Help setting up from start (for an idiot)

[dgaletar]

Hello,

I am new to this product and forum, so please be patient with me.

I am a small one-person business, trying to find an affordable solution that can grow with me. Friday, I had my cell phone number ported over to Callcentric, an Internet phone service provider. On Callcentrics' site, they suggest a number of PBX user agents. From what I have read thus far, 3CX seems to be the only one that does not require a dedicated server to run on (which is good, because I do not have one). To this point, I have downloaded the "3CXPhoneSystem71.exe" file and the "3CXAssistantSetup_71.exe" file.

This is where my stupidity kicks in!

Using this website (http://www.3cx.com/phone-system/download-links/), I completed the following steps:
Download 3CX Phone System for Windows - FREE edition
Version 7.1
* Step 1: Download the PBX Server
3CX Phone System build v7.1.7139 (Approx. 40Mb)
* Step 2: Download optional components
3CX Assistant build v7.1.3438 - Desktop utility to manage calls, see user status and queues. Also includes Outlook and Salesforce integration
3CX VoIP Phone build v3.8571 (Approx. 3 Mb) - Light weight VoIP phone
* Step 3: Download Documentation

Lucky for me, Step 3 is a 72 page PDF! I won't lie to you, I read as much of it as I could before realizing that I was way in over my head.

As I was trying to figure out what I was doing, and where I was in the process, I realized that Callcenric offered a (very long) one page "how-to" for setting up 3CX with Callcentric (http://www.callcentric.com/support/device/3cx).

So now I realize that I am more confused than before (if that's possible).

I finished the setup, added extensions (although I don't know to where or for what), and clicked on the "Port/Trunk Status" link to test the connection. No surprise it was a red light!

What I am trying to accomplish here:

All I want to do is have calls that come in to my old cell phone number answered by a message stating "Hello. Thank you for calling "our company". To reach our Sales Department, please press 1. To reach our Design Team, please press 2." ect. At this point, I would need all of the calls to be forwarded to my new cell phone, as that is the only phone that I have.

Am I even barking up the right tree with this project? And, if so, can anyone please help me to understand what I have done right or wrong thus far, and what I need to do from here forward? I know that this has probably been covered in hundreds of pages of documentation, and in many many forum posts, but I couldn't find anything that was a simple "do this, then do this, and it will work" type of thing. Everything I have come across has had so many different scenarios to each step, and I never know which one I should be following.

I almost feel stupid asking, but if someone would please take the time to walk me through this, I would be eternally grateful!!!

Thanks for your time so far...

DG

 

[tpinnovations]

Ok, Remain Calm. 3CX is one of the best and easiest phone systems out there.


So lets to work to resolve the registration issues first, and then we can work on the forwarding and IVR setup.


1. Make sure your username and password are correct. < Sometimes if you copy and paste it can add an extra space and make it not work.
2. Make sure your phone # is correct. < With out this your provider won't know what number your trying to register for, and the PBX won't know what to listen for.
3. In some cases the "Outbound Proxy" says its required, Sometimes its lying, so try to remove it and let it attempt re-register.
4. If that doesn't try to use the "Generic VOIP Provider" with the following setttings;

SIP server hostname or IP callcentric.com
SIP server port 5060
Outbound proxy hostname or IP callcentric.com Omit this if it won't register and you've verified the username, password , and CID (Phone #) are correct.
Outbound proxy port (default is 5060): 5060

On the next page of the Setup:

External Number - 2145550101 (replace with your CID)
Authentication ID - 2145550101 (replace with your CID)
Authentication Password - YourPassWordHere
Maximum simultaneous calls - 2 < We set this to two because that's what most non-trunk providers allow.

On the next page, set the incoming calls to go to your extension for now.

Now we have to setup the outbound rules,

Calls to numbers starting with (Prefix)- Set this to 9 < This is tells the phone system what outbound route to set.

Click Finish, Check to see if everything is peachy.

 

[dgaletar]

OK, I will remain calm if you promise to never leave me until I get this setup or working???

1. Make sure your username and password are correct.

Sorry for sounding stupid (I did warn you, though), but where in the "3CX Phone System Management Console" do I find this?

 

[tpinnovations]

If you have already created the trunk, its under "VOIP Providers" -- > "Provider Name"

 

[dgaletar]

OK. Got that, thanks!

1. Make sure your username and password are correct. < Sometimes if you copy and paste it can add an extra space and make it not work. Done
2. Make sure your phone # is correct. < With out this your provider won't know what number your trying to register for, and the PBX won't know what to listen for. Done
3. In some cases the "Outbound Proxy" says its required, Sometimes its lying, so try to remove it and let it attempt re-register. Removed, no dif.
4. If that doesn't try to use the "Generic VOIP Provider" with the following setttings;

SIP server hostname or IP callcentric.com Done
SIP server port 5060 Done
Outbound proxy hostname or IP callcentric.com Omit this if it won't register and you've verified the username, password , and CID (Phone #) are correct. Done
Outbound proxy port (default is 5060): 5060 Done

On the next page of the Setup: (I am actually not in the setup menu any longer, so where is this located now? And, I think that I am getting confused between my CID and my phone number. The number I ported from Verizon to Callcentric is (443) 865-6812. But in Callcentric, the number is 17772526303.)

External Number - 2145550101 (replace with your CID)
Authentication ID - 2145550101 (replace with your CID)
Authentication Password - YourPassWordHere
Maximum simultaneous calls - 2 < We set this to two because that's what most non-trunk providers allow. On the Callcentric set-up page, they say to use 3

On the next page, set the incoming calls to go to your extension for now. Lost again.... what extension? I set up one (10) for Operator, and (20) for Sales, but I most likely set them up incorrectly.

Now we have to setup the outbound rules,

Calls to numbers starting with (Prefix)- Set this to 9 < This is tells the phone system what outbound route to set. Will I need to dial a 9 to get out, though? from my cell phone? Or is this a standard thing for this system?

 

[tpinnovations]

I think they assigned you another number, The port may not have been completed yet.

7772526303 is the number you should use then.

So

External Number - 17772526303
Authentication ID - 17772526303
Authentication Password - YourPassWordHere
Maximum simultaneous calls - 3 < If they say 3, then set it to 3.

Lets try that and see if it works.

Whoops, they want the 1s in there to.

 

[dgaletar]

OK. That's done. The light is still red. Do I need to refresh it or something?

 

[tpinnovations]

Click on another menu option, and then click back or on the VOIP providers page click "Refresh Registration"

You may need to re-add the outbound proxy.


Also if you can go to the Server Activity Log and copy and paste whats there so I can get a better idea of whats going on.

 

[dgaletar]

OK, still red. Here's the log.

 

[tpinnovations]

00:24:11.062 [CM504004]: Registration succeeded for: 10000@CallCentric

00:24:10.218 [CM504003]: Sent registration request for 10000@CallCentric

Says it worked, But then


00:27:25.562 [CM504005]: Registration failed for: 10000@CallCentric; Cause: 407 Proxy Authentication Required; from IP:204.11.192.31:5080

Its rejected the credentials.

Can you get in contact with call centric and ask them what the proper credentials are? According to Google 777 isn't even a proper area code and I think that may be part of the problem.

 

[dgaletar]

OK, I can do that. But, I have been getting calls through Callcentric for two days over my computer. I downloaded a Callcentric soft phone, and have gotten and made incoming/outgoing calls through that.

Does that make sense to you?

By the way, where are you located/what time is it there?

 

[tpinnovations]

Dallas, Texas - 11:47 PM

If you used the softphone, and it worked, what credentials did you use in it?

 

[dgaletar]

I am in Baltimore. It is almost 1am here.

You have been so patient and helpful! Thank you.

Will you be around on Sunday or Monday, after I can get in contact with Callcentric?

"What credentials am I using"? Do you think a different person just logged on? What does that mean/where do I find it?

 

[tpinnovations]

Yes, I will check up late afternoon on Sunday and see what has developed.

 

[dgaletar]

OK. Thanks! Get some sleep. We'll talk more tomorrow then.

 

[tpinnovations]

"What credentials am I using"? Do you think a different person just logged on? What does that mean/where do I find it?

Well to authenticate the session and be able to make calls, you need the phone #, the username (in this case the same as the phone number) and a password. Generally if you can get a softphone to connect, then you should have no problem connecting 3CX using the credentials from the softphone.

 

[dgaletar]

OK. So last night I entered this trouble ticket with Callcentric:

Trouble ticket number: 92371-2
Open Date: Aug 2, 2009 01:03 AM
Opened by: David Galetar
Type: Installation/Configuration
Status: Open
Message: I have downloaded and installed 3CX on my server, but have had several issues setting it up. Through the help of a 3CX Certified Professional, I was asked to pass on the following information from the Server Activity Log:
00:24:11.062 [CM504004]: Registration succeeded for: 10000@CallCentric
00:24:10.218 [CM504003]: Sent registration request for 10000@CallCentric

The 3CX Certified Professional then said: "It says it worked, But then..."
00:27:25.562 [CM504005]: Registration failed for: 10000@CallCentric; Cause: 407 Proxy Authentication Required; from IP:204.11.192.31:5080

The 3CX Certified Professional then said: "Its rejected the credentials. Can you get in contact with call centric and ask them what the proper credentials are? According to Google, 777 isn't even a proper area code and I think that may be part of the problem."

The phone number that I had ported from Verizon was (443) 865-6812. Where does the "777" number come from, and can you help me to resolve this issue?



And today Callcentric replied:

Aug 2, 2009 09:29 AM : Customer service
Hello,

Your "17772526303" is not a valid phone number on the PSTN (traditional phone, mobile phone, etc.), it is your Callcentric account number, username/authentication ID and a number that Callcentric customers or open SIP networks (http://www.callcentric.com/faq/4/130) can call you on. You will want to use your "17772526303" number within your 3cx configuration. Please note that the "407 Proxy Authentication Required" message that you are seeing on your logs is not an error message; rather this is how our system challenges the authentication of your 3cx.

Please check your settings against our 3cx setup guide (http://www.callcentric.com/support/device/3cx). If you continue to experience issues, please upload screenshots of your ‘VoIP Providers’ configuration page (preferably all of the configuration pages within the VoIP providers section), your entire server logs, as well as any inbound routes that you have defined onto this ticket by clicking on the 'ADD FILE' link near the top of this page. For instructions on how to take screenshots, please refer to the following page (http://www.wikihow.com/Take-a-Screenshot-in-Microsoft-Windows).

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask. Thank you.

And so the dance begins!!! What should I do next?

I almost think that I should un-install everything and just start over, following the directions of someone who knows what they are doing! Someone who is obviously NOT me!

 

[tpinnovations]

So 17772526303 is still inputted into 3CX correct?