3CX call center

[emilgamal]

Hello,

I'm new here in this forums and i need your experience in doing 3CX projects. I have a 3CX PBX with DIDs and extension in London and i need to made a call center in Cairo.

1. Should i install another 3CX-PBX in Cairo and connect it to the main PBX ? or i can setup remote extensions in Cairo?
2. What about the communication between the two sites, i'm comparing between PRI "ISDN" and leased lines. can you help me to compare between them, which one can give me best quality and least rate for billing ?

 

[3CXfoxhallsolutions]

This does depend on how you are going to do your call routing ... Is your call centre in Cairo going to call out into UK numbers??? or is it generating it's own traffic into the Europe Middle-East & Africa [EMEA] region???

Let me know and maybe I can suggest something sensible ...

 

[emilgamal]

I need the two sides can call each other, i have the 3CX-PBX in London with DIDs and working fine. mainly I need to route the calls from UK customers to Agents in Cairo, but also i need the agents to be able from calling UK employees

 

[3CXfoxhallsolutions]

OK - that can be done with a set of remote extensions off the London 3CX.
You need Internet connection between Cairo and London, so need to consider bandwidth and reliability of the connection at both ends. Worst case - each site-to-site call will need around 120 Kpbs bandwidth - so - you need to ensure that you have DSL services able to cope with that at each end. If you are looking at the equivalent of ISDN30 - then you'll need at least 2 Mbps on leased line or EFM. I think that anything else would have latency issues ...

If you run remote extensions via Internet (or even bridge two 3CX systems via Internet), your site-to-site calls are not hitting PSTN and therefore are not billed (i.e. they are free).

You can run the extensions so that they refer to the London end public IP address, and ensure that the router at the London site has the appropriate open ports - or - you can run a small 3CX Proxy Manager server/PC that handles the remote connect via port 5090 - and configure the phones to use that. You will also need to look at the additional traffic that this generates through your London 3CX, and license accordingly (otherwise it will block!).

Drop me your contact details if you want to discuss this person to person ...

 

[emilgamal]

Thank you for your helpful reply, here is my contacts:

E-mail: [email protected]
Skype: emil_gamal

 

[emilgamal]

If i use ISDN30 in Cairo,
Is the call will cost the caller with lowest cost and with local currency in Cairo?

 

[3CXfoxhallsolutions]

Hi
If you are wanting lowest costs, then the best way is to have a separate 3CX system in Cairo (with it's own local trunk lines), and have a bridge (Internet link) between the two sites for 'internal' calls. Otherwise, you are going to have local Cairo calls coming in from London, and you'll be paying international rates. Even with a good value carrier, it will cost more than e.g. local SIP Trunk services in Egypt (I think!).

Having a second 3CX is not a great increase in cost, as you would split licensing between the two platforms, and you still need the same phones and network infrastructure. It's only the 3CX server hardware / OS that is additional.

 

[infosys]

The other thing to consider is the dependency on the UK 3CX server. You have not mentioned how many people are at either site, but using remote phones sets up a dependency on your internet connection in Egypt, the internet connection in the UK, the 3CX server in the UK, and the trunks in the UK. If any of those components go down, your staff in Egypt are out of business. That's a lot of dependencies.

Personally, unless we are talking about a tiny number of users in Egypt, I would recommend two 3CX servers each with their own trunks. Having lots of users in Egypt would generate a significant amount of traffic between the two sites if you have only one 3CX server. The cost of a large enough pipe to handle a significant number of remote phones would likely cost more than a 2nd 3CX server.

We don't really have enough information to give a firm recommendation, but that's my opinion as a general rule.

 

[emilgamal]

OK, thanks for your appreciated reply

- I will have 30 extension in Egypt, do you recommend to install 3CX in Egypt and connect it to UK-PBX rather than installing remote extensions to give me more reliability. right?

- please recommend a solution for me to connect the two PBXs each other and get least call rates (cost)

 

[jpillow]

You can simply connect your two systems using 3cx bridge, and route calls based on outbound rules to least cost carrier. Do you plan ondoing a lot of calling to users in Cairo as well or mainly UK. you can mix and match your trunks on the pbx as well, that will give you alot more flexibility in routing those calls appropriately.

 

[emilgamal]

That's perfect, i need to do a lot of calling to users in Cairo and UK

please can you recommend me the network topology and hardware specifications for the new 3CX-PBX

 

[3CXfoxhallsolutions]

Hardware spec's can be got from this document ...
http://www.3cx.com/docs/recommended-har ... s-for-3cx/

In regard to the Bridge, this is just a connection between two 3CX systems across Internet (i.e. a type of VPN). Have a look here for more info as to how this works ... http://www.3cx.com/docs/manual/connecting-pbx-bridges/ ... The only requirements are sufficient bandwidth and the right ports open for the connection thru firewalls at each end.

Best regards

 

[SumriALias]

Hey everybody you are wanting lowest costs, then the best way is to have a separate 3CX system in Cairo (with it's own local trunk lines), and have a bridge (Internet link) between the two sites for 'internal' calls. Otherwise, you are going to have local Cairo calls coming in from London, and you'll be paying international rates. Even with a good value carrier, it will cost more than e.g. local SIP Trunk services in Egypt (I think!).

Having a second 3CX is not a great increase in cost, as you would split licensing between the two platforms, and you still need the same phones and network infrastructure. It's only the 3CX server hardware / OS that is additional.