Everyone who’s been in a traditional office space knows that almost every conference room in the world uses a Polycom speakerphone, but these aren’t limited to just the office. The device can still be used in a non-business setting with Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones and PCs using VoIP software. This is exactly what the Polycom VoiceStation 500 is designed for.

Although the VoiceStation 500 will accept standard POTS (Plain old telephone service), and does a great job at doing that, today we’ll be focusing on the “digital” aspect of the device. The odd thing about the speakerphone is that it is powered over an RJ-45 (ethernet) cable. The cable connects into the power brick at the wall outlet with two additional jacks for analog phone lines.

Pairing a Bluetooth phone with the VoiceStation 500 is easy enough, with instructions on how to pair on the bottom of the speakerphone. The only downside with using your mobile phone is that you have to dial calls from the phone itself and you can’t use the onboard keypad on the VoiceStation unit. In terms of pairing with a Bluetooth-enabled PC or Mac, again - it’s very simple to do. We tested the VoiceStation 500 with Skype and it sounded phenomenal.

Sound quality was great and the folks on the other end sounded like they were a few rooms away, compared to other speakerphones - very good. The mic won’t pick you up from far away (at least 7 feet), but that helps eliminate any background noise. The VoiceStation 500 is great addition to your home office at a somewhat reasonable price of $399.

Pros

• Excellent sound quality.
• Good noise cancelling.
• Works with Bluetooth-enabled devices.

Cons

• Somewhat expensive.

Final Verdict
4.5 out of 5 stars.

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