3cx Support For analog Creditcard Machine

[neilmacb]

I have 3cx Server,

With 2 bri-ISDN lines,
1 Voip line,

The customer want to use there credit card machine, but has no analog line anymore,

Is there a convertor product that allows this,

I was looking at the Linksys PAP2T-NA ( http://www.abptech.com/products/Linksys/PAP2T_NA.html )

Do you know if this will work, do they need to get an analog line in,

Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Neil,

The Linksys PAP2T-NA is not officially supported by 3CX PhoneSystem.

Furthermore, we would not reccommend using a credit card machine over VoIP. This is absolutely not tested and unlikely to be reliable.

We would suggest an analogue line for the machine.

Thanks,

 

[ITWorks]

We have had no problems with our analog credit card machine plugged into a Linksys PAP2T adapter, 3CX and ISDN PRI gateway. All settings are default other than registration.

Mark

 

[justin]

Should work without any problem...However, the slightest bit of network congestion could interrupt the machine and cause it to run extremely slow or drop out all together.

 

[Nebula]

Hi Neil,

The Linksys PAP2T-NA is not officially supported by 3CX PhoneSystem.

Furthermore, we would not reccommend using a credit card machine over VoIP. This is absolutely not tested and unlikely to be reliable.

We would suggest an analogue line for the machine.

Thanks,

It is all very well saying that you do not reccomend this but........

There are thousands of businesses out there with analog lines for credit card machines, modems and fax machines all provided by their existing PBX via either BRI or PRI lines. SIP trunks are not a replacement for these...yet! If you guys want us to sell 3CX as a replacement for ageing, conventional PBX's you must accept that a "replacement" is exactly what should be provided. You can add all the nice features and frilly bits but you cannot expect us to sell a product that cannot provide existing facilities.

There is no way I can tell a current prospect that he should replace his existing PBX with a 3CX, and then say "Oh by the way you will need to buy 6 new analogue PSTN lines for you credit card machine, fax's and enviromnental monitoring modems because 3CX is not as good as what you have got."

If you want 3CX to be the success it deserves to be you must take more interest in supporting "real world scenarios" rather than just saying "it's not supported" or "we don't reccomend that".

 

[justin]

Hi Neil,

The Linksys PAP2T-NA is not officially supported by 3CX PhoneSystem.

Furthermore, we would not reccommend using a credit card machine over VoIP. This is absolutely not tested and unlikely to be reliable.

We would suggest an analogue line for the machine.

Thanks,

It is all very well saying that you do not reccomend this but........

There are thousands of businesses out there with analog lines for credit card machines, modems and fax machines all provided by their existing PBX via either BRI or PRI lines. SIP trunks are not a replacement for these...yet! If you guys want us to sell 3CX as a replacement for ageing, conventional PBX's you must accept that a "replacement" is exactly what should be provided. You can add all the nice features and frilly bits but you cannot expect us to sell a product that cannot provide existing facilities.

There is no way I can tell a current prospect that he should replace his existing PBX with a 3CX, and then say "Oh by the way you will need to buy 6 new analogue PSTN lines for you credit card machine, fax's and enviromnental monitoring modems because 3CX is not as good as what you have got."

If you want 3CX to be the success it deserves to be you must take more interest in supporting "real world scenarios" rather than just saying "it's not supported" or "we don't reccomend that".

I think his point was that they haven't specifically tested that kind of hardware with 3cx. Secondly, the VOIP/SIP protocol is to blame, not 3cx for possible issues as VOIP does tend to have some latency issues over the PSTN network, which is especially evident if the bandwidth is being shared by any other applications, hence the fact an analog machine as well as faxes can be severly impacted as they are expecting near no latency.

 

[Nebula]

Sorry, I cannot accept that VOIP/SIP is to blame here, all we are asking the 3CX to do is set up an RTP stream or T38 session between whatever PRI/BRI/FXO box you are using to interface with the PSTN lines and an ATA. the latency on the PSTN does not come into the equation at all. As far as network congestion causing problems goes that is easy to deal with so providing that is controlled between the ATA and the BRI/PRI/FXO box that is no problem either.

All I am asking is for 3CX to look into supporting the issue of provisioning analog lines a little better rather than dismissing it as a bad idea and saying "get an analog PSTN line".

 

[justin]

My understanding is he is trying to use the credit card machine over a VOIP line?

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry, I cannot accept that VOIP/SIP is to blame here, all we are asking the 3CX to do is set up an RTP stream or T38 session between whatever PRI/BRI/FXO box you are using to interface with the PSTN lines and an ATA. the latency on the PSTN does not come into the equation at all. As far as network congestion causing problems goes that is easy to deal with so providing that is controlled between the ATA and the BRI/PRI/FXO box that is no problem either.

All I am asking is for 3CX to look into supporting the issue of provisioning analog lines a little better rather than dismissing it as a bad idea and saying "get an analog PSTN line".

Nebula,

I am neither blaming 3CX nor VoIP lines. All I am saying is that this is totally untested from our end therefore your mileage may vary wildly.

A little Networking 101:

PSTN is a circuit switched network - you have a "physical" line between the communicating parties.
VoIP is a packet switched network, packets are transmitted over several routes and out of order. Most of the time this works fine, but an error may occur which leaves the credit card machine in an unknown state.

However, I reitrate, this is not the "fault" of either VoIP or 3CX - I am simply saying it is untested.

 

[neilmacb]

Thanks For all your replys,

The linksys device is only about 60 euro, we will try it if it works great if not then we will figure something out,

Credit card transactions will only take place once a month So the customer does not want to pay the line rental,

I can try sending out over the VOIP trunk and the BRI lines see which works better or if it works at all,

Thanks Again

Neil,