This overview first appeared in concern 357 of PC Pro.
3CX is the place to go for the most effective IP PBX companies, as its phone system software program presents an unbeatable vary of call-handling options. Not content material to relaxation on its laurels, 3CX has been working laborious on improvement and the model 20 on overview represents probably the most important replace we’ve seen for a few years.
Security takes middle stage right here, with 3CX hardening its programs in opposition to cyberattacks through the use of a zero belief mannequin throughout the board for a lot stricter entry management insurance policies. Solely permitting the native 3CX softphone app to be deployed from the Microsoft retailer provides additional safety, and it lets 3CX replace it as required with out having to tinker with the primary Telephone System construct.
One of many greatest modifications is with the admin console. Beforehand, there was a separate administration interface, however this has been redesigned and built-in into the shopper app so admins don’t want separate consoles to make use of and handle the system.
Telephone System is accessible in 4 plans, with the 3CX Free cloud–hosted version aimed toward micro businesses with as much as ten customers. The Small Enterprise version, additionally cloud-hosted by 3CX, helps as much as 20 customers and begins at £175 per 12 months, whereas the Skilled and Enterprise editions enhance the variety of options vastly and might be run on-site, in a personal cloud or hosted by 3CX.
For this early overview, Telephone System V20 was solely out there for Debian Linux 12 so we selected to virtualize it on the lab’s Home windows Server 2022 Hyper-V system. Deployment was undemanding: we assigned the downloaded ISO file to a brand new VM, booted it up and adopted the temporary Debian set up wizard, which completed by loading Telephone System and offering a hyperlink to its net console.
The brand new shopper interface will likely be an enormous shock for current customers because the dashboard’s system efficiency graphs and fast entry icons have been eliminated to make approach for much extra details about the Telephone System standing, configuration and occasion logs. All admin options are nonetheless simply accessible from the left menu, and a sidebar subsequent to it gives direct entry to calls, chats and voicemail, with icons to the highest proper supplied for one-click hyperlinks to a dial pad and availability standing settings.
There are some on-premises stipulations, as you continue to must create forwarding guidelines in your firewall for Telephone System’s SIP and RTP port ranges. The system’s totally certified area title (FQDN) should now be resolvable internally and externally so your firewall must assist break up DNS, however smaller companies could make all these points disappear by opting to let 3CX host Telephone System V20 within the cloud.
You’ll want a paid-for SIP trunk to allow VoIP calls; we used the wonderful UK-based T4com Ltd, which is on 3CX’s supported supplier record. Including the trunk was easy: after coming into the primary trunk telephone quantity, account and password, it was prepared for motion in a single minute.
Including new customers and provisioning IP telephones is simply as straightforward as with earlier variations, whereas ring teams, name queues and a digital receptionist guarantee calls are by no means missed. Name forwarding permits customers to redirect calls once they’re working from house, and 3CX has added 2FA consumer authentication plus integration with Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and a bunch of CRM apps.
3CX Telephone System V20 is our really useful selection for companies that need to handle their very own VoIP system. Out there in a spread of inexpensive plans, it may be hosted within the cloud or on-premises, and this newest model provides a formidable vary of recent options.
We’ve also rated the best interactive voice response services.
Source link
