Yealink AX Wi-Fi IP Phones

AX phones have no base station: they connect through your Wi-Fi access points, so the access points need to be set up for voice. Yealink lists two must-haves: support for 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax, and 802.11r fast roaming turned on. It also recommends 802.11k and 802.11v, voice priority (WMM, with DSCP 46 for audio), band steering toward 5 GHz, and no DFS channels on 5 GHz, because a DFS channel switch can drop calls. See Yealink's access point requirements, or Talk to an Advisor before a fleet order.

Who Wi-Fi handsets are for

A Wi-Fi handset is a cordless IP phone that roams your Wi-Fi with the person carrying it. Yealink's roaming guide describes moving around a large area, such as an office or warehouse, without call interruptions as the phone switches access points. Yealink names offices, small and mid-sized businesses, warehouses, supermarkets and hotels for the AX83H, and healthcare, manufacturing, warehouses, transportation and education for the rugged AX86R.

AX83H or AX86R?

Both have a 2.4 in color screen, dual-band Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, a 3.5 mm headset jack, up to 4 SIP accounts, local 5-way conferencing and a hearing aid compatible handset. The differences:

• Build: the AX86R is IP67 waterproof and dustproof, rated for drops up to 1.8 m (5.9 ft), antibacterial and resistant to chemical cleaning. Yealink lists no IP or drop rating for the AX83H.
• Keys and safety: the AX86R has a push-to-talk key and a red alarm key, and supports man-down, no-movement and running alarms. The AX83H supports the button alarm only, and its data sheet lists no PTT or alarm key.
• Battery: up to 13 hours of talk and 300 hours of standby on the AX86R (3100 mAh), against 9 and 200 hours on the AX83H (2000 mAh). These are Yealink's lab figures.
• Weight: 126 g (4.4 oz) for the AX83H, 218 g (7.7 oz) for the AX86R.
• Audio: both have Yealink's HD audio and noise cancellation. The AX86R adds dual noise-canceling microphones and Acoustic Shield.

Check the temperature range for cold rooms or outdoor work: Yealink rates both for 0 to 40°C (32 to 104°F).

What your Wi-Fi network needs

Yealink publishes access point requirements for AX phones. In short:

• Must have: access points that support 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax, with 802.11r fast roaming enabled.
• Recommended: 802.11k and 802.11v enabled, WMM with DSCP 46 for audio and DSCP 26 for SIP, band steering toward 5 GHz, channels 1, 6 and 11 on 2.4 GHz, DFS off on 5 GHz, and a minimum basic rate of 12 Mbps so phones move to a stronger access point sooner.
• Roaming: when the access points share one controller, SSID and subnet and support 802.11k/r/v, Yealink says a call switches access points in under 100 ms with no loss of audio.
• Access points: Yealink's compatible list includes the Cisco Catalyst 9105i and 9115, Aruba 503 and 610 Series, Ruckus R350 and H350, TP-Link AX3000, Ubiquiti U6+ and U6 Long-Range, and Netgear WAX615 and WAX628.
• Security: WPA, WPA2 and WPA3, 802.1X, and WPA3-Enterprise from firmware 180.87.0.5.

Wi-Fi or DECT?

Both give staff a cordless phone. The difference is what the handsets connect to:

• Wi-Fi (Yealink AX): each handset joins your Wi-Fi and registers up to 4 SIP accounts itself, so coverage follows your access points. Yealink states no range for the handsets. Talk time is up to 9 hours on the AX83H and 13 on the AX86R.
• DECT (Yealink W Series, Poly Rove): handsets register to a DECT base station that connects to your network by Ethernet. Yealink's W70B base takes up to 10 handsets and 10 SIP accounts, reaches up to 50 m (164 ft) indoors in ideal conditions and works with up to 6 RT30 repeaters. For more handsets or roaming between bases, Yealink makes the W80 (up to 100 handsets) and W90 (up to 250) multi-cell systems. Yealink rates its W73H handset for up to 35 hours of talk time in ideal conditions.

If your Wi-Fi already covers the site and meets the requirements above, AX handsets need no extra hardware. If it doesn't, or you'd rather keep voice off your Wi-Fi, compare Yealink W Series DECT phones and Poly Rove DECT phones.

Does the phone stay at a desk?

If staff stay at their desks and the only problem is a missing network cable, a desk phone with built-in Wi-Fi may suit better. In the Yealink T Series, the T34W has dual-band Wi-Fi built in, and the T74W and T85W have Wi-Fi 6.

Push-to-talk, paging and alarms

• Push-to-talk: the AX86R has a dedicated PTT key for one-press calls to your team. Yealink's firmware 180.87.0.5 (May 2025) added push-to-talk to both models, but the AX83H data sheet lists no PTT key, so ask us how it works on that model before you plan around it.
• Alarms: on the AX86R, a 3 second press or a double click of the red alarm key (your administrator picks which) sets off an alarm, and the phone also supports man-down, no-movement and running alarms. The AX83H supports the button alarm only. Alarms stay off until an administrator turns them on, and each one either calls a set number or reports to a server, so plan who receives them.
• Paging: both list multicast paging. Yealink's guide gives 31 paging channels and says every phone in a paging group must be on the same subnet.

Charging and batteries

Yealink's data sheets list a charger cradle, a rechargeable battery, a belt clip and a power adapter in each box. You can also charge from the USB-C port, but Yealink doesn't include a USB-C cable, and it states no charge time. Covering back-to-back shifts? Talk to an Advisor before you decide how many handsets to buy.

Setting up a fleet

AX phones share one firmware and are managed in Yealink's YDMP or YMCS platforms. Wi-Fi can be set up from a smartphone and shared to many handsets over the air, and through Yealink's RPS service a new phone can pull its Wi-Fi and account settings from your provisioning server.

Teams, Zoom and your phone system

AX phones are SIP phones with up to 4 SIP accounts each. Microsoft lists both as compatible with Teams through its SIP Gateway (from firmware 180.87.0.5), but neither is on Yealink's lists of Teams or Zoom phones. Yealink's data sheets name no phone providers, so check your provider's supported phone list before you buy.

Buying for a team

Rolling out handsets across a site? Get a team quote. We take purchase orders, tax-exempt orders and payment terms for enterprise, government, education and healthcare teams. Not sure which handset fits? Talk to an Advisor.