3CX Phone System Review
July 31, 2019

3CX Phone System Review

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with 3CX Phone System

We use 3CX for our phone system. It handles all incoming and outgoing phone calls and all internal phone calls between departments. It works with our toll-free number for customers. We switched from 8x8, Inc. because we wanted a less expensive option as well as an easier to easy and manage system. We worked with a 3CX reseller to set up and install the system which involves a 3CX phone server and the web-based control panel. The actual set up was pretty simple. We were able to reprogram all of our current phones and didn't need to buy any new phones. We are running the 3CX over a fiber-optic ATT line with 50 Mbps and use the 3CX plan with 16 calls. The plan costs us around $800 a year (which does not include the ATT line) verses the almost $800 a month we were paying 8x8, Inc. so quite a savings for us. We have had no major issues with 3CX. We did have to tweak some settings after we went live but the adjustments were easy to make on the web cpanel. 3CX also has a very nice app for cell phones.
  • Good sound quality
  • Solid uptime (may depend on your Internet connection)
  • Easy to use web-based control panel
  • Nice app for cell phones.
  • No real complaints
  • It has saved us a lot of money
  • It has saved us a lot of time. We make changes directly to phones, add extensions, etc. easily in the web-based cpanel.
  • We can add internal phone extensions with needing an actual phone number.
The main differences between 8x8, Inc. and 3CX is pricing and ease of use in my opinion. The 3CX system uses annual based pricing plans based on of simultaneous calls your company needs, not the number of extensions/users and offers a free plan. 8x8, Inc. charges per extension with different plans. We currently have 19 extensions so the 3CX system makes more sense for us, however, if your company only has a few extensions you may want to throughly consider both options. In my experience, it was difficult to add new extensions and phones with 8x8 because at least at that time we had 8x8 I could not add anything on the web admin. I had to call a sales rep which took a lot more time. Also, if you didn't purchase a phone and/or headset directly from 8x8 at a usually higher price than Amazon for example then you would have to spend anywhere from 30 minutes to hours on the phone with 8x8 tech support to program the phone to work with the 8x8 system so adding a new extension could turn into a long ordeal. I can easily add new extensions on 3CX directly in the web cpanel. Granted, if you are actually adding a new phone number you would need to purchase that number from a company like ATT first before adding it to 3CX. The difference between a phone number and an extension would be a phone number allows a customer to call in directly using that number. The extension would require the customer to call the main business number then be transferred to the extension. 3CX provides a list of supported phone models on their website.
The 3CX system is a well-thought out phone system with many features and options. The plan pricing is very affordable and flexible depending on your business needs. However, the key to having a solid, well-performing system with 3CX is the quality of your Internet connection. You may want to discuss your Internet connection type and speeds with a 3CX reseller before deciding on a 3CX system.