New Opportunity Advice

[Mark Adams]

Just got a call from a regional Cell carrier. They have a company of 30 users that want to migrate to using Cell phones only, BUT they want a system that they can port the 2 public facing numbers too, and have an AA, and have 30 extensions that will just forward to cell phones.

3CX was my first thought, but I am wondering if anyone uses the system in this type of scenario or if there are any gotchas that I am not thinking of. Otherwise I think I will just host them in Azure, port the 2 numbers to VOIP.ms, setup the extensions and forward them to cells.

The only gotcha, and this is their choice, is that when users make outgoing calls it will come directly from the cell phone, not the company phone, unless they want to buy a pool of minutes and have users use the 3CX ap for outgoing calls.

Any thoughts on how/if this will work?

 

[Marari]

Why not test it out on a free version first?

 

[Saqqara]

biggest issue, all incoming calls to the mobile will be two sim calls - so need factor this license and any sip license

 

[Mark Adams]

Thanks I hadn't thought of that. So the calls are still brokered through the 3CX even though they are cell calls? It is not a hand off to the cell carrier?

So if that is the case I guess they will also need a SIP carrier and all calls will be using SIP minutes?

I was thinking that the Cell calls would just be referred to the Cell carrier.

 

[Evolute IT]

Instead of forwarding to cellphones (thus using double the SC number), why not use the 3CX app on mobile? This way, it requires less SC and allows to call using the company DIDs.

 

[Mark Adams]

That might be the better way to go if they are open to it. The only reason I was hoping to avoid is to be honest, the Mobile App is the one thing that we have had mixed results with. Sometimes it does not ring at all, sometimes we get echo when on Bluetooth in vehicles etc.

 

[Evolute IT]

That might be the better way to go if they are open to it. The only reason I was hoping to avoid is to be honest, the Mobile App is the one thing that we have had mixed results with. Sometimes it does not ring at all, sometimes we get echo when on Bluetooth in vehicles etc.

Issues can happen with everything but I know for sure that it works very well on iOS.

As for the Bluetooth issue, is not always the app, more often the car's system is just really bad.

 

[Mark Adams]

I am not going to argue with that, different cars and different qualities of BT speakers etc. I only know in my car for instance, I have an aftermarket BT device. I never get a single complaint when I take/make a call on my Cell service.

But when taking/making calls through the 3CX app, I get complaints of background noise, echo etc. I think the BT app on the phone treats the 3CX calls as streaming audio, rther than a phone call. Its a different audio profile on the BT connection, and my suspicion is that as such the noise canceling does not get engaged so the other parties voice comes out of my speakers and back into the microphone.

May not be 3CX apps fault per se, rather may be somewhere between the BT speaker and/or the phone, but when selling a professional service to an end user, I don't want to be finger pointing, it just has to work.

 

[cobaltit]

Thanks I hadn't thought of that. So the calls are still brokered through the 3CX even though they are cell calls? It is not a hand off to the cell carrier?

So if that is the case I guess they will also need a SIP carrier and all calls will be using SIP minutes?

I was thinking that the Cell calls would just be referred to the Cell carrier.

So I'm not sure if it's just your wording or if it's a lack of understanding but I will clarify just in case. 3CX only works with SIP devices so you will absolutely need a SIP trunk from someone (preferred providers recommended) to get the calls into 3CX. And then if you plan on forwarding the calls out to the cell phones using the native cell numbers (not the mobile app) then the system will make a 2nd call out from 3CX (again using the SIP trunk) to the cell number. This really isn't a good fit for 3CX.

 

[JohnS_3CX]

That might be the better way to go if they are open to it. The only reason I was hoping to avoid is to be honest, the Mobile App is the one thing that we have had mixed results with. Sometimes it does not ring at all, sometimes we get echo when on Bluetooth in vehicles etc.

Some of those cases can be resolved by toggling the Car/Bluetooth Support option under Advanced menu in the app (uses a different telecom API that some devices may prefer)