sundance-communications.com/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Inter-Tel Telephones & Systems Really Basic Question about Axxess

Totally new to phone systems here. I am trying to find out something about the one at my church, which no one seems to know anything about (except the office manager knows how to program the voice mail). What we need to do is move an extension to another office, and change the names on a couple of handsets. The system is VoIP and uses Inter-tel handsets, P/N 550-4400. The original system install was NOT VoIP, but landline through Bell South. I found one computer with AXXESS v4.401 and (I think) 5.2F2 software installed on it. I talked to the former computer tech and he said he used to use a modem to access the system (and the AXXESS software seems to be set up for one). He said that the modem would no longer work after the system went to VoIP, and that the website he was supposed to use never worked.

I don't even know where to start. I see that AXXESS is now up to version 10, but I have no idea if it would even work with these old handsets, nor do I know what or how to access to program the system.

I'm a computer tech, and I'm happy to read manuals, but I need someone to tell me where to start with this. Do I need an AXXESS upgrade? How do I get into the system? Etc.... Thanks in advance.

Find a Mitel dealer (they bought Inter-Tel) in your area and give them a call. It's not a do it yourself system. The version you have is fairly old but will work just fine, there are a lot of them still out there. To go up to the latest version would require a CPC card and appropriate licensing. The cards, cabinet, and phones would all stay the same. When you say you are using VoIP, do you mean you have SIP trunks instead of POTS lines?

To give more info for an IT type person..

You need the programming software to do almost anything. The computer with the software running you found is probably the voice-mail system, and not setup to do programming. Think of the voice-mail as a dedicated black-box, not as a computer.
Generally, if the previous person doesn't have the programming software distribution available, you will unable to get it anywhere without going to a dealer and talking to them.

The only webiste available with a 5.2F2 software rev with a VOIP setup would have been the IPCP or IPC card, which is a supplementary system for doing additional setup for the VOIP phones. You had to do the main programming first with the main programming software, and then matchup things on the webpage to setup the IPCP (or IPC) card. They wrapped all that back into the main programming software in later software revs.

There is no way to program the system through a webpage otherwise. The only choice is the dedicated programming software that is highly proprietary.

You will be unable to upgrade the system yourself, it requires licensing changes, and definitely major hardware changes to change that far in revs. Its a major undertaking to go from 5.2F up to 10. They do not offer the software anywhere but to the dealers to upgrade.

The system itself will work just fine as is. But don't think of it as a computer system that can just have a software package upgrade.

In just my opinion, a circa 1999-2000 ver 5.2F2 system should not be considered as upgradeable for a reasonable cost.

There are many dealers out there that would set up 5.2F2 session mangler for you, and/or have you open port TCP4000 for remote changes. It is more serviceable than a V10/11 because you are not burdened with the over the top licensing.

Parts are cheap as dirt. Including phones, cards, CPUs. We throw them in a large dumpster daily.

The good news is thousands of dollars were not spent on it over the years going to a CPC platform, IPRC, licensing, etc. In most cases, when a CPC dies, it is critical. Dead in the water. A CPU on the other hand is a dime a dozen.

The wise move would be to live with it as is, as long as you can, then upgrade to a basic IP-capable, hybrid system. Use all the same wiring.

For its time, the Inter-tel was at its peak around 1999-2000. Networking, IP phones, solid, in a small package. Now, just about every new system does that and a lot more on the cheap.

Systems from Samsung, NEC, and many others would work just fine.

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I was gonna say, there is really nothing wrong with the system you have now...I have a 4.2 system plugging away at home...it may be outdated but does what I need.

I'm also new to Axxess. I have just connected the DB Studio software to our version 5.3 and I believe I can manage it myself, but I do want to upgrade to version 7 because then I can use the newer handsets with full functionality.

Does anyone have any recommendations on where to start to upgrade from 5.3 to 7.0 or am I barking up the wrong tree? What if I just buy a CPU on eBay with version 7 on it and then upgrade and transfer my database?

Also, is it accurate to say going to 8.0 is a bigger problem since it uses the CPC and then I would have issues with licensing?

3 year old topic. Please pay attention to the age of the topic before posting.