FOOD FOR THOUGHT 3CX Trunk Limits

[briankelly63]

@Nick Galea

Welcome! I look forward to exploring your 3CX product.....

Could you please explain the 1 trunk limit in the free version? Aren't simultaneous calls a sufficient limitation?

Even a home - hobbyist user needs more than one trunk - provider. Sometimes just for experimenting. For example one for the household number, another for outgoing toll free numbers, one for it's low rates, one for porting of a particular number, free DID offer etc. Often we are changing multiple providers quite frequently.

If you have some other solution I'm sure everyone would be open to it. One of the things that has kept me away from your product is the pricing model and trunk limitations. Maybe we'll just disagree but I wonder if all that needs a fresh look.

The model you are using reminds me of the old Windows licensing days, it's a constrained feeling. That's why many of us moved to open source and Linux.

Regards....

 

[Nick Galea]

Hi Brian

Thank you for your nice welcome message and feedback!

The idea with the PBX edition was to allow smaller companies to try out 3CX and convince them selves of our PBX platform at no cost. With the 8 sim call license we can easily support companies up to 20/30 people (depending on their phone usage) However, not to upset our channel and harm our sales too much there still needs to be some difference with the commercial edition. So one SIP trunk is what we came up with. If you choose a reliable SIP trunk, you really only need the one SIP trunk. The same trunk can be used for both inbound and outbound, just to be clear.

The free edition in its current form has been much applauded by our current channel and users and was only recently introduced in v15. That said we will re-evaluate licenses limits in v16 and definitely consider your feedback.

If you are an IT / Telecom reseller you can sign up as a 3CX reseller - you don't need to make any commitments - and you get a free license key to the PRO edition, including free support and training. So this is another point to consider if you are selling PBX platforms & services. Form is here

I realize that is not the exact answer you we're looking for but i hope it explains our position.

regards,

Nick Galea

 

[briankelly63]

Thanks for the prompt reply! Well let's see how the feedback goes for this thread. I understand the balance you are trying to achieve.

 

[wardmundy]

@Nick Galea obviously has lots of balls to juggle on this. If everyone were happy with the free version, then you have thousands of resellers that are out of work. Perhaps in v16, a different mix could be considered, e.g. 4 simultaneous calls with support for 4 trunks. In the hobbyist and SOHO space, that might be a better fit although there's also the reseller option mentioned by Nick as well as the OBi solution discussed in another thread.

 

[briankelly63]

@Nick Galea obviously has lots of balls to juggle on this. If everyone were happy with the free version, then you have thousands of resellers that are out of work. Perhaps in v16, a different mix could be considered, e.g. 4 simultaneous calls with support for 4 trunks. In the hobbyist and SOHO space, that might be a better fit although there's also the reseller option mentioned by Nick as well as the OBi solution discussed in another thread.

IMO I just think the shift to Linux is a good time to make some changes and I'm sure they will. The reseller option is of course good for real resellers but with its requirement to purchase additional licenses over time that won't be a fit for individuals. The Obi is an option but seems like it should'nt be needed. I think something like the 4x4 you suggest would be a possibility. I'd be happy to pay a onetime fee (to support on going development) to remove or increase the trunk limitation.

 

[Nick Galea]

Definitely we agree that individuals or even homes should not have to buy a license, just need to find a way to identify / handle this. Lets see things pan out / settle in and then we can see what could be next step for that.

 

[wardmundy]

Sounds like the single trunk limitation is going to be addressed with a new Asterisk VoIP Gateway to 3CX. This also would let folks use their legacy analog cards.

There may also be a slightly different offering soon that removes the single trunk limitation... and so much more. Stay tuned. There really is a Santa Claus!