- It caters to small offices, real estate, dentists, and SMB in general. It has many enterprise feature sets.
- Its ability to interconnect offices unknowingly for customers was a big win for small offices with different days of operations.
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Wilson Sporting Goods, Pepsi, Schlumberger, American Express, Boeing, StarTribune, McDonalds, Drayton Manor Theme Park, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Hugo Boss, Clearswift, The University of North Carolina, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Ohio State University, Zehnder, Turkish Airlines, Harley Davidson, Mitsubishi, Ramada Plaza, Carlsberg, RE/MAX.
No issues with the solution, except its services require a business model change.
The same small consultants they evolved/grew with are no longer a priority. It's now a sales game, and they are strong-arming the small guys to grow and sell their product. If you don't, then you're left in the cold. This is bad thing for them and my customers prefer the total service that I provide to them. Eventually, my customers will move away from 3CX and move to another trusted adviser who provides more than just a phone system administration.
3CX works well with smaller consulting firms. The support team and its technical ability in Cyprus are awesome. However, they can appear to be condescending, but it may just be a cultural difference.
I had a relationship as a partner. However, since sales aren't at the level they define, we are about to lose our status and the ability to support our current user base.
3CX is a great solution for most call centers. I replace larger, older, more expensive PBX systems.
It needs the option for the CS rep to stop recording when a credit card number is recited by the customer.
Switching from POTS or PRI to SIP Trunk save the customer real costs. ROI is seen in less than a year.
3CX is my best PBX offering because it is a third of the cost and provides a full set of professional features, especially for call centers.
I install phone systems as an independent consultant.
It helps with business productivity and reduces the cost of communications.
The mobility that this solution gives to our customers. They can use their phone system everywhere. The other key feature is the security.
It could be better in terms of providing more options for call recording.
I would rate it 100 percent. It has very good stability.
Scalability is very good. It is very easy to increase anything we want with this system.
The setup is okay for us but we are a technical team, so it is easy for us to implement the initial setup.
We are just trying to open additional areas for our business. We are researching the competitors. We are looking at Avaya, Cisco, and Asterisk.
When selecting a vendor, the technical staff and the marketing staff are important for us. We look at the marketing documents because we are resellers.
The 3CX product is evolving every day, they work hard on it every day.
I would tell prospective users of 3CX is that it is very flexible. Anything they have in mind, they can do with this system. They can integrate their internal software, their CRM, with this phone system very easily. They can increase their productivity with the many options that 3CX gives them.
We wanted a system which should be flexible enough to allow employees to work from home, with minimal IT hardware investment and complete access to unified communications features.
3CX has met all of our requirements.
This product has helped us reduce our email marketing expense. Plus, it created new avenues for our customers to interact with us using custom IVRs and Zoho CRM integration.
Mobility: Our employees can connect from any part of the world to the office local network. Communication is completely encrypted. Also, the contact center folks love its ease of use, plus it gives us the ability to script additional solutions, such as business intelligence and automated call/email campaigns.
Features in 3CX can be used programmatically as well using call control APIs. As such, I cannot pinpoint a particular area.
We have used this system on Windows 7, Windows 2012 R2, and now on Linux Debian. This is a very stable software.
We have more than 100 employees and the system is running very well. It allows us to create unlimited extensions and user accounts.
A nine out of ten.
Asterisk. It did not scale well for us. Frequent downtime created lot of trouble, especially when the system received more than 20 concurrent calls.
Very straightforward.
This solution has also saved money for us because other solutions charge per user seat. We have recovered almost 75% of the investment in two years.
The license is easy to understand just based on concurrent calls. Other features are inclusive of the license.
We evaluated Cisco and ShoreTel.
It is simple to provision, yet has great features. Our support effort has reduced by almost 80%.
Painless solution worth every cent. This system lets you get creative with how you want the customers to interact with your organization.
My company has been dealing with 3CX phone system resale and installation for the last two years. 3CX has assisted us with Remote Extension functionality, and with CRM integration; we have it programmed to be integrated with the rest of our systems for better management. Additionally, the call reports help.
One example would be when technicians are out to a service call and a customer calls in asking for them. The receptionist can transfer the call to his remote extension.
Another example is the integration. An incoming call to the tech department automatically opens a new case in our CRM for the technician to log the issue. It's similar to the sales department when a new lead opens up for the sales person to log (and later on follow up customer requirements).
We have asked for various improvements to complete some of our customers' requirements, like a robo-dialer, and the integration of a Voice Application Designer within the professional editions of 3CX. We have been informed that they are being prepared in upcoming releases of the system.
As a company that resells 3CX phone systems, the only issues we had with stability of the systems were with the hardware. When a customer provides us with old hardware to install the 3CX system on, issues sometimes occur which are solved with replacing the computer with a modern one.
We have never had any scalability issues.
The level of 3CX technical support is excellent. Every problem has always been solved.
We where reselling other appliance-based IP PBXs in the past, like Grandstream Networks, etc. The reason we switched is due to a much easier and straightforward installation, more stability, and many many more features available to the end customer, when compared to other PBX systems.
The initial installation is always very straightforward. The system guides you to create your PBX and your extensions with ease. To implement the advanced features, 3CX has online videos. Anyone with an IT background can set up these features after watching them.
Prior to a customer purchasing a 3CX phone system, I would advise that they have a general idea of how many concurrent calls they will need, and what kind of third-party application integrations they will need.
Before switching to a software-based PBX, we evaluated Asterisk. But the fact that many features need to be purchased separately, and the complexity involved in customising each installation, pushed us to proceed with 3CX as our preferred PBX solution.
3CX is a software-based PBX which can cover every company's needs. It offers versions ranging from a free PBX edition with basic functionality to the Enterprise Edition which offers third-party application integration, a secondary redundant server in case you primary server fails, call groups, queues, detailed reports, and more. Between these two versions are the Standard and Pro Editions. My suggestion would be to contact a 3CX reseller in your area to help you analyse your needs and find the best solution for you.
Pro and Enterprise editions: Discovery mainly occurs when there is a loss in the Internet network in the environment or when there is no connectivity within the deskphone and the call server. This results in discovery when there is an ongoing call between an agent and a customer.
Possible solution: The phones have to be restarted from scratch and all the possible IP addresses on the network erased and let it pick a fresh address from the call server; or you wait for a specific number of minutes for the phone to pick an address itself.
It has resulted in customer satisfaction for the company product on IVR/web conference/application integration/mobility, etc.
For firewall: Its advice is to disable the firewall to allow voice to pass through the network, but there are instants when you don't disable the firewall for security reasons that NAC port comes in.
More than eight years.
No.
No.
A nine out of 10.
No.
Partial, it all depends on your experience. But to me, straightforward.
Pricing and licenses in 3CX are okay compared to other solutions, which can destroy you with additional add-ons after buying the product.
Asterisk, Avaya, and Cisco.
It is the best solution that meets customer needs after Avaya. Compare the pricing and that it's also cost effective.
The use of the IP. We just bought a server and the software 3CX. The application can also be used on a hand phone to call the other.
We can call everywhere with the IP public install on the application.
One year.
Yes, we have had many problems with this product, but step-by-step, they fix them, because this is a new product.
No.
The technical support is difficult in Bali. I have just one technical support representative in Indonesia.
This is new. If I had known before, maybe I would have used Panasonic, etc.
Easy, because a contractor set it up.
Not applicable.
No.
Support is difficult.
If the product is already widely used, I would certainly recommend this, because all devices must have IP. If we are still using the old analog system, it does not look good.
Pls contact me for support and i will help you out on it. state the possible and occurrence difficulties you have on it. raliatoni@gmail.com, grahamsoni@yahoo.com, +2348027034167
The WebRTC, web conferencing, and the mobile apps have been a great asset to our company. We have multiple branches countrywide and we all connect to one seamless system for all our communication needs. Having our directors overseas, we are still able to connect voice and video with great quality as if they were in the same office.
We are able to communicate seamlessly regardless of where any staff are at any time. With video, voice, and mobile apps keeping us always connected and is a great cost saving tool for ourselves and clients.
The outbound call reporting and wall board could be improved for the outbound call centers functions.
Three years.
Only on Windows, but since the release of 3CX on Linux, the move has been smooth and has been very stable.
3CX is the most scalable PBX system I have encountered, from connecting multiple 3CX systems in different countries and all the add-ons for CRM systems, it makes a very scalable system for all industries.
I have not had the greatest experience with the local distributors for support, but dealing with the main support (despite the time differences) has been fantastic.
Yes, we used a multitude of difference PBX systems before, but having one system that caters for all is easier to manage and support.
Yes, the initial setup is very easy and straightforward. It becomes complex once you start using bridges of systems.
Pricing is all dependent on what the client’s needs are. 3CX caters for small (free licensing) all the way to HA enterprise licensing. Basing from amount of concurrent calls to features needed.
Yes, we did. We looked at a multitude of systems from Yeastar, FreePBX, and xCALLY.
Do the free training provided on 3CX's website, selling the correct product is the first step or can become an expensive school fee.
There's always some room for improvement, but with at least one new version per year and regular service packs, issues are fixed quite fast and new possibilities are added for free.
At least seven years.
None worth mentioning. Of course one needs to know his stuff.
Stability is no issue. If you run it on Windows, a regular reboot might be a good idea.
You can scale indefinitely, and even go multisite.
Fast and professional.
Technical Support:Good service. They're now working on regionalising this for the future. Might be good to be helped in your mother tongue.
No, this was our first final PBX, although we tested others first briefly.
It was pretty straightforward through a wizard.
In-house. We installed 3CX ourselves.
For us, there was no real comparison since it was our first PBX.
From customers, we got impressive feedback on savings.
Licensing is easy and clear. No hidden costs.
You could set up a 3CX in a couple of minutes yourself. We still advise to go through a certified partner though.
We looked at different solutions like Asterisk and others, but none were quite as user-friendly, complete, and transparently licensed.
Transparently Licensed. I have to give a double thumbs down on licensing coming from cases where licenses are upgraded and you have to uninstall and reinstall with very careful steps. The other item is feeling pressure to use 3CX FQDN. You can use your own if you don't mind spending the day doing it. The process for your own should be simple but it is far from it. I think the reason 3CX loves pushing their own is more for SEO ranking than anything else. I don't like a 3rd party sticking their nose in my network traffic. They can essentially see any traffic that comes across that FQDN. Maybe for free versions, I can see it. I wish they would develop a script to add your own just as easy.
The features set the system, stands out from a lot of its competitors in the PBX market. Typically for these features, customers would pay considerably more than the 3CX pricing.
Not many other systems have these at an all-inclusive price. (They are typically additional services paid for through licencing).
I’m not saying it’s the best system in the world, but at the price point, it is exceptional value when looking at the features you receive with the Pro licence.
The product increases the variety of services that my company is able to sell to their customers.
We have used this solution for around two years.
I did not encounter any issues with stability.
I did not encounter any issues with scalability.
I would you rate the level of technical support as high.
We used Avaya, SIP Communicator, and Panasonic.
The initial setup was simple and little training was required.
It is private hosted if you have over 20 employees. For cloud/onsite, if you are under 20 employees, you can get the best commercial model.
We did not evaluate other options.
The ease of deployment, scalability/flexibility of it running on Windows. The biggest aspect that I really like about this product is the flexibility of it being on Windows. That means whatever you need to script, automate, backup, or virtualize with Windows, it can be done. This means a lot more control for the administrator, as opposed to a ‘black box’ type of system, where it’s proprietary.
It has allowed for more flexibility and easier deployment/operation for more of our technicians, who might not otherwise have specialized in voice training. It is quite an intuitive system to deploy. It can be as simple as you need, as well as complex as you need. Because it’s quite easy to deploy and operate, it has allowed us better disaster recovery options for our clients. We’ve had some clients that have had to evacuate from local wildfires, which has allowed us to be able to move their system onto a temporary VM server in our data centre and still allowed them to make and receive calls, allowing their business to continue to function. We’ve also had to rapidly deploy the phone system for a local hotel, whose aging phone system finally bit the dust, and getting in the special board, meant thousands of dollars to re-invest into their old system. This allowed them the opportunity for a new, scalable system. Because 3CX is a software system and not entirely hardware, it allowed us to rapidly get the hotel online to a functional state, all within software. As we could get the hardware parts in, we restored more functions to the main operations to get back to normal.
Support. They have global offices and it would really make a huge difference if they were 24/7. Just as much as it is also a benefit that you don’t have to rely on a ‘black box’ solution and have the flexibility of different products to mix and match your solution, it’s also a downfall that you have multiple product vendors to put together the entire solution. It means you’re engaging with all the vendors and jumping from one, to the next, in order to fully troubleshoot your system.
It’s been a solid two to three years since I first started with 3CX deployments.
Over the period of deploying it, I’ve come to quite enjoy all the functionality that’s possible with it, and it’s so easy to setup. You still need a bit of voice experience and network expertise, but that’s my background, so it was quite easy for me to jump into.
So far, I haven’t run into any stability issues.
Not in the least. This product is quite scalable.
Support could be better, especially when you have an emergency and need assistance. They only work certain shifts, not 24/7. They have a great product and make setting up a phone system a breeze compared to some of the big brand systems. Though, the big brands have the benefit that they make all their own hardware, which means they can support the entire solution, not just the core system.
I come from deploying large brand system vendors, and am quite used to their high quality, 24/7 support. When you put in an urgent ticket, you get a warm handoff from dispatch to a tech within 10-15 mins max! This does not exist yet with 3CX. If they ramped up their support, it would add that much more value to their product.
Yes, we did use Cisco’s small business UC5xx line of products, up until a few years ago, then they decided to drop their entire small business line of products. This line of products fit quite well at that time with our customer base and was a sweet spot for the cost. Once they dropped production/support/warranty on this small business line, their new lowest product was the BE6k which was quite costly and didn’t fit in with a lot of our customers’ budgets. So we were forced to look into other options, and 3CX became our go to small business and even scalable for large businesses. There’s just so many features, simpler licensing, and a much easier way to deploy and implement solutions on 3CX.
With 3CX, it didn’t take long to get to know it. Of course, with any new product, there’s a bit of a learning curve, getting to know the way to set things up, where all the settings are, etc. But once you really dig into it and use it, you can’t imagine going back or what there ever was before.
The pricing and especially the licensing is way simpler and easier to understand instead of the larger brands which tend to be so complicated that you almost need to seem to be certified in understanding their licensing models. Not with 3CX. It’s just straight forward.
Yes, we definitely had a look in a few other products like FortiVoice and Ubiquiti. Now there’s Meraki Voice products too, but right now, we’ve taken a liking to 3CX.
Review the training material to familiarize yourself with 3CX’s interface, download and setup the free version and really get to know it. Or I believe they even have a trial or sometimes give away a standard license. I think you’ll quite like it and find it a breeze to setup a system. If you’re technical, you can even automate a lot of the setup and deploy it even faster with a standard template.
I am a firm believer of the 3CX product but I do see a change in tech support. Some policies, such as no support for using custom templates. While 3CX touts scalability, at the same time times you hands. I would like to see a change in policy that assists when custom templates are used. I think a more logic based approach in assessing the situation instead of immediately looking for ways to disqualify the end user. For example, if a template has been in place for many months and there are no issues until an update is rolled out, one would logically assume the update caused the issue.
Mobile Client, Soft Phone and call recordings. I like these features because my extension is now wherever I am. Be it on my tablet, mobile phone or laptop, I can always be reached on my extension and all the features of the 3CX system are at my disposal. Call recordings are a must for me, as we also finance the sale of our hardware and, when dealing with a customer's financial information, the law requires this.
Call flow has been massively streamlined. With the live Wallboard feature and being able to jump in and out of call queues, it makes for a much more satisfactory experience for our customers. Waiting times are negligible.
3CX should combine the basic version and the enterprise version so that there is only one standard version instead of two.
Six years.
Stability has not been an issue since our installation six years ago, and having done version updates from version 11 to the current version 15.5, we have not been down at all. The version updates have been seamless.
Scalability has not been a problem whatsoever, as the license is unlimited regarding the number of extensions and call concurrency.
The global 24/7 3CX technical blog has been able to assist with any question, within minutes.
Yes, we used a Fujitsu Siemens digital PBX but it was dated and due for an upgrade.
Much easier than I anticipated. After installing the 3CX software on our existing data network, and a basic extension import from a CSV file to the 3CX management console, it was auto provision from there. Plug and play if you will.
My advice to all PBX procurers would be to get a 3CX quote whenever looking for a replacement system. I can, to date, not find any system that gets even close to the feature richness and low cost of 3CX.
Yes we did a deep investigation of market trends and the way forward. Eventually received three quotes: Samsung Office Serve, Mitel, and 3CX.
Before spending money on any system I would suggest whoever is in the market for a PBX to go over to the 3CX website and download the free trial version of the product and test for yourself. When we did so we had no knowledge of the product but gave it a shot anyway. We saw the amazing features and power of the system and then went through the process of registering a new company called VCX Cloud Services and we registered to become a reseller of the product.
Just an all round fabulous product.
Bring back the multi tenant ability in version 15 and above.
I would like to see a secondary Session Border Controller option at this time, the SBC is a single point of failure.
I would like them to bring back the system Extension View option where you could see the calls and call flow very easily. They did away with this in Version 15. You now have to use the Windows Phone to see this. Which isn’t a terrible thing. However, when you manage a large amount of PBXs, it’s rather cumbersome to have to provision Windows Phone for the client you are currently working with. E.g.: When we setup a call queue, ring group, etc., we test them and to see the extensions ringing is an easy way to determine the success of the setup.
Three years.
Extremely stable system! Occasionally a Service may hang up. However, our Multi tenant VoIP Infrastructure has been up and going three years with zero downtime.
No, being a 3CX Partner makes it easy for use to upgrade licensing when needed. The ease of configuration makes it easy to restore if hardware needs to be upgraded as well.
Second to none. On-line documentation is phenomenal!
We originally used Intuitive Voice as our VoIP platform. It was not very “intuitive”.
We were looking to be a VoIP Solution Partner for our clients, so we tested several different platforms. When we found 3CX, we used it on ourselves as a test bed. Soon after, we chose it as our preferred platform and have been using it ever since.
As with anything else, there is a learning curve and it’s not for an end user to install due to DNS and FQDN settings. However, I have found it not too bad to install, and once you learn the basics, it’s quite easy.
I would encourage any user to do their homework and know what your needs are now and what they may need to be in the coming years. If you plan on growing, and it is inevitable that you will grow, you may want to think of growing into the system, the licensing, etc. rather than get the bare minimum now and grow out of the system and licensing later.
We have tested Vodia, cloud-based options, Intuitive Voice, Yeastar and Grandstream.
Do your research and make sure you have a good understanding of VoIP and 3CX. There are plenty of YouTube videos to help you along the way.
Chat and video call. This enables chat with other users while the internet is down, since the server is on LAN.
It improves communication between our two offices.
The video call capabilities between endpoints/extension on the LAN -- instead of the traffic routing via 3CX data center in the cloud.
We did a trial for six months, but have been in production for one month plus.
Nope.
Nope.
It's good.
Yes -- Asterisk.
Yes, it was straightforward and it was easy to create extensions.
Yes, and it was Asterisk.
3CX Phone System is fantastic and easy to setup.
3CX is enriched with features, but mainly VOIP providers, as it allows you to establish a call from a different region with low cost rates, Digital Receptionist since you can modify the welcome message as desired and more importantly the deployment process since you may migrate the configuration from one node to another in a short period of time.
Whenever we have a new joiner, we just need to install 3CX software which is part of the deployment template or purchase a wired phone, depending on the user needs and it’s basically plug ‘n’ play, since it takes only few minutes to create an extension bound to the respective IP address and you’re good to go!
To be able to deploy 3CX from current on-premise configuration to the Azure cloud together with the whole set up, i.e., a virtual gateway to manage ISDN lines, not just the software itself but all the necessary requirements to make it work.
We have used the solution for the past six years and are delighted with the ease of use and support that comes part and parcel with such a product.
Not at all, since day one, it has worked with flying colors, and even with operating system upgrades, we've never encountered any incompatibilities or issues whatsoever.
Same as above, but we’re a small-to-medium sized business, thus we cannot delve deeper in this area.
We used to work with a local supplier and their know-how was more than enough to cater to our requirements at the time.
Nowadays, we manage it ourselves since it has become more straightforward to maintain.
Yes, old PABX system, and we obviously switched since a virtual PABX is much more manageable, portable, and scalable.
The initial setup was pretty much a walk in the park since we had to terminate the ISDN lines with the Patton Gateway, and setting up DDI’s, extensions, etc. was quite easy to manage.
It’s definitely worth it to implement a software based application which provides not just normal PABX functions but much more, plus it’s regularly updated with additional features, to enhance administration and management on a day to day basis.
No, we instantly liked the product at a glance and were pleased with the end-to-end implementation, therefore there was no point in comparing and contrasting other products.
I would strongly recommend investing in such a tool which can provide peace of mind 24x7x365, since it’s highly reliable, secure, and integrates with multiple VoIP providers, and can be maintained with minimal effort.
Cloud Management is the most valuable feature.
We use the range of unattended answering options because we are always in and out of the office working with our clients on their IT projects. This unit is perfect for small-medium sized businesses looking for a solid and reliable cloud-based telephony system.
It would be really good to have an expanded range of VoIP handset hardware to include more Cisco phones. We would like the ability to be "STUN provisioned".
We have used this solution for 24 months.
We've had no issues with deployment.
We've had no issues with stability.
We've had no issues with scalability.
I would give customer service a rating of 8/10.
Technical Support:I would give technical support a rating of 8/10.
This is our first foray into VoIP telephony.
The setup was very straightforward.
We implemented in-house and now we have a certified consultant to manage the projects.
This is hard to quantify.
It is a breeze to setup and administer. Being hardware agnostic gave us the flexibility our customers needed. It also provided us with the option to offer Hosted PBX functionality.
I have a few things on my wish list however you have to keep in mind they are all advanced features.
The biggest one is the Hosted version. The current solution requires different ports for each instance and is not allowing for SIP trunk sharing between them. This is an area of the PBX that is very important to us who use it to provide hosted VoIP.
Another area of improvement could be the Call Center functionality. It is getting better after each version. Just got a new Wallboard.
7 years
We've had no issues with the deployment.
The system is rock solid.
We have some fairly large implementations with multiple offices and multiple 3CX servers in bridge mode, and overhead paging systems etc. and we've had no issues.
Novusys is an MSP. A few years ago we were researching phone systems because we were not satisfied with the ones we used. We found 3CX and immediately liked it.
The setup is straightforward.
We have implemented 3CX at many of our customers. And we continue doing so. We would not recommend or implement a product we could not stand behind.
One thing I would advise is to use the supported phones. Other phones could be made to work with the phones system, and they work just fine, but you will lose the provisioning and customization functionality.
3CX constantly adds new features based on their customers feedback. It is one of the most versatile PBX systems we have worked with.
The hot desking made it easier to use a smaller space with multiple shifts and then provide call metrics for all the agents belonging to the queue.
Major changes between versions cause features to move in the tree. The major releases come before any significant minor releases, causing you to upgrade and relearn. They went from version 12 to 15 so quickly that if you do not upgrade, you lose support. During one upgrade, we lost conferencing that took several months to add back in the new version. Also, with the 3CX website, when you use Google, it displays results without letting you know which version it applies to. There is nothing more frustrating then trying to find a solution and finding out the article is not for the version you are using. I wish they would catalog their knowledge base better.
I have used it for four years.
We have not encountered any deployment issues with the 3CX system, only with a client's existing wiring.
We have not encountered any stability issues; runs smooth on Win7 Pro 64bit i7 with 16GB RAM.
We have not encountered any scalability issues; scales just fine.
All of our customer service was through the 3CX vendor Blue Marble Communications. They were excellent throughout the entire process.
Technical Support:We did not need tech support, really, as the vendor handled the complex portions.
We previously used Avaya. I was familiar with Avaya Partner and Magix systems, and they served us well. The cost associated with purchasing and maintaining a Avaya system was significantly more.
The vendor handled initial setup and trained us on how to use; we, as the client's IT management handled the tweaking.
Blue Marble Communications was the vendor and also the service provider. I myself and the rest of the staff agree that they were extremely knowledgeable and knew how to translate what the client was saying into technical terms and vice versa.
The monthly savings on service alone pays for the system in 8 months or less. If you factor in time and manpower, along with the new features that helped productivity, I would value the ROI at less than 3 months.
Pricing for 3CX and phones are reasonable and much less than Avaya and Mitel.
On-premise was significantly less than a hosted solution by Vonage, Comcast or 8x8. We liked the fact of having the choice based upon the client use. I truly believe you have to evaluate the use case scenario, then choose the solution. This is the crucial part in working with the vendor and the client to determine the best ultimate outcome. Vendors have previous case study experience and can relate to the customer and offer insights from similar customers.
We use this solution in our office and also recommend it to our IT managed customers when the time comes. I really enjoy using the same system for different scenarios. It helps me understand what it can do. Sometimes a client needs a solution that afterwards we use in house, too. Overall, it is a fun system to play with.
Feature/Functionality matches up to any competitive solution.The fact that you have "Standard" or "Professional" as your purchasing options makes the decision simple. And, when you choose one or the other, there are no other "Ala Carte" options. You get what you get. No "extras" that end up being tacked on at the end of the sales cycle. The 3CX Phone System system simply works. The "hybrid" capabilities between Analog, SIP and PRI/MPLS are a great way to introduce either redundancy, least cost call routing and to provide for future changes/expansion/growth.
We regularly find that the ease of use, combined with the feature functionality, the "intuitiveness" of the product and the cost of the solution often times "sells itself"
Would be great to see the ability to break office hours down beyond single days. For example, we have clients that have standing meetings on Monday from 11:00a to 12:00p.
We have been implementing the 3CX Phone System for 7 Years now. We are the largest 3CX Partner in the Midwest and in 2015 reached the top partner level of Platinum.
We have never encountered deployment issues that were not resolved beyond the initial implementation or rollout time period.
The only time stability comes into question is when MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS are not met. There have been no issues with stability with the product itself when installed correctly.
We've had no issues with scalability.
We have found the ROI to be as little as a couple months, but typically no more than 22 months for most, if not all of our clients. Our clients average ROI is 9 months.
Buy what you need for the next few years. You do not want to limit yourself to what you need today, then need to upgrade the license count within a year or two. The upgrade path would suggest purchasing the upgrade up front will cost much less. For example, a 16SC License can be purchased today, and to upgrade later to a 32SC License will cost the initial purchase of the 16SC License, AND 80% of the 32SC License.
Version 15 Released July 1, 2016.
Ask us if it is right for you!
Kinetix
mwarmbier@kinetixinc.com
PRO: So far I am enjoying the version 15.5 running as a Debian Virtual Machine. Virtualization has allowed for redundant snapshots that allow us to rebuild in case of a failure within minutes.
CON: The new pricing models are confusing, not so much as what is advertised but what happens in the back end. If you register a FQDN using 3CX and you do not renew your yearly maintenance, you are shutoff. Doesn't sound FREE like the ads say. The frequency of new releases sound great. Who wouldn't want new stuff. How fast the version changes and the pressure of having to spend more money to keep current is something management is not thrilled about. When we had the Avaya Magix we updated once in 7 years that we paid for once. If my system works why do I have to upgrade? If it is a security issue, then it sounds like they should be fixing for free since they didn't write the code the right way the first time. I get the upgrade need but do not like the feed the beast mentality that if I don't I will be penalized and pay more later.
Our vendor Blue Marble Communications has been wonderful in supporting us but feel bad they are being pressured to sell us 3CX maintenance on top of their maintenance. What was once CAPEX is now CAPEX + OPEX. They recently came up with a program to role 3CX Maintenance into our monthly phone service from them which should appease the bean counters. I will update if we go that route.
Reception dashboard is excellent. I can see all the calls on the system and can pull back calls that are going into voicemail or transfer by drag and drop.
Web meeting is a feature that surprised us. It allows us to do quick product demo or training without all the software installation normally found with GotoMeeting, TeamViewer or others.
We're able to quickly do product demos or training with very little setup.
We have people working in remote offices and they're able to answer reception calls or transfer calls just like if we were all in the same office
Chat has been very helpful. It allows us to paste web URLs, account information over to others in the office when we're on the phone with them. Quicker then email or trying to dictate over the phone.
It would be nice if the Chat feature also allowed us to transfer files. We'd like to have the ability to manage calls (transfer, see call list) from the android client. Once we started to use the 3CXPhone application on our computers, it became a much missed feature when using a tablet.
We've had no issues with deployment.
We've had no issues with stability.
We've had no issues with scalability.
It is a highly flexible and easy to use platform which offers many benefits to our customers. We also use it for our own internal communications as we have found it to be superior to all other phone system platforms we have tried. Without a doubt 3CX is our phone system of choice.
With 3CX running on Windows and having a super easy web interface I can easily up-skill IT engineers to provide support to our 3CX customers. It's so well documented and offer regular training opportunities which enables us to keep pace with the latest developments.
Bluetooth audio support for 3CX IOS app is needed.
Update!! This is working now!
There were no issues with the deployment.
There have been no stability issues.
There have been no issues with scaling it.
If you follow the deployment guides all will work well.
If your business does not have an internal IT department, find a trustworthy 3CX partner to assist with your installation.
Built natively for and runs great on Windows 7/10/Server 2008/Server 2012. Utilize SIP trunks for ISP failover scenarios - we have one customer that has a backup wireless link that fails over seamlessly. Very powerful queuing and call control options. Windows and Mobile softphone apps work great.
We would like to see continued improvements in the 3CX phone mobile apps, such as allowing for deletion of multiple voicemails, shared parking control, and disabling softphone mode. We would also like to see voicemail deletions sync between Exchange mailboxes and 3CX. Lastly, I'd like to see voicemail to text transcription.
We had no issues deploying it.
We have had no stability issues.
It's scaled to our needs without issue.
3CX technical support is top notch and the best of any vendor I've encountered so far. They are based out of Cypress but are always available during normal US business hours and actually answer the phone whenever I've called.
Also, user forums are active and they are constantly improving the software through end user Ideas.
We used Televantage which was years ahead of its time and also ran on Windows. However, they were purchased by Vertical and it hasn't been able to keep up in my humble opinion.
Very straightforward, with a simple menu driven installer and web based management console.
There are standard and pro editions, owned or monthly subscription licensing options, hosted or on-premise installation. This makes it super cost-effective.
We looked at Shoretel, Vertical, Mitel, NEC, and Asterisk. 3CX made the most sense for us and our small business customer base.
Download and run the trial to try it out yourself on any Windows 7 Pro or better computer. You can use a SIP trunk for testing, which is super easy to setup from Flowroute, Vitelity, etc. 3CX is very flexible and almost anything can be accomplished with it.
This system is just awesome. It's so easy to use and to make it work.
Call quality has improved a lot since our old Linux based system. The caller experience is better!
There's always room for improvement and 3CX is always improving the system. One specific feature I would like, would be to have the option of using a music stream for the customers when they are on-hold.
It's stable.
They are really good and fast.
It's straightforward, you just have to follow the questions and you re done.
Be sure to use a FQDN if you can, afterward to configure any phones or to manage your system, It’s easier then using an IP.
Integrated Web Meeting and Video Conferencing with mobile app is a big sales feature. The ability to remotely connect users on their smartphone 3CX app to the corporate phone system , and also have full presence and video is compelling.
On the fly video conferences and full presence on mobile devices
It would be great if the web meeting functionality could be extended to enable users to call standards-based video conferencing systems. The ability for a user to dial a room based video conferencing system (I.e. Polycom, Cisco, Avaya Scopia,etc.) from the 3CX webmeeting application would be a useful improvement.
We've had no issues with the deployment.
The stability had improved with v14 when compared to earlier versions.
It scales to our need.
Although 3CX is a very flexible and generally easy to deploy solution, the biggest advice would be to ensure you have a solid IT network in place prior to implementation. Having the proper switches, gateways, phone sets, bandwidth and cabling infrastructure in place is important to ensuring the successful implementation of 3CX.
Ease of deployment, and the SBC alleviates many of the headaches of remote phones
Simplified deployment of hosted voice. The use of a session border controller which can be deployed cheaply on a Raspberry Pi makes port handling easier and more stable.
There are a handful of simple features – BLF to handle parking orbits / etc. Handling of custom SIP headers. The issue with custom SIP headers caused a problem with Twilio and receiving caller ID, but 3CX doesn’t list them as a supported vendor so my bad.
We've had no issues with deployment.
We've had no issues with stability.
We've had no issues with scalability.
The ease of deployment and web interface to manage the phone system is without Parallel. The phone system can be deployed within hours. The cost saving to the client can be up to 80% compared to other systems with the same features. The call center module is included and their isn't a per user license so it is very scalable to any size organization and is suitable for any budget.
We can use the mobile app when calling clients to mask our cell phone numbers, and direct important calls to mobiles so we can assist our clients even when we are away from the office. The other feature that is improved our organization is the video conferencing capabilities. We no longer have to pay for the service and we have all the features such as screen sharing, recording and video feeds with anybody, whether they are in the organization or not.
I would like to see is for the status to have a “time in status” field so people can see how long someone has been in that particular status.
We have not encountered any issues with deployment.
It has been stable and we've not experienced any problems..
We've been able to scale it for our needs with no issues.
The advice I have is to buy the plug in play phones and deploy it with the phone system. Implementation goes a lot easier and smoother with plug in play phones.
you can install an SBC and installing zoiper on your android phone,i guess your problem is solve with this little explanation.i am available to work in any project regarding 3CX,Asterisk,Avaya.please carry me along when there is any project on ground i can travel across the globe.
I can safely say that their is nothing that beats the ease of deployment, functionality and stability of 3CX. Version 14 has especially leveled the playing fields for us and know allows us to play in the cloud space as well. Top Product!
It has allowed us to create a natural flow of incoming telephone calls, without the need of having a full time receptionist. This has saved the company a lot of money in the long term. Also, we can make sure that all inbound calls are always answered by someone, even if there is no one in the office since we have set it up to forward calls to our mobiles so customers will always be able to talk to someone.
The call logs/reporting functions need some improvement and are still very basic. However, they will do fine for most smaller companies that don’t need in depth management reports for a small PBX system. On a much larger scale, more reporting options are required.
Make sure if you do decide to implement this product, that you use a company that is well versed in this product and that can give you the best possible solution and setup from the product, so that you can maximize the full potential of the product as well as maximising the full potential of the users of the product.
It is very easy to install and manage. It provides all the features of a traditional phone system, as well as VoIP. This can help to significantly cut telephone costs. The system is very stable and does not require significant resources to run. It also has an easy to use web interface for configuration and management.
The system provides soft phones for all desktop and mobile platforms and has allowed my organization to work from anywhere and still be able to make and receive calls. It has also significantly reduced our monthly telephone service costs.
They need to expand and update the reporting capabilities which I believe they are working on for future releases.
Deployment is very easy since it is a Windows application.
The product has been rock solid. We have not encountered any issues with stability or downtime.
We have been involved in the implementation of 3CX of various sizes, from four to 32 users, and never had issues. It is nice that the configuration process is the same no matter what the implementation size is.
We have been very happy with the 3CX solution and are excited to see what future functionality is added to the product.
We continue to see 3CX pour in resources by way of Research, Development and Support to continue adding feature, functionality and security for the product. New versions arrive on a regular basis and always impress.
As an end-user of the system, I wouldn't consider anything else, it just works, it makes sense, it is feature rich and it friendly to use and administrate (and features are NOT sold by the "A La Carte" method, choose your version, you get 100% of that feature set! As a reseller, our partnership with 3CX has proven to be a huge success both internally as well as for our clients (who are most important).
I have to admit, early on, almost 10 years ago, when we first began working with the product and 3CX as a partner, we were skeptical. We have been pleasantly surprised and continue to have success at many levels.
Definitely worth considering!
Mike Warmbier
Kinetix
3CX Platinum Partner
mwarmbier@kinetixinc.com
3CX Phone System has made the way we handle our calls much more efficient.
More granular management of call recording is needed. Also, the option to set to record all calls on the system with an option to opt an extension out rather than the current method where you have to select each extension individually.
We have used 3CX for about six years.
We've had no issues deploying it.
The system has had no stability issues since we started using it.
It has scaled to our needs without a problem.
The customer service is excellen
Technical Support:The Tech Support is excellent.
We used a Linksys Voip solution that was cumbersome and difficult to use.
When we switched over to 3CX we had our system up and running in a matter of hours. With a background in computer networking rather than telecoms I found this very straightforward.
We did this all in house.
Pricing is scalable depending on the size of your organisation. Upgrades are simple and you get the same features whether you are a small business or corporate setup.
I would highly recommend 3CX to anyone, and I believe it to be the best option out there.
It's a VOIP PBX based on Windows. It runs rock solid, and is easy to setup and manage. There is also a helpful user forum and community of enthusiasts.
3CX gives you the option of having softphones or physical phones, this gives you the flexibility to make and receive calls anywhere.
They need to embed a help or chat feature.
There were no issues with deployment.
It's been a stable product.
It's scaled to our needs.
Be sure to understand all components of the product before deployment.
The failover features that come on SP3 allow me to create a replica of 3CX PBX in case the 3CX fails. The replica become active right away, minimizing downtime and data loss.
It provides a very easy way to move all the system onto a new machine.
We've had no issues with deployment.
We've had no issues with stability.
We've had no issues with scalability.
Excellent Windows based PBX constantly updated with new features and great support.
We can take calls on mobiles and dial from Outlook, Gmail, etc. time saving.
We have got business leads from professional on hold adverts we have created.
Not really much to dislike. the product is solid but you do need to keep your windows server updated.
We've had no issues with deployment.
We've had no issues with stability.
We've had no issues with scalability.
The on hold music options could be better but they have improved it in the last version. There is now the option to change the queue on hold music and have different audio per call or per day so we can add different announcements/adverts on each call.
It has flexible call reporting and gives us cost savings by removing telephony hardware support requirements and cost.
By moving to 3CX we have been able to better measure the performance of our call centre during peak call periods to accurately determine staffing numbers. The removal of our hardware based PABX has greatly reduced expense in terms of direct hardware replacement, time required to apply firmware updates, and downtime when hardware fails.
iPhone users found it difficult to use the mobile application when working offsite. Aside from that, it was a breeze.
we have used 3CX for approximately four years
Other than the iPhone issue, we've had no issues with deployment.
no
No, as we have deployed 3CX on a virtual machine. We can assign/remove resource as required.
Great - the national distributor is really good at showing us love, and works with us to resolve problems that we encounter.
Technical Support:Superb. There haven't been any issues they've left unresolved.
We wanted greater visibility of our callcentre in terms of peak periods - calls dropped, call wait times etc. We required a call queue in which agents could log in and out of as needed. We wanted to deploy standardised SIP equipment and reduce our dependency on proprietary hardware.
We performed the full rollout of approximately 40 handsets on a single evening, replacing older handsets one by one. Each had been preconfigured so they populated immediately with the required settings. Users had received training prior to deployment day, so initial support was very simple.
In-house team
We have found a way to leverage every feature offered to improve or solve a clients experience based on needs - mobility, Webmeeting and WebRTC are the heavy hitters.
Over the past several years we have deployed and worked on over 100+ 3CX platforms in all shapes, sizes and flavors. From on premise to cloud based it is our go to solution for clients needing a robust UC/PBX platform. While we specialize in the call center arena, we have 3CX installed everywhere from attorneys offices, book stores, doctors offices, residential services companies (Electrical, Plumbing, Heating), manufacturing facilities and of course small Mom & Pop businesses.
If I or any employee is sitting behind a desk waiting on phone calls, we are missing a lot of opportunities, with the 3CX android app and push services our offices are now where ever I, my android and my laptop are. We are a 100% soft-phone installation, either on Smartphones or Windows soft-phones the only time I use a physical desk-set is when I am at a clients location making a test call from their system.
It needs a better training and certification process.
We've had no issues with deployment.
We've had no issues with stability.
We've had no issues with scalability.
It's a Windows-based VoIP PBX - perfect for a system admin like myself to make a move into telephony.
I have always provided computer and networking support for my clients, but they continually asked for phone system support as well and I don't always have to send them to a competitor. Since I found 3cx, I can now offer telephony services to my clients as well and it has allowed my company to become more well rounded without spending thousands to train on a proprietary PBX.
There's some complexity in interfacing with external devices.
2 yrs
We had an issue setting up a SIP trunk with Charter Communications, but it turned out that Charter had not provided the correct documentation so it was no fault of 3cx.
We've had no issues with stability.
So far I have only done small installations ( <16 simultaneous calls), but it has worked well for those installations.
10 - the few times I'very had to contact technical support they answered quickly and helped me get the issue resolved immediately. These guys know their product!
The setup is wizard driven just like you would expect a Windows application to be. It is super simple and straightforward. The most complex part is interfacing with the external devices like if you have to analog gateways or the SIP providers. But 3cx does everything they can to help with that part, including templates for the most commonly used devices on the market.
3cx is supplied through channel partners so finding a partner that you can work well with is crucial.
The management interface is hands-down the easiest I've ever had to use. Our level 1 help desk people are easily able to set up new users, reset voice mail passwords etc. Ease of management and supportability are key for us.
The flexibility that the queues offer has been great for our help desk. The Windows softphone works well, even remotely if you have a descent internet connection.
The Android and iPhone clients are great options but don't always work perfectly, even on wifi. There should be an option to only ring mobile client on direct calls - not ring group or queue calls.
We've had no issues with deployment.
We've had no issues with stability.
We've had no issues with scalability.
The most important part of this solution for us was the Mobile and Desktop client which allowed us to communicate and collaborate even when we were out of the office or on a client site.
The collaboration features allowed us to consistently provide cohesive communication with our customers as all team members could participate regardless of their geographic location.
The overall product is really good however I feel that it mostly falls short on the implementation side. That could however be due to internal skillsets and/or the service partner that we have used in the past. We also had a challenge with the web video functionality where this is only supported on a certain Server OS which differs to the OS we usually use for these deployments.
We have installed this solution at a few of our clients. We tried to have this rolled out internally but were met with some challenges related to the VoIP provider and therefore we decided to roll back to our previous solution.
We had sync issues between the mobile clients and the desktop phones which needed vigorous testing and fault finding. We also had quality/speech issues with our VoIP service provider which ultimately caused us to roll back to our previous solution. The issues were one way speech and quality related.
None, once the system was implemented the server and services were stable.
No experience with this, but based on deployments which we were part of, the system managed scalability (user and functionality) with ease, requiring no additional licenses or software assurances.
International support is good, local support in South Africa could be better.
Technical Support:International support is good, local support was satisfactory. In some cases I did feel like support was being hidden behind a request for plenty traces, proof and documentation when I would have hoped that they could have given a solution (or possible solution) without needed all that information.
We used a diverse range of systems from NEC, Ericsson and Mitel across our client base. The main reason for switching was for the scalability and competitive pricing, but also the functionality through the Mobile and Desktop client. We also push this product because it is a pure IP platform and is not built on, or rely on legacy architecture to provide this functionality.
The initial set-up is very easy, but the deployment and integration was challenging and required a strong effort from the network team, as well as the VoIP provider.
We had a mix of both in-house engineers and vendor ones. We used the local preferred partner ICT Globe and in some cases we found their support to be average or below average in terms of how they managed the customer expectation, executed on the tasks and avoiding repeat visits.
The pricing is very competitive, as is the annual Software assurance and support. On this product, the strength is in that there are no user license costs but rather just a base cost, based on the amount of concurrent calls that a company would utilise.
Primarily Mitel.
Good product overall, the product lacks some Contact Center reporting features and functionality but serves the purpose for small business requirements. On the resiliency side, high availability is not supported (to my knowledge) and therefore may not be a fit for demanding corporate environments. My greatest advice would be to find a reputable service partner, and ensure that you call on their references, and appoint an internal project sponsor to work alongside and manage the deployment and planning with the service partner.
It's a great product to work with. I have been using it in my environment, and if you use it, you have to say that VoIP can't get any simpler then this. It's for the layman use and it also comes with a free version(though this version has a few restriction). Also unlike other types of VoIP software, 3CX connects to public telephone network through independent or hosted SIP gateways.
It is not supported by Linux versions. One using this software has to stick to Windows, Which can be a bit of a thing of concern for a some Administrators. For Linux, one has to switch back to other products. This product is also not open source, which is not much appreciated by the guys like me, who love experimenting with the codes of any product they receive.
3CX has call conferencing in the PBX. @WissamAyadi - you are talking about the free 3CX softphone client and thats something different from the PBX being discussed above.
74/5000
I agree, it is also a very easy system to install and manage.