Update 6 Alpha Optimizes Hosting

[cobaltit]

@Constantinos Constantinou

I had a crash in the Windows client (running the beta client against U6 Alpha). Where should I submit the log file?

 

[JoeB]

We have service hosted by a 3CX cloud partner, so we won't be installing the Beta. Is there a way to remove it from the Downloads list?

 

[BrenttG]

You do not need to remove it from the list, it will dissappear by itself when they full release comes out, automatic updates will not upgrade you from a release to a alpha or beta if that is what you were concerned about.

 

[davide.bonavita]

Can there be a little fix for auto reload the webclient when the session expired? I think the webclient knows when the session expired, but when the user does not get it, there is an incoming call, he wants to take, the webclient says "session expired". After reloading the webclient, you can not take the call any more.
We have this little problem since we are more in homeoffice.
3CX autostarts as a chrome application and can reach the system without any VPN. When the colleague starts VPN, the 3CX would be routet over this to the internal IP. Without reloading the 3CX Webclient the session expires.
Must be a little to fix this, what do you think?

It's not Office 365, it's Microsoft 365 now.

THIS, PLEASE! 99% of the "issues" the agents are having are related to this, both because they connect/disconnect from the office VPN or because they just leave the computer turned on overnight and they forget to reload the webclient first thing in the morning. Just reloading the page everytime the public IP changes (or a very simple popup message) would suffice

 

[gbourgeois]

@PaulEmous - We are not working on our own hosting infrastructure of course. Hosted by 3CX will be hosted on Amazon or another big hoster. What we will do is ongoing monitoring, instance management and updates. And thus remove a headache for partners and customers alike. You dont have to worry about updating your linux instance or PBX anymore as it will be handled by us.

Another nice point is that we can obtain unbeatable pricing because of the volume of machines that we will be deploying. Its going to be *VERY* price competitive.

That said you can of course manage it yourself (and we continue to make the process easier) on premise or in your private cloud and we understand that for many companies this is preferable.

Hi Nick,
it seems very interesting indeed.
What is the solution for Fax (t.38) -> FXS
https://www.3cx.com/docs/manual/fax-server/

(Maybe he had evolution).
Only available locally (or VPN)

Imagine Day 1, the customer does not mention this need. A few weeks / months later, the customer wants to send faxes from a physical device. We need to relocate the PBX locally? For this reason.

 

[cobaltit]

Imagine
Day 1, the customer does not mention this need.
A few weeks / months later, the customer wants to send faxes from a physical device.
We need to relocate the PBX locally? For this reason.

Imagine
Day 0 - Assessing the clients needs, both current and future



Also,
1. I'm fairly certain 3CX announced somewhere that FXS will be supported via SBC.
2. No one who likes their clients would suggest faxing via FXS anyways
3. It's pretty trivial to move hosted instances provided you are using supported devices provisioned properly.

 

[BrenttG]

AND, just to be thorough, they also said setting devices up via SIP/STUN will work, but is not considered supported by them by 3CX Support due to the network complexities that can be involved. Not a perfect option for your fax devices, but it might be useful in a pinch.

 

[StefanW]

when do you think this build will go GA? i have about 3 installs waiting on the pi 4 support as it's hard to get the Pi 3's locally now.

U6 and Debian 10 (needed for PI4) are independent meaning that there will be no full release of Debi10 with update 6.

 

[gbourgeois]

Imagine
Day 0 - Assessing the clients needs, both current and future

Thx for your reply but you don't teach me anything with this.
If you have the same new customer activation volume as we do .. you understand that even if the customer says "We want to use virtual faxes" .. there will always be customers who will change their mind. And that's normal .. we are here to support them!

Also,
1. I'm fairly certain 3CX announced somewhere that FXS will be supported via SBC.

Currently ... it is not possible to configure a FAX extension on FXS in "remote" .
Fax extension is « Allow lan only ».
No SBC , No Stun , No Remote.
3CX Solution : VPN or Local PBX .. or configure without T38 protocol.

2. No one who likes their clients would suggest faxing via FXS anyways

I can assure you that it works very well with the T.38 protocol and all of our customers love the sharing SIP channels between calls and faxs.

We have not encountered any problems .. I know that I don't teach you anything either ; Work with reliable SIP providers, use quality fx gateways and follow the 3CX recommendations .. It works VERY well.

3. It's pretty trivial to move hosted instances provided you are using supported devices provisioned properly.

Moving is not a problem .. it's all a question of price and selling points..
We have 14 sales counters... We are everywhere in the province of Quebec.
Understand here that it is not profitable to have to do duplicate work .. while other customers wait for their new services to arrive.

At Bravad .. we sell a lot SaaS mode (Software as a Service) and as such the customer do not buy 3CX from us but rather a turnkey managed services that is using 3CX as a foundation.
Generally We do not sell a customer a license, a software or a server, we run an environment that own and use 3CX to deliver the service.
We are accountable to deliver a services.



@BrenttG
This is also why we use your PBX Monitor product. (Try it!)

I don't remember seeing the ad where 3CX would lift the "Allow_lan_only" block using 3CX fax extension.

Obviously, there are plenty of other solutions to work around this limitation. But we always look at 3CX solutions before looking at alternative solutions.

Thank you for taking the time to answer me

 

[cobaltit]

Hmm. you may have gotten me on that one. I was trying to find the post about the ATA's working via SBC but that may just be as regular extensions, not fax (at least as fax extensions in 3CX).

For faxing over FXS, I just don't do it anymore. Incoming faxes via T38 to 3CX work great and we do a bit of that. Faxing via ATA, even with approved ATAs and quality internet works great until it doesn't. I've had faxing work for months and then one day the ISP is a little shaky or if it's a larger fax it hiccups and we're back to square one. We've done it for really low volume faxing but the customer is fully aware that the first time they say it doesn't work we move them to our HTTPS fax adapter.

And yes you are right, customers can (and do) changes their minds but if you've given them the option beforehand (preferably with a signature) then at least when that time comes its a billable change and not a oops.

And if sounds like you have a good model working for you so I'm not sure why you would even care about 3CX hosting. It's designed for new 3CX partners and those with no hosting experience, and as such has certain training wheels to keep support down. Doesn't sound like you need any of that.

 

[BrenttG]

Hmm. you may have gotten me on that one. I was trying to find the post about the ATA's working via SBC but that may just be as regular extensions, not fax (at least as fax extensions in 3CX).

We have one working via SBC, but its not something supported or doable with default templates and provisioning, its a very "manual config" affair. But i would not go about offering it as a solid solution as they are messy to configure and generally not what we consider a supportable option, this one was done out of a necessity only.

 

[RafaelD--]

Hello 3CX, thanks for the new O365 integration.. this works great.
I do have an additional question / request about this integration.

3CX now uses the Outlook calendar API, but is it also possible to add the Microsoft Graph Presence API? In this way, the status of the 3cx extension will also change if a user is absent in Micrososft Teams.