New T4S Yealink Phones & WF40 Wifi Dongle

[Logicwrath]

Hello,
Yealink has just released some new products.  We are looking forward to using them and wanted to point them out so they can be added to the advanced provisioner.

We are VERY excited about OPUS support with Yealink and look forward to using it.

With a new firmware update. the WF40 now supports the T46G as well as the T29G. Please note you will need to be on firmware revision xx.81.0.15 for this functionality to work.  It also works with the T48G with firmware 35.80.0.95 or higher.  I believe the WF40 also works on all the new T4S series phones, but I need to double check.

--- begin copy paste ---

The T4S series includes the entry-level T41S and T42S phones, the gigabit color phone T46S, and the gigabit touch screen phone T48S. The series maintains the elegant appearance of the Yealink T4 series and further ensures users a lifelike communication experience, thanks to Yealink Optima HD voice technologies and the addition of Opus -a totally open, highly versatile audio codec. Moreover, the T4S provides enhanced performance and extended hardware functionalities for business customers.

The upgraded T4S series incorporates the latest advanced components for excellent stability and performance. The phone series delivers a remarkable phone experience with an optimized smartphone-like interface. Integrated cutting-edge features, like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity and rich one-touch soft keys, brings additional convenience and increased productivity for customers. 

[Logicwrath]

More relevent copy/paste from 10/31/16:

Hi ALL

This is Kevin from Yealink support team, nice to know you.

We will support opus on the standard V81 of SIP-T40P/T23P/T23G/T2
1(P) E2/T19(P) E2. 

BR
Kevin

[Logicwrath]

It looks like the T4S series also supports USB call recording and hearing aid compatible (HAC) handsets.

[FASTDEVICE]

Be advised that the new firmware [81] uses a radically different approach to provisioning than previous versions. It claims to be backward compatible, but (at least for me) I'm having difficulty making it work. I mean, it should simply work as usual, and it's not. I've looked at syslog output and the firmware never checks for the legacy config files.  

However, I setup a sandbox tftp server and been successful in using the new provisioning method, but the configuration restructure is forcing a complete re-write of my scripts. I'm guessing if the backward compatibility is really broken, 2600hz will have to re-write the config templates accordingly.    

[Logicwrath]

Here is a T4S comparison PDF showing the model revisions and FAQ etc..

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23868996/T4S%20Comparison.pdf

[FASTDEVICE]

It appears all they really did was introduce a new codec processor to support Opus and minor tweaks to speaker audio quality. I'm sure if they could have gotten away with supporting the entire Opus codec in software there wouldn't be an "S" series. I do hope they provide the limited version of Opus on the T29G.

[Logicwrath]

The telecoil (HAC) as well.

[Rick Guyton]

Dang, I was really hoping the T46G would get OPUS....

[Logicwrath]

Me too!

[Logicwrath]

I found out today that my distributor is no longer selling T46G's.  I can only get the T46S series as they are no longer manufacturing them.

Can we get some kind of update on whether or not these will be supported in provisioner and when?

[Logicwrath]

It appears that Yealink has completely stopped producing the T46G.  Once the current stock of T46G's are gone we will be forced to start using the T46S.

[Darren Schreiber]

I'm trying to get ahold of one of the new phones so we can figure out our action plan here. If they've changed the format of the files, it will take us a while to re-test and re-certify the new firmware + config file format. We have to test that ALL functions on the phone work as expect, such as BLF, parking, NAPTR/SRV failover, provisioning via SmartPBX, provisioning via advanced provisioner, network settings, VLAN, line keys, presence/speed dial/BLF programming, etc.

I would expect this will take some time.

There are still a bunch of vendors who are selling T46G's though so I don't think this problem is quite as acute as you're describing. I suspect we have a month or two here before this becomes a huge problem.

[Logicwrath]

Out of the 3 distributors I called yesterday, 1 is out completely, one had 366, and the other had 50.  

I talked to another one today and they have 22.

I am not sure how quickly these phones sell, but my primary distributor was sold out the first day.  Like you said, we may be able to find some distributors that still have stock, but I am already having to call people we would normally not do business with.

[Darren Schreiber]

Can you tell me where you're getting your information that vendors are running out of the T46s? I just contacted four different vendors and they have a total collectively of over 200 in stock. What am I missing here, where is the urgency coming from?

The announcement originally pasted in this thread is from 5 days ago... I can't imagine all the old inventory just vanishes in 5 days time and we are expected to support the new firmware and configs with 5 days notice.

I can't tell if this is a "we really want this ASAP because we love OPUS" or a "we actually are screwed and can no longer continue selling phones" issue (there's a difference).

[FASTDEVICE]

I'm using a T29G for testing with the updated v81 firmware, and although it states to be backwardly compatible with provisioning, it's not working. I've moved to the new process as described in the documentation and that appears to be working. 

[Rick Guyton]

We have a deal for 75 phones coming up right now. To get it done, we are going to have to pull onto two separate vendors to get all t46g. And we are definitely going to get sub optimal pricing because of it. I'm not sure that this is a crisis right now. But, it sure isn't going to be long before it is.

EDIT: to be clear, I am excited about OPUS. But, I certainly don't think it's going to sell any deals.

[Darren Schreiber]

Great, thanks Yealink for all the advance notice.

*grumble grumble*

Let me think about a way to not just fix this problem but avoid it from ever happening again. We really want a firmware selector tool so you can manage which firmware you push to phones. Perhaps we pair that finally with the ability to just edit flat files and upload them. Then you guys can do whatever you want, but of course it means increased support costs if you screw something up. But since we're moving to 100% per-hour support strategy anyway, I think the risk is minimized to us for exposing that level of functionality, so it would make sense to me to just do it at this point.

Last thing I want to do is make it hard to sell our service so it seems like that may be the best path forward.

[Rick Guyton]

Sorry Darren, I think a lot of us are just as surprised as you that this model is being taking out of production so suddenly.

[Logicwrath]

I was told by someone that Yealink made it difficult for the distributors to notify their customers because of NDA's etc..

[Darren Schreiber]

Yup, I totally get it. Fun times.

They did the last time. We had provisioner working great and then they changed BLF keys to "line keys" or whatever but only in some firmwares. Had to redo the whole thing.

[FASTDEVICE]

Luckily for Yealink everyone has short memories. They did EXACTLY the same thing for the T3x series. The T3x was short lived and touted as their most advanced future proof series.  Yeah, right.  

[FASTDEVICE]

Luckily for Yealink everyone has short memories. They did EXACTLY the same thing for the T3x series. The T3x was short lived and touted as their most advanced future proof series.  Yeah, right.  

[Rick Guyton]

Fortunately we never got into the t3 line. Just didnt see the need between the t2 and t4 lines

[Tuly]

I just provisioning a few phones with the new FW,  it's very simple you create one file MACADDRESS.boot  that tells the phone to look for the global and the Mac file,  it looks like this

#!version:1.0.0.1## 
     
include:config <y000000000069.cfg>
include:config "00156xxxxxxx.cfg"
     
overwrite_mode = 1



so each phone has 3 files one is the MACADDRESS.boot   y000000000069.cfg     00156xxxxxxx.cfg

[Rick Guyton]

Oh man, first world problems I guess. That 75 order just want up to 100. :) Think I'll have to pull across 2 vendors and have amazon fill the balance.