Desk Phone Provisioning Limited Options

[gbcadmin]

Greetings, Everyone.

I have implemented a 3CX Free instance for a small nonprofit with basic needs, and it's working well for them. I am considering 3CX SMB for another nonprofit, but I have a few questions about the available options when provisioning desk phones.

I noticed in 3CX Free that the available options when provisioning IP desk phones were very limited. For example, there is no option to change from 24 hour time to 12 hour time, manually set the voice VLAN, or set the phone screensaver. In the 3CX documentation those options are shown in the screenshots in the IP phone setup instructions.

Are these options limited for just the 3CX Free plan, or will I come across the same limitations with the SMB plan as well?

Thank you for your time and insight.

 

[gbcadmin]

Unfortunately, I was able to answer my own question.

I signed up for a free trial of 3CX SMB, and then provisioned a spare Yealink T53 IP phone. The phone options listed in the "IP Phone" tab of the user are exactly the same as the 3CX Free version. The only options that are available are language, ringtone, and transfer method. All of the options I mentioned above (which are shown in the general 3CX documentation) are missing.

This is confusing and disappointing. I wonder why options like date / time format and screensaver are not available in 3CX Free and SMB? That is very confusing to me, unless I am somehow missing something, which is possible.

 

[TheodorosG_3CX]

As you also mentioned for the SMB installations those options are not available.
In this case you might need to consider using the 3CX Hosted installation.

 

[gbcadmin]

As you also mentioned for the SMB installations those options are not available.
In this case you might need to consider using the 3CX Hosted installation.

Thank you for your reply.

Do you have any insight as to why these options are not available? It doesn't make sense to me. I have reached out to 3CX support with my questions, but unfortunately only receive scripted responses that don't answer anything. They then told me to post in the forums then closed the ticket.

I understand that 3CX Free and 3CX SMB are shared hosting plans, which requires simpler interfaces in order to avoid conflicts between customers. However, the configuration of desk phones are unique to each device because of the MAC address, so the limitation of the configuration options makes no sense. 3CX SMB would be a perfect fit for a few small organizations that I am helping, but unfortunately the lack of these configuration options for the desk phones is a 100% deal breaker.

Have I missed some information in the 3CX knowledge base about this? So far I have not found any information to explain it.

Thank you again.

 

[TheodorosG_3CX]

As stated this configuration is not included in the SMB installations as this is how they are designed.
In this case you might need to consider using the 3CX Hosted installation.