3CX Testing On Home Network

[cmsesan1]

I have 3CX installed on a server with a Cisco 7940 phone on the network. A Linksys 3102 is connected to the telephone socket as a gateway so I can have calls through the home telephone line.

The problem is that there are 3 ordinary phones elsewhere on the same telephone line.

How will 3CX react if I answered the Cisco phone and then wanted someone else to take the call elsewhere in the house? Could someone pick up a normal phone, I put the Cisco phone down and all is well, or will that cause problems?

A similar problem is that I installed 2 x Linksys 3102s on 2 BT lines for a local company, and they have a fax machine on one of the lines that 3CX does not know about. I realise I should probably have another gateway for the fax machine, but will this matter much?

My concerns are that a call may not be put down properly, and thus no-one can get through, not to mention the worry of cost if the call was to a mobile.

 

[TotallyVoIP]

How will 3CX react if I answered the Cisco phone and then wanted someone else to take the call elsewhere in the house? Could someone pick up a normal phone, I put the Cisco phone down and all is well, or will that cause problems?

As the other phones are direct PSTN, you cannot "transfer" the call, all they need to do is pick up the phone, and they should then have the call, you can then hang up. Not tried it with the 3102 yet, as I have not yet had time to configure it! Not sure how you would get on having a 3 way call (1 external, 1 internal and a 3CX extension) maybe you can test it and let us know?

A similar problem is that I installed 2 x Linksys 3102s on 2 BT lines for a local company, and they have a fax machine on one of the lines that 3CX does not know about. I realise I should probably have another gateway for the fax machine, but will this matter much?

If the Fax is on a 3rd line (not a extension, a real 3rd line) and 3CX is not connected to that line, then it cannot interfere with the 3CX system at all. It does not matter to 3CX, if the two items are not linked.

If you want 3CX to handle faxes then you would need to add it using a FXO gateway. If you have 3-4 lines I would recommend a Patton 4 port device, much more robust and really designed to do the job. If you do put the fax onto 3CX, just remember to turn the auto answer on the old machine off!

My concerns are that a call may not be put down properly, and thus no-one can get through, not to mention the worry of cost if the call was to a mobile.

Not sure what you mean, but if it's back to the first point about using a PSTN extension, then as long as you hang up the CISCO then 3CX will terminate the call, and the 3102 will drop the line, however it does not drop the call if an alternative PSTN extension is also "live", when the last PSTN extension hangs up then the call is terminated.

You can't have another call on the same line as a PSTN is having a call, it will just get an engaged tone.

So as long as evyone hangs up properly (as they should) then there is no issue.

I hope that helps.

 

[leejor]

A similar problem is that I installed 2 x Linksys 3102s on 2 BT lines for a local company, and they have a fax machine on one of the lines that 3CX does not know about. I realise I should probably have another gateway for the fax machine, but will this matter much?

If the Fax machine is just bridged on one one of the lines then and you receive a number of faxes through the day, then, you can do a couple of things, depending on what features the fax machine has. If the fax machine has seized the line to send a fax then anyone trying to use the gateway should not be able to. The 3102 will see the lower voltage of an in-use line and refuse to place a call.

Some fax machines have both a line jack and a phone jack and can be set up to work with an answering machine (or all phone extensions plugged into the phone jack). The fax machine will listen in on any incoming call and then cut off what ever (3CX) is plugged into the phone jack. If your fax machine is capable of doing this then you must make sure that you set the PSTN Answer Delay (on the 3102) to the same time (no lower than) that the fax manual recommends setting the answering machine. Of course you don't want to set it too high or people will give up thinking no one is going to answer, at least until the fax machine kicks-in at 5 rings or so.

If your particular fax doesn't have this feature then you have to keep in mind that if the fax answers a call it may start to ring on 3CX but will stop as the fax has already picked up the line. Most users don't try to share a Fax line with a PBX trunk. You may also have to resort to turning on the fax machine only when you actually expect a fax. You could also set up the 3CX trunking so that any outbound calls use the fax line as first choice and the second line as second choice. Set the fax line to be ignored by 3CX (no inbound route) and just use the other number for inbound voice calls.

 

[Cjay]

How will 3CX react if I answered the Cisco phone and then wanted someone else to take the call elsewhere in the house? Could someone pick up a normal phone, I put the Cisco phone down and all is well, or will that cause problems?

I have a broadly similar network to what you have described. The only issue you may run into is an interaction between the SPA-3102 FXO (PSTN line) port and any analogue phones that are bridged across the PSTN line. If there is a call established from PSTN to 3cx using the SPA3102 (either incoming or outgoing) and an analogue phone on the PSTN side is picked up, then I find that this causes a rapid clicking sound on the line (I believe due to the SPA-3102 trying to maintain line current) which persists until either the analogue phone or VoIP phone (via 3cx & SPA-3102) hangs up.

Chris

 

[leejor]

This very well may be as (I'm pretty sure) that the 3102 really wasn't designed to share a line with other extensions (partyline calls) on a regular basis. It is designed to not allow you access to the line if someone on a bridged analogue set answered first and you happen want to join in over a VoIP trunk. There are some settings in the PSTN Line/International Control, that you could "play" with. Make sure that you record the original settings before changing anything.