Polycom - Legacy?

[Mike Hammett]

Why does 3CX consider current-release Polycom phones to be legacy?

 

[Saqqara]

Limited functions, compare to the other model of phones.

https://www.3cx.com/Sip-Phones/Cisco-SPA/ - look at the limitation section and it explains what functions do not work

 

[YiannisH_3CX]

These phones are considered legacy as not all functions we require supported phone to have, are possible at the moment.

 

[Mike Hammett]

I've looked at the limitations for two families of Polycom phones and it's simply incorrect.

"Note that these phones can not be used from a remote location or in combination with a 3CX in the cloud." They very much can be used remotely. We have hundreds used remotely today.

 

[Mike Hammett]

I looked through the rest of the limitations and don't find anything of significance. I would probably reword how you refer to some of these phones. I don't think legacy would be an appropriate distinction.

 

[eddv123]

Hi Mike,

I get your point in regards to the general term of "Legacy" as to me (in telecoms) Legacy refers to old school systems such as Analogue, Digital etc.

However if you consider this in regards to their status with 3CX.

Legacy (as per Google) = denoting or relating to software or hardware that has been superseded.

These phones have been superseded in the supported range by the likes of fully supported phones such as snom, Yealink etc etc.

I do recall seeing a comment from 3CX support on here somewhere saying that there would be some better support added for Polycom's going forward however - whether this happens or not we will only know when it occurs.

 

[YiannisH_3CX]

Note that these phones can not be used from a remote location or in combination with a 3CX in the cloud." They very much can be used remotely. We have hundreds used remotely today.

This is because these phones cannot be provisioned remotely. If they cannot be provisioned then we cannot support them for remote operation. As these are SIP devices technically they can register remotely but are not supported by 3CX as manually configured devices are not supported.

 

[Mike Hammett]

They certainly can be provisioned remotely. We're doing so right now with hundreds of handsets on FreePBX.

 

[eddv123]

Again, you are talking generically and not in regards to 3CX.

Yes those phones support provisioning absolutely. Do they support "supported" provisioning with 3CX (3CX SBC and the remote STUN/RPS method) not currently with 3CX (unless you wrote a custom template perhaps).

The only way they could be made to work in the supported sense would be across a VPN using DHCP Option 66 but only if the model you are using has an existing template in 3CX as per this (which you have seen already I am sure): https://www.3cx.com/sip-phones/

 

[Mike Hammett]

So 3CX doesn't support any normal set of provisioning? No FTP, TFTP, HTTP, etc.?

I'm sorry for speaking generically and not specifically to 3CX. I'm assuming an actively developed platform has support for standard features.

 

[eddv123]

3CX's has its own in-built provisioning server and does not require the need for a third party provisioning platform.

Have a read of this for the different methods used for provisioning: https://www.3cx.com/sip-phones/

 

[Mike Hammett]

Its built-in provisioning is apparently lacking significant functionality if it doesn't support basic FTP, TFTP, HTTP, etc. provisioning.

I did see that page, but none of those methods are appropriate.

 

[eddv123]

3CX provisions via HTTP/HTTPS. But again I think you are missing the point about support:

3CX "supported": What 3CX support staff will offer advise and guidance on.

General "support": Will something work with 3CX.

In most cases as far as general support is concerned 3CX is pretty good, it is a very flexible and dynamic system. But whether it will support other provisioning methods I personally have never had to try bar on a single instance:

The closest I got to provisioning from a third party server was that I had to perform HTTP provisioning for some Spectralink WiFi handsets (which are not supported for provisioning with 3CX) but I was able to acquire and alter some custom templates for them.

 

[Mike Hammett]

Okay, I'm mostly concerned as to whether something will work or not. If 3cx will generate the configurations and place them somewhere on the file system, I can do whatever else necessary to get them to work.

Good to see the HTTP and HTTPS are available. It would be simple enough to add Pro FTP or the TFTP demon to the server for me to transition existing phones.

It still boggles my mind how they have elected to not officially support those methods. Their supported methods are either archaic or require additional hardware or other capabilities that aren't well suited for a for a cloud-hosted, work from home environment.

 

[StefanW]

Let me shortly state why the devices are in category list, surly we don't need to talk about any non VVX Polycom Device.

Capability
3CX can provision the devices using HTTP protocol, which can be distributed to the Phone via Provisioning Link or any local DHCP server via option 66.

Reg. a question: No, we do not place clear XML files on the file system containing sensitive data, so grabbing them via FTP is not possible, that would be a bit archaic. Repoint the device via DHCP Option 66 from FTP to HTTP. What also will work, take the current entered prov. server to supply the devices with a new provisioning URL and Server Type: HTTP.

Technicality
Since the latest firmware we got from Polycom, support for build-in trust of SSL Root X3 (Let's Encrypt) was added. This opened up the device family for support of Remote SBC which requires HTTPs provisioning. Something the team is working on to deliver whenever we can.

Functionality
Direct remote usage (without any addition then just phone and internet, like VPN or an SBC) is not possible in the devices. STUN support is required, which is implemented inside of VVX devices but on an proprietary STUN server platform which needs to be licensed in order to be used.