General Questions before buying 3cx

[edmond]

Dear All,

I am still new in the SIP world and have been reading your posts/wikis for a while now.

In my company, we are still using an old PBX and are willing to buy the 3CX system for allll the advantages it has.

We currently have 6 PSTN lines (analog) and 45 internal extensions (35 in office and 10 others in remote locations but on the same network and range of ips). I have installed 3cx on a win xp sp2 pentium 4, 2gb ram machine, and have been using a Siemens C470, Dlink dvs-2001, and LINKSYS 3102 ATA mode + Gateway for my tests. The setup went veryyyy smoothly ; starting very positively!

Here are some points that I would like to clarify before switching all my extensions to 3cx and investing in IP Phones: Your feedback would be highly appreciated

- When I call from the SPA3102 ATA to the Siemens C470, ext 100 to ext 125, I have to wait for 3 or 4 seconds before the call connects. Using the old PBX, the call connects/rings as soon as I hit the 3rd digit of the extension i am calling (number 5 in this case). Can this issue be solved with 3cx?

- I am planning to buy Cisco 7940 phones or linksys 942: Can I use the transfer button on these phones? What about normal phones behind an VOIP gateway, can I transfer calls from them?

-The BLF can be used with the cisco 7940, 7960 and linksys 9XX, but Can I configure them in a way to know if a PSTN line is currently being used?

- Can I upload the phonebook in 3cx to any SIP phone that supports an address book function?

- Which Phone Gateway do you advice to use for my 6 PSTN lines?

- Do you support Linksys SPA8000 as an 8 ports FXS?


Thank you very much in advance for your help,

Edmund

 

[mbaltus]

When I call from the SPA3102 ATA to the Siemens C470, ext 100 to ext 125, I have to wait for 3 or 4 seconds before the call connects.

if you dial a # after the number, it will probably connect you directly.
on our Linksys SPA942 phones we see one of the soft-buttons turn into a "dial" button, that can be used as well

The BLF can be used with the cisco 7940, 7960 and linksys 9XX, but Can I configure them in a way to know if a PSTN line is currently being used?

We use the BLF buttons to see if some extensions are in use. I'm not quite sure if you can apply that idea to lines as well. For the Linksys a good description is provided both Linksys or try this link http://www.voipspeak.net/2008/setting-up-blf-functions-on-a-linksys-spa-942/

Can I upload the phonebook in 3cx to any SIP phone that supports an address book function?

No. our Linksys SPA942 support a phonebook (even a LDAP one), but it cannot use the 3CX phonebook (sadly enough). I believe there are phones that do use it, like the GrandStream GXP-2000 (see it's configuration guide on the 3CX site).

Good luck!

 

[leejor]

In the 3102 (and many other ATA's) you can build a dialplan in each device so that you don't have to wait for the timeout (or dial #) for the call to go through quickly. Without a dialplan, since the device has no idea how many digits you will be dialling, (don't forget they are all sent to the PBX at once, not one at a time as in the analogue world) it has to wait a predetermined time before it sends them all off.

 

[ciscotech2007]

In my company, we are still using an old PBX and are willing to buy the 3CX system for allll the advantages it has.

Any company wanting a full-featured easy to administer phone system should look into 3CX. Its a great product with great support!

When I call from the SPA3102 ATA to the Siemens C470, ext 100 to ext 125, I have to wait for 3 or 4 seconds before the call connects. Using the old PBX, the call connects/rings as soon as I hit the 3rd digit of the extension i am calling (number 5 in this case). Can this issue be solved with 3cx?

Include dial plan on your LINE on the SPA-3102, input something like ' [2-8]xx ' (without quotes) at the beginning of your dialplan.

Here's the breakdown;

[2-8] = any extension starting with number range 2- 8
-xx = wildcard, any number 0-9.

So this dialplan would dial RIGHT AWAY after entering an extension starting with '2' to '8' THATS THREE DIGITS LONG.

I am planning to buy Cisco 7940 phones or linksys 942: Can I use the transfer button on these phones? What about normal phones behind an VOIP gateway, can I transfer calls from them?

YES,can use the transfer button, but i would suggest upgrading the 7900's with the latest SIP firmware. Good luck, its a huge pain.

Normal phones you must mean analog phones on a ATA. Yes you can transfer, go into your SPA under VOICE settings and you will find your * (star) codes. You use these codes to transfer/intercom other IP endpoints.

The BLF can be used with the cisco 7940, 7960 and linksys 9XX, but Can I configure them in a way to know if a PSTN line is currently being used?

cisco 7900's... ahhh BLF... I never configured it but i think you can. THE SIDECAR FOR THE 7900s DOES NOT WORK WITH SIP.

LINKSYS SPA PHONES DO NOT SUPPOR BLF LAST I HEARD

PSTN, a truck(FXO) incoming or outgoing or PSTN(FXS) thats on an ATA? Refine question please.

Can I upload the phonebook in 3cx to any SIP phone that supports an address book function?

Good question....

- Which Phone Gateway do you advice to use for my 6 PSTN lines?

Use Patton 4116 or similar.... heard they are the best and work well.

- Do you support Linksys SPA8000 as an 8 ports FXS?

Do not use the SPA8000, looks good but does not work anywhere as well as the patton units.
Edmund

 

[DXS_Matt]

ciscotech2007, in regards to BLF on Linksys phones,

Linksys SPA phones most certainly support BLF for extensions, I'm using SPA962's with the 6.1.5a firmware and BLF works flawlessly.

Regards,
Matt

 

[voipbaennjer]

For PSTN lines I tried the 3CX supported Grandstream GXW-4104 for 4 lines (GXW-4108 for 8 lines).
Everything is OK except for the incoming caller ID that didn't work 100% here in Germany. Since I don't know what standard is used here I tried all settings in the GXW but couldn't get it 100% to work.
For outgoing PSTN line selection make sure to add 99x (x is 1-8 for the line no.) to the dialed number in the outgoing rule if the 3CX, otherwise the GXW works in round robin mode.

 

[N_G]

It also depends a little were you are based and what budget you have.

I recommend Patton 4114 gateways, coupled with a quality IP phone. Aastra, Snom, Polycom are all good. Also Linksys phones...

 

[zanthexter]

Depending on your specifics, you might save a good bit of money going pure VOIP. No gateway. No analog lines.

We expect to take a $800-1,000 a month phone bill and get it down to about $250.

Each of 8 remote locations - two phone lines gone (fax and voice)
Main office - 11 phone lines gone (fax and voice)
Long distance charges between locations - gone
Conferencing Service fees - gone
Taxes - lowered! (same percent, less to tax!)

Retiring 19 phone business billed phone lines in various states...HUGE savings. We expect to break even with the cost of 3CX and 25 new Polycom phones (plus various other things, like new QoS routers at each branch, etc.) in about 6 months. Maybe a year including labor, but we adressed many issues along with the 3CX installation when we upgraded the network hardware.

Our number of concurrent calls is limited only by our internet connection. (about 20 using Comcast business line, or 10 if we fall back to the DSL line). We pay by the minute coming and going, which works well for occasional surges but low average daily use. VOIP providers offer a variety of plans. We decided to just do an email/fax gateway for $3 a month. Very easy to use. (Faxes are sent to/from an authorized email address, with the recipients number as the subject, and cover sheets, etc as attachements.)