Mitel Business Phone Systems Review

Mitel is a Canadian telecommunications company that has supplied business phone systems since 1973. Once a major player in cloud UCaaS, Mitel sold its cloud business to RingCentral in 2021-2024. It now focuses on hybrid and on-premise phone systems for mid-market and enterprise customers.

If you are a UK business considering Mitel, the landscape has changed significantly. This review covers what Mitel offers in 2026, the RingCentral transition, and what happened to MiCloud. It also asks whether Mitel’s remaining products are worth considering alongside fully cloud alternatives like RingCentral, Dialpad, and bOnline.

What Happened to Mitel?

Mitel sold intellectual property and patents to RingCentral for $650 million (announced late 2021), then sold its remaining cloud customers in 2024. In March 2025 it went through a prepackaged Chapter 11 restructuring. Mitel now focuses on hybrid and on-premise phone systems.

The timeline of Mitel’s transformation:

• 2021 – Mitel sold intellectual property and patents to RingCentral for $650 million. RingCentral became Mitel’s exclusive cloud UCaaS partner, migrating MiCloud customers to the RingCentral platform
• 2022 – Mitel underwent financial restructuring under its private equity owners (Searchlight Capital)
• 2024 – Mitel sold the remainder of its cloud business to RingCentral and ended the exclusive partnership. RingCentral’s payment for the remaining cloud customers was reported at about $30 million
• 2024 – Mitel announced a strategic partnership with Zoom (Sept 2024), offering Zoom Workplace and Zoom AI Companion alongside Mitel’s on-premise platform for a hybrid approach, with platform rollout continuing through 2025
• 2025 – Mitel filed a prepackaged Chapter 11 in March 2025 with about $1.3 billion of debt and emerged in June 2025 with $1.15 billion less debt, owned by its former lenders rather than Searchlight Capital

If you were previously a MiCloud Connect customer, your service should already have moved to RingCentral, which acquired the platform and its customers in 2024. Contact RingCentral or your reseller if you are unsure. New UK businesses looking for cloud phone systems should go directly to RingCentral rather than through Mitel.

Mitel Products in 2026

Mitel now sells two main product lines: MiVoice Business (on-premise PBX for mid-market) and MiVoice MX-ONE (large enterprise platform). Both focus on hybrid deployments combining on-site hardware with select cloud features.

Mitel no longer offers a standalone cloud phone system. If you want cloud capabilities, Mitel’s current strategy pairs its on-premise platforms with Zoom’s cloud services through their 2024 partnership.

Best Mitel Phones: 6900 Series Comparison

Mitel’s current desk phone line is the 6900 series. These are SIP phones designed to work with MiVoice Business, MiVoice MX-ONE, and most third-party SIP-compatible platforms. Mitel lists nine 6900-series models, from the entry-level 6907 and 6910 up to the 7-inch 6940w touchscreen, plus antimicrobial 6920wt and 6930wt variants for healthcare. The table below covers the 6920w, 6930w and 6940w desk phones and the 6970 conference phone, which Mitel lists as a separate product. Mitel also still lists its older 5300 IP series and 700d DECT handsets.

Mitel points entry-level users to the 6907 or 6910, and power users and remote workers to the 6915, 6920w or 6930w. Of the models in the table, the 6920w suits users who want built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and the 6930w suits sales staff, supervisors or anyone needing more programmable keys (12, against 6). The 6940w’s touchscreen and Bluetooth MobileLink make it a sensible upgrade for executive desks. The 6970 is purpose-built for shared spaces and shouldn’t be deployed on individual desks.

Mitel does not publish UK handset prices. For handset pricing, get a quote from a UK Mitel partner.

Mitel Hosted / Cloud Options in 2026

The Mitel cloud story has changed materially. MiCloud Connect (Mitel’s cloud-first UCaaS) is no longer sold to new UK customers. It reached end-of-sale in June 2022. In June 2024 the product, its IP and its customer base were acquired outright by RingCentral, which now serves former MiCloud Connect customers.

What Mitel does still actively sell into the UK in 2026:

• MiVoice Business – the primary active platform for 10-1,000 user UK deployments. Available on-premise, private cloud, or hybrid. The new-customer default.
• MiVoice MX-ONE – enterprise on-premise PBX for 500 to 500,000-user deployments. Multi-site, hospitality, high-availability scenarios.
• Mitel CX – contact-centre platform (formerly MiContact Center Business / Enterprise lines, now consolidated under the Mitel CX brand).
• OpenScape – inherited from the Unify acquisition; still sold to enterprise and public-sector customers in the UK.

If you’re specifically looking for a fully cloud-first UCaaS Mitel product comparable to RingCentral or Vonage, that product no longer exists for new UK buyers. In 2026 the choice is either: deploy Mitel on-premise / hybrid with MiVoice Business, or move to a true cloud platform from a different vendor. For cloud-first alternatives, our best UK VoIP providers guide covers the modern options.

Mitel for Hotels and Hospitality

Hospitality is one of the few verticals where Mitel maintains a strong purpose-built proposition. Mitel Hospitality runs on MiVoice Business or MiVoice MX-ONE. Mitel says it integrates with leading property-management systems (PMS), call accounting software and customer experience platforms, and supports multi-property deployments. Ask your reseller to confirm support for your specific PMS. The features hotels actually need – guest check-in / check-out triggers, room-status changes, voicemail-by-room-number, wake-up calls, minibar charging, do-not-disturb routing – are all handled natively rather than bolted on.

This is the main UK use case where buying Mitel in 2026 still makes sense over a cloud-first competitor. Check PMS compatibility with any cloud provider before you shortlist it, because bolt-on workarounds can add friction at the front desk.

For a 50-room independent hotel, Mitel hospitality is overkill – a cloud system with manual check-in routing usually suffices. For 200+ rooms or multi-property operations, Mitel hospitality is worth shortlisting, provided your reseller confirms it works with your PMS.

UCaaS with Desk Phone + Mobile App: How Mitel Compares

A common UK question is whether Mitel offers the same desk-phone-plus-mobile-app dual-device experience as RingCentral, 8×8, and Vonage Business. The answer: yes, but with caveats. The 6930w and 6940w both pair to a mobile via Bluetooth MobileLink. Mitel’s mobile app (MiCollab Mobile) extends voice and presence to iOS and Android.

The differentiator now isn’t desk-phone-vs-mobile capability – all four handle that competently. It’s deployment model. Mitel’s strongest play in 2026 is on-premise or hybrid for organisations with security, compliance, or data-residency reasons to keep telephony in-house. For a true cloud-first UCaaS purchase by a UK SME today, the case for Mitel is weaker than it was three years ago. Most new buyers should evaluate RingCentral, 8×8, or Vonage first.

Mitel vs Cloud-First Alternatives

For most UK SMEs, cloud-first providers like RingCentral, bOnline, and Dialpad offer more features at lower cost than Mitel’s on-premise systems. Mitel remains relevant for enterprises with hybrid deployment requirements.

Who Should Still Consider Mitel?

Mitel is worth considering if you are a mid-to-large enterprise with existing Mitel hardware or specific on-premise requirements. It also suits regulated industries that mandate local call processing.

Mitel still makes sense in these specific scenarios:

• Existing Mitel customers – if you already own MiVoice hardware and it is working well, upgrading within the Mitel ecosystem may be simpler than a full platform migration
• Regulated environments – healthcare, government, and financial services organisations that require on-premise call processing for compliance reasons
• Sites with unreliable broadband – on-premise PBX provides consistent call quality regardless of internet performance
• Large multi-site enterprises – organisations with 500+ users across multiple locations where Mitel’s MX-ONE provides proven scalability

For everyone else – particularly UK SMEs under 200 employees – cloud VoIP providers offer more features, lower costs, faster deployment, and better remote working support.

Our Verdict on Mitel in 2026

Mitel is no longer a cloud phone system provider. UK SMEs should look at RingCentral (which now owns Mitel’s cloud technology) or other cloud-first alternatives. Mitel remains viable for enterprises with specific on-premise requirements.

Rating: 7/10. Mitel’s hardware is solid and its enterprise platform is proven, but the company’s strategic pivot away from cloud makes it increasingly niche. Mitel’s exclusive UCaaS deal with RingCentral ended in 2024, and it now pairs its on-premise platforms with Zoom Workplace instead. For UK businesses evaluating phone systems in 2026, cloud-first providers are likely the better options.

Compare cloud alternatives (prices per user per month): RingCentral (from £12.99/user on annual billing, now owns Mitel’s cloud tech), bOnline (from £7/user + VAT for small teams), Dialpad (from £12/user on annual billing, with AI), Vonage (from £10/user excluding VAT, with metered outbound calls on that tier), GoTo Connect (international calling). See our full business phone systems comparison or UK VoIP providers guide.

Emma Clarke

Technology & Payments Specialist

Emma covers the full range of business technology, including EPOS systems, merchant accounts, telecoms, and web tools. Her experience as a retail systems consultant helps businesses choose the right digital solutions to improve efficiency and sales.

Reviewed by

Sarah Mitchell

B2B Commerce & Finance Reviewer