Setting up your phone
Most hams can do this in about 15 minutes. You'll reset the phone, keep its old provider from grabbing it, then load your ShackComm settings by uploading one file on the phone's web page.
- Keep the phone off the internet for now
- Factory reset the phone
- Find the phone's address and log in
- Upload your ShackComm file (or let it set itself up)
- Reconnect the internet and test
Menus can differ a little between firmware versions. If a step doesn't match your phone, look for a similarly named item, or ask on the ShackComm help channel.
1. Keep the phone off the internet for now
Why: phones that came from a business or another phone service are often registered with the manufacturer's "zero-touch" redirect service (Yealink RPS, Fanvil FDPS, Grandstream GDMS, Poly ZTP, Cisco activation). After a reset, the phone asks that service where to get its settings, and it gets sent straight back to the old provider, who may change the password and lock you out. With the internet cut off, the phone can't ask, and once it has ShackComm's settings it stops asking.
Pick one of these:
- Easiest: unplug the cable between your modem (the box from your internet company) and your router for the next 15 minutes. Your home network keeps working, so the phone and your computer can still talk to each other; nothing can reach the internet.
- If your router has an app (eero, Google/Nest Wifi, Orbi, Xfinity, etc.): use "Pause internet" or "Block device" for the phone. The phone's MAC address is on the label on its back.
- Advanced: connect the phone and a laptop to a small switch with no router (powered by its own adapter or a PoE injector), and give the laptop a fixed address on the phone's network.
Yealink: remove the old provider for good
Yealink will take a phone's MAC address out of someone else's redirect account for you, usually within a few minutes. After that the phone can stay on the internet even through a factory reset.
- Make a free account on Yealink's remote provisioning service page.
- Signed in, open a MAC removal ticket and enter the phone's MAC address. It's on the label on the phone's back, and on your Phones page once you've added the phone.
- Wait for the ticket to close, then continue with step 2.
Other brands: ask the old provider to release the MAC address from their redirect account, or contact the manufacturer's support with proof of purchase. Until then, repeat this step after every factory reset.
2. Factory reset the phone
This clears out the old settings and passwords. Pick your phone:
Yealink (T46, T48, T54W and other T4x/T5x)
- On the phone: press and hold OK for about 10 seconds until it asks "Reset to factory?", then confirm.
- Or on its web page: Settings → Upgrade → Reset to Factory.
Fanvil (X4, X4U, X5U)
- On its web page: System → Configurations → Reset to factory default.
- Or on the phone: Menu → Advanced (password usually 123) → Factory Reset.
Grandstream (GXP, GRP)
- On the phone: Menu → System → Factory Reset (or Settings → Advanced → Factory Reset), then confirm.
- Or on its web page: Maintenance → Upgrade and Provisioning → Factory Reset.
Polycom / Poly VVX
- On the phone: Home → Settings → Advanced (password 456) → Administration Settings → Reset to Defaults → Reset to Factory.
Cisco SPA5xx (SPA504G, SPA508G, SPA525G2)
- On the phone: Setup → Factory Reset (on some models under Device Administration), then confirm.
Cisco 78xx / 88xx (multiplatform firmware)
- Unplug power. Plug it back in while holding #; when the line keys light up, press 123456789*0#.
- If it asks for an activation code or Webex onboarding after the reset, skip it.
3. Find the phone's address and log in
The phone's address looks like 192.168.1.57. Type it into your web browser's address bar (on a computer on the same home network) to open the phone's web page.
| Phone | Show the address | Default login |
|---|---|---|
| Yealink (T46, T48, T54W and other T4x/T5x) | Press OK on the idle screen; the IP address is listed. | admin / admin |
| Fanvil (X4, X4U, X5U) | Press Menu → Status, or press the OK key from the idle screen. | admin / admin |
| Grandstream (GXP, GRP) | Press the Up arrow or Menu → Status. | admin / the password printed on the phone's label (older models: admin) |
| Polycom / Poly VVX | Home → Settings → Status → Network → TCP/IP Parameters. | Choose Admin, password 456 |
| Cisco SPA5xx (SPA504G, SPA508G, SPA525G2) | Press the Setup button (the paper icon) → Status → Network Status. | Open http://ADDRESS/admin/advanced; no password by default |
| Cisco 78xx / 88xx (multiplatform firmware) | Settings → Status → Network status. | Open http://ADDRESS/admin/advanced |
4. Upload your ShackComm file
- On this website, go to Phones, add your phone (model and MAC address), and click Download config file. Save it somewhere easy to find, like your Desktop.
- On the phone's web page, find the upload, as listed for your phone below, choose the file, and click the button to import it.
- The phone restarts by itself. When it's back, it shows your callsign.
Yealink (T46, T48, T54W and other T4x/T5x)
- Web page: Settings → Configuration.
- Under Import CFG Configuration File, click Browse, choose your file, click Import.
Fanvil (X4, X4U, X5U)
- Web page: System → Configurations.
- Under Import Configurations, choose your file and click Import. The phone restarts.
Grandstream (GXP, GRP)
- Web page: Maintenance → Upgrade and Provisioning.
- Find Upload Configuration File (sometimes under "Config File"), choose your file and click Upload.
Polycom / Poly VVX
- Web page: Utilities → Import & Export Configuration.
- Under Import Configuration, choose your file and click Import.
Cisco SPA5xx (SPA504G, SPA508G, SPA525G2)
- Cisco SPA phones don't accept file uploads on their web page. Use auto-provisioning instead: your Phones page shows the one line to paste into Voice → Provisioning → Profile Rule.
Cisco 78xx / 88xx (multiplatform firmware)
- These phones don't accept file uploads either. Use auto-provisioning with the Profile Rule line from your Phones page.
- They need Cisco's multiplatform (MPP/3PCC) firmware; phones still on enterprise firmware must be converted first.
The file also tells the phone where to check for updates, so later changes (new favorites, keys, firmware) reach it by themselves. You only upload once.
Or: let the phone set itself up (auto-provisioning)
Instead of uploading a file, you can give the phone ShackComm's address and a username and password, and it fetches its settings itself. Your Phones page shows exactly what to enter and where, for your model.
5. Reconnect the internet and test
- Plug the modem cable back in (or un-pause the phone in your router app).
- Dial *43, the echo test: you should hear yourself. Then try *9 for weather.
- On your Phones page the phone should show ● Online within a minute or two.
Troubleshooting
- Can't open the phone's web page: your computer must be on the same home network as the phone, and type the address exactly, starting with http://.
- The login doesn't work: the old provider changed it. Factory reset again (step 2) with the internet off (step 1).
- The phone shows someone else's name after a reset: its old provider's redirect got to it. Keep it off the internet (step 1) and reset again. For a Yealink, have Yealink remove the old provider.
- Calls connect but there's no audio: restart your router, then the phone. If it continues, ask for help; some routers need a small setting change.