If you're going through phone trouble, there's almost always a way to fix it. Business VoIP desk phones, unlike most things in life, come with a reset option. You can solve just most phone registration issues by resetting your phone and re-registering it with your cloud phone system.
Besides general troubleshooting issues, you'll also have to reset your phone to configure brand new phones, reassign a phone to a new user, use it with a new phone service, or set it up with a new Internet connection.
The following post will outline how to reset Polycom, Linksys, Cisco, Panasonic, Yealink, and Grandstream phones to the factory default state. These are the most common brands our customers use. If you are having issues with a brand that's not listed here, you should ask your provider for more information.
We'll also show you how to get past the little kinks in each provider's reset process, and deal with issues such as lost admin passwords.
If you're using OnSIP, and you want to factory reset one of your phones, you'll have to go into the OnSIP Admin Portal to reset the security key for that phone. This step happens prior to resetting the phone itself.
The phone's security key is a unique identifier that allows your phone to securely connect with the OnSIP boot server. Resetting the security key and resetting your phone are two distinct acts. However, you cannot reset the security key without resetting the phone. If you do this, your phone will not operate.
To reset the security key, click on the "Resources" tab in the Admin Portal. Select the phone you wish to reset. In the "Factory Reset" box, select "Reset Key".
To reset a Polycom phone to factory defaults, press the "Menu" option on the phone. Navigate to "Settings" and then to "Advanced". A password prompt will appear. The default password is "456". See our instructions below if your admin credentials aren't working.
After you've entered the password, select the "Admin Settings" option and scroll down to "Reset to Default". There are three separate settings you're going to reset to restore the phone to factory default:
From the current page, select "Reset Local". Then select "Reset Web". It will appear as if nothing is happening on the screen when you initiate these two resets. Continue on with the process. Then, select "Reset Device Settings". At this point, the phone will reboot and restore to its factory default.
If you've forgotten your admin password, or the default admin credentials aren't working, there's a way to manually reset the password so you can reset your Polycom phone.
First, find your MAC address on the back of the phone. Restart the phone by manually unplugging the device. Count to 10 and plug it back in. While the phone is powering, you'll need to press and hold certain keys simultaneously for 5-10 seconds. For details on which keys to press for your phone model, see our Knowledgebase article.
If you see "loading application" and no countdown on your screen, select "Cancel" and you'll be able to see the countdown process.
Next, you will be prompted to enter the admin password. Type in the phone's 12-character MAC address using the keypad on the phone. To switch between letters and numbers, press the "#" key or the key beneath the "A>a1" for Soundpoint IP phones, or press "mode" on VVX models.
Once the configuration is reset, the phone should now respond to the "456" default password again.
Resetting a Cisco/Linksys business VoIP phone is fairly easy. From the phone's main menu, press the "Setup" button. Go to "Factory Reset" using the Navigation button. Press "OK". The phone will reboot and return to its factory default setting.
In some cases, you may need to do a power cycle by unplugging and re-plugging your phone back in after the first reboot.
To factory reset and configure your Panasonic phone, you will need two different web browsers. Use one browser for the factory reset process, and another browser or an Incognito window to complete the phone registration process. If you do not use two separate browsers, the phone will not be registered.
You will need to enable the phone's ;WWW interface, which allows the phone to connect to the Internet. On your phone, press "Menu" and then type [#][5][3][4]. Next use the up/down arrows to select "On" for "Embedded Web" and then press "Save".
Next, you'll need find the IP address of your phone. On your phone, select "Menu" -> "IP service" -> "Network Setting" -> "IP Settings". Then, enter the displayed IP address into your first web browser.
Look up what model phone you have, and choose either this option or the one below, depending on the phone type.
After typing in the IP address, you will now access the phone's web interface. Log in with your admin username (default is "customerserviceid") and admin password default is "cpspass").
Select the "Maintenance" tab and then choose "Reset to Defaults". Press "Reset to Factory Defaults". Click "Restart". The phone will reboot, and it will restore itself to its factory default.
Log in to the web interface with your admin username and password. The default admin username is "customerserviceid", and the default admin password is "cpspass".
Go to the "Maintenance" tab and click on "Reset to Defaults". Then press "Reset to Carrier Defaults". Click "Restart" to reboot and restore the phone to its factory default.
You may receive an HTTP 403 error while you're in the web interface. If this happens, turn "Embedded Web" on, and then off. Next, close the browser window and restart your browser. Finally, turn "Embedded Web" back on, enter the IP address of the phone in the browser, and log in again with your admin username and password.
To reset a Yealink phone, go to your phone menu and select "Status" and find the IP address of your phone. Enter this address into your web browser to access the phone's web configuration tool.
If this is your first time accessing the web configuration tool, the default login and password is 'admin'/'admin'. You should see an "Upgrade" tab on your screen. Click on it and select the option "Reset to Factory".
If the web interface is not accepting the admin/admin password combination to reset the phone to defaults, you can try holding down the OK key on the phone for 10 seconds. The display will ask if you want to reset. Press "Yes", and the phone will return to its factory default.
To reset a Grandstream phone, simply select the "Menu" button on your phone. Select "Config" or "Systems" and then press "Factory Reset". You can now continue configuring your phone.
If you're having trouble with your business VoIP phone, your first steps should involve consulting online sources and talking to your provider's support team. But thankfully, no matter what you're going through, you always have the option to restart and re-register your phone, unless your phone is experiencing hardware issues.
If you're looking for new phones, download our Top Phones Guide for more information on the best replacement options. Otherwise, check out our Knowledgebase for more how-to articles on phone registration.