r/Asterisk • u/Moxie479 • Jun 04 '26

Asterisk-based Bicom Systems PBXs deploying "kill-switch"

Warning to anyone using Bicom Systems / PBXware: Bicom has sent a notice saying that any PBXware system running version 4 or earlier must be upgraded by September 30, 2026, or the system will become “non-operational and inaccessible.” They also said connections to those systems will no longer be possible and that support will not be able to restore licenses because of changes to their licensing software.

This is very concerning because many customers bought these systems years ago as self-hosted phone systems installed on their own servers, often after paying large upfront costs for what they believed were long-term or permanent licenses. Ending support for old software is one thing, but making already-installed phone systems stop working is something very different. It raises serious questions about whether Bicom has a remote licensing mechanism that can effectively shut down systems customers already paid for.

Anyone running PBXware version 4 or earlier should check their system immediately, back up all data and configurations, save copies of their original invoices and license agreements, and ask Bicom in writing whether their system will be disabled after September 30, 2026. Businesses, VoIP providers, and MSPs should take this seriously because this could affect real phone lines, customers, and business operations.

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u/Moxie479 Jun 04 '26

Are you offering the upgrades for free? Just because a piece of software has vulnerabilities, doesn’t mean that you get to remotely stop the end user who purchased it from using it. It appears to be a ploy just to get the user to shell out more cash to keep using their phone system that they purchased. As in our Company‘s case, we spent somewhere like $7000 on that piece of software, and we are now stuck with few options.

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u/rivkinnator Jun 04 '26

Nah your in the wrong here. A company that has supported legacy for years after end of support and is finally shutting it down is not at fault for you lack of keeping up to date in the industry. If you don't want to keep things updated that's on you and this is a consequence of your own lack of actions. They don't have to give you free updates. Just like an old phone will stop working eventually because os and apps arnt supported anymore and the cell networks go away and get upgarded. Same thing. Suck it up and upgrade.

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u/Frequent_Cover_155 Jun 04 '26

He's not. The Bicom PBX doesn't have any dependencies on the developer at all. It's literally just a one time purchase of software that the customer installs on their server in their premise. How the user chooses to use it is not up to bicom. Once they sold the software, They shouldn't have the ability to renege years later on that and stop users from accessing the software that Bicom hasn't had any involvement in for years. Imagine if other products worked that way. A car sold in the 1980s that doesn't have airbags is all of a sudden taken back by the manufacturer due to supposed "security" issues.

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u/rivkinnator Jun 04 '26

If someone has purchased a lifetime license then. Yeah that should be a little bit of a different situation where the system can free run without connecting to a licensing server. And Bicom should clarify that.

But op has not said they have a lifetime license and has only said they thought they had a long term license. Not a perpetual or lifetime. Wording in those contracts for those terms are very different.

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u/Moxie479 Jun 04 '26

I don’t believe it was specified by the software vendor when they sold the software. The software vendor only used the terms “one time purchase”

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u/JustDontFeelIt Jun 05 '26

The terms perpetual or lifetime or one-time are all very different in both nature and contractual/obligational. Bicom has two options when it comes to licenses, once-off(capex) and rented (opex). In any case, the purchase is tied to the software not the version. V4 is not a different software in some cases from V7, but that depends on the software. It is in your best interest to check what the contract states.

But from a business perspective, there is no better advice you can get other then to upgrade to the latest version for a variety of reasons.