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Documentation › Phone system

Set up desk phones

Put a desk phone on every desk and have it ring on the right extension — by typing three details into any SIP phone, or automatically for supported Grandstream phones.

Last updated 19 September 2026

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At a glance

  • Any standard SIP desk phone works — Grandstream, Yealink, Fanvil, Cisco and the rest.
  • Every phone gets its own sign-in, so one can be switched off without touching the others.
  • Three details are all a phone needs: the server, a username and a password.
  • Grandstream phones can set themselves up: Phone Provisioning sends each one its settings the moment it is plugged in.
  • Colleague keys fill themselves in on provisioned phones, with a light that shows who is on a call.

On this page:

  1. Two ways to set up a phone
  2. Any SIP phone, by hand
  3. Grandstream, automatically
  4. Provisioning settings
  5. Check it works
  6. A lost, moved or replaced phone
  7. Questions

1Two ways to set up a phone

Before you start, the person needs an extension — see Extensions and numbering. A phone is only a way of reaching an extension.

By hand

Any SIP phone

Add the phone on Devices, then type its server, username and password into the phone. Five minutes a phone.

Every brand

Automatic

Plug in and go

Record the phone's MAC address on Phone Provisioning; the phone fetches its own settings and signs in.

Grandstream phones

2Any SIP phone, by hand

  1. Open Phone & Extensions → Devices and click Add a device.
  2. Choose the Extension it rings for, its Kind — Desk phone — and a Label such as “Front desk, left”.
  3. Click Add. Filantis shows Copy this into the phone now: the SIP username, the Realm and a new Password.
  4. Open the phone's own web page — type its IP address, shown on the phone's screen or menu, into a browser — and go to the first account.
  5. Fill it in as below, save, and wait a few seconds for it to sign in.

Brands name the fields differently — Registrar, Proxy, Auth Name — but there are only ever these three things. Use UDP port 5060 unless your administrator says otherwise; phones that support it can use TLS on port 5061 so calls travel encrypted.

The password is shown once and never displayed again. If it is lost before it reaches the phone, click New password on the device's row and type the new one in.

The same page adds the other things that can ring an extension:

KindFor
Desk phoneThe phone on a desk or a reception counter
SoftphoneA calling app on a PC, such as MicroSIP or Zoiper
ATA / analogue adapterTurns an old analogue phone or a fax into an extension
Speaker / paging hornA ceiling speaker for announcements
Door or gate intercomThe button at the gate that rings reception
OtherAnything else that speaks SIP

3Grandstream, automatically

Phone Provisioning writes each phone's settings from what Filantis already knows — the extension, the person's name, the server, the time zone — and the phone collects them itself when it starts.

1Record the phoneits MAC address and extension
2Point it at Filantisonce, or by your router
3The phone restartsand asks for its settings
4Signed inname, extension and colleague keys
Plug in, restart, ring. Settings are rebuilt every time the phone asks, so they never go stale.
  1. Open Phone & Extensions → Phone Provisioning and click Add Device.
  2. Type the MAC Address from the label under the phone — any separator style is fine — and choose Assign to Extension. Add the Model and a Label / location.
  3. Tell the phone where to look. Either set DHCP option 66 on your office router to the Config Server Path shown on Provisioning → Settings, or type that path once into the phone's Maintenance → Upgrade and Provisioning page.
  4. Restart the phone. Its row fills in with its IP address and when it last asked for its settings.

On a Filantis server in your own office, Scan Local Network finds the phones on your network for you — click Add beside one instead of typing its MAC.

A phone's row explains anything missing:

  • needs MAC — the phone signed in, so its extension and model are known, but not the MAC address it will ask by. Scan, or type it from the label.
  • needs extension — Filantis has heard from the phone but it has no extension yet. A phone never receives settings until you assign one.

4Provisioning settings

Phone Provisioning → Settings applies to every provisioned phone. The defaults suit most offices:

SettingWhat it does
Enable auto-provisioningOff means every settings request is refused.
Record unknown phones that askNew phones appear as pending, waiting for you to give them an extension.
SIP server · TransportWhere phones sign in, and whether over UDP, TCP or TLS. Blank uses this server.
CodecsVoice quality order — PCMU, PCMA and HD G.722 by default.
Auto-populate BLF keysFills the phone's spare keys with colleagues — up to 8 by default. A key lights when that person is on a call; press it to ring them.
NTP server · Timezone overrideThe clock on the phone's screen. Blank uses the person's own time zone.
Base URLThe address phones use to reach Filantis; the Config Server Path below it is what you give the phone or router.

Maintenance on the same page lets you test the settings a phone would receive before you restart it.

5Check it works

On Devices, the phone's Status turns to Registered, and on Extensions the dot beside the number turns green. Then call a colleague: internal calls are free and connect straight away.

  • Registered — signed in and ready
  • Not registered — not signed in yet: check the three details
  • Revoked — switched off by you

6A lost, moved or replaced phone

New password

Reset one phone

Issues a fresh password for that phone only. It stops working until the new one is typed in.

Revoke

Switch it off now

The phone is signed out at once. The person's other phones, the app and their Filantis password are not touched.

Remove

Tidy up

Once revoked, remove the row. A replacement phone is simply added as a new device.

When someone moves desk, nothing changes on the phone: move the extension to them instead, as described in Move or free an extension.

7Questions

Which phones can I buy?

Any phone that supports SIP works by hand. For plug-in-and-go, choose a Grandstream model. Ask us before a large order and we will confirm the model.

Can a desk phone work from home?

Yes. It needs only an internet connection. Choose TLS if the phone supports it.

Can one extension have a desk phone and the app?

Yes — they ring together, and the person answers on whichever is closer. See Install the mobile app with a QR code.

Can two people share one phone?

A phone belongs to one extension. For a shared counter, give the counter its own extension, or put both people in a department that rings the counter phone.

Every phone you already own

Desk phones, old analogue handsets through an adapter, the Android app and the browser — Filantis rings them all on one extension, and signs each in with its own key.

  • No lock-inStandard SIP phones from any maker.
  • Zero-touchGrandstream phones set themselves up.
  • One click to revokeA lost phone is off in a second.
Create my free workspace See the phone system

What to do next

Put the extension in people's pockets with Install the mobile app with a QR code, and switch on voicemail so no call is lost.

Still stuck?

Write to hello@filantis.com with your workspace name and what you were trying to do.