Legacy Phone Systems & Telecom Equipment Replacement Guide
A plain-English guide to replacing end-of-life phone systems, handsets and gateways in Australia — keep your numbers, with a cutover planned by a local team.
A wave of business phone gear is reaching end-of-support across Australia at once — manufacturers exiting the market, support windows closing, and the copper network being switched off underneath it all. None of it dies overnight, but the businesses that plan a calm move come out far ahead of the ones who wait for a dead line on a Monday morning. SIP Connect is a vendor-neutral migration specialist in Greensborough, Melbourne: we don't sell these legacy brands — we move you off ageing, unsupported systems onto modern platforms that fit how you work, and usually cost a lot less. This guide is your map. Find your equipment below, then read how to plan the move.
Phone systems
If your business runs an on-premise PBX, this is where the pressure is greatest — several major vendors have already left the market.
- Telstra DOT — Telstra Digital Office Technology reached stop-sell on 30 September 2025 and shuts down permanently on 30 August 2027, with no renewal path. Remaining customers are on a forced migration with a hard end date.
- NEC PBX (SL2100, SV9100, SV9500, UNIVERGE 3C) — NEC announced in May 2024 it is exiting the on-premise PBX business outside Japan. New orders ceased on 31 December 2024 and manufacturer support ended on 31 March 2026.
- Panasonic (NS1000, NS700, NS300, KX-TDE, KX-TDA, KX-NCP) — Panasonic announced in December 2020 it would exit the business phone market. Its KX range is discontinued and new hardware supply through the channel ceased by early 2023.
- Avaya IP Office (IP500 V2) — Avaya is still an active vendor and IP Office is still sold and developed (Release 12.0 in May 2024, 12.1 in December 2024). If you run an older release, this is about moving to a current, well-supported platform on your own terms.
- LG-Nortel / LG-Ericsson Aria (24IP, 130, 300, 600) — the Aria range is legacy, end-of-sale hardware, superseded by Ericsson-LG's iPECS. Spare parts are generally only available refurbished or secondhand.
- Ericsson-LG iPECS eMG80 — the eMG80 reached end of sale (partner sources cite 22 December 2020) and the older eMG800 and ipLDK are also discontinued, though Ericsson-LG's current iPECS models remain supported.
Handsets
Old desk phones can become a security and support problem even when the rest of your system still works.
- Cisco SPA500 series (SPA502G, SPA504G, SPA508G, SPA509G, SPA512G, SPA525G2) — all end-of-life and, as of 31 May 2025, past their last date of support. In August 2024 Cisco disclosed critical vulnerabilities in the web interface (three rated CVSS 9.8) and confirmed it will issue no fix.
- Older Yealink desk phones (T19P, T20P, T21P, T22P, T41P, T42G, T46G, T48G) — all eight are listed end-of-life by Yealink; the T41P/T42G/T46G/T48G reached EOL on 1 April 2025. Yealink is an active maker, and as an authorised Yealink reseller we can move you onto current models.
Legacy Cisco UC appliances
Cisco's small-business Unified Communications appliances are all fully retired, with no firmware, bug fixes or security patches.
- Cisco UC320W — end-of-sale January 2014, support ended 31 January 2017.
- Cisco UC520 (Smart Business Communications System) — discontinued, listed by Cisco as obsolete and past its last date of support.
- Cisco UC540 — last day to order 20 January 2014; hardware support ended by January 2017.
- Cisco UC560 — end-of-sale 20 January 2014; phone/software support ended 15 January 2015. For Cisco-based environments we can also help via our Cisco IP PBX migration page.
Routers & voice gateways
The connectivity gear beneath your phones matters too — once it loses security support it becomes the weak link.
- Cisco 800 series routers (880, 881, 886, 887, 891, 892, C819) — all past end-of-sale and at or past last date of support. Cisco ended security support for the 886/887/897/898/899 on 29 April 2023.
- OneAccess (Ekinops) voice gateways — the brand is still active under Ekinops, but older OneOS5-era units are legacy and Ekinops directs those customers toward newer OneOS6 hardware.
- Cisco SPA112 ATA — the SPA112 and SPA122 are end-of-life; the last date of support was 27 August 2024, and a critical remote-code-execution flaw (CVE-2023-20126) will not be patched.
How to plan a migration
A move off legacy gear is straightforward when you take it in order:
Audit how you actually use the phones
extensions, call volumes, after-hours routing, who needs mobile. This decides the platform, not the brand on the box.
Check the ground underneath you
find out when copper and the PSTN are being retired at your address, because that sets your hard deadline.
Keep your numbers
your phone numbers move with you via number porting, including 1300 and 1800 numbers, so customers never notice.
Pick a modern platform
3CX (we're a 3CX Partner), a fully hosted PBX, or Microsoft Teams calling if your team already lives in Teams. See the full phone systems hub to compare.
Sort the connection
make sure the business internet beneath your new system is up to the job, with failover so calls keep flowing if a line drops.
Frequently asked questions
How long do I have before my legacy system has to go?
It depends on the exact model and when copper is retired at your address — some systems are already past support, others have a dated shutdown ahead. The safe move is to plan now, while you still have choices. Send us your details and we'll give you a clear, no-pressure timeline for your gear.
Do I have to replace everything at once?
Usually not. Many migrations are staged, and where current handsets or cabling can carry across, we keep them. We tell you what genuinely needs replacing and what doesn't, before you spend a cent.
Will moving off old equipment disrupt my business?
Done properly, no. We port your existing numbers and schedule the cutover around your trading hours, and most migrations are live in days, not weeks. Your customers won't notice the switch — except that you answer faster.
Do you sell these legacy brands?
No. We're vendor-neutral and we specialise in moving businesses off ageing, unsupported systems onto a modern platform that fits. The one exception is that we're an authorised Yealink reseller and a 3CX Partner, so we can supply known-good handsets and software where they suit you.
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