SUGGESTIONS Looking for a PBX to learn

[BOSSJoe]

Good morning,

I am quite new here and have a few basic questions to help me understand.
Perhaps briefly about myself. I work in the IT environment, specializing in backup, and have a basic broad understanding of quite a lot of things concerning IT and electronics. For a long time I managed a 3CX telephone system for a hotel and privately I set up a FreePBX with SNG7 for testing purposes.
Now I'm looking for a more long-term telephone system for my private life. 3CX is no longer an option for me due to the current development towards the cloud and it's also not an alternative in terms of price. I like FreePBX quite a bit, but it's also out due to various restrictions and any paid add-ons. It also seems a bit too complicated for me as far as the WebUI is concerned.
In my search for alternatives, I ended up with IncrediblePBX and am now trying to understand a little about the connections.
If I understand correctly, IncrediblePBX is a fork of FreePBX which uses the OpenSource components and develops on them? What about VitalPBX then? That is a commercial product, isn't it?

But maybe I'll try it the other way around first. What exactly am I looking for?

1. open source PBX self-hosted, ideally as a container (LXC or Docker) under Proxmox
2. i would like to learn a bit more about PBX. So things like IVR, Ringgroups, Paging, Follow Me, Videocall, SMS, etc. are very important to me. Ideally, all functions should be freely available.
3. functions such as endpoint management or high availability are also important to me. Not because I necessarily need them, but because I want to learn with them.
4. nevertheless, the WebUI should not be too complicated, or if it is, as in the case of FreePBX, there should be as much information as possible online on how to do something.
5. i have a few Yealink desk phones here (T19, T58A, W56H and W60B). These should be supported. I also have a SIP trunk with 10 phone numbers.

I think that's it for now. I would really appreciate your help.

Thank you very much
Joe

 

[LitleBill]

Welcome Joe,
I think you are at the right place. I was at the same spot about a year ago.
I also started with a Proxmox, and cloud hosting, and they both work with IncrediblePBX or Vitalpbx

SMS availability and deliverability will also depend on your SIP provider, last year it became highly regulated by mobile carriers, aka TCR

You are right IncrediblePBX and VitalPBX are based of Asterisk and Freepbx.

I think VitalPBX forked from FreePBX at a different point so the WebUI is different, and it is commercially licensed.

I also play around with Yealink phones, they all work with plain UDP SIP, although I couldn't get TLS to work with IncrediblePBX, but that might not be an issue at all for most.

Hope I answered some of your questions,

 

[kenn10]

Hello Joe. You really won't find a less complicated installation than IncrediblePBX. IncrediblePBX uses FreePBX as the GUI for the system but does not have (or support) any of the paid modules. It is all open-source. Start your learning curve with this link:

Incredible PBX Wiki | HomePage

Incredible PBX Wiki

wiki.incrediblepbx.com

Also, for many years of informative articles, you can see our product benefactor's web site at www.nerdvittles.com for more in-depth details and installation instruction.

VitalPBX is based on Asterisk but they wrote their own GUI. They also have commercial modules for a fee.

 

[BOSSJoe]

Hello everyone,

Thank you very much for your answers. Please excuse me if I always take a little longer to reply. Unfortunately, I have too much going on at the moment...

@LitleBill
I also believe that I am in the right place. My small test container with Incredible PBX runs more stable than my VM with Sangoma OS. This has been crashing constantly recently and all my phones no longer have a connection...
Question: Which UI would you recommend? Should I familiarize myself with FreePBX / Incredible PBX even if it is a little more difficult at first or would you prefer VitalPBX?
Then there is the question of costs and add-ons. Is VitalPBX available free of charge without restrictions and can I use all FreePBX add-ons there or are there adequate free alternatives under VitalPX?

@kenn10
Thanks for the two links. I actually already knew these and am already busy reading.
Same questions to you. Which UI would you prefer and does VitalPBX fit my requirements at all, with as many features as possible and as free as possible?

Many thanks again.

Greetings
Joe

 

[kenn10]

Which UI would you prefer and does VitalPBX fit my requirements at all, with as many features as possible and as free as possible?

VitalPBX has an HA feature for a fee plus a lot of their advanced modules also have a fee. I find their UI a little hard to get used to after so many years of using FreePBX's UI but I stay current with VitalPBX as an option should Sangoma do something stupid with FreePBX.

Everything else you're looking for is available via open source with IncrediblePBX 2027.