Users and extensions
Add a user, assign an extension, set which devices ring and in what order. Remove a user when they leave and reassign their number to whoever replaces them.
Cloud versus on-premise
The phone closet, retired.
An on-premise PBX is a server you own, maintain and eventually replace. A cloud phone system is a service you configure from a browser. This page is about what that swap changes day to day, and when it is not the right call.
- Nothing to install or patch on site
- Admin portal for users, numbers and rules
- Remote workers and branches on the same system
Example
Incoming call+1 (416) 555-0198
Main menu9–17
11 — Appointments
22 — Renewals
33 — Billing
After hours
Reception queue90 s → Callback offered
AI receptionist
Voicemail to email
A cloud phone system runs the PBX as a service hosted by the provider instead of on a server in your building. Your desk phones and apps connect to it over the internet, and an administrator manages users, numbers, greetings and routing from a web portal. Updates are applied by the provider. 3CTel configures the system with you, tests it on a temporary number and ports your existing number when you are ready.
Cloud and on-premise, side by side
| On-premise PBX | Cloud phone system | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the system lives | A server or appliance in your building | 3CTel's service, reached over the internet |
| Who maintains it | You, or a contractor you call when it breaks | 3CTel, as part of the service |
| Software updates | Scheduled by you, often postponed | Applied by the provider without a visit |
| Adding a user | Licence, sometimes hardware, sometimes a visit | A new user in the portal; they install the app |
| Remote workers | VPN or a separate arrangement | Same extension, same directory, from anywhere |
| A second location | A second PBX or a link between two | A second site on the same system |
| Site outage | Phones down until the building is back | Calls rerouted to mobile apps or another number |
| Capital cost | Hardware purchased and depreciated | Per-user service, quoted before activation |
Cloud PBX vs traditional PBX
Own the switch or rent it: ownership, maintenance, remote users and the path between them.
Learn more: Cloud PBX vs traditional PBXCloud PBX (hosted PBX)
A business phone system run by a provider and delivered over the internet, with no switch on site.
Learn more: Cloud PBX (hosted PBX)PBX (Private Branch Exchange)
The private switch that connects a company's extensions to each other and to the outside world.
Learn more: PBX (Private Branch Exchange)The admin portal replaces the technician visit
The most visible change for the person who looks after the phones is that almost everything becomes a settings page. The tasks that used to mean a support ticket and a site visit are done in a browser, usually in minutes.
Menus and routing
Change a greeting, add a menu option, move a department into a queue, set overflow to another group. Changes take effect immediately.
Hours and holidays
Set opening hours per day and per site. Add the provincial holiday calendar and override it for the one location that differs.
Numbers
See every number on the account, what it routes to and which site it belongs to. Order a new local or toll-free number without a call to sales.
Recording and voicemail
Turn recording on per user or group, set the announcement, decide where voicemail is emailed and who can see a shared box.
Reports
Call volumes, missed calls, wait times and per-user activity, for the day, the week or the month, without exporting anything from a server.
Business Phone
Reliable calling with routing your team will actually use.
Learn more: Business PhoneCall Analytics
See what your phone traffic is actually doing — and staff for it.
Learn more: Call AnalyticsCall recording
When recording helps, how callers and staff are informed, and how access and retention are set.
Learn more: Call recordingRemote users and multiple sites become ordinary
On an on-premise PBX, a remote worker is an exception that needs a VPN or a special licence, and a second location is a second system. On a cloud service, both are just users and sites.
- A person working from home installs the desktop app and has the same extension, presence and transfers as someone at head office.
- A field worker uses the mobile app. Calls to their extension ring their cell phone, and calls they make show the business number.
- A new branch is a site record: a local number, a greeting, hours and a list of users. It shares the directory with every other site.
- A caller who reaches the wrong branch is transferred by extension, not given another number to dial.
- A central team can answer overflow from any branch, and a supervisor can see every site's queue from one screen.
Remote & Hybrid Teams
One extension that works at the desk, at home and on the road.
Learn more: Remote & Hybrid TeamsMulti-location phone system
Plan the rollout, keep every site's number, pay one bill.
Learn more: Multi-location phone systemMulti-Location Business
A local number per site, one system behind all of them.
Learn more: Multi-Location BusinessUpdates, and what stays the same
Feature updates and security fixes are applied to the service by 3CTel. There is no maintenance window you need to schedule and no version you fall behind on. Desk phone firmware is managed centrally too, usually overnight.
What does not change is your configuration. Your greetings, routing and hours are yours and stay as you set them. If an update adds a capability, it is available to turn on, not switched on for you.
Questions from teams replacing a PBX
Can we keep our existing desk phones when we move to the cloud?
Often, yes. Most IP desk phones from the major manufacturers can be re-registered to a cloud service, and the specialist checks your models during planning. Very old handsets, proprietary phones tied to a specific PBX and analogue sets are the usual exceptions. Where a phone cannot be reused, the desktop app with a headset is a common replacement.
Who is responsible for the system when something goes wrong?
The provider is responsible for the service itself; you are responsible for your internet connection and local network. In practice that means 3CTel support handles anything about routing, numbers, apps or the portal, and helps narrow down local network problems even though the fix may sit with your internet provider or IT contractor.
Do we lose control of our phone system by moving it to the cloud?
You gain more direct control than most on-premise systems offer, because the portal is yours and changes do not wait for a technician. What you give up is physical possession of a server, which most businesses are glad to be rid of. Configuration, numbers and call data remain yours, and can be exported or ported if you ever leave.
When on-premise still makes sense
Some organizations have a good reason to keep their PBX for now: a recent investment, deep integration with other on-site systems, or a policy that requires it. For them 3CTel provides SIP trunking, which connects the existing PBX to the Canadian phone network with the same numbers and porting, and leaves the door open to move to the cloud service later, site by site.
SIP Trunking
Carrier-grade SIP trunks for the PBX you already run — channels, DIDs and failover sized to your traffic.
Learn more: SIP TrunkingSIP trunking
Canadian numbers and call paths for the PBX you already run.
Learn more: SIP trunkingHosted PBX
The PBX as a service: endpoints, extensions, dial plans, failover and admin.
Learn more: Hosted PBXRelated pages.
Business Phone
Reliable calling with routing your team will actually use.
Learn more: Business PhoneHosted PBX
The PBX as a service: endpoints, extensions, dial plans, failover and admin.
Learn more: Hosted PBXBusiness phone system
Numbers, routing, apps and desk phones, designed around how your calls actually arrive.
Learn more: Business phone systemRemote & Hybrid Teams
One extension that works at the desk, at home and on the road.
Learn more: Remote & Hybrid TeamsCloud PBX vs traditional PBX
Own the switch or rent it: ownership, maintenance, remote users and the path between them.
Learn more: Cloud PBX vs traditional PBXUCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service)
Phone, messaging, video and presence delivered together as one cloud service.
Learn more: UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service)Frequently asked questions.
The system runs as a 3CTel service reached over the internet. Ask the specialist about hosting and data-handling details that apply to your account; our privacy page covers how call data is treated.
The configuration is usually built and tested in a short planning cycle. The gating item is porting your existing numbers, which depends on your current carrier. The switch date is confirmed with you in advance.
Yes. A common pattern is to connect the existing PBX with SIP trunking first, then move sites or departments to the cloud service in stages while both work together.
The service keeps running. Calls to that site can be sent to mobile apps on cellular data, to another site or to a designated number, according to rules agreed with you during planning.
Yes. Administrator access can be limited to a single site, so a manager changes their own hours and greetings without seeing or touching other locations.
Retire the phone closet on your schedule.
Tell us what you run today and where your people work. A specialist maps the move, tests it on a temporary number and quotes it before anything changes.