[Asterisk-Users] Cisco 7970G VOIP phones

[Kevin P. Fleming]

Bob Willock wrote:
> I just bought a couple of these Cisco 7970G phones and it seems that they
> require a SIP image binary file to load when the phone boots and this file
> updates the firmware of the phone to run in SIP mode. The only problem is
> that Cisco seems to want to profit from the phone sales and then block you
> from using the phone by not allowing downloads of the binary files. What a
> scam!! Has anyone been successful in getting the SIP binary firmware
> update file? If not how did you get your phone working?

If you read this list's archives, or the Wiki, or searched Google, you 
would have already been well aware of the fact that Cisco does not make 
their SIP firmware images available without a support contract. None of 
us are surprised by this, so you shouldn't be either.

In the case of the 7970G, there _is no_ SIP firmware image, because they 
do not support SIP on that phone. The only Cisco phones that currently 
support SIP are the 7912G, the 7940G and the 7960G. If you purchased 
7970G phones expecting to use them with a SIP server, then you will be 
disappointed. Again, this is all documented on the Wiki.

The 7970G phone works fine as it comes out of the box (from what I 
understand, I've never seen one in person), but it only supports SCCP, 
which is Cisco's proprietary VOIP protocol. Asterisk does have support 
for this protocol, in two flavors (chan_sccp and chan_skinny). Again, 
this is all documented on the Wiki.

I'm sorry you spent so much money for phones that will not do what you 
want. It's too bad that 5 minutes of browsing would have allowed you to 
avoid that.