Has anyone tried internal PCI FXO cards with 3CX

[anjam]

Hi,
I am a small business specialist looking to add a cheap/flexible VoIP solution to my portfolio. Very interested in 3CX and already have a "Virtual" environment running half a dozen extensions with Sipgate as a gateway. Next step is to integrate some PSTN lines. I have read up on the recommended/tested gateways and have a few questions.

Is there a prefered/tested gateway for BT (UK)?

Has anyone tried PCI FXO cards with 3CX?

TIA

 

[N_G]

The list of supported VOIP Gateways is on our website.

There are no PCI FXO cards. You might be referring to Digium cards for use with Asterisk. (and the numerous Digium 'clone' cards that are available). These only work with Asterisk. Bear in mind that including the echo cancellation, which is essential, they are just as expensive as VOIP Gateways.

VOIP gateways have substantial advantages:

1. Offloads analog to digital processing away from the computer
2. OS/Device driver independent: If you do an upgrade to the OS you dont need to update the device drivers or wait for device driver updates to be available.
3. Allows you to place the server away from the phone lines
4. Allows for easier setup of redundant systems

All in all more reliable. Good gateways can be had for just a few hundred pounds so they are well within reach of SMB

 

[anjam]

Many thanks for your reponse.

 

[anjam]

I have looked through the product list of our regular distributors and found that the Linksys SPA400 is the one most readily available so I am looking at trying out one of those however Ingram micro list the product as a:

LINKSYS /
SPA400-EU IP TELEPHONY GATEWAY W/ 4 FXO PORTS - ONLY FOR SPA 9000

Does the term "ONLY FOR SPA 9000" mean it is somehow locked to the Linksys PBX?

 

[N_G]

Yes its designed for use with the SPA 9000

I would not recommend the Linksys SPA 400. Its clunky to configure and has some issues. Mainly to do with being for the SPA 9000

A simple to use analog gateway is the Grandstream GXW 4104

 

[RobLloyd]

Do you want one of these? I'm returning 4 of them to Ingram this week. I'd rather sell you one at the same price and not deal with an extra return.

SPA-400 really is designed to work with the 9000 but others have gotten it to work ok w/ 3CX.

Before you buy it - do a search on here to see the problems with it. I'm going to go with the Grandstream 4104. It's $200 online (USD) so it's cheaper as well. Can't get them wholesale from anyone I can find.

 

[RobLloyd]

Nick beat me by 2 minutes!
.

 

[anjam]

Thanks Rob but I think I will give it a miss after reading all the info on here.
I am new to VoIP so would rather stick to a product that is simpel to install and support available via forums like these.

I am still trying to get my head round how I will install the 3CX PBX inline with the standard analog PBX we have here.

I can only hang the 3Cx off extensions of the Analog PBX, very confusing

 

[N_G]

Not sure what you mean by hanging off an analog pbx but that will definitely not work : 3CX replaces the analog PBX

 

[slinc]

Do NOT buy the SPA400. You will regret it later I promise. I am getting rid of mine and going to purchase a Grandstream 4104

 

[anjam]

Not sure what you mean by hanging off an analog pbx but that will definitely not work : 3CX replaces the analog PBX

I was hoping to use a couple of extensions as incoming PSTN lines for testing purposes. Can I not put a ATA on the end of an internal extension and make the 3cx system think it is an outside line? I have a couple of VoIP lines but I would like to receive calls forwarded to my extension on our analog PBX via the 3Cx. Am I thinking the impossible?

 

[anjam]

Do NOT buy the SPA400. You will regret it later I promise. I am getting rid of mine and going to purchase a Grandstream 4104

I have purchased a SPA3102. Thanks everyone for the heads up on the SPA400.

 

[tjabaut]

How does everyone feel about the Grandstream gateways?

I was advised against it, by a vendor whom recommended the AudioCodes units instead. They cited echo and jitter as being the big differenciators between the 2. I have yet to try the grandsteam unit, but the AudioCodes is posing its own problems.

Just fishing for info from the group.

 

[slinc]

I just replaced my SPA400 (DO NOT BUY) with a Grandstream GXW-4108 (8 lines). So far I have been much happier. The setup was pretty easy following the 3CX manual. I had a little echo but after reducing the gain on the phone (SPA941) it has eliminated that.

I still have one issue that I have not figured out in that every so often I can not place outbound calls. I have to reboot the gateway to get it to work again. I hope to have it figured out shortly as there must be an easy fix somewhere and I have already posted looking for a fix.

The Grandstream seems to be very popular and after trying the Linksys I didn't think it could be any worse. We will actually go live with our phone system tomorrow so I will know better after that. Wish me luck

 

[super_voip]

pstn trunks as extensions

You can use spare trunks on the PABX as extensions on the 3CX using ATAs.
To use PABX extensions on the 3CX you need to interface with FXO eg SPA3000.

 

[nb]

How does everyone feel about the Grandstream gateways?

I was advised against it, by a vendor whom recommended the AudioCodes units instead. They cited echo and jitter as being the big differenciators between the 2. I have yet to try the grandsteam unit, but the AudioCodes is posing its own problems.

I would highly recommend Grandstream Gateways as well as PATTON devices. We have both types of devices in our test networks as many clients have them on live implementations especially Gateway devices. Support requests when compared to other devices are less too. Configuration is much easier due to templates in the 3CX system as you may well be aware of. Buying a supported gateway is always a better choice. Basically those templates in the 3CX phonesystem reflect the amount of users who have those devices. And out of that list the two I mentionned are the most popular for implementation.

Hope this helps. Brgds

 

[ITWorks]

Not sure what you mean by hanging off an analog pbx but that will definitely not work : 3CX replaces the analog PBX

Perhaps 3CX is not interested in the market that Microsoft is targeting with OCS but I think the market is huge. There are many organizations that have large investments in traditional PBXs that have not been fully depreciated and organizations that have 50 or more extensions that just can not afford to replace all their handsets at one time.

In our case I added a trunk card to our Norstar MICS PBX and connected the 4 trunk lines to a Grandstream GXW-4004 (FXO ports). We are running 3CX as our IP PBX (great product) and as we add additional extensions or if a Norstar phone fails, we install a Cisco 7941 IP phone. Over the next couple of years we will likely swap out the 120 Norstar phones as the budget allows. But for right now we have two systems working seemlessly together providing 4 digit calling and transferring between the two types of phones.

 

[randyleepublic]

I am a noob who just got a system going with a Grandsteam 4104. It is easy to configure, but there are a few problems. Echo. (How do you turn down the gain on the phone?)

Also I had a bad line. Not so bad that it would not work with a plain old phone. But it was poison to the GrSt. Worse, you could only get the good lines working by rebooting the gateway. IOW just unplugging the bad line did not relieve the symptoms. Made it very diff. to troubleshoot. The same lines worked fine with a digium card, so GS could def take a lesson from Digium re how to make a robust analog stage.

Thanks!

Randy Lee

 

[mikarora]

Re:

I just replaced my SPA400 (DO NOT BUY) with a Grandstream GXW-4108 (8 lines). So far I have been much happier. The setup was pretty easy following the 3CX manual. I had a little echo but after reducing the gain on the phone (SPA941) it has eliminated that.

I still have one issue that I have not figured out in that every so often I can not place outbound calls. I have to reboot the gateway to get it to work again. I hope to have it figured out shortly as there must be an easy fix somewhere and I have already posted looking for a fix.

The Grandstream seems to be very popular and after trying the Linksys I didn't think it could be any worse. We will actually go live with our phone system tomorrow so I will know better after that. Wish me luck

I had this issue with SPA400, so I am not sure if this applies to your case. But ever so oftern your incoming calls go on hold and do not get disconnected. You will have to tweak tis FXO tear down period.