Perpetual License Will no Longer Activate

[Atwood]

In 2018 I purchased a perpetual license for the below customer

FQDN: xxxx.3cx.ca

License key is: ZDOK-XXXX-XXXX-EWXF


Their PBX has been running fine until a few weeks ago and now the 3cx software gives an error message.

Activation Failed 15.5.20000.6License

Unable to reach 3CX License Activation Server. Confirm that your Primary DNS Server is able to resolve activation.3cx.com


How can I resolve this for them?

 

[cobaltit]

You upgrade per the many, many emails 3CX sent out about this.

 

[Atwood]

By upgrading to v18 would this not require the purchase of a new license or license upgrade?

 

[cobaltit]

That depends on what it says if you check the customer portal for the license. If you never paid maintenance then it's probably been converted to an annual 4 SC already. If you are lucky you might still have a trade-in option.

 

[Charles_3CX]

By upgrading to v18 would this not require the purchase of a new license or license upgrade?

Here I would suggest sending an email to [email protected] or chatting to our CSR team from any chat box on our website www.3cx.com, for them to check if the license key is eligible for the upgrade.

 

[Atwood]

They never paid maintenance. From the portal is show 4 sc license. The use of the wording “perpetual” license seems misleading if an annual maintenance subscription is required or a mandatory upgrade.

 

[ClsVip]

With regards to perpetual licenses, these require yearly maintenance in order to receive updates and be able to upgrade among other things. As maintenance has never been paid you will not be able to upgrade with this license, the advice offered to contact the 3cx CSR team is the course of action to check your options.

 

[VoIPTools]

My comments below will sound a little harsh, so I apologize for being less than diplomatic.

As a 3CX Partner, you should have known that annual maintenance is REQUIRED. This has been true since I started selling 3CX back with version 6 (10+ years). The fact that your customer is still on 15 is an indication that you, as the 3CX partner, have been asleep at the wheel.

3CX has sent out countless emails letting partners and customers know that V15 is no longer supported and needed to be upgraded because of changes to the activation servers. I suggest you check the email address 3CX has on-file for you because 3CX has bent over backwards for a couple of years to make sure everyone knew about the activation server changes LONG before they actually retired the servers.

Frankly, this could not possibly be a surprise to anyone that is actively selling and supporting 3CX (which is a requirement to maintain your 3CX partner status). You screwed up, not 3CX, so do not sling arrows at 3CX.

 

[Atwood]

Screenshot (below) from the 3cx website in 2017.

"If you do not renew your maintenance and WISH to upgrade to the latest version once a new version is released, you will have to buy a version upgrade"

The wording could have been more accurate. The word "wish", makes it seem like maintenance was an option that one could wish to do or not wish to do.

Many of these legacy PBX's had been installed for 30+ years with no maintenance fees. The installations did not use voip, and once installed, the systems were designed to set and forget. Often not connected to the internet.

Regardless, I have my answer. Thanks for the feedback.