Have the Cisco CP-7962 / CP-7965 phones been delivered with the 'Cisco

[dball79]

Hello!

I have been looking at VoIP phones of the CP-7962 and CP-7965 types on eBay and I noticed that, judging by the photos, many of them are being sold with the 'Cisco Unified Wideband Handset.'

Here:

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/collaboration-endpoints/unified-wideband-handset/product_data_sheet0900aecd806aab2b.html 

you can find an illustration of the Wideband Handset and the 'normal' handset side by side. You can easily recognize the Wideband Handset as such directly from a photo.

As mentioned before, there are several 7962/7965 phones on eBay that, based on the photo, appear to be sold with the Wideband Handset. However, this is never explicitly mentioned in the articles, as if the devices came out of the box without any upgrades.

Therefore, I would like to know:

Were the Cisco CP-7962 / CP-7965 phones ever delivered with the 'Cisco Unified Wideband Handset' from the factory?

If not, has a large number of Wideband Handsets been sold in the past, making their use almost a standard?

Thank you for your help."

[b.winter]

The answer to your first question is already in the link you provided: "The new handset is sold as an add-on accessory that can be installed to many Cisco Unified IP phone models."

To your 2nd question: How should the forum be able to answer that question? There are nearly no Cisco guys here and I think you know better, that any external guys won't have any sale numbers ...

[Maren Mahoney]

@b.winter - It is not uncommon for Cisco folks to cruise these forums, and not everyone knows who is here and who is not. We are here to help, not to discourage new folks from posting by talking down to them or making them feel stupid.

Maren

[dball79]

Yes, I understand that these handsets were originally sold as add-on accessories. However, it's also possible that they could be ordered as upgrades directly when buying a new phone, similar to how you can order leather seats or alloy wheels with a new car.

I'm not really interested in knowing the sales numbers. My question is more about the community's experience. Particularly, IT professionals with extensive experience usually have a good understanding of the market. In many YouTube videos about VoIP, it's often mentioned that these phones were widely used.

The product description I found includes information that the wideband handsets have a 14-digit number below the cable jack, and I noticed that this number is missing on the phones being sold on eBay.

Could it be possible that these phones on eBay do not actually have wideband handsets?

It's conceivable that both wideband and narrowband handsets now look the same, and the only way to differentiate them is through this 14-digit number.

These are things that someone from the industry, who manages large VoIP systems professionally, might know. That's what my question is aiming at.

I hope someone can provide some insight on this.

[Maren Mahoney · Accepted solution]

Right. So. Yes, starting sometime in 2016 Cisco started shipping the Wideband Handsets. However, the 7962 phones went EoS in February 2016. So it is unlikely that the 7962s ever shipped with the wideband handsets. (I'm guessing a full 'no' on that, but don't have direct knowledge.)

The 7965s were sold until 2018, though, and did ship by default with the wideband handset once they became available. Cisco didn't make the older handsets anymore, and tried to sell the widebands as an add-on for the older phone models that supported it. (I doubt they sold very many.)

The 14-digit number on the handset is the tell, regardless. If the handset doesn't have it, it's not a wideband handset. The person posting on eBay is probably pulling information from Cisco's website and doesn't really know - just posting what 'looks right'.

Maren

[Carlo Poggiarelli]

Hi ,

Cisco phones you mentioned are already in EoS and they also cannot be found as refurbished on Cisco’s Global Price list.

In general Phones and headsets are sold separately. All accessories other then Phone, handset, handset’s rj11 cord and a utp RJ45 ethernet cable , are not included.

Cisco , in general, discourages customers to buy on gray markets to avoid lack of maintenance and support.

For further information please don’t hesitate to post here.

HTH

Regards

Carlo