No camera? Dial-in to your next 3CX WebMeeting

[LeonidasG_3CX]

Get your hands on the latest 3CX WebMeeting update, hot from the virtual oven! The new version brings new ‘Dial-in’ functionality as well as a number of cool new features and updates. Read on for an overview of new features and updates.

New Dial-in Functionality​

3CX WebMeeting ‘Dial-In’ is here! This powerful feature, s...

Continue reading the Original Blog Post.

 

[ericbramini]

This is great! A much needed feature that can now compete with some of those well-known web conference solutions.

Here is something that instantly came to my mind when reading this. When someone participates via computer in a web meeting, it counts against the maximum webmeeting participant count. When someone dials in to a web meeting by phone, I would hope it would still count against the webmeeting max participants and not the 3CX simultaneous call license limits. Can anyone confirm how that works?

 

[icg1]

Great feature! Just tested on our beta-PBX, and it works!
The only question, would it be able to dial-in with video from in-room SIP video conference systems like Polycom, LifeSize etc. via PBX conference or direct SIP link, cause if you'll have this feature, 3CX Webmeeting can really beat BlueJeans and Webex and switch customers, using BlueJeans/Webex to 3CX as a complete communication solution.

 

[stalley]

I've always been excited about the web-conferencing potential of 3cx, but until it is browser agnostic (not dependent on Chrome) it's pretty useless except for an in-house conference tool where you can control the browser in use. You can't expect a random outside client to always use Chrome as default browser.

 

[LeonidasG_3CX]

This is great! A much needed feature that can now compete with some of those well-known web conference solutions.

Here is something that instantly came to my mind when reading this. When someone participates via computer in a web meeting, it counts against the maximum webmeeting participant count. When someone dials in to a web meeting by phone, I would hope it would still count against the webmeeting max participants and not the 3CX simultaneous call license limits. Can anyone confirm how that works?

Cheers! A lot of work is going into WebMeeting as more and more people are using it in plethora of different types of businesses: Online Tutoring, CV Writing, Remote interview services, Travel Bookings and even insurance. It's really super easy and quick to use!

Regarding Dial-In. You're technically dialing and connecting via a DID setup on your PBX. This uses a PBX sim call AND a WebMeeting seat and this makes sense!

 

[LeonidasG_3CX]

Great feature! Just tested on our beta-PBX, and it works!
The only question, would it be able to dial-in with video from in-room SIP video conference systems like Polycom, LifeSize etc. via PBX conference or direct SIP link, cause if you'll have this feature, 3CX Webmeeting can really beat BlueJeans and Webex and switch customers, using BlueJeans/Webex to 3CX as a complete communication solution.

Glad to hear, as intended, it works quick and easily out of the box!
Stick around long enough and you may get to see something SIP connector related.

 

[LeonidasG_3CX]

I've always been excited about the web-conferencing potential of 3cx, but until it is browser agnostic (not dependent on Chrome) it's pretty useless except for an in-house conference tool where you can control the browser in use. You can't expect a random outside client to always use Chrome as default browser.

Give WebRTC a few more years and i'm sure that'll change. There's a lot of development happening right now in the WebRTC world and it's unfair to dismiss it so easily. Also according to what we're seeing, the vast majority of users out there are already using Chrome and Firefox. A not so bad percentage of people aren't as unwilling to switch to a new browser as you think they are.

There's are exceptions as in all things of course.

 

[tratz]

Question about the dial in service:

I assume that it connects to the PBX and uses a call license. My question is that one of our PBXes is a 32 SC. It comes with a 100 concurrent license for web meetings. Granted we have never reached it but have had 20 or more people on for a training class using a mic and speakers for the trainer and just speakers for each trainer. The issue becomes if they dial in to the PBX, we are eating 20 licenses out of the 32 SC PBX. Is either the webclient not going to count toward the license(as most webclient licenses are far out exceeding the SC license as previously they were separate but equal) or are they counting and the webclient license will be throttled back to match the SC license (simiar to the audio bridge that is included). I am really happy for the dial in service as previously i have had to purchase an audio bridge to cover the differences for the webclient as not all of my vendors or clients have the ability to use a computer and would prefer the dial in for a video conference.

--Tracy

 

[N_G]

Great feature! Just tested on our beta-PBX, and it works!
The only question, would it be able to dial-in with video from in-room SIP video conference systems like Polycom, LifeSize etc. via PBX conference or direct SIP link, cause if you'll have this feature, 3CX Webmeeting can really beat BlueJeans and Webex and switch customers, using BlueJeans/Webex to 3CX as a complete communication solution.

Thanks for your nice feedback. No it does not support those systems which are outdated and super expensive. You can easily setup cool in room conference room using much less expensive Logitech system. We are working on publishing a blog post how we setup our conference room at 3CX on a $1000 budget with same results as Polycom / Lifesize etc.

 

[N_G]

I've always been excited about the web-conferencing potential of 3cx, but until it is browser agnostic (not dependent on Chrome) it's pretty useless except for an in-house conference tool where you can control the browser in use. You can't expect a random outside client to always use Chrome as default browser.

That's very far from the truth. Chrome is by far the most used browser and together with Firefox make up a good 90% of the business browsing market.

 

[N_G]

Question about the dial in service:

I assume that it connects to the PBX and uses a call license. My question is that one of our PBXes is a 32 SC. It comes with a 100 concurrent license for web meetings. Granted we have never reached it but have had 20 or more people on for a training class using a mic and speakers for the trainer and just speakers for each trainer. The issue becomes if they dial in to the PBX, we are eating 20 licenses out of the 32 SC PBX. Is either the webclient not going to count toward the license(as most webclient licenses are far out exceeding the SC license as previously they were separate but equal) or are they counting and the webclient license will be throttled back to match the SC license (simiar to the audio bridge that is included). I am really happy for the dial in service as previously i have had to purchase an audio bridge to cover the differences for the webclient as not all of my vendors or clients have the ability to use a computer and would prefer the dial in for a video conference.

--Tracy

It will use a license on both unfortunately. But keep in mind you can now easily upgrade and at a very competitive cost in place. Think of all the money you will save compared to having separate webex accounts for all users in your company. The savings are massive for just a few bucks extra per year.

 

[LeonidasG_3CX]

Try under PBX > Settings > Conferencing > Audio > Conference External Numbers and fill this up with the numbers you want to show. Also make sure your MyPhone port (5001) is open for bidirectional communication with webmeeting.3cx.net

 

[LeonidasG_3CX]

Make sure you're not within the following restrictions as mentioned in the blog post.
https://www.3cx.com/blog/releases/dial-in-web-meeting/

Known Issues and Limitations

• Dialed-in participants have no advanced meeting rights (role, chat, etc).
• The meeting audio quality drops while a user is dialed in, as the codec is switched from HD Opus to G722.
• For the moment, Quick-Meetings do not include the ‘Dial-In’ ability for security reasons.

 

[tvdir]

We are working on publishing a blog post how we setup our conference room at 3CX on a $1000 budget with same results as Polycom / Lifesize etc.

Looking forward to this!

 

[mear]

Great work guys. I have not had a chance to test yet. It looks like their is support for multiple dial-in numbers. Now all you need is bridge service of world wide dial-in numbers allowing 3CX users to offer world wide dial in without the need to purchase numbers around the world. Still happy with this enhancement as it is. Thanks

 

[accentlogic]

Many thanks to 3CX for implementing this! We are really looking forward to having it available.

For those worried about Windows users and the default Edge browser, it looks like that problem may be going away - Microsoft is moving the Edge browser engine to Chromium.

https://blogs.windows.com/windowsex...etter-through-more-open-source-collaboration/

Microsoft also says the plan to support existing Chrome extensions. https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/10/18134073/chromium-microsoft-browser-chrome-extensions-xbox-one

Hopefully this means Chrome, Firefox and Edge will all handle the Web Client in the near future.

Tim Schulte
ACCENTLOGIC

 

[telforce]

I was wondering what the correct procedure is to use the dial-in feature for webmeetings?

The blog page shows dial-in numbers on the meeting creatore page. But i don't see that option when creating a webmeeting. My 3CX version is 16.0.0.982.

I also see in the e-mail template:

%%IF_EXTERNALNUMBER_PRESENT_START%%
<p style="margin:0">Or dial %%EXTERNALNUMBER%%, PIN: %%CONFERENCEID%%</p>
%%IF_EXTERNALNUMBER_PRESENT_END%%

I have configured a DID in my sip trunk which i have specified under the conferencing settings. What i did now is manually edit the email invite template and added the DID number there. It works just fine but not like in the blog description.

 

[LeonidasG_3CX]

It's enough to have some DID's configured and to type them out in the Settings > Conference > Audio > Conference External Numbers section. After this, if you create a meeting, invites sent out will have these numbers specified and you should also see these numbers inside the meeting's "Add User" panel.



If these are not appearing for you inside the meeting, give the 3CX System Service a restart in order to force sync all meeting data and everything should be fine. Let me know if this works out for you.

 

[LeonidasG_3CX]

Many thanks to 3CX for implementing this! We are really looking forward to having it available.

For those worried about Windows users and the default Edge browser, it looks like that problem may be going away - Microsoft is moving the Edge browser engine to Chromium.

https://blogs.windows.com/windowsex...etter-through-more-open-source-collaboration/

Microsoft also says the plan to support existing Chrome extensions. https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/10/18134073/chromium-microsoft-browser-chrome-extensions-xbox-one

Hopefully this means Chrome, Firefox and Edge will all handle the Web Client in the near future.

Tim Schulte
ACCENTLOGIC

We've in fact had communication directly with the Microsoft Edge team to try to get this going, but with no avail. Unfortunately it will be quite some time before more heavy WebRTC features like multiple SSRC's and others are implemented in Edge. Without these, the current WebRTC capabilities Edge provides are too basic for large scale multi-user conferencing.

 

[Ovidiu Pacuraru]

It's enough to have some DID's configured and to type them out in the Settings > Conference > Audio > Conference External Numbers section. After this, if you create a meeting, invites sent out will have these numbers specified and you should also see these numbers inside the meeting's "Add User" panel.

View attachment 9504

If these are not appearing for you inside the meeting, give the 3CX System Service a restart in order to force sync all meeting data and everything should be fine. Let me know if this works out for you.

What format does this field take? (I am referring to your screenshot) Is it important? I can't seem to get audio in/out for those dialled in via this method.