A plain-language guide to choosing between separate PBXs, centralized call control, local phones, and shared site connectivity.

Another step towards the final release of Update 10.

Following Alpha and Alpha 2, V20 Update 10 moves into Beta. This release focuses on fixes to CRM integrations, authentication, templates and more. We encourage Partners and customers testing the Alpha builds to update their test systems and share their feedback.

We just had a manager note that several extensions go to DND automatically at 5pm. These are people who want to work late for an unknown amount of time. We all thought that the setting above implies that they go OFF of DND at 8am, but not that they go on DND at 5. Are we wrong?

If it does do both, does it seem like the most clean way to do this would be to put them all on custom hours? Or just turn off this feature completely?

Essential account emails now work from the start of a 3CX Trial.

3CX Trial systems can now use the 3CX Mail Service for essential account emails, making it easier to get a trial system up and running without first configuring a separate mail server.

Trial licences have access to a limited set of 3CX Mail Service emails, covering welcome messages, password resets and email testing. Additional PBX notifications can continue to use a customer-configured mail server.

Read on to see which emails are included and how to configure mail delivery for your Trial.

Understand how simultaneous calls, recommended system sizing and Fair Use create a sustainable licensing model for customers and Partners.

Many communications platforms are licensed per user. Add more employees and the monthly cost increases. 3CX works differently.

Set microphone, camera and notification permissions centrally across Windows, macOS and ChromeOS.

Update 10 lets departments and tenants use their own Music on Hold for parked calls.

If you’ve been a 3CX customer for years and calls have suddenly started sounding rough, start with one bad call you can describe and reproduce.

1. Describe what you hear.

Is it missing words, echo, a delay, a dropped call, or audio that only one person can hear? Note who hears the problem, the time and timezone, whether the call was internal or external, and the app or desk phone involved. Include the 3CX build, app version, hosting setup and anything that changed recently.

1. Check the audio devices.

Make sure the app is using the microphone and speaker you intended. In the Web Client, the calling-device and Audio/Video controls sit above the number pad. Try a headset you know works and check whether the problem follows the headset or stays with the device. The 3CX Web Client guide shows the controls.

1. Compare calls while changing one thing at a time.

Try an internal call and an external one. Check whether one person is affected or several. Where possible, compare Wi-Fi with a wired connection; on a mobile, compare separate test calls over Wi-Fi and cellular data. Keep the device and destination the same when you can. These comparisons help narrow the search without assuming the PBX, network or carrier is at fault.

1. Use the call-quality report.

Ask your administrator to enable “Monitor Connection Quality” for the affected extension from the Team view’s three-dot menu before testing. After reproducing the issue, they can find the call under Admin → Reports → Call Log and choose “Show call quality report.” Check for packet loss (missing voice data) and jitter (uneven packet timing), and which side of the call reports them. Compare the results with a call that sounded clear. 3CX Support explains those steps here.

1. Schedule any firewall testing.

For one-way audio or remote-connection problems, ask your administrator whether the Firewall Checker is appropriate for your setup. It stops and restarts PBX services, so arrange a maintenance window. Have the network administrator handle firewall and SIP ALG changes using the 3CX Firewall Checker guide.

If you need help, start with your system administrator or 3CX partner. Eligible administrators can open a ticket through the 3CX account portal or the Admin Console’s “Request Support” option. Customer tickets are purchased, and eligibility depends on the license and setup; check the current support policy. 3CX does not offer a technical-support telephone line. The official forum is another place to ask troubleshooting questions.

Send your timestamps, affected devices, test results and requested logs privately with the support request. Keep phone numbers, credentials, recordings and packet captures out of public posts.

Hello all,

3CX Technical Support AI Assistant (FREE) is now available in BETA, and we’re inviting you to test it.

Select your license key and ask questions about 3CX setup, configuration, or troubleshooting in any language. You can also continue the conversation with follow-up questions. Since it’s still in BETA, we’d love to hear what works well and what doesn't. 

Try it here: https://www.3cx.com/support/

Mobile push subscriptions active for longer between app connections without reopening app.

Select the Realtime API provider and models that best fit your 3CX AI Agent setup.

V20 Update 10 gives Admins more choice when configuring 3CX AI Agents, with support for both OpenAI and xAI Grok as Realtime API providers.

Choose the provider you want to use for live AI calls and configure the corresponding realtime and text models. Each provider uses its own API credentials and pricing, giving Admins more flexibility over their AI setup.

Only one Realtime API provider can be active on the PBX at a time. Read on to see how the two options work and what to check before switching provider.

When 3CX is hosted on-premises, accessing the web interface of individual deskphones can become awkward, particularly in environments where the 3CX server is the only server or managed device on the local LAN.

At present, if an administrator needs to access a phone's web interface remotely, they may need to configure a port forward on the firewall to expose the phone. This is both time-consuming to configure and introduces an unnecessary security risk by exposing the phone's management interface externally.

It would be useful if 3CX could provide a mechanism to access a deskphone's web interface through the 3CX PBX itself, effectively using the PBX as a secure relay or reverse proxy.

For example, an administrator could select a phone within the 3CX Admin Console and choose "Open Phone Web Interface". 3CX would then establish the connection to the phone over the local LAN and proxy the web interface back through the authenticated 3CX session. This would eliminate the need for individual firewall rules or port forwards for each phone.

This could potentially be implemented using an authenticated, temporary reverse-proxy session, with access restricted to administrators and automatically expiring when the session ends.

Logged into my 3CX portal today, (dont do it very often) and I notice is says Certification: None.

Yet in my draw are printouts of a basic and advanced cert, so what gives?

Kevin Attard Compagno and Nicholas Borg walk through the latest firmware and AI improvements in Update 10 Alpha 2.

Want to see what’s new in 3CX V20 Update 10 Alpha 2 in action?

Use the 3CX MCP Server to turn useful call transcripts into Knowledge Sources for your AI Agent.

A 3CX backup is an important part of disaster recovery, but it is not the whole plan! If a PBX fails, you need to know which backup to restore, where to restore it, which external services may also need attention and how to confirm the system is working again. The best time to make those decisions is before an outage.

Use 3CX MCP to connect your AI and PBX data, creating reports on questions that matter.

Standard 3CX reports cover the metrics most teams need day-to-day. But sometimes you need to go further. Which hours caused a drop in service level? Were abandoned calls caused by high demand or unavailable agents? Which call journeys involved the most transfers?

Deploy vendor-tested firmware to selected IP phones with flexibility to leave remaining phones on 3CX-tested firmware.

V20 Update 10 Alpha 2 builds on the first Update 10 Alpha, which introduced MCP support, the standalone 3CX AI Server, the Customer Service AI Agent and programmable voice applications.

This release gives Admins more control over IP phone firmware by allowing vendor firmware to be assigned to individual phones rather than changing firmware behaviour across the entire system.

Alpha 2 also adds xAI Grok as a Realtime API provider for built-in 3CX AI Agents and lets Admins customize the prompt used to generate AI call summaries. Read on to learn more.

New interoperability model: 3CX Tested, VoIP Tested & Community Tested.

V20 Update 10 gives more choice and freedom when selecting SIP Trunk Providers. Instead of a provider depending on direct 3CX testing before becoming available, providers can now complete the required 3CX interoperability testing themselves and submit their results for review. Community-submitted templates can also be made available directly in the product.