3CX Basic Fundamentals

3CX Basic Fundamentals gives you all the basic information you need to be able to set up and configure your PBX!

Our main goal is to provide you with a system that’s easy to use, manage and set up. You don’t have to be advanced IT, just simply someone who wants to take advantage of a unified communication system.

We recommend you get a trial account and follow along.

Ready to start?

Chapter 1: Deployment and Hosting

Hosted by 3CX is cost-effective, fully supported, 24/7 monitored and easy to set up and sell!

For installations with up to 256 Simultaneous Calls (SC) and over 2000 users, and with more advanced features, Hosted by 3CX will cover your needs. And if you need an even bigger system, or prefer to run the system yourself, you can self deploy on-prem or on cloud, with simple automated deployment available on many popular cloud service providers.

What are the main differences between the 2 options? Which option is right for you?

This chapter will help you get a better understanding of the solution most suitable for your needs - including advantages and limitations - as well as how to install and configure it.

For a complete breakdown of the features, visit our pricing page.

Learning Material

Key Takeaways

In this section you should have learned the basic installation flow of a 3CX PBX, as well as the differences between the various deployment options, in order to choose the best one for your, or your customer’s needs.

Specific attention was given to the simplest option, 3CX Hosted, explaining the benefits and the need for choosing one of the Supported SIP Trunk providers for this deployment method.

Finally some more advanced setup information was provided, where many things that might catch out a first time user are listed, helping you make sure you make a successful deployment.

Chapter 2: Setup your Team

Now that you know how to deploy your PBX, let’s move on to setting it up. After all, what’s a system without users?

User “Roles” and “Departments” are the most important features. You need to know these inside out. Why? Because all the additional roles make the management of your system easy! Remember a user can have only one role assigned to them.

And as far as Departments (also known as Groups) go…They’re not only used for grouping extensions, but can have their own office hours, time zones, and languages to allow separate “Call Routing”.

You’ll also be learning about “Forwarding Rules”. 3CX allows users to configure their call forwarding rules simply by changing their status!

Finally we take a look at how we can add an AI Agent, ready to take calls and route them intelligently where needed.

Learning Material

Key Takeaways

In this section you should have learned how to add Users & Departments, assign Users to Departments and assign roles to them.

Also covered were the User Forwarding Rules as well as the Department Hours and basic IVR setup to handle out-of-office hours amongst other scenarios, and how an AI Agent can be added to the mix, serving any role you choose

Chapter 3: SIP Trunks

This chapter will explain everything you need to know about SIP Trunks. Most importantly, we want you to understand why you need to use 3CX Preferred and Supported SIP Trunks.

3CX provides support for issues related to Supported SIP Trunks only. Using 3CX Preferred and Supported SIP Trunks ensures reliable and steady service. We thoroughly and frequently test these trunks, to ensure the best possible experience for our clients. We work closely with these providers to support any possible issues. So please - make the right choice for yourselves and your customers!

We’ll also dive into more information about SMS, DIDs, Emergency numbers and Caller IDs, as well as Inbound DID matching and Outbound rules.

Learning Material

Key Takeaways

Here we covered the configuration of a SIP Trunk, focusing on Preferred and Supported providers. We saw how simple adding a SIP Trunk is, just needing to enter a few pieces of information that the provider gives us. On a deeper technical level  we followed how an incoming call to one of our DIDs makes it into the system, and how to point it to a specific destination. Outbound rules were also looked out, where we configure how calls make it out of our PBX to the public telephony system.

Special attention was given to Emergency numbers, how you need to configure them to match your locations legal requirements, as well as the fact that once configured the PBX does not apply Licence restrictions to them.

Chapter 4: IP Phone Provisioning & Apps

You’ve deployed your PBX, created users and departments/groups, and have your SIP Trunk in place.

You’re all set up to start making calls. ‘But how?’ Both 3CX Apps and supported IP Phones can be used, no need to choose. The user can select either or toggle between them.

In summary, in this chapter, we’ll have a quick overview of the 3CX Apps giving some basic information such as supported OS and PUSH, and we’ll focus on IP Phone provisioning. Most importantly of all, by the end of this section, you should understand what an SBC is, what Router phones are, when to use them and how to configure them.

Make sure to use preferred and supported devices!

Learning Material

Key Takeaways

The chapter began with how to find out about supported IP Phones and why they are much more preferable than other devices. Then SBCs were covered, either as standalone install or as part of a Route.

Then the chapter followed the available software Apps and Clients for using 3CX, how to get them, set them up and use them.

3CX Video conferencing was the last part, touching on how to start a video conference as well as some more advanced topics.  

Chapter 5: Call Handling

IVRs, Ring Groups and Queues are a basic need of any call center or customer-facing business.

Instead of having all calls routed to one agent, use Ring Groups or Queues to distribute them amongst a group of agents, based on their availability, skillset, or other criteria.

And of course, take full advantage of the IVR options. You can even configure it to receive SMS!

In this chapter, we’ll go through some possible scenarios and how to set these up to enhance customer experience effectively. On top of this, there’s a whole lot more!

We’ll take you from what are the differences between call queues and ring groups to the available polling strategies as well as learn how to route calls through your IVR.

We’ll also be demonstrating the more Advanced options available through the Management Console such as paging, intercom, SLA time, statistics, and callback.

Finally we take a look at how messaging services interact with Call Queues and Ring Groups.

Learning Material

Key Takeaways

Getting into more complex but essential parts of what 3CX can offer to help your business grow, we learned how to route calls to different destinations. Here we saw how Call Queues and Ring Groups are set up, their differences and information on when each one should be used.

We learned how we can simply manage our Queue Agents, as well as the Queue itself from the perspective of the person responsible for the queues performance from the business side as well as the technical setup we looked at at the start.

In the last part we went through the different options of how messaging services can be used within 3CX, as part of our Call Queues and Ring Groups.

Chapter 6: Messaging

With 3CX Messaging you can interact with customers through various messaging channels. The people contacting you don't even need to be in the same country. They can send messages when the office is closed, through offline messages!

3CX is currently using WhatsApp, Live Chat, SMS/MMS and Facebook, with more to be added in the future.

So, learn how to route your chats in queues, review the handling options available and learn what the auto-replies are.

Learning Material

Key Takeaways

From the Live Chat on your website to SMS and Social Media messaging, you now know how to tie in these facilities to your 3CX PBX, integrating voice and text communications with your customer base.

Last Updated

This document was last updated 30 March 2026

https://www.3cx.com/3cxacademy/basic/