Setting up remote location phones in a different location

[celicynd]

It's been a while since I've had to do this, so I'm unclear.

One of our remote offices is switching over to using our phone system. (3cx hosted on an amazon lightsail). Back when I used to do this, I could just set up the phone at one location, plug it in at the other location and be done with it. But now, It seems I have to set up a phone as a router phone or a phone that uses the other router phone.

Is there a way to set up the phone at our main location to act as a router phone at the other location? Clearly the IP address will be different here than there. I didn't want to just set it up as a router, then send it down there so I can set up the other phones, and have it not work.

How should I be doing this properly?

 

[Alejandro_3CX]

Hi @celicynd

If a user frequently moves between locations (e.g., Location A to Location B), equipping them with a Router Phone or using the 3CX App is the best solution.

Please keep in mind that standard IP phones connected through a Router Phone must stay on the same LAN. For example, if you set up a Router Phone at Location A with three standard phones behind it, and then relocate that Router Phone to Location B, the standard phones left at Location A will lose their registration.

Recommended Solutions:

• For the mobile user: Give them a dedicated Router Phone or switch them to the 3CX App (mobile/desktop).
• For the standard phones remaining at Location A you may use of the options below:
  • Deploy a dedicated SBC (or assign a separate Router Phone to stay permanently at Location A).
  • Set up a VPN connection to the cloud PBX.
  • Transition those users to the 3CX App.

Hope this helps! Have a great day.

 

[celicynd]

Hi @celicynd

If a user frequently moves between locations (e.g., Location A to Location B), equipping them with a Router Phone or using the 3CX App is the best solution.

Please keep in mind that standard IP phones connected through a Router Phone must stay on the same LAN. For example, if you set up a Router Phone at Location A with three standard phones behind it, and then relocate that Router Phone to Location B, the standard phones left at Location A will lose their registration.

Recommended Solutions:

• For the mobile user: Give them a dedicated Router Phone or switch them to the 3CX App (mobile/desktop).
• For the standard phones remaining at Location A you may use of the options below:
  • Deploy a dedicated SBC (or assign a separate Router Phone to stay permanently at Location A).
  • Set up a VPN connection to the cloud PBX.
  • Transition those users to the 3CX App.

Hope this helps! Have a great day.

(These are all desktop phones, btw)

I guess my question is, I'm at location A (unable to travel to location B). Can I set the router phone up at location A, and send it to location B, and have it get an address on their network, send the other 4 phones down to their location and set them up using the router phone at location B?

Basically, will the router phone properly work to set up new phones if I set up at A and move to B without setting up the other phones until it is there.

BTW, this seems so much more complicated than how it used to be where you'd set up a phone and could take anywhere... is there a reason it changed?

 

[Alejandro_3CX]

I guess my question is, I'm at location A (unable to travel to location B). Can I set the router phone up at location A, and send it to location B, and have it get an address on their network, send the other 4 phones down to their location and set them up using the router phone at location B?

When you provision the router phone lets say if you were in Location A, and then send the device to Location B, it will continue working, since it has a tunnel connection to the PBX, a router phone or sbc can use dynamic public ip.

Then you can configure the normal phones pointing to this router phone or sbc, the thing is that these phones will connect to the pbx only when they are used in the same router or 3cx sbc LAN.

 

[Alphabetic]

Best practice to make sure your router phone gets a static IP to prevent any problems.

 

[SteveITS]

Best practice to make sure your router phone gets a static IP to prevent any problems.

If using it to proxy other phones, totally agree, but OP wants the phone to be portable and not use it for any others.

 

[Alphabetic]

If using it to proxy other phones, totally agree, but OP wants the phone to be portable and not use it for any others.

Can I set the router phone up at location A, and send it to location B, and have it get an address on their network, send the other 4 phones down to their location and set them up using the router phone at location B?

If I understand correctly, he wants to set the phone up at A, send it to B and send 4 phones down to B using the router phone as the SBC.

 

[SteveITS]

My bad, I was looking at the original post. OP could set up the phone, change its IP to static, and send it. (or use a DHCP reservation at the other site)
A scenario we've run into a few times is a business owner who takes their phone home to work, and router phones using DHCP are just portable anywhere. That's what I was thinking of. Yes I know they could use a software client.

more complicated than how it used to be where you'd set up a phone and could take anywhere... is there a reason it changed?

STUN was supposed to have ports forwarded in the router, to each phone. A separate SBC (VM, Pi) at each site is also possible and that would be plug and play with added phones, without any as router phones. An SBC or router phone also provides an encrypted connection.

 

[celicynd]

My bad, I was looking at the original post. OP could set up the phone, change its IP to static, and send it. (or use a DHCP reservation at the other site)

The DHCP reservation at site B is what I was planning, just wanted to make sure there wasnt going to be any issues with setting up the other phones if I set the router phone at site A first.

 

[Alphabetic]

No, you could even drop ship the phones directly to site.

When you add the phones in 3CX they'll send the provisioning link to the RPS server.

on boot up they should pull their config.

https://www.3cx.com/docs/manual/ip-phones/

Caveat being the router phone, you'll likely need to put the 3CX firmware on this first.

 

[Colorado VoIP]

not to muddy this up, but i've done exactly what you're asking, more than once.

you program up the router phone offsite along with phones that talk through it. drop ship or take to customer with explicit instructions to plug the router phone in first. that will update the system with the new router phone IP, and update the config for the remaining phones. then you can power those up and they will work.

the absolute cleanest method is to setup a vlan mimicking their network LAN subnet and set things up that way. then you can ship everything to the customer.

it's extra steps rather than just drop shipping, but it does work.

 

[celicynd]

you program up the router phone offsite along with phones that talk through it. drop ship or take to customer with explicit instructions to plug the router phone in first. that will update the system with the new router phone IP, and update the config for the remaining phones. then you can power those up and they will work.

Just need too clarify this a bit. I'm understanding the router phone will get a new IP at site B, but are you saying once you plug it in, any phones I set to use it at Site A will update to the new IP and still connect?

 

[SteveITS]

No the router phone only handles its network.

If you connect new phones on a network with a router phone/SBC they will appear in 3CX under PnP.