What’s Cooking in our Remote Kitchens? The 3CX Road Map

[michelescapini]

@Nick Galea the caller id outbounding routing is still planned for U8?
Is a request in progress from 2 year and now we use the workaround for emergency number but is not ideal.
We have a customer which want change the CID for the call to business mobile phone

 

[cmp1]

For audio redirection, we found a workaround using a product called mcable which redirects sound in windows to a simulated microphone.

Could you provide a link for this? I have some internal requests for playing training videos in onboarding webinars for remote employees.

 

[FridayIT]

Could you provide a link for this? I have some internal requests for playing training videos in onboarding webinars for remote employees.

https://www.vb-audio.com/Cable/

 

[LimeMonkey]

Windows SBC HA Redundancy!

Is this on the cards sometime?
We're primarily a MS shop, with the usual straggler Macs scattered about. Have no desire to burn time learning Linux, and our remote management systems can't support Linux either.

What's the ETA then for Windows support?

I'm concerned about the sites we have with only one SBC and no automatic redundancy.

 

[N_G]

You dont have to learn linux to use the raspberry pi linux sbc. It just runs and can be upgraded from the management console

 

[LimeMonkey]

@Nick Galea Yes, that's true but our remote management don't integrate well with Linux and makes our defined SOE different than we want.

 

[kylejwx93]

The news about SMS text message support is really exciting. I can see two main use cases.

The first would be for an individual employee to have their own DID/SMS number. An example would be a sales agent connecting with customers.

The second would be SMS enabled on the main DID for an organization. An example could be a school or dentist office. Customers could text the number to ask a question such as what time their appointment is or if soccer practice is cancelled. In this case you would need a group of people to be able to manage the messages and conversations over SMS.

My dentist uses Weave (https://www.getweave.com/) for texting clients. I find it very convenient. I work at a school and I think texting could be an excellent way for us to connect with parents. I don't think 3CX needs to match Weave feature for feature, but I think it could be a great source of inspiration for ideas about how SMS would be used in a customer service situation.

 

[FridayIT]

@Nick Galea Yes, that's true but our remote management don't integrate well with Linux and makes our defined SOE different than we want.

I would highly recommend using Linux rather than windows, especially if you want it to "just work" updates are as simple as pressing one button, and you don't have to worry about all the windows background services taking your performance away from the PBX.

updates, and management can all be done from the webui, so you don't even "see" linux.

 

[cparker_RCT]

My two cents: it isn't really the job of the PBX to meddle with SMS/MMS - since the number is "owned" by a carrier that arrangement should be handled by API calls. For example Flowroute has an API to interact with the SMS side of things. In a utopia, sure the PBX could be involved but there's too many variables in this aspect. The PBX is too far removed to be involved in "messaging" aspects. Lest we forget 3CX is a PBX glued to a trunk, not a trunk/PBX combo relationship (like some competitors). I would love to be proved wrong and someone come up with an ideal solution for integrated messaging. (maybe I'm too old school).

 

[accentlogic]

My two cents: it isn't really the job of the PBX to meddle with SMS/MMS - since the number is "owned" by a carrier that arrangement should be handled by API calls. For example Flowroute has an API to interact with the SMS side of things. In a utopia, sure the PBX could be involved but there's too many variables in this aspect. The PBX is too far removed to be involved in "messaging" aspects. Lest we forget 3CX is a PBX glued to a trunk, not a trunk/PBX combo relationship (like some competitors). I would love to be proved wrong and someone come up with an ideal solution for integrated messaging. (maybe I'm too old school).

First, I am about as old school as you get. From what I understand, some SIP Carriers allow the SMS portion to be "slit off" to another provider. No certification of API calls for each carrier or any of the mess that that would entail. If 3CX takes that approach, it makes complete sense.

We use several SIP trunk providers now. Some allow other providers to handle SMS, and some do not. For our clients that needed a third party vendor to handle SMS we have ported the numbers to a provider that allows it. It works great.

 

[N_G]

Thank you for the heads up @accentlogic.

There is no clear standard to send and receive SMS messages via SIP trunk providers. So we will only support a subset of providers that we want to work with and that have a well documented and reliable API.

However @accentlogic is completely right in that some SIP trunk providers will allow you to "outsource" the sending of SMS to other providers that can do so and this is called "Hosted SMS".

So if you have a SIP trunk provider that allows hosted SMS then you can use one of the hosted SMS providers that we will support and you can then use the same number for SMS even though you will be using another provider for voice.

The feature will be released soon and of course we will be updating our SIP trunk provider list to indicate their exact capabilities.

Keep in mind this is all US specific. In Europe mobile numbers are different so companies would need a separate SMS number anyway.

Also keep in mind we have integrated with RCS - think of it as SMS 2.0 - and in the not too distant future the whole SMS problem could be solved.

 

[innovative7]

I would highly recommend using Linux rather than windows, especially if you want it to "just work" updates are as simple as pressing one button, and you don't have to worry about all the windows background services taking your performance away from the PBX.

updates, and management can all be done from the webui, so you don't even "see" linux.

I would have to disagree with you. Wait until you can't upgrade because the repository doesn't have your files. This already happened with 3CX. Case 699483. We had to login as Root on the box and run wget -O - https://downloads.3cx.com/downloads/misc/debianpatches/9/16/0/5/20200619-os-update.sh | bash. I have had this repository problem with other brand products. Linux is ok but I still prefer Windows.

If your not a Linux person, its a very uncomfortable situation to have to deal with a device that you know nothing about. Also, 3CX only has support during business hours. Most of our upgrades, etc happen at night when no one is on the phone. About the time 3CX support leaves for the day. Yes, I have had failed upgrades and or Keys that don't work after the upgrade only to find no support until the next day.

Lastly, I will never use 3CX in their cloud because of the day only support and no access to the root console for reboots etc. (Assuming the web interface won't work). Our customers simply cannot be down and the more control I lose of the system the worse I look when something goes wrong that I cannot fix.

 

[innovative7]

First I want to say, "Why can't we schedule a web conference from our IOS device?" Am I missing something? Too many times I want to schedule a meeting while I am on the road and I cant. Its no wonder I can't get anyone to use 3CX conferencing. I agree with what many have said about not being able to get anyone to use it. I don't want to get into details but it's not as functional as other products. I also had a company of 400 users purchase GoToMeeting because they couldn't schedule a 3CX conference from their outlook client the way they can in other products. They also had other gripes. They gave it a good try and tried to make 3CX the company standard but too many pushed back. I don't mean to be negative. Just honest.

 

[florink]

Yet you are a Platinum Partner, which means you have quite a few, happy, 3CX Customers. Why choose to provide only negative about the product? Of course it can be improved in my areas, it's not perfect, but which "other product" is perfect anyway? None.

Value for money, 3CX is probably the best option. (and don't get me started on "free open source" alternatives )

 

[N_G]

@florink - Thank you for the heads up!

@innovative7 - Well first off it seems you are doing debian custom install. No this is not supported. Use the 3CX ISO. Or use Windows if you want but support hours dont matter if you dont do it the supported, tested way. In regards to hosted, there will be 24/5 and later 7 support for matters relating to hosting.

In regards to scheduling meetings from 3CX - we added better support in windows 7 in the windows app. I think its on par now. Its still coming to iOS and Android but as florink says it all takes time. We are hardly moving at a slow pace.

 

[AWS2P]

Yet you are a Platinum Partner, which means you have quite a few, happy, 3CX Customers. Why choose to provide only negative about the product? Of course it can be improved in my areas, it's not perfect, but which "other product" is perfect anyway? None.

Agree with you , but even when you love 3CX and use it since a while you see more easily what's missing or need an improvment to be still a better product.
As you said it's a Platinum partner, surely their customers ask him the use of more advanced features and need perfect reliability and probably they do compare from others brand product doing same job. Customers are most surely very demanding, perhaps competitive price is not always enough.

 

[innovative7]

Agree with you , but even when you love 3CX and use it since a while you see more easily what's missing or need improvement to be still a better product.
As you said it's a Platinum partner, surely their customers ask him the use of more advanced features and need perfect reliability and probably they do compare from others brand product doing same job. Customers are most surely very demanding, perhaps competitive price is not always enough.

My comments about the web meeting... I was following up with earlier comments from users who were stating they were having a hard time convincing users to switch over to 3CX web meeting. I have spent the last few years giving feedback to my 3CX rep and occasionally their boss only to find it falls on deaf ears. I think AWS2P is correct. Most customers use 3CX as a very plain phone system. But then there are those who want more and when they look at what 3CX provides, it's not good enough. The one example I commented on was the web conferencing vs Zoom. I have more examples but that should be for when 3CX gets all of their elite vendors together for a round table to discuss what customers really want.

I also think here in the US, we have a cultural difference in the way we use phone systems and what our customers expect from a feature and support perspective.

Do I think 3CX is a good phone system? absolutely, or I would not be selling it. I just wish we could have some round table conversations about features and support because I would like to see 3CX be even better.

Yet you are a Platinum Partner, which means you have quite a few, happy, 3CX Customers. Why choose to provide only negative about the product? Of course it can be improved in my areas, it's not perfect, but which "other product" is perfect anyway? None.

Value for money, 3CX is probably the best option. (and don't get me started on "free open source" alternatives )

I wasn't trying to be negative. Re-reading what I wrote, it appears more negative then it should.

Concerning the Linux comment. "Just Works". I read this and thought "this isn't fair for someone to post half-truths" and make everyone believe that there are not issues. Has 3CX made the upgrade process a lot better than the past? For sure! Thanks, Nick! The 3 sites which had problems were installed from the supported full ISO. We don't have the time or the energy to beta test or mess around. I did have to spend time opening a support call, collecting logs, and eventually logged to each server at the root console (Not the web provided root SSH but the actual VM root) to fix the issue. It is what it is. But it just didn't work.

My comment about support and hosted are just facts. As partners, we need 24-hour support. When its hosted by 3CX, I cant just log into the root VM console.

 

[cobaltit]

Lastly, I will never use 3CX in their cloud because of the day only support and no access to the root console for reboots etc. (Assuming the web interface won't work). Our customers simply cannot be down and the more control I lose of the system the worse I look when something goes wrong that I cannot fix.

I was trying to figure out how this was relevant to the thread as I didn't see anyone recommending you use this for anything. But it would make sense that you wouldn't use this as it's not marketed to you. 3CX hosting is for small installs geared towards brand new 3CX partners who have no experience with the cloud or setting up hosting. It also doesn't support HA. You (and your clients) don't seem to fall into this category. And you don't really get 24 hours support with any of the major cloud providers unless you pay for a separate support contract or do a considerable amount of business with them (or perhaps as a partner). People with a single instance using a small GCP or LightSail would get better support with 3CX hosting.


But you do have the ability to reboot instances via the Instance Manager or via the terminal button in the management console. Now that's sort of a soft reboot but perhaps 3CX can tie the ability to reboot the VM to the instance manager at the VM level at some point in the future.

 

[N_G]

@cobaltit - Thanks for the heads up. Could not have answered it better

 

[oschobert]

@Nick Galea : Can we expect an updated roadmap in the near future?

Thanks!