Mitel Office IP Phone DHCP Discovery Issue

[meg_]

I have to be able to work from home due to COVID.

I have been given a Mitel IP phone which connects to my laptop via one port in the back of the phone, the other port (power port) plugs into a POE port in the plug socket. My Ethernet cable then goes from the other port in the socket (LAN port) and into the back of my BT Business Smart Hub into an Ethernet port.

For some reason my IP office phone won’t connect to my router and is stuck on “DHCP: Discovery”.

I really need my IP phone to work so I can work from home, so if anyone has any suggestions I would be very grateful.

(I was told I needed to move from residential to business so my phone works but it still won’t work)

[Keith_Beddoe]

@meg_ 

Welcome to this user forum.

If you are now a BT Business user, you will need to post on the BT Business forum, as the BT Business hub is not the same as the BT Home Hub. You should be able to find other business users who use IP phones. I would be surprised if the phone connects via your laptop, and does not plug directly into the business hub.

https://business.forums.bt.com/

Thanks

[meg_]

Hi Keith,

Thank you for the quick reply!

I can’t seem to get a response from anyone on BT Business Forum 😞

I really need this resolved ASAP so I can work 😞

[Keith_Beddoe]

Have you asked your employer`s IT department for help?

Perhaps Mitel can help with their product, as its not getting an IP address, so its possibly a configuration issue?

BT Business forum, like this forum, is mainly a customer to customer help forum and it may take a while before you get a reply.

[meg_]

Hi Keith,

I have asked them for help and they have said it’s BT that’s the issue. I was with EE before and it all worked fine with my IP phone plugged into the router via Ethernet cable, the signal was just rubbish which is why I switched to BT.

I have tried to call so many times and have got cut off, my order has also been duplicated and I’m unable to get hold of anyone to cancel it 😞 all a big mess really!

Just need to be able to get my IP phone to work so I can work from home 😞

[Keith_Beddoe]

If your phone is plugged directly into a LAN port on the the BT Business hub, then it should work. 

I know there can be issues with the BT Home hub, if "smart setup" is enabled, but I do not know whether that feature exists on the business hub. If it does, then it needs to be turned off.

Its also possible that the IP phone needs to be re-configured to work with the business hub.

As you may appreciate, this is beyond the scope of this residential forum, but you may get some help if another forum member is using an IP phone, as I expect quite a few are working from home at the moment.

[meg_]

Thank you for your help Keith.

My BT Business hub only has a WAN port and Gig Ethernet ports so I am unable to plug it into a LAN port on the router unfortunately🙁

It does however have smart setup on so I will give it a go turning it off and see if that makes any difference, although I did try this on my residential hub previously and it didn’t make any difference.

How do I reconfigure my IP work phone? Is that something you’d be able to help with?

Thank you again for your help! 🙂

[Keith_Beddoe]

It would be the Gigabit Ethernet port which the phone would plug into, that is what a LAN port is. The phone will negotiate the correct connection speed.

Sorry, I cannot help with the IP phone itself, but I would expect it to connect automatically anyway.

Is that how you connected it up on the BT Home Hub?

[meg_]

Ah my apologies! It’s all connected to the Ethernet port on the back of the hub, I have also tried different Ethernet ports incase one was faulty.

When I log into my hub manager it says nothing is connected via Ethernet?

My IP phone has never worked with either of my BT hubs (I moved to BT in July 2020), but did work with my previous EE hub when I was with them so surely it can’t be my IP phone that’s the problem?

No one seems to know why it won’t work, think it may be a case of having to leave BT and go with another company 😞

[Keith_Beddoe]

If the hub manager is not showing the phone, the  reason would be that its not being issued with an IP address, that is implied by the DHCP message on the phone.

Its more likely to be an issue with the BT hub, and not the BT network as such. I assume that you can get Internet access on the laptop, and that shows up on the hub manager?

Have the IT people suggested a factory reset of the phone, and then re-entering the configuration for your employer`s network?

You could also try a factory reset of the hub, and then disabling smart setup again.

What type of connection do you have, does the hub plug into the phone socket, or is there an Openreach optical modem fitted?

Why I ask, is that it may be worth trying a different router, as you should be able to get a suitable router locally for about £35. I can supply details if needed.

It would just need configuring with your BT Business login details.