This article covers the following Cisco SPA range of desk phones which are currently supported by Callwise:


  • SPA303
  • SPA504G
  • SPA502



What should I do if my Cisco phone is displaying the Checking DNS message on screen?


This message is usually an early indication that the phone is having problems connecting to the internet for some reason.


Follow the following steps to try and fix the issue yourself:


  1. Check that your router or internet access point has internet access.
    The first check you need to make is that other devices connected to the same router are able to access the internet. Depending on how complicated your setup is, you may need to ask your IT Support to check this for you, however for a simple setup where only only one router is used to provide internet access for all devices in the building, you can simply check that a laptop or computer can access the internet. It's a good idea to try and load up one of our websites (https://portal.callwise.net) as this will check that you are able to access the Callwise network specifically.

  2. Check if it is just your phone or all phones in the building having the issue.
    1. All phones - If all phones are exhibiting the same behaviour, and you have verified that a computer can access portal.callwise.net, the first step is to try rebooting your router. For some commercial routers this will need to be done in a managed way, so contact your IT Support department. For a router supplied by your ISP (Sky, Virgin, TalkTalk etc) it will usually be sufficient to use the reset switch, or unplug the router from the wall, want 30 seconds and then plug it back in again.

    2. Just one phone - If just one phone has the issue please try unplugging the phone from the power supply, waiting 30 seconds and plugging it in again. If this doesn't resolve the issue then follow the instructions for All phones, above.

If the above steps do not resolve your issue, please contact us a support@callwise.net and we will try some further steps. Please provide the following information in your email:


  1. The current IP address of the phone. This can be retrieved as follows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnWhQdAtXEE
  2. The MAC address of the phone. This is printed on a sticker at the back of the phone, and will be labelled as "MAC ID"