Using our Polycom speakerphone, “Polly 3”
for telephone, cellphone, or computer (Skype etc)
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| “I may look very corporate, but please don’t hold it against me!” |
Polly 3 is a glossy black Polycom SoundStation 2 (2201-16200-001 C, #H2050700CE26). She lives at Wolf Creek, and isn’t easy to replace; please help make sure she always returns home! (nomenus@nomenus.org, 541 866-2678)
Polly is the third in her lineage. Polly 1 is an old gray SoundStation at Wolf Creek, and might be broken. Polly 2 apparently went for a jaunt when visiting SF, and never came home. 🙁
What can she do?
This is a fancy speakerphone: she can plug into the phone line, but there’s also a computer adapter so she can act as your speaker and microphone when using Internet calls (Skype, Google Hangout, Uberconference, etc).
With her 3 internal directional mikes and 2 extension mikes, she can hear people all over the room, while removing echo and rejecting background noise. She’s not perfect, but is far better than using the simple mike in your laptop or Bluetooth box. Sound quality with Polly 3 is generally very good (depending on the rest of your connection).
How to set her up
See the parts list, below.
Put Polly in the middle of the meeting area. If it’s a big meeting, plug in the two satellite mikes and spread them out.
Plug in the power unit, and run its cord to Polly (on her underside, farthest “arm” from the control panel); she’ll “ding” and turn on.
- For a telephone call: run a phone cord to the left-hand jack on the bottom of the power unit (not to Polly herself). On her control panel, push the button that looks like a phone handset to pick up or hang up; the dial pad works normally. At Wolf Creek, note that a “DSL filter” should plug between the wall jack and any phones (including Polly).
- For a computer conference: find the “cellphone adapter” plug (Y-shaped). The narrow end goes into the left side of Polly’s base. (Her display will say “Mobile phone in.”) Then either the black or the white plug goes into your computer or cellphone. (Mine uses the black.) There’s also a long audio extension cable, if you want more distance between Polly and the computer.
Polly has microphones on her three arms. If it’s a big crowd, two more mikes can be plugged in, extending her reach. They plug into her underside, to the left and right.
Components
Polly 3’s parts, and other things that travel in her box:
- Base: black, 3 arms, 12″
- Power adapter: black, 6″ (Wall Module, 2201-16020-001 C). The center jack goes to Polly’s base; left jack to phone line, if used. (Ignore the other jack and the audio plug on the side.)
power - Power cable: black 25′ (any Ethernet cable will work)
- Phone cables: white 25′ and ivory 50′,
- Cellphone adapter: 4′ black cable ending in a Y with black and white plugs (“for iPhone” and “Other”). Please be sure not to lose this part; its narrow plug is non-standard and hard to replace.
- Audio extension cable (used with the cellphone adapter): black 12′
- Extension microphones: two, black, 3″ (2201-07155-005 A)
- Network: 14′ brown Ethernet cable, in case it’s useful to connect your laptop to the network
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| This is Polly 1. She’s grey, has neither display nor red lights, can’t connect to computers, and may not be working. However, if you’d like to try her on the phone, let us know how it goes… |
Reading material
Quick Start Guide (4pp) and User Guide (about 50pp):
