Flowroute 3CX V20 and Portal setup guide

  • Updated on Nov 11, 2024
  • Published on Oct 1, 2024
  • 6 minute(s) read

This guide provides the basic registration and route configuration process for using 3CX Version 20 on the Flowroute platform. Please note this guide is for new installs of 3CX. Screenshots are included throughout the guide for visual aid with the setup process.

There is no longer a separate Admin Console for 3CX. Access the “Admin” panel from the Web Client by clicking on the cog in the lower left corner. You need to be logged in as an Admin to see this.

Registration

Begin by navigating to “Voice and Chat” and clicking “Add SIP Trunk” (Tech Prefix).

Name your Trunk whatever you like and choose US for the country in the VOIP Provider field. 3CX includes Flowroute in the list of supported carriers in the dropdown menu, which auto-populates the gateway info.

Next, go to our Customer Portal and select the “Interconnection” menu on the left and then select the “Registration” tab to get the Trunk/Username number and password. These are referred to as the “SIP Credentials” in the Flowroute Portal. Enter your Tech Prefix number in the “Main Trunk Number” and “Authentication ID” fields and the password in the “Password” field.

If you want to check that the registration was successful, SAVE the changes and return to the Voice and Chat main menu to see if the Trunk status light turns green after several moments. You can also check in the Flowroute Customer Portal “Interconnections” menu in the “Status” tab.

Inbound calling

The next step within the 3CX Trunk settings is to click on the “DID Numbers” tab to begin setting up inbound routing. Add your DIDs in the following format:

  • Format all numbers as E164: +1NXXXXXXXXX (ex. +12223334444)

    (a plus sign followed by the 1 for the country code and 10 digits)

  • Or as the alternate format: *1NXXXXXXXXX (ex. *12223334444)
    (a star sign followed by the 1 for the country code and 10 digits)

When adding a number, be sure to press ENTER on your keyboard to submit the number. The number now needs to be assigned to a “User”. SAVE the changes before navigating to the User panel. Otherwise, you will lose everything you just set up.

Create the User and select the DID you just created from the dropdown to assign it to that User. Save the changes. You’ll now see the DID is assigned to the User in the DID Number list of the Trunk settings. Configure the rest of the User profile based upon your setup and needs.

You should now be able to call the User at the number you just created and assigned.

Outbound calling

Now we will set up outbound calling. Create several rules to support different types of calls including domestic (11 digits), 3-digit, and international. Remember to SAVE all of your settings for each rule.

Click on the “Outbound Routes” tab and click “Add Rule”.

Name the first rule 11-digit dialing, because we require you to send 11 digits outbound for domestic calling. Enter 11 in the field “Calls to numbers with a length of”. If you dial 10 digits, calls will fail. Create another rule for 10 digits and prepend a 1 if your client only wishes to dial 10 digits.

Click on the Route and set the Trunk/Tech Prefix. You can also add your CID in the “Outbound caller ID” field.

We support 711, 911, 933, 988 regarding 3-digit dialing. Name and then set the rule to apply to calls with a length of three digits. Assign the Trunk/Tech Prefix in the Route field.

Enter a Caller ID in the “Outbound caller ID” field. If you plan to use the rule for dialing to 911, enter your E911 number for the caller ID here.

For International dialing, enter 011 into the “Calls to numbers starting with prefix” field and then set the “Strip digits” to 3. This will tell the PBX when you dial 011 to ignore any other rule no matter the number of digits dialed. The strip will remove the 011 so you only send us the international phone number you’re dialing. Remember to set the Trunk/Tech Prefix for the Route and CID.

Use the following method in the Customer Portal if you need to set up a number with E911 geolocation info for emergency responders. Navigate to DIDs, check the relevant DID, select “Assign/Enter E911 Profile” in the dropdown action menu above the DID table, and then confirm the action. Assign an existing address or add a new address on the following screen and confirm the order.

International calling

International dialing also needs to be enabled in the Customer Portal. Navigate to “Preferences” and then select the “Fraud Control” tab. There is a toggle for “International Calling” plus other international calling restriction options.

Flowroute charges per minute for international calling, so funds will also need to be added to the account balance for international usage. This is done by navigating to the “Dashboard” panel of the Customer Portal and then entering an amount into the Balance box and submitting by clicking “Add Funds.” The account balance is also displayed in the bottom-left corner of the Customer Portal UI at all times and can be expanded by clicking on it to quickly add funds.

Below that is a redirect button to the “Balance Management” page which can also be manually navigated to via “Preferences” then clicking the “Balance Management” tab. This page logs the payment card on file, the option to set up low balance notifications, and automatic payments.

Setting CNAM

CNAM is set by navigating to “DIDs” and then checking the relevant number to apply the “Set CNAM Storage Preset” action. This loads another page which allows you to assign an existing CNAM value or create a new value. Once you complete the order, allow up to 5 days for the CNAM change to fully propagate.

Messaging and 10DLC

Enabling messaging/SMS for a number requires that you fill out a 10DLC form. To begin the process, check the relevant DIDs and then choose the “Enable Messaging” option and submit the action. You will be redirected to the 10DLC form to fill out. 10DLC is required for all messaging services, and is essentially a full disclosure of intent of use with the messaging service. Once the messaging has been approved for the numbers, you will see the number shows “Registered” in the “Messaging Status” column of the DID view in the Customer Portal and you will see that campaign info has been assigned to the number. You will also need to choose a messaging service package from Flowroute. Learn more about how to Self-Provision Flowroute DIDs for Messaging.

Enable messaging on your account

Once Messaging has been enabled on your DID and you have an active billing plan, you need to finish enabling messaging on the account by navigating to “Preferences” and then “API Control”. Enable the SMS toggle and additionally the MMS if you plan to use that. The URL fields will be updated in the next section.

Set the “SMS Webhook Version” to the latest version 2.1 for compatibility with API support via 3CX.

Scroll down to where you see the prompt for “Enable New API Key” and fill out the fields then click “Add new”. A pop-up will appear that reveals your API Key secret password. Save this somewhere secure, because you cannot view it again later. Copy down your “Access Key” along with it, as you will need both for the next step. These are required inputs in the 3CX configuration.

Configure messaging in 3CX

Open the 3CX Admin console and edit the Trunk/Tech Prefix you created earlier to navigate to the SMS tab. Check the “Enable SMS” box to make the additional fields editable. Setting up SMS requires the Access Key and a Secret Key along with pasting the 3CX Webhook from the SMS configuration menu into your SMS URL in the Customer Portal.

Paste your Flowroute “Access Key” and “Secret Key” into the corresponding fields in the 3CX SMS configuration menu and then copy the 3CX Webhook and paste that into the SMS URL field back in your Flowroute account.

SMS is now configured for the DID and can be tested from the “Chat” menu in 3CX.

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