Grandstream GXP1628Eight line keys, real BLF on a budget.

Why the GXP1628 is on the catalog.

The GXP1628 takes the entry-tier GXP chassis and bumps the line-key count from 2 to 8 — which is the difference between a basic two-line phone and a phone that can actually monitor coworkers. With 2 SIP lines occupying two of the keys, you still have six free for BLF, park, paging, or speed-dial.

It also adds gigabit ethernet (the GXP1610-1625 family is all 10/100), which matters more than it sounds: a daisy-chained PC behind the phone is no longer throttled to 100 Mbps, so file transfers and video calls do not get slowed down by the phone in the loop. For any deployment where the desk computer plugs into the phone pass-through (very common in older offices), gigabit ethernet here is meaningful.

Modern equivalents: the GRP2604 (4 SIP lines, 10 dual-color keys, gigabit, color screen, ~$10 more) is the next-generation phone in this niche. For new deployments we recommend the GRP2604. The GXP1628 is the right pick for extending existing GXP1628 fleets or for deployments where you want a monochrome LCD specifically (some industrial or low-power-consumption deployments still prefer monochrome).