VVX 500 vs VVX 501 — what changed?

Internal CPU refresh and current firmware track. Same chassis, same touch display, same line key layout, same USB port. The 501 is the direct successor; the 500 we carry mostly for existing-fleet continuity.

Does the VVX 500 have gigabit Ethernet?

No — dual 10/100 only. The VVX 501 still doesn't add gigabit, oddly — for gigabit on a touch VVX you have to step up to the VVX 601 (which adds gigabit, a larger 4.3-inch screen, and dual USB).

How responsive is the touchscreen?

It works, but it's not iPhone-fast. Touch is fine for occasional use — swiping through pages, tapping a contact to dial. Most users still default to the hard keys for heavy call handling because they're faster.

Can I use a USB headset?

Yes — the single USB-A port supports Poly, Plantronics, Jabra, and most other USB DSP headsets. The RJ9 jack still works in parallel.

Poly · VVX series · touch · color · 12-line

Poly VVX 500A touch · color · 12-line that just keeps working.

The VVX 500 was Poly's original twelve-line color touchscreen desk phone — a 3.5-inch capacitive touch display, USB-A port, RJ9 headset jack. Long-superseded by the VVX 501 (refreshed CPU) and the VVX 601 (larger screen), but still in production for SKU continuity. New buyers should generally look at the 501 or 601 instead.

Display

3.5″ color · 320×240

SIP accounts

12 lines

Ethernet

Dual 10/100

USB ports

1× USB

Bluetooth / Wi-Fi

—

Expansion

VVX EXP 50

$259 one-time

or rent for $17.99/mo — month-to-month, return anytime

Ships pre-configured · free next-business-day for orders $200+

Order a VVX 500 Rent for $17.99/mo Datasheet (PDF) ↓

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Poly VVX 500 VoIP desk phone — front view with handset and dialpad — Poly VVX 500

Why the VVX 500 is on the catalog.

The VVX 500 was Polycom's first touchscreen business desk phone, launched in 2012 alongside the VVX 600. The touch experience felt novel at the time — you could swipe through line key pages instead of tapping a soft key — but in practice most heavy users learned the hard keys and rarely touched the screen after the first week.

Mechanically the 500 is the touch equivalent of the VVX 400: same twelve lines, same color display, same expansion module support, plus a capacitive touch overlay and a USB port. It's still supported, but for new deployments the VVX 501 (refreshed CPU, current firmware) is the direct successor.

Where it isn't the right phone: for new orders, the VVX 501 (same chassis, faster CPU, current UCS) is a strict upgrade for similar money. If you want the bigger touchscreen experience, the VVX 601 has a 4.3-inch display and is sized for an executive desk. The 500's lack of gigabit Ethernet is the other real compromise versus the current-gen alternatives.

Full technical specifications.

Display & user interface
Display	3.5-inch 320×240 color LCD
Line keys	12 programmable line keys
Soft keys	4 context-sensitive soft keys under the display
Physical keys	Dialpad, hold, mute, transfer, headset, message, redial, volume, navigation
Languages	Multiple on-screen languages (English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, etc.)
VoIP & SIP
SIP accounts	Up to 12
SIP protocols	SIP v2 (RFC 3261), TLS / SRTP, NAT traversal, BLF / BLA, shared call appearance
Codecs	Opus, G.722, G.722.1, G.711a/μ, G.729AB, iLBC, Siren 14 / 22
DTMF	In-band, RFC 2833, SIP INFO
QoS	802.1p/Q VLAN tagging, DiffServ ToS, LLDP-MED
Audio
Speaker	Full-duplex with Polycom Acoustic Clarity (AEC, dynamic noise reduction)
HD voice	Polycom HD Voice on handset and speakerphone
Headset support	RJ9 headset jack, USB headset, EHS via APP-51 adapter (sold separately)
Connectivity
Ethernet	Dual 10/100 Mbps
PoE	IEEE 802.3af Class 2
USB	1 USB 2.0 host port
Bluetooth	Not supported
Wi-Fi	Not supported (USB dongle not officially supported)
Power & expansion
Power source	PoE 802.3af Class 2 (preferred) or Poly 5V/0.6A power adapter (sold separately)
Expansion module	VVX EXP 50
Physical
Weight	1.16 kg
Dimensions	262 × 178 × 165 mm
Wall-mountable	Yes
Operating temperature	0 to 40 °C (32 to 104 °F)
In the box (from voip.army)
Included	Handset, base unit, curl cord, ethernet cable, stand, quick-start card, voip.army provisioning card with extension & SIP credentials pre-loaded
Not included	Power adapter (PoE preferred), EHS adapter for wireless headsets, expansion module

How it works on voip.army.

Plug the VVX 500 into PoE and ethernet. About a minute later it has registered to your extension. Same auto-provisioning flow as every other supported phone — no SIP credentials to type, no firmware to chase.

60s

Time from plug-in to first call

Boot, fetch config from our provisioning server, register, ready. About one minute on a normal internet connection.

SIP accounts on one phone

Run up to 12 simultaneous SIP registrations. Each line key has a dual-color LED for status.

Per-device onboarding fees

Bringing your own? Send us the MAC, factory-reset, plug in. No charge to add it to the fleet.

100M

Ethernet to the workstation

10/100 Mbps pass-through is fine for voice but caps a daisy-chained workstation at 100 Mbps.

USB headset ports

USB host port for any standard headset (Jabra, Plantronics) — plug and play.

802.3af

PoE class

Class 2 on most VVX. Any standard 802.3af switch powers it; no separate adapter needed.

Need VVX 500s for every desk?

Tell us how many you need and what extensions to map. We ship pre-configured next business day; you plug them in and they work.

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✓ Free shipping on orders $200+ ✓ 30-day hardware return ✓ Pre-configured before shipping