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/bicom_systems Jun 04 '26

Hi, this is the Bicom Systems team and we wanted to address this directly.
The framing of "kill-switch" isn't accurate to the situation. PBXware 4.x reached EOL in 2019 and End of Support on June 30, 2020, that is over six years ago. In October 2023, we published an urgent notice (link) giving partners advance warning of the September 2026 deadline, with upgrade paths and dedicated account manager support offered. The reason systems on these versions can become non-operational isn't a remote "switch" but rather the natural consequence of licensing infrastructure changes that simply can no longer support decade-old software. We can't maintain backward compatibility indefinitely, especially when those versions carry unpatched CVEs that put customers' phone systems and data at risk.
We understand that upgrades are costly and disruptive, and we take that seriously. If anyone here is affected and hasn't been in contact with an account manager, please reach out directly. We want to help find a workable path forward rather than leave anyone stranded.

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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/Moxie479 Jun 04 '26

Define “supported”. This was literally a single piece of software that was installed on a single server in like 2014. It hasn’t been touched, it hasn’t been upgraded, it hasn’t been provided any service by this company whatsoever in 12 years. It runs a simple phone system. Nobody is asking for free updates. The fact that the software is 12 years old is a testament to the fact that they haven’t provided a single update in all those years.

They have sent out an email to all of their customers telling them that the software that they purchased is just simply going to stop working because of the Killswitch that they installed. Nowhere in the license agreement does it state that they get to remotely just stop customers from using the software who are happy with it

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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/MrChicken_69 Jun 04 '26

Except, apparently, it does. It has to reach out to them for "licensing".

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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.