4G Router CGNAT / AWS

[fiachra]

I am a 3CX novice, but have a successful set-up on Raspberry pi in my home.
I have a vacation house, but the router is a 4G Huawei B528 and my provider uses CGNAT, so I cannot get port forwarding to work. I also use an ASUS router, so there might be a possibility a VPN would work, but I'm not sure about that either.
Could anyone recommend a solution?
I have read about using AWS, but since the house is only used occasionally, I don't want to pay any monthly for hosting.
What are the costs associated with AWS? I see a Free Tier option, but then I also see associated costs listed elsewhere.
I would be very grateful for any suggestions.

 

[AWS2P]

Hi,
if your asking is for a small pbx for personal use, yes AWS lightsail is a good solution.
You can use a vm for 5$ a month
https://aws.amazon.com/lightsail/pricing/?nc1=h_ls
in that case PBX is in the cloud and you just need to put an SBC behind your 4G router, no matter CGNAT nor having a Public Static IP.
Other good point, you can have an SBC on your daily house and have a second one for your vacation house, so PBX cost is shared for 2 locations.

Other way to go could be only one PBX running at your principal house and use app on smartphones on vacation house, so you need to do nothing on vacation house you just need a good strengh signal for a 4G network

 

[fiachra]

Thank you.
It looks like the best option is the AWS as you say.
I see that there is a $3.50/month option also. Is that option suitable for 3CX, or is there insufficient memory/data?
My home system is working well with the current RPi setup. Is there any advantage to moving to the AWS for my main home? Can the vacation house be an extension on the original main home account?
I am hoping to stay on the 3CX free edition at the end of the 12 months.
Can I stay on the 3CX free edition if I use AWS?

 

[leejor]

Have you considered simply using (trying) a Pi SBC at the vacation house? The cost for a second Pi is not a lot, you're already familiar with it, and the worse case senario, if you do decide to move to hosted, is that you have a backup PI, or, one dedicated (SBC) for each location.

 

[fiachra]

Have you considered simply using (trying) a Pi SBC at the vacation house? The cost for a second Pi is not a lot, you're already familiar with it, and the worse case senario, if you do decide to move to hosted, is that you have a backup PI, or, one dedicated (SBC) for each location.

Thank you Leejor. I have tried with a Pi SBC, but it is not possible to port forward at the vacation house due to the 4G internet provider being CGNAT, so I cannot get the system to work. I hear that there may be a way by using VPN, but cannot find enough information to do this.

 

[cobaltit]

If you setup the PI as a SBC to the main house you don't need any port forwarding.

 

[fiachra]

If you setup the PI as a SBC to the main house you don't need any port forwarding.

I'm sorry, but i don't entirely understand. Could you tell me how I would go about doing that.
Ideally, I would like to put an SPA3102 in the vacation house and duplicate the setup in the main house.
Is there another way that I could do that....or something similar?

 

[cobaltit]

https://www.3cx.com/docs/3cx-tunnel-session-border-controller/

 

[leejor]

If you plan on using the FXO portion of the 3102, at the vacation house, then 3CX is going to have to be working at that location and not hosted eleswhere, or you will run into audio issues. FXO Gateways are not supported remotely.

You said you had tried using a Pi as an SBC at the vacation house location? If so, it should be using one port and forwarding may not be nessisary.

I've actually come across a few posts that say they have managed to get an SBC working at a remote location behind CGNAT.

https://www.3cx.com/community/threads/sbc-first-time.78429/

 

[JohnS_3CX]

From the above discussion, I gathered you already have a Pi at home with all ports forwarded etc.

In this case the vacation home only needs an SBC (No port forwards required at all - that's what the SBC was designed for).

You should use a supported phone at the vacation home that works well via SBC. Use one from this list
https://www.3cx.com/sip-phones/

Perhaps a nice portable DECT phone would be best from the above list.

 

[fiachra]

If you plan on using the FXO portion of the 3102, at the vacation house, then 3CX is going to have to be working at that location and not hosted eleswhere, or you will run into audio issues. FXO Gateways are not supported remotely.

You said you had tried using a Pi as an SBC at the vacation house location? If so, it should be using one port and forwarding may not be nessisary.

I've actually come across a few posts that say they have managed to get an SBC working at a remote location behind CGNAT.

https://www.3cx.com/community/threads/sbc-first-time.78429/

Thank you again Leejor.
Yes, I was hoping to use the FXO gateway. Based on other user's experience, it seems like AWS/Lightsail is the way to go for CGNAT. If that doesn't work, I will then use the RPi SBC to achieve a line.

 

[fiachra]

From the above discussion, I gathered you already have a Pi at home with all ports forwarded etc.

In this case the vacation home only needs an SBC (No port forwards required at all - that's what the SBC was designed for).

You should use a supported phone at the vacation home that works well via SBC. Use one from this list
https://www.3cx.com/sip-phones/

Perhaps a nice portable DECT phone would be best from the above list.

Thank you for your help JohnS,
Was hoping to get access to the FXO port on an SPA3102 for the vacation house, which I now think can only be done via AWS/Lightsail.

 

[JohnS_3CX]

I can't comment on that since we do not support that FXO and I haven't tested it, but AWS is not necessary if you simply link the vacation home to your main home PBX via SBC.

You could consider using a HT801 instead if you want to use an FXO which works with SBC

 

[leejor]

Yes, I was hoping to use the FXO gateway.

You could use the 3102, at the vacation home location, with the FXS portion registered (manually provisioned) to 3CX. Both the PSTN line and 3CX calls could go though the set attached to the 3102. However PSTN calls would be separate from 3CX. It would simply mean using one phone for both services. You would have to make use of the options available on the 3102.

You may even be able to get unanswered PSTN calls to route to voicemail on 3CX, calls going in that direction are not as difficult to achive.