Streaming Music on Hold

[manic]

Yes I know its an old topic but still nothing back from 3CX so considering making a move away.

Some of us know the lciensening issues and have that covered and can legally stream music content and woudl like to have this played out on our phone systems but the funcionality was removed for some reason and despite all the requests for it to come back nothing has been seen on the roadmap.

This is now becoming a deal changer for us and we need to make a decision so can someone advise what 3CX's current position on adding this function in is ?

 

[PanagiotisL_3CX]

@manic

Music streaming as MOH is not possible at least for the time being. An alternative to a single wav file is to create a playlist.

 

[manic]

This is all anyone ever says. Looks like we will have to seek another phone system provider when our license runs out as this has now become extremly important to us and more to the point it appears that the developers of 3CX are not listening to their customers as it has been being requested on this forum since at least 2017

 

[mcsphones]

This is all anyone ever says. Looks like we will have to seek another phone system provider when our license runs out as this has now become extremly important to us and more to the point it appears that the developers of 3CX are not listening to their customers as it has been being requested on this forum since at least 2017

Hello, I would just be curious as to why streaming-based hold music is a "dealbreaker" - purely because I'd like to know the business reason that live, streaming music is deemed critically important for on-hold callers.

 

[CentrexJ]

Of all of our customers, we have one customer, a radio station who really wanted this feature so that they can stream their station audio on their music on hold. that way when people call into the radio station they can turn off their radio and listen to it on the hold music instead. its important for callers to turn off their radio before the call gets answered in the studio to prevent feedback issues. I told them its not possible and they still are with 3CX.

This customer is a 4SC "Standard / Free" Legacy customer. Hardly a business case from this one for 3CX to do anything though.

 

[manic]

@dougkinzinger in answer to your question going forward we need this function. It has been spoken about numerious times on this forum and yet 3CX don't action it. At the end of the day, customers requests are they key to any business and if software doesn't provide this then we just look elsewhere as others do. I was mearly looking to get an update on if this is on the road map for developement or totally out of the question.

Its clear that @CentrexJ doesn't rate a "3SC Standard Legacy Customer" as a customer (rather than a potential growing customer) then we will indeed once our subscription runs out look to move to another VOIP item of software that does provide this function.

Thank you everyone, can't see that you keep customers talking like that!

 

[CDWerkz]

I have 7 customers who will not move to 3CX until they can use streaming MOH. It's literally the only thing they need for me to move them. All of which are local radio stations who use their current MOH as a stream of their live broadcasts.

A huge deal breaker for them and missed opportunity for me.

I have one radio station who uses 3CX currently that transfers callers into a separate dedicated 3rd party system so their customers can hear the live stream before they are brought live on air, but if they have more than 6 concurrent callers the 7th caller must listen to the 3CX .wav MOH until they can be moved into the 3rd party system.

 

[Guillaume Bourgeois]

The 3CX PBX supports the Re-Invite option for SIP Trunks. This means that if your SIP Trunk provider offers this feature, the hold music will be played by them.

In our case, this is true : VoiceMeUp offers a streaming service. Configuration fees may apply. Note that the 3CX team does not guarantee this feature; it is 100% supported by VoiceMeUp. The streaming server is completely independent of 3CX PBX.

I'm not trying to persuade you to switch providers, but simply pointing out that your SIP Trunk provider could potentially help you in this situation.

 

[kduncan]

I'm not sure "why do you need it?" is relevant. We are customers, and if our customers ask for something that this technology has provided in the past, we should be able to provide it to them. FreePBX and many other asterisk-based systems provide streaming on hold and we have had to place our customers on alternate systems to accommodate their wishes.

I am not sure that being the gatekeeper to someone using unlicensed music is a good reason. It is their responsibility to comply and if they don't they alone would be responsible for any outcome, not the developers. There is nothing keeping someone from uploading unlicensed music now.

Now to answer why WE want it. We run numerous call centers and callers are transferred between different sites sometimes multiple times during a call to maintain the appearance of continuity we want to play the same exact music to the caller during transfers.

 

[TheodorosG_3CX]

Have you considered using the playlist?

 

[CDWerkz]

Have you considered using the playlist?

The playlist will not satisfy my customers needs. A stream is needed for their broadcasted on-air content.

 

[CDWerkz]

Hello, I would just be curious as to why streaming-based hold music is a "dealbreaker" - purely because I'd like to know the business reason that live, streaming music is deemed critically important for on-hold callers.

Many of my customers (or potential customers) are on-the-air radio broadcasters. They use their live over-the-air broadcast as their way to push content to their callers. If a caller calls in and is on hold for a few minutes, when they are brought back on air many would be lost on the conversation that has already taken place. Some of these callers are on hold 5+ minutes before they are brought into a live on-air studio. 5+ minutes is an eternity regarding live on-air programming.

 

[TheodorosG_3CX]

I'm afraid that MOH streaming is not an option.

 

[Colin B]

We are a radio station, and this is the only thing holding us back from using this platform.

Most if not the majority of the phone systems provide for this and find it strange that a platform like this does not. It has in the past but removed the functionality. Here in Australia, it is the responsibility of the user not the manufacturer, to ensure copyright compliance. Anyway, we look in from time to time to see if things have changed. Somewhere this year or next we will have to change systems; it will be one that does provide for streaming.