V15 no maintenance = no webmeetings.

[hogan71088]

Hi all,

What is everyone's thoughts on this. If you don't renew your maintenance you lose the webmeetings functionality and you lose your fqdn.

 

[craigreilly]

What kind of feedback are you looking for?
Your statement is true.

If you do not use Webmeeting and you have set up your own FQDN (and SSL CERT) then not a big deal.

I do not want to deal with creating my own SSL for a Web Server I am unfamiliar with, so I elect to renew my maintenance and let 3cx manage it all.

 

[North Cascade Group]

I just stumbled on to this wondering why, when we switched to our own FQDN and certificate, it didn't also change the webmeeting FQDN. How convenient. Our client long ago stopped using this as a phone system and just as a webmeeting system due to the already famous problems with the (G) and (P) phones they originally bought with the older version of 3cx.

So, as is the scam with every new piece of wonderful "cloud" software, you never ever actually own the thing, and sometimes, if you don't want to pay for updates and features you don't need, the whole thing stops working. Wonderful. We still have customers on version 12 because they can't upgrade without replacing hundreds of "unsupported" phones that were originally not just supported, but in-fact recommended by 3cx.

I know they have to make money, but honestly this is yet another disappointment in this otherwise great product, and we pretty much can't recommend it anymore even though we're stuck supporting in and constantly apologizing for things like this that just suddenly change without notice.

 

[sip.bg]

You can still use your old phones, regardless not officially supported. No reason for changing them actually. For most of them you can find custom templates. I have many customers still using Grandstream and Panasonic IP phones with 3CX V.15.5, if you mean them by G and P.

 

[cobaltit]

It's really not that hard to comprehend. Webmeeting is basically an enhancement that is included with the maintenance that relies on infrastructure that is not yours. The maintenance covers the usage of that infrastructure. Should you decide not to renew the maintenance, you lose everything that relies on 3CX infrastracture. So that would be the 3CX supplied FQDN, the automatic firmware updates and webmeeting. Keep in mind that webmeeting used to be a separate product that is now bundled with the MAINTENANCE and not with the PBX per se. All that being said, 3CX maintenance is so cheap that if someone opts not to renew it, there are probably other issues I'd be more concerned with.

 

[North Cascade Group]

You call almost $300 a year "cheap" for a system that is only used for conferencing and only occasionally? We do. We were fine when it was a separate product we owned. I fail to see any valid technical reason why it now all of the sudden "relies" on outside infrastructure, other than to basically force customers to have to update their systems every-time the vendor wants you too.

We've been selling phones and pbx systems since the 80's, and this is just bizarre. People don't want to be forced to upgrade their phone systems every year or more. 3cx didn't do this in the past, and almost nobody else forces you to do this now.

I think they should sell the webmeeting system separately. I do think customers would pay for that as a service or system. I really think its the most underrated part of this product, but quite frankly, we don't trust the rest of it to use as our PBX anymore so it would be great if we could just purchase the webmeeting on a PER-VERSION basis. That we would certainly do.

 

[sip.bg]

It's really not that hard to comprehend. Webmeeting is basically an enhancement that is included with the maintenance that relies on infrastructure that is not yours. The maintenance covers the usage of that infrastructure. Should you decide not to renew the maintenance, you lose everything that relies on 3CX infrastracture. So that would be the 3CX supplied FQDN, the automatic firmware updates and webmeeting. Keep in mind that webmeeting used to be a separate product that is now bundled with the MAINTENANCE and not with the PBX per se. All that being said, 3CX maintenance is so cheap that if someone opts not to renew it, there are probably other issues I'd be more concerned with.

The next thing to stop working from 1/1/2018 will be 3CX phones for Android and iPhone, if you are still using V14. This means you should have valid maintenance to upgrade to V15.5.

Webmeeting for V14 stopped working on Sep. 1st, 2017, even you had valid maintenance, so you are forced to upgrade to V15.5.

 

[Owen]

I have just 'strongly' recommended 3CX to my boss - is there anything else like this that I have missed due to small or invisible print?

 

[cobaltit]

@Owen
This is merely a misunderstanding about how Webmeeting which was a formerly stand-alone product is now currently licensed. But if you do have any concerns or questions then reach out to a 3CX partner or 3CX sales.

@North Cascade Group
Yes I consider $300/yr cheap if it is important to your business. If you only use it for Webmeeting you could buy a 4SC Standard license for $149 for up to10 participants or Pro for $189 for up to 50 participants. Or if you really use it that infrequently there is always join.me or other free conference/webmeeting services. And again the PBX does not stop working so you are not forced to upgrade. The add-on feature stops working because it relies on 3CX infrastructure. And it doesn't all of a sudden rely on 3CX infrastructure. It has since it was actually worth using and it did as a stand-alone product.