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Yes….I put a phone system in my house#

• In this video…I put a phone system in my house and business.
• Why?
• Because no one answers their phones. My wife and daughters all have iphones and apple watches….but seem to never be able to answer their phones. I can NEVER get ahold of someone when I need to!
• As a complete nerd and former phone system engineer….this solution was obvious…..install a phone system and put a phone in every room.

But….it’s not that simple….#

• My wife is very artsy and particular about the design of our house and what goes in it. She won’t allow just anything to be put on a wall or a side table. These phones had to be old, aesthetic, mid-century….which means I couldn’t use a typical SIP phone like I normally would.
• Also, my kids are obsessed with the old phones they see on the older tv shows and movies. They had to have them.

So….what phone system? Do we need anything for this?#

• For most people, nothing. We’re using the 3CX phone system and it’s going to be free for up to 10 users, which is more than enough for even a large family like mine. It is also hosted completely free in the cloud forever and you can literally get this setup in minutes.
• FULL DISCLOSURE, this video is sponsored by 3CX. I have worked with them for a long time and collaborated on a video a while back where we installed a phone system on a Raspberry Pi 4. This is no longer supported so I needed to redeploy a phone system anyway, to solve my domestic issues and I really needed a phone system for my business.

Do we need any hardware? Phones?#

• Physical phones are optional. But they are very fun and I highly recommend them.
• In the event you do what some physical phones, you’ll need 2 things:
  • A phone….duh
  • A device inside your network that can connect your physical phone to the 3CX cloud instance.
    • This can be either a:
      • Raspberry Pi (4/5) running the 3CX SBC (Session Border Controller)
        • Raspberry Pi 4: https://geni.us/mzJF55
        • Raspberry Pi 5: https://geni.us/z0BVIc
      • A router phone, a fancier phone that has SBC capabilities baked in.

Phones? What phones?#

• Here are the phones that I purchased and can verify work pretty well.

• Also, here is the official list of supported phones that work with 3CX: https://www.3cx.com/sip-phones/

• Snom D735: https://geni.us/IZmO

  • about $85. A very solid option.

• Fanvil X3SG: https://geni.us/oA1i

  • about $69, very solid as well.

• Yealink T54W (a router phone): https://geni.us/GhUAAy

  • around $150, more expensive because it’s pretty and is a router phone.

• Fanvil H2U: https://geni.us/WBGTg

  • compact and weird. Hotel-like, if you wanna go for that aesthetic. $63

Old Phones (requiring an ATA)#

• Sangyn Vintage Phone (red, table top): https://geni.us/AxmFI4
  • $35 and gorgeous. Probably my favorite. Feels solid.
• TelPal Corded wall phone: https://geni.us/JZazPcI
  • $32 and INCREDIBLE. Put this sucker on a wall and you are in the 1970s. Feels very solid. My second favorite, comes in a variety of colors.

ATA#

• You’ll need an ATA (analog telephone adapter) for these old phones. I recommend this one:
  • Grandstream HT801: https://geni.us/TaZ7p

The SETUP (Phone System Install)#

• This setup isn’t crazy and is pretty easy to follow in the video.
• Here is your link to sign up for 3CX: https://www.3cx.com/signup/?source=networkchuck

Setting up the 3CX SBC on a Raspberry Pi#

• The Pis
  • Raspberry Pi 4: https://geni.us/mzJF55
  • Raspberry Pi 5: https://geni.us/z0BVIc
• The documentation: https://www.3cx.com/docs/installing-pbx-raspberry-pi/

Setting up a SIP Trunk ( a real phone number)#

• To get a REAL phone number to call the outside world and vice-versa, you’ll need to setup an account with a SIP provider and setup a SIP Trunk to your phone system.
• There are many options for this but one of my favorites is voip.ms.
• Here is the documentation for 3CX: https://www.3cx.com/docs/sip-trunk/voip-ms-canada/

Call your AI (this is AWESOME)#

• Yes, you can call your AI voice pipeline with your phone system.
• You WILL need:
  • Home Assistant setup: https://youtu.be/k02P5nghmfs?si=3dpZ7EdjQcjVfSpL
  • A voice pipeline with AI setup: https://youtu.be/XvbVePuP7NY?si=Cx57abeA113kfK3h

You have 2 options to make this work#

If you are on the 3CX Cloud instance#

• You MUST have an ATA with an analog phone.

If you are on-prem#

• You can simply create a SIP trunk to your Home Assistant locally.

Adjusting the ATA Dial Plan#

• Adjust your ATA dial plan to THIS to make it create a SIP trunk with your Home Assistant instance

x+|\xx+|\*x+|\*\*x+\x.x.x.x

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