A phone that will not register is a phone that cannot check in with the phone service, so it cannot make or take calls. On a desk phone you usually see "unregistered", "no service", "registration failed" or a blank line where your number should be. In the app on a computer or mobile it usually shows as offline, or it refuses to sign in. The causes are almost always simple.
Try this first
- Check the power. If the screen is blank, follow the cable. Many desk phones are powered through the network cable rather than a plug pack, so a phone with no lights at all is often a network cable that has been knocked out, not a dead phone.
- Check the network cable. Unplug and firmly replug the cable at the back of the phone. Look for the socket marked LAN or with a small network symbol, not the one marked PC, which is for a computer plugged in behind the phone. Cleaners, cabling work and desk moves are the most common cause of a phone that stopped overnight.
- Restart the phone. Unplug the network cable, or the power cable if it has one, wait ten seconds, plug it back in and give it two full minutes. A phone takes longer to start up than a computer, because it has to fetch its settings before it can register.
- Check the phone has an address. Every phone needs a network address to work. On most desk phones this is under a Status or Information menu, and you are looking for an IP address that starts with numbers rather than showing 0.0.0.0 or blank. If there is no address, the phone is not talking to the network, and that is a cabling or network point problem rather than a phone problem.
- Think about recent password changes. If your work password changed recently and your phone app signs in with your work account, the app needs the new one. Sign out of the app and sign back in with the current password.
- Check which account the app is signed into. This one catches everyone, especially on mobiles. People end up signed into a personal account, an old employer's account, or a second work account left over from a test. Open the app's settings or profile and confirm the account and the number shown are yours.
- Test another phone on the same desk, if there is one nearby you can borrow for a minute. A second phone that works on the same cable narrows it down to the handset.
Please do not factory-reset a desk phone
It is the first thing search results suggest, and it is the one thing that makes this harder. A factory reset wipes the settings that connect the phone to your service, including details we do not keep on the handset. A five-minute fix becomes a rebuild, and sometimes a site visit. If a reset really is needed, we will do it and put the settings back.
If that didn't fix it
Log a ticket and tell us:
- The exact wording on the screen, or a photo of it.
- The make and model on the front of the phone.
- Whose extension it is and which desk it is on.
- Whether other phones in the office are working.
- Whether anything changed recently: a desk move, cabling work, a new computer, a password change.
- For the app, which device it is on and whether it works on a different network.
If your phones are how customers reach you and they are all down, call us as well as logging it.
Still stuck?
Log a ticket at portal.yougrowit.com.au or email support@yougrowit.com.au. If it is stopping you working right now, call 03 9028 4358.
Support hours are Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:30pm Melbourne time, excluding Victorian public holidays.