First Published: September 5, 2019

Last Updated: February 10, 2021

Cisco IP Phone 8800 Series Release Notes for Firmware Release 12.6(1)

These release notes support the Cisco IP Phone 8811, 8841, 8845, 8851, 8851NR, 8861, 8865, and 8865NR running SIP Firmware Release 12.6(1).

The following table lists the support and protocol compatibility for the Cisco IP Phones.

Table 1. Cisco IP Phones, Support, and Firmware Release Compatibility

Cisco IP Phone

Protocol

Support Requirements

8811, 8841, 8845, 8851, 8851NR, 8861, 8865, and 8865NR

SIP

Cisco Unified Communications Manager 8.5(1) and later

Cisco Unified Communications Manager DST Olsen version D or later

SRST 8.0 (IOS load 15.1(1)T) and above

Cisco Expressway 8.7

8811, 8841, 8851, 8851NR, and 8861

SIP

CME 10.0 (IOS load 15.3(3)M)

For information about phone hardware versions and the minimum firmware versions, see https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cuipph/8800-series/english/compatibility/p881_b_phone-8800-series-compatibility.html.

Related Documentation

Use the following sections to obtain related information.

New Hardware

New Cisco IP Phones 8811, 8841, 8851, 8851NR, and 8861 Hardware

The Cisco IP Phones 8811, 8841, 8851, 8851NR, and 8861 has hardware updates. The new hardware version is V15.

Phones that are manufactured with the hardware updates must run Firmware Release 12.6(1) or later. The phone firmware does not allow the phone to be downgraded to releases earlier than Firmware Release 12.6(1). There is no hardware upgrade for Cisco IP Phone 8845, 8865, or 8865NR.

This feature has no user impact.

New and Changed Features

The following sections describe the features that are new or have changed in this release.


Note

Some features may require the installation of a Cisco Unified Communications Manager Device Package. Failure to install the Device Package before the phone firmware upgrade may render the phones unusable.

Features Available with the Firmware Release

The following sections describe the features available with the Firmware Release.

Revert to Primary Line in Session Line Mode

When a user is set up for Session line mode, the phone always uses the primary line for outgoing calls unless the user selects another line. If the user has calls on multiple lines, the calls are handled in sequence. When the last call ends, the phone reverts to the primary line.

You don't need to enable Revert to All Calls and Show All Calls on Primary Line for reversion to work.

Where to Find More Information

  • Cisco IP Phone 8800 Series Administration Guide for Cisco Unified Communications Manager

Improved Enhanced Line Mode Line Labels for Calls

If you use Enhanced line mode, you see the following information displayed on the line label for your incoming calls:

  • The name of the person or line receiving the call.

  • The word On followed by the name of the person or line used to make the call.

This feature does not require any administration or user configuration.

Where to Find More Information

  • Cisco IP Phone 8800 Series User Guide

Installation

Installation Requirements

Before you install the firmware release, you must ensure that your Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Unified CM) is running the latest device pack. After you install a device pack on the Unified CM servers in the cluster, you need to reboot all the servers.


Note

If your Unified CM doesn't have the required device pack to support this firmware release, the firmware may not work correctly.

For information on the Unified CM Device Packs, see https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/voice_ip_comm/cucm/compat/matrix/CMDP_BK_CCBDA741_00_cucm-device-package-compatibility-matrix.html.

Install the Firmware Release on Cisco Unified Communications Manager

Before using the phone firmware release on the Cisco Unified Communications Manager, you must install the latest Cisco Unified Communications Manager firmware on all Cisco Unified Communications Manager servers in the cluster.

Procedure

Step 1

Go to the following URL:

https://software.cisco.com/download/navigator.html?mdfid=284729655&flowid=75283

Step 2

Choose Cisco IP Phone 8800 Series.

Step 3

Choose your phone type.

Step 4

Choose Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Software.

Step 5

In the Latest Releases folder, choose 12.6(1).

Step 6

Select the firmware file, click the Download or Add to cart button, and follow the prompts:

  • For Cisco IP Phone 8811, 8841, 8851, 8851NR, and 8861—cmterm-88xx-sip.12-6-1-0001-668.k3.cop.sgn

  • For Cisco IP Phone 8845, 8865, and 8865NR—cmterm-8845_65-sip.12-6-1-0001-668.k3.cop.sgn

Note 

If you added the firmware file to the cart, click the Download Cart link when you are ready to download the file.

Step 7

Click the + next to the firmware file name in the Download Cart section to access additional information about this file. The hyperlink for the readme file is in the Additional Information section, which contains installation instructions for the corresponding firmware.

Step 8

Follow the instructions in the readme file to install the firmware.

Install the Firmware Zip Files

If a Cisco Unified Communications Manager is not available to load the installer program, the following .zip files are available to load the firmware:

  • For Cisco IP Phone 8811, 8841, 8851, 8851NR, and 8861—cmterm-88xx.12-6-1-0001-668.zip

  • For Cisco IP Phone 8845, 8865, and 8865NR—cmterm-8845_65.12-6-1-0001-668.zip

Firmware upgrades over the WLAN interface may take longer than upgrades using a wired connection. Upgrade times over the WLAN interface may take more than an hour, depending on the quality and bandwidth of the wireless connection.

Procedure

Step 1

Go to the following URL:

https://software.cisco.com/download/navigator.html?mdfid=284729655&flowid=75283

Step 2

Choose Cisco IP Phones 8800 Series.

Step 3

Choose your phone model.

Step 4

Choose Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Software.

Step 5

In the Latest Releases folder, choose 12.6(1).

Step 6

Download the relevant zip files.

Step 7

Unzip the files.

Step 8

Manually copy the unzipped files to the directory on the TFTP server. See Cisco Unified Communications Operating System Administration Guide for information about how to manually copy the firmware files to the server.

Limitations and Restrictions

Phone Behavior During Times of Network Congestion

Anything that degrades network performance can affect phone audio and video quality, and in some cases, can cause a call to drop. Sources of network degradation can include, but are not limited to, the following activities:

  • Administrative tasks, such as an internal port scan or security scan

  • Attacks that occur on your network, such as a Denial of Service attack

Health-Care Environment Use

This product is not a medical device and uses an unlicensed frequency band that is susceptible to interference from other devices or equipment.

On-Hook Transfer Limitation in SIP Phones

When the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Transfer On-Hook Enabled field is enabled, users might report a problem with direct call transfer in SIP phones. If the user transfers the call and immediately goes on hook before they hear the ring signal, the call may drop instead of being transferred.

The user needs to hear the ring signal so that they can be sure that the call is being routed.

Ringtone Limitation During Firmware Downgrade from Release 11.5(1)

When the phone downgrades from Firmware Release 11.5(1) to Firmware Release 11.0(1), the phone may not ring when there is an incoming call. The ringtone for the line has been deleted and must be manually set in the Settings > Ringtone menu.

Language Limitation

There is no localized Keyboard Alphanumeric Text Entry (KATE) support for the following Asian locales:

  • Chinese (China)

  • Chinese (Hong Kong)

  • Chinese (Taiwan)

  • Japanese (Japan)

  • Korean (Korea Republic)

The default English (United States) KATE is presented to the user instead.

For example, the phone screen will show text in Korean, but the 2 key on the keypad will display a b c 2 A B C.

Softkey Templates and Video Mode

You can't configure softkey templates for Video mode on the Cisco IP Phone 8800 Series phones. If a softkey appears on the phone, then it will not function correctly.

Caveats

View Caveats

You can search for caveats using the Cisco Bug Search.

Known caveats (bugs) are graded according to severity level, and can be either open or resolved.

Procedure

Step 1

Perform one of the following actions:

Step 2

When prompted, log in with your Cisco.com user ID and password.

Step 3

(Optional) Enter the bug ID number in the Search for field, then press Enter.

Open Caveats

The following list contains severity 1, 2, and 3 defects that are open for the Cisco IP Phone 8800 Series for Firmware Release 12.7(1).

For more information about an individual defect, access the Bug Search toolkit and search for the defect using the Identifier. You must be a registered Cisco.com user to access this online information.

Because defect status continually changes, the list reflects a snapshot of the defects that were open at the time this report was compiled. For an updated view of open defects, access Bug Toolkit as described in View Caveats.

  • CSCvo71625 - sometimes the phone screen doesn't display the last digit of the phone number

  • CSCvo74172 - 8861 phone should not roaming from WLC with Platinum QOS to WLC with Silver QOS

  • CSCvp34626 - No wifi icon displayed at the upper right corner of LCD after wifi connection done

  • CSCvp52753 - 8861 stuck in Authenticating status

  • CSCvq10079 - Phone can't connect to the network with new channel after change channel from wlc several times

  • CSCvq21512 - 8861 deregister when running JFW roaming about 3 hours(EAP-TLS with WPA2 11r over the DS)

  • CSCvq32455 8845_65 ip phone reset/restart intermittently after disconnect of a call

  • CSCvq37245 - Active server shows empty under phone information page in ipv6 only mode

  • CSCvq44854 - DUT cannot get ip address after many times reboot by script

  • CSCvq59064 - 802.11r fast transition sometimes failed to work on 8861

  • CSCvq89463 8845/8865 freezing randomly

Resolved Caveats

The following list contains the severity 1, 2, and 3 defects that are resolved for the Cisco IP Phone 8800 Series that uses Firmware Release 12.6(1).

For more information about an individual defect, you can access the online record for the defect from the Bug Search Toolkit. You must be a registered Cisco.com user to access this online information.

Because defect status continually changes, the list reflects a snapshot of the defects that were open at the time this report was compiled. For an updated view of resolved defects or to view specific bugs, access the Bug Search Toolkit as described in View Caveats.

  • CSCvi48426 - The ROC reset on the phone is caused by the key/salt change after hold/resume

  • CSCvq06927 - DUT failed to start scan after many times reboot by script

  • CSCvq25577 - 8861 phone hang in the CISCO screen during running the device reset stress test

  • CSCvq37400 - Improve new call performance

  • CSCvq38717 - cdp packets sent by phone to sw port also copied to pc port

  • CSCvq40585 - DUT cannot get ip addr from DHCP server after switching wifi profiles for many times

  • CSCvq46210 - CSS loading fails during soft reboot in stress call testing

  • CSCvq52160 - The prompt message display abnormal during register the phone on cucm through VPN

  • CSCvq57580 - there is no headset menu item in accessories when connected md with usb1

  • CSCvq61098 - One wall powered phone keeps connecting and can't register after upgrade/reboot on 3560G PoE Switch

  • CSCvq73170 - doing some enhancement from jitterbuffer avoid BRCM decoder crash

  • CSCvq75057 - 88xx phones facing delay during Device Onboarding via Activation Codes

  • CSCvq77859 - update BT firmware for 8861 phones  and add soft link to BT firmware for all BT phone models

Cisco Unified Communication Manager Public Keys

To improve software integrity protection, new public keys are used to sign cop files for Cisco Unified Communications Manager Release 10.0.1 and later. These cop files have "k3" in their name. To install a k3 cop file on a pre-10.0.1 Cisco Unified Communications Manager, consult the README for the ciscocm.version3-keys.cop.sgn to determine if this additional cop file must first be installed on your specific Cisco Unified Communications Manager version. If these keys are not present and are required, you will see the error "The selected file is not valid" when you try to install the software package.

Unified Communications Manager Endpoints Locale Installer

By default, Cisco IP Phones are set up for the English (United States) locale. To use the Cisco IP Phones in other locales, you must install the locale-specific version of the Unified Communications Manager Endpoints Locale Installer on every Cisco Unified Communications Manager server in the cluster. The Locale Installer installs the latest translated text for the phone user interface and country-specific phone tones on your system so that they are available for the Cisco IP Phones.

To access the Locale Installer required for a release, access https://software.cisco.com/download/navigator.html?mdfid=286037605&flowid=46245, navigate to your phone model, and select the Unified Communications Manager Endpoints Locale Installer link.

For more information, see the documentation for your particular Cisco Unified Communications Manager release.


Note

The latest Locale Installer may not be immediately available; continue to check the website for updates.

Cisco IP Phone Documentation Updates on Cisco Unified Communications Manager

The Cisco Unified Communications Manager Self Care Portal (Release 10.0 and later) and User Options web pages (Release 9.1 and earlier) provide links to the IP Phone user guides in PDF format. These user guides are stored on the Cisco Unified Communications Manager and are up to date when the Cisco Unified Communications Manager release is first made available to customers.

After a Cisco Unified Communications Manager release, subsequent updates to the user guides appear only on the Cisco website. The phone firmware release notes contain the applicable documentation URLs. In the web pages, updated documents display "Updated" beside the document link.


Note

The Cisco Unified Communications Manager Device Packages and the Unified Communications Manager Endpoints Locale Installer do not update the English user guides on the Cisco Unified Communications Manager.

You and your users should check the Cisco website for updated user guides and download the PDF files. You can also make the files available to your users on your company website.


Tip

You may want to bookmark the web pages for the phone models that are deployed in your company and send these URLs to your users.