Sorry if this isn’t really on topic but I’m sick of going around in circles and signing up for things that can’t do what they say on the tin.

I have a small business, and I’d like my staff and I to be able to send and receive SMS to & from clients using a web-ui or maybe even android app.

To be clear, this isn’t any sort of marketing or whatever. We SMS clients to ask questions about jobs we’re doing for them.

It looks like 3CX is the best PABX platform perhaps? Then I need a SIP Trunk with SMS support - and most SIP providers say they provide SMS, but the SMS functionality doesn’t seem to integrate with 3CX.

It looks like 3CX definitely has SMS support, and I can see screen caps of configuration for SMS support in 3CX, but in the hosted instance provided by 3cx.com those options are not present.

So I think my question is… can 3cx support SMS in Australia? If so what is the best SIP Trunk to use for that purpose? If not, is there any other platform that will allow that?

  • Lodion 🇦🇺MAEnglish
    12·
    1 year ago

    Hmm sorry I can’t help. Though this sort of question may see a better audience over at Whirlpool. Much higher density of nerds over there 🤓

      • I'm Hiding 🇦🇺English
        1·
        1 year ago

        Would you please post a link here if you have made a thread over there? I’d like to follow it.

        • DogMuffins@discuss.tchncs.deOPEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          I didn’t actually make a thread at whirlpool.

          In the end it looks like I was getting frustrated and coming up empty because I was approaching it by getting a 3cx instance, and then trying to find a SIP trunk that I could point at my instance.

          It goes a lot easier if you get a SIP trunk and have those guys provision your 3cx instance. It seems to me that there are 3cx features which are only available when you have a “partner” provision an instance for you.

          I will say though, it seems that there are very few providers who are offering this functionality at present.

          Search for partners (Australia wide) here:

          https://www.3cx.com/ordering/find-reseller/

          I think I tried contacting all 4 “Titanium” partners. I went with Aatrox in the end. They provisioned everything including new numbers in 48 hours, even offered some training just talking me through how to install apps et cetera. We haven’t yet used it extensively, but having had a play around it seems pretty great.

  • JustARegularNerdEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    My work uses GoFax for SMS texting, which has a web UI, and while I can’t comment on pricing or their support, or even the features as I only use the SMS function, as just a user of it, it works very well and haven’t had any issues.

  • veroxii@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    We use spokephone.com

    I have no affiliation with them but it works great… You install their app on your phone and voila your employees have a business phone number to use. Can use the web gui or other soft phones as well.

  • WaterWaiverEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I second the suggestion of asking on whirlpool.

    Crazytel has a two-way email<->SMS service, that could potentially work for you. I believe you reply to the email and it gets converted to an SMS reply? Multiple people could be logged into the same email account, but you would also then risk multiple people replying if your staff are too quick, so some further thought would be needed.