Solved 2 Different Companies sharing 1 phone - How to setup properly and effectively?

[Matt Nelson]

Scenario:

I have 2 different companies working off my 3CX system.

1) Local Computer Repair Company
2) Nationwide Computer Repair Company

How on earth can I setup my Yealink VP530 and my android & IOS soft phones to not only indicate to the phones user which company is receiving a call, but also show the correct outbound caller ID of the respective company?

I am new to this system, and I have done some digging on the subject (which only leaves me scratching my head!)... but if someone could give me the best and *SIMPLEST* solution to this problem I would really appreciate it! Thank you!

 

[Evolute IT]

Simple!

- Create 2 SIP Trunk (1 per business) and in the outbound params, set the Business Name of each.

- Create 2 extensions group, then an extension under each group. 1 group per business. 1 extension per group.

- Create the corresponding Outbound Rules: filter by Extension Group and specify which group for which trunk.

- Configure the phone manually for both extensions so people can call from any of them.

- Finally, create the inbound rules per DID and name them so when a call is received, you get like "LocalBiz:+15145551234" and "NationBiz:+15145551234".

This should be enough to start!

 

[Evolute IT]

Please note that using this method, you will NOT be able to provision the phone automatically because 3CX doesn't support multiple extension on a single phone (except for DECT/FXS).

 

[Best Answering Service]

This was helpful. I am the CFO of Best Answering Service and we are Looking at 3cx for a similar solution for our small call center phone system, which share lines with another business too. I can't find your pricing page. Can you point me to it?

Regards,

Chris
[email protected]
https://bestansweringservice.info/

 

[Evolute IT]

This was helpful. I am the CFO of Best Answering Service and we are Looking at 3cx for a similar solution for our small call center phone system, which share lines with another business too. I can't find your pricing page. Can you point me to it?

Regards,

Chris
[email protected]
https://bestansweringservice.info/

What pricing page? 3CX has its own pricing.

 

[Best Answering Service]

Never-mind. I found it. https://www.3cx.com/ordering/pricing/ Sorry

 

[Evolute IT]

Never-mind. I found it. https://www.3cx.com/ordering/pricing/ Sorry

Going through a partner will give you better pricing than MSRP.

Hit me up if needed. I am a 3CX Partner.

 

[YiannisH_3CX]

@Matt Nelson

For the users to know which company received a call you need to create inbound rules and name them accordingly. Then navigate to Contacts / Options and enable the option "Prepend Name".
This will prepend the Inbound rule name to incoming calls so you know which company is being called.

To be able to call out from either company you will need 2 sip trunks. You can then select the company you want to call out by using outbound rules. You can do this via a prefix or from extension ranges etc. If you have 2 trunks you do not need to have 2 extensions.

 

[Matt Nelson]

Simple!

- Create 2 SIP Trunk (1 per business) and in the outbound params, set the Business Name of each.

- Create 2 extensions group, then an extension under each group. 1 group per business. 1 extension per group.

- Create the corresponding Outbound Rules: filter by Extension Group and specify which group for which trunk.

- Configure the phone manually for both extensions so people can call from any of them.

- Finally, create the inbound rules per DID and name them so when a call is received, you get like "LocalBiz:+15145551234" and "NationBiz:+15145551234".

This should be enough to start!

Thank you, Frederick!

You stated to set the business name in the "outbound params" but there are a ton of options on that page. Could you please kindly specify which one? Your instructions are very clear and concise I'm just trying to work out exactly where I make that change. Thank you for your help!

- Matt

 

[Matt Nelson]

I have created the SIP trunk for 1 of the companies, and setup the ring group, extensions, etc.. however, when I get an incoming call I still only see the phone number, not "Local: 555-555-1234"

I edited the "Inbound Pattern" Under Sip Trunks -> Caller Id with:


NXXX-XXX-XXXX

Local: NXXX-XXX-XXXX

I'm assuming I'm not doing this correctly? Lol!

 

[Evolute IT]

You stated to set the business name in the "outbound params" but there are a ton of options on that page. Could you please kindly specify which one?

Of course, simply edit "From : Display Name" to "Custom value" and enter your business name in the field.

If this does not work (sometimes it depends on your provider), try doing the same with "Remote Party ID - Calling Party : Display Name".

Your instructions are very clear and concise I'm just trying to work out exactly where I make that change. Thank you for your help!

I run the same architecture for my Home+Business phones so I'm glad I can help.

I have created the SIP trunk for 1 of the companies, and setup the ring group, extensions, etc.. however, when I get an incoming call I still only see the phone number, not "Local: 555-555-1234"

For that, you must create an Inbound Rule for your DID. If you did, check under Contacts -> Options if "Add Group, Queue or DID/DDI Names to Caller ID" is to "Prepend".

 

[Evolute IT]

I have created the SIP trunk for 1 of the companies, and setup the ring group, extensions, etc.

Please note that Ring groups and Extension groups are different things. But in your case, both might be needed to get all calls from 1 DID to all the extensions of that business and vice-versa.

 

[Matt Nelson]

I figured it out! It wasn't set to "Prepend" under Contacts -> Options. However, when I get a call it says:

"Local: Inbound: Matthew Nelson"

Is there a way to get rid of the "Inbound" ? It seems a little monotonous as I obviously know its an inbound call lol! Thanks!

 

[Evolute IT]

I figured it out! It wasn't set to "Prepend" under Contacts -> Options. However, when I get a call it says:

"Local: Inbound: Matthew Nelson"

Is there a way to get rid of the "Inbound" ? It seems a little monotonous as I obviously know its an inbound call lol! Thanks!

If you use a inbound rule name + a ring group, remove one of the two names. In this case, I guess you have used a ring group called "Inbound" and a DID rule called "Local".

If there's only 1 extension in the business, do not use a ring group. Simply point the DID to the extension.

Unfortunately, we can't just specify which one to include. Sometimes using that with IVRs and queues, you can get "External: Support: Technical: Level 1: Team 2: +15551234567" which begins to get ridiculous.

 

[Matt Nelson]

It's all starting to make sense now haha! Yeah I set an inbound rule, and named it inbound so that's why thats showing up. Thanks for your help this is all coming together quite nicely now. I do appreciate it. Seems like the last thing I need to figure out is how to get my business name/number to show up. When I call my cell phone it just shows up as "Private Number". Any ideas? Thanks!!

 

[Evolute IT]

Seems like the last thing I need to figure out is how to get my business name/number to show up. When I call my cell phone it just shows up as "Private Number". Any ideas? Thanks!!

Check if your "From : Display Name" is to "Custom Field" and the field is filled.

If this doesn't work (it can depend on your provider), try doing the same but with "Remote Party ID - Calling Party : Display Name" instead. My provider uses this field for the Caller ID Name.

 

[Matt Nelson]

Neither one of them worked to display my company name.. it won't even display the number, just "Private Number". I'm assuming I will have to check with my provider on this one. With your help I have been able to get this up and running the way I wanted. Thank you very much!

 

[Evolute IT]

Neither one of them worked to display my company name.. it won't even display the number, just "Private Number". I'm assuming I will have to check with my provider on this one. With your help I have been able to get this up and running the way I wanted. Thank you very much!

It might be indeed a limitation from the provider or a misconfigured SIP host.

On my provider, I can choose what decides the Caller ID, either the PBX or their own config. Maybe you need to tell the DID to use YOUR CID.

 

[Matt Nelson]

I figured it out.. it was displaying "Private Number" because I had dashes " - " in the outbound caller ID field under the individual extensions, eg 555-555-1212. Evidently 3CX does not like dashes

 

[cobaltit]

It's not 3CX that doesn't like the dashes, it's your provider. In the US, you can't push a name, only a number, and when you push the number it should be digits only. So you were pushing out the number in an incorrect format so your provider wasn't passing out anything. In Canada, you can pass the name.