Most desks do not need a feature telephone. They need one line that works, an audio path
that is clear, and no ongoing cost. That is what the 7811 is for: it is the entry point of
Cisco's 7800 Series, supporting a single line, and it is specified sensibly for the job rather
than stripped to hit a price.
The display is a 3.28 inch, 384 x 106 pixel greyscale panel without backlighting - the one
place the model economises, and a reasonable one for a telephone that shows a number and a
name. Cisco include localised language support with right-to-left onscreen text, which matters
on international sites. The single line key is fully programmable, so it can be a directory
number or a call feature such as speed dial, and there are fixed keys for hold, resume,
transfer, conference, messaging, service and directory. Note that the 7811 has no headset key
and no analogue headset jack - the headset port is on the 7821, 7841 and 7861 - so a
headset-using position needs one of those instead. Its supplied handset is narrowband; a
wideband handset is available as a separate purchase.
Audio is better than the price suggests. The codec list is G.711 A-law and mu-law, G.722,
G.722.2, G.729ab, iLBC and OPUS, so wideband calling is supported end to end where the
platform and the far end allow. Cisco also specify automatic gain control, comfort noise
generation, silence suppression with voice activity detection, acoustic echo cancellation and
dynamic noise reduction. Signalling is SIP.
The power and cabling story is what makes these easy to deploy in quantity. Each phone is
an IEEE 802.3af PoE Class 1 device with power consumption not exceeding 3.84 W, and a power
input rating of 0.42 A at 48 V DC, so a standard access switch feeds a floor of them without
sums. Cisco power adapter 3 covers non-PoE positions. The phone has two RJ-45 ports providing
a 10/100BASE-T connection - one for the LAN, one for a downstream device such as a PC - so
each desk needs one outlet, over Category 3/5/5e/6 for 10 Mbps or Category 5/5e/6 for
100 Mbps. It is Energy Star certified and supports Cisco EnergyWise, though the standard
power-save option is on the 7821, 7841 and 7861 rather than this model.
Two things to settle before ordering. Call control support is Cisco Unified Communications
Manager 12.5 and above, Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution 8.6.2 and later, and Cisco Unified
Survivable Remote Site Telephony 8.x and later - so an older UCM needs upgrading first. And
the 7811 requires a Basic User Connect License to connect to Unified Communications Manager,
which belongs in the budget alongside the hardware. Security is standard for the series: TLS
with AES-128 or AES-256, encrypted configuration files and 802.1X authentication. The unit
measures 207 x 195 x 33 mm excluding the foot stand and weighs 806 g, in polycarbonate ABS
textured plastic.
1 / 2
