've seen on similar devices. Granted, it's not as impressive as the touchscreen devices. However, for the purposes of what the UC926 is trying to accomplish, the screen is a good fit. It's reliable, consistent, displays the UI well, and outperforms other screens in the same market space.

The UC926 comes with call hold, call waiting, call forward, call return, redial, and call transfer. The phone also includes caller ID, auto-answer, five-way conferencing, speed dial, SMS, and voicemail. The UC926 is jam-packed with an impressive number of features that, again, slightly outmatch comparable phones in the same market space.

Five-way conferencing and SMS support are probably the coolest of these features. The UC926 matches heavy firepower with neat quirks that don't feel frivolous. And with ten programmable keys, you can put easily put many of these features to work.

Video & Sound Quality

Not surprisingly, the UC962 sounds the best during SIP to SIP calls. In those calls, you can hear the HD voice living up to its full potential, mixing aural depth and clarity in a rich way. Calls to landline phones and cell phones inevitably diminish the voice quality, but the calls still retain a superior texture.

The only sound quality issue we encountered was with the loudspeaker. The voice quality for the loudspeaker sounded decent but scattered.

Compatibility Testing

At OnSIP, we put each of the phones we use through a multi-step interoperability test in which we apply ~30 test cases. Here’s an example of a test case:

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

The call must be transferred correctly to C. B must be released correctly after the transfer. When C picks up, audio must work both ways between test phone and C. When the test phone is on hold, there is no audio between it and phone B.

Everything worked fine from registration up to basic call functionality. We encountered a single bug during our testing, where the call did not retrieve from hold. However, HTek is aware of the bug and will release a patch.

Setup

Step 1: Gather information for each user.

For each phone that you are configuring, obtain the following credentials. You can find this information in the user detail pages under the Users tab in the Phone Configuration section.

Step 2: Log into your HTek phone through a web browser.

When your phone is powered on and connected to your LAN, use a browser on the LAN to navigate to the IP address of your phone.

Step 3: Enter your credentials

Enter the credentials you gathered in Step 1 into these fields.

Account Active: Yes

Primary SIP Server: example.onsip.com

SIP Transport: UDP

SIP User ID: Username

Authenticate ID: Auth Username

Authenticate Password: SIP Password

DNS Mode: SRV

Step 4. Confirm that your phone is registered.

In the Admin Portal, click on the "Users" tab. You will see a green "online" notation next to each user with a registered phone.

Final Thoughts

The UC926 is definitely one of the best phones that HTek currently offers. With a savvy design, sturdy voice quality, and a truly impressive range of features, the phone is a great option for those who aren't willing to pay for the flashy touchscreen options on the market. The UC926 is ultimately a mid-range phone for a decent price that can handle medium to high usage.

The speakerphone was somewhat mediocre from our standpoint, and the phone's buttons were unresponsive on occasion. But overall, we were satisfied with the UC926. Perhaps the best test of a phone's worth is to ask if we would use this device on a daily basis. In the case of the UC926, the phone was well prepared to handle the burden of our daily business calls.