Hello,
I have a small manufacturing shop (just me and my wife), and my sons helped set up a 3CX phone system for us, hosted locally on a small PC. It uses Flowroute for SIP and T.38 relay services, with two DIDs, a few phones scattered in various locations in the shop and office area where we work, as well as a SNOM overhead paging unit and a Patton FXS gateway for a physical fax and copy machine.
Typical workflow includes inbound callers going to a broadcast ring group from the first DID (basically ringing all the phones, so one of us can answer wherever we happen to be in the shop). Typically my wife will be in the office and answer the call, then park the call and announce over a one-way paging group (including all the phones and overhead paging unit). Then I will pick up the call in the shop on the nearest phone. Faxes simply ring in on the other DID, are answered by 3CX, and forwarded to our email. During off hours we have an auto-attendant to state our hours and let them leave a voicemail.
This setup was working great until recently, where it seems the licensing has changed. Previously, it was metered by active calls on the SIP trunk. We don't have a high call volume, but we might have an inbound call and a fax at the same time (or occasionally two callers), so even two simultaneous calls was enough for my small business.
However, recently callers have started to get messages about calls being over the license limit when they call in when this happens. In working with my sons to figure out what's going on, apparently doing a one-way page now counts toward the "simultaneous calls" license limit, in dramatic fashion (adding seven calls during that interval). Several times now we've had coinciding calls from customers that have complained about receiving this message rather than getting through to us.
According to the license page, the least amount now that could potentially handle this call flow would be a 16SC PRO license to avoid the situation of getting a lost call while paging. I have no problem with paying for a 4SC license (the number of calls on the trunk would never exceed that), but 16SC PRO is almost $700. For a two person shop, this is a significant expense for such a basic call flow.
I see you recommend that small shops like mine (less than ten users) should go to 3CX SMB FREE hosted by yourselves, however it does not support paging or FXS units that my business utilizes (hence why it is hosted on site).
What do you recommend I do to resolve this issue?
I have a small manufacturing shop (just me and my wife), and my sons helped set up a 3CX phone system for us, hosted locally on a small PC. It uses Flowroute for SIP and T.38 relay services, with two DIDs, a few phones scattered in various locations in the shop and office area where we work, as well as a SNOM overhead paging unit and a Patton FXS gateway for a physical fax and copy machine.
Typical workflow includes inbound callers going to a broadcast ring group from the first DID (basically ringing all the phones, so one of us can answer wherever we happen to be in the shop). Typically my wife will be in the office and answer the call, then park the call and announce over a one-way paging group (including all the phones and overhead paging unit). Then I will pick up the call in the shop on the nearest phone. Faxes simply ring in on the other DID, are answered by 3CX, and forwarded to our email. During off hours we have an auto-attendant to state our hours and let them leave a voicemail.
This setup was working great until recently, where it seems the licensing has changed. Previously, it was metered by active calls on the SIP trunk. We don't have a high call volume, but we might have an inbound call and a fax at the same time (or occasionally two callers), so even two simultaneous calls was enough for my small business.
However, recently callers have started to get messages about calls being over the license limit when they call in when this happens. In working with my sons to figure out what's going on, apparently doing a one-way page now counts toward the "simultaneous calls" license limit, in dramatic fashion (adding seven calls during that interval). Several times now we've had coinciding calls from customers that have complained about receiving this message rather than getting through to us.
According to the license page, the least amount now that could potentially handle this call flow would be a 16SC PRO license to avoid the situation of getting a lost call while paging. I have no problem with paying for a 4SC license (the number of calls on the trunk would never exceed that), but 16SC PRO is almost $700. For a two person shop, this is a significant expense for such a basic call flow.
I see you recommend that small shops like mine (less than ten users) should go to 3CX SMB FREE hosted by yourselves, however it does not support paging or FXS units that my business utilizes (hence why it is hosted on site).
What do you recommend I do to resolve this issue?
