I purchased a new Polycom Soundpoint IP 601 phone on ebay only to discovered later that I couln’t download firmware updates, or even docs from their website! I am thinking I may need more than the small startup guide that was included with the phone to get me started.
Does anyone have any idea how I could obtain the docs, latest firmware and SIP program for these Polycom phones?
you can download the documentation, and sip firmware from the polycom website, what you can not download is the latest and greatest versions
see voip-info.org/tiki-index.php?page=Polycom+Phones for more information on the Polycom Phones
see the following link for publically available firmwares
polycom.com/resource_center/ … 12,FF.html
else you need to contact a your polycom authorized reseller to get the latest and greatest bootroom and sip applications
There’s not enough public documentation on the polycom site to get started. The quick start guide only tells how to plug in the headset, and the datasheet only lists the phone features. I need actual detailed information on setting up the XML config files for the phone features via a boot server.
I did see that voip-info.org link on Polycom Phones, that is what made me decide to buy it. However, I didn’t realize the company was so top secret, customer unfriendly, and don’t release documentation or latest firmware to their customers.
the documentation is there… its the Sip Admin Manual.
here’s a link for you
polycom.com/common/pw_item_s … 922,00.pdf
Polycom isnt secretive, they want to make sure their products are supported not to mention polycom makes phones for pretty much all the top PBX vendors out there, It took them quite a while for them to work with Digium (and consequently even companies like where I work).
Polycom phones are great and yes they work just fine with Asterisk. Sample config files are included with the sip application downloads.
The above admin manual will give you ALL the settings (both the ones you need and the ones you will probably never touch)
If you need futher assistance post here or PM me
Thanks for the direct link, the 1.6.x Administrator Guide is exactly want I needed! I searched many hours and could only find an older 1.4.1 administrator guide on their website.
You mentioned sample config files are included with the sip application downloads.
Well, I did find an older SIP Software 1.5.3 version on POLYCOM website, but doesn’t the 601 phone require the latest 1.6.5 version?
that is probably correct… if you have a 601 and dont have the 1.6.x firmware for it, if the firmware is not present it should go ahead and boot anyway… same for the bootroom
if you bought the phone from a reputable source, you should be able to contact them for the latest and greatest releases of the bootroom and sip apps
This is why i try to avoid polycom, its as much a philosophical thing as anything else. If I’m a random user, and I’m capable of supporting myself, and I paid for the phone, I see no reason to have to jump thru hoops to get the file I need.
some guy has a public folder of Polycom files here. No guarantee if they are the files you need or if they are up to date or if they won’t break your phone. 
Hope that helps tho
You dont have to jump thru hoops… as a Polycom reseller we freely offer these files for our customers.
The whole deal here is that Polycom wants to limit their support to their resellers and have their resellers support the end use which is fine thats their call and it reduces their support costs while pushing business to those that sell their hardware, namely companies like where I work.
This is great for both us and polycom as we are constatly fighting for the same business. We work together.
If you buy greymarket phones then dont expect support. Its not like its hard to find a Polycom Authorized reseller for the SoundPointIP line of phones.
I would agree - I have about 90 polycom 430 and 601 phones here on my asterisk system and have had no issues getting the latest firmware etc etc from my reseller. And as far as someone saying not to get polycom because they like keeping their firmware from the open thats just LAME
If you have ever used the polycoms and listen to the sound quality you will see why many people like their phone a TON.
I am provisioning all my polycoms here and am having no problems, and as I stated the sound quality is top notch! 8)
wow ! we have had and continue to struggle with issues related to the speakerphones on the units
voip-info.org/wiki/index.php … +430+Notes
any special config for the 430’s to get them up to speed ?
the polycom ip 430 speakerphone seems to have an issue where the 501 phones on the same network perform flawlessly
?
I have had no problems with the 430s or 601s
Nothing special in the configs everything works great - AMAZING SOUND QUALITY…
I have setup paging as well and can easily page all 20+ phones without any issues!
IMO polycom makes one of the best sounding phones on the market, and if all of yours sound bad then my guess is that its a config / network problem.
what problems are you having with your 430s?
sorry i should have followed up sooner
there is an issue if you use the same sip.cfg that you previously used with your 301’s and 501’s
apparently the sip.cfg needs some special settings for the 430
anyway more can be had here
This is a common problem ALWAYS use the most current sip.cfg!
I have just commented on this here:
voip-info.org/wiki/index.php … +430+Notes
If you update the firmware on your polycom phones you need to use the current sip.cfg files.
In order to do this you need to make sure you DOCUMENT all of your sip.cfg changes for your environment. If you dont, you will have problems. Always read the release notes for all firmware before upgrading. NEVER push an upgrade out before testing it.
I am just saying these things because soo many people where having 430 speakerphone / OTHER issues and it was all because they didnt use the latest sip.cfg - if they used the latest cfg files all would have been well, but since they didnt, the 430s did not have the specific setting they needed in order to operate correctly.
Can i program the phone display?
I wold like to display money and time instead of time in the timer. The money counter wold be simple, an f(time) function.