How to Set the Correct Time on Your Avaya Phone (IP and Digital Models)

Why the Time on Your Avaya Phones Keeps Being Wrong

An Avaya phone that displays the wrong time isn't just a minor annoyance. It throws off voicemail timestamps, disrupts call routing based on time-of-day schedules, and can cause auto-attendant greetings to play at the wrong times. If your phones are showing the wrong time or reset after every reboot, the fix starts inside the system configuration, not on the phone itself.

Avaya phones get their time from the phone system, not from an internal clock. That means adjusting the time on individual phones does nothing permanent; the system pushes the time back to whatever it's configured to use.

How Avaya IP Office Gets Its Time

IP Office has three time source options, controlled by a setting called Time Setting Configuration Source inside IP Office Manager. The three options are SNTP (a time server on the internet or your local network), Voicemail Pro/Manager (where the Voicemail Pro server or IP Office Manager acts as the time source), and None (where the time is set manually from a designated phone).

Choosing the right source for your environment is the most important decision in this process. Here's what each one means in practice.

Option 1: SNTP: The Recommended Method

SNTP stands for Simple Network Time Protocol. It's the same method computers use to stay accurately synchronized. The system checks in with a time server on the internet and keeps itself updated automatically.

The best approach is to point the Time Setting Config Source to an SNTP server. If your office runs on a Windows network, pointing IP Office at your Primary Domain Controller keeps the phone system's time in sync with all other devices on the network automatically. Alternatively, a public SNTP server address works just as well.

To configure SNTP in IP Office Manager:

• Open the IP Office Manager and receive the configuration

• Navigate to System > System tab

• Set Time Setting Config Source to SNTP

• Enter the SNTP server address, use your Windows server's IP address, or a public server such as 0.pool.ntp.org

• Save and merge the configuration

If using a public SNTP server, entering multiple server addresses is recommended, as the system uses responses from each to determine reliability, and having backups prevents time drift if one server becomes unreachable.

One important note: your firewall must allow outbound UDP traffic on port 123 for the system to reach an external SNTP server. If SNTP isn't working, this is the first thing to check with your IT team.

Option 2: Voicemail Pro / Manager

IP Office can obtain its time from the Voicemail Pro server or from a PC running IP Office Manager. Both act as time servers using the RFC868 protocol. Note that this is different from standard NTP, and other RFC868 sources are not supported.

This option works well in environments where Voicemail Pro is running on a dedicated Windows server that maintains accurate time. To configure it:

• In IP Office Manager, navigate to System > System tab

• Set Time Setting Config Source to VoiceMail Pro/Manager

• Save and merge

An important caveat: if IP Office Manager is open and running when Voicemail Pro starts, Voicemail Pro does not start its time server process. Always close IP Office Manager before starting or restarting Voicemail Pro; otherwise, the time sync won't function.

Option 3: Setting the Time Manually From a Phone

If your system has no access to a time server, the time can be set manually from a designated Avaya phone. This requires giving one user "System Phone Rights" in IP Office Manager first.

Step 1: Grant System Phone Rights in IP Office Manager:

• Open the IP Office Manager and receive the configuration

• Navigate to System > System tab

• Set Time Setting Config Source to None

• Navigate to the User section and select the user for the phone you'll use

• On the User tab, change System Phone Rights from None to Level 2

• Save and merge the configuration

Step 2: Set the time from the phone:

Press the Feature key, then press the down arrow until Phone User appears on the display and press Select. Press down to System Admin and press Select. Press down to Time and press Select or OK. Enter the correct time in 24-hour format using the keypad, using the * key for the colon, then press the Done soft key.

The date can be set the same way, navigate to Date instead of Time in the System Admin menu.

Setting the Time on an Avaya Partner ACS (Digital System)

The Partner ACS handles time differently from IP Office. The time is set directly from extension 10 or 11, no software or computer required.

• Press Feature 0 0 (the zero key twice)

• Press System Program, then System Program again

• Dial #103 for time or #101 for date

• Enter the time in 12-hour format (for example, 0130PM for 1:30 PM)

• Press Enter to confirm

The system applies the change immediately across all phones on the system.

Why the Time Keeps Drifting or Resetting

If the time is correct after a manual adjustment but drifts again after a reboot or within a few days, the cause is almost always one of these:

• Time source set to None with no phone override — the system has no automatic source and relies entirely on manual updates

• SNTP server unreachable — the firewall is blocking port 123, or the server address is incorrect

• Voicemail Pro not running — if the source is set to Voicemail Pro and the service is down, the system loses its time reference

• A time difference between the IP Office server and the local time standard, such as a 6-minute offset, points to the IP Office not being configured to use the customer's NTP server, causing gradual drift over time.

The permanent fix is always to configure a reliable automatic time source, SNTP being the most stable and recommended option.

Quick Reference: Time Setting by System Type

• IP Office — automatic, recommended: Set Time Setting Config Source to SNTP and enter a server address

• IP Office — server-based: Set to Voicemail Pro/Manager; ensure Manager is closed when VMP starts

• IP Office — manual: Set to None; grant System Phone Rights to a user; set time from their phone

• Partner ACS: Press Feature 0 0, dial #103, enter time in 12-hour format from extension 10 or 11

Still Showing the Wrong Time?

If the time keeps drifting, won't update after configuration changes, or is affecting your call routing and voicemail schedules, a qualified Avaya support provider can identify whether the issue is in the system configuration, the network, or the time source setup, and get it corrected permanently.