Getting Started

If you are using a Switchvox Cloud PBX, your system is already configured to support remote employees; we suggest they take their phones to home to receive calls.  Please note that your employees should check their firewall and confirm that SIP ALG is disabled, they may need to contact their Internet Service provider for assistance.  For more information about what needs to be disabled please review Firewall NAT Checklist in Firewall and Router section. 

Switchvox has features and tools to make it easier for people to work remotely.

Before we begin, we recommend your Switchvox and Network meets the following requirements:

• Switchvox should be running the latest version - If you are still in version 6, this will limit some of the available options.

• Your employees must be able to access Switchvox from their phone, this can be done via VPN or making Switchvox accessible with a public IP address; Please note that we do not recommend to make your PBX public if you are on any version below 7.2.1

• Review our How do I set up my network for Switchvox and Firewall NAT Checklist to confirm that your network is able to forward the ports as well as disable the features that may cause connection issues. 

There are several features to keep in mind when having remote employees:

• Additional Phone Extensions are a great way to create additional extensions for your remote employees without needing to reconfigure the main extension. This is a good option if you want to go the route of Switchvox Softphones for Desktop or Mobile. 

• Call Rules for a Main SIP Phone extension control what phone(s) rings when someone gets a call. For someone with multiple phones, if they are not getting their calls, the first thing to check is their Call Rules. See below for details.

• If you have remote employees that are unable to connect to the PBX, and you have confirmed that access has been enabled, please check the Blocked IPs.  Additionally, you could create (temporally) access control rules to guarantee access. 

Additional Phone Extensions

NOTE: Additional Phone extensions were added in Switchvox version 6.6. Earlier versions of Switchvox will require a Subscription for each SIP Phone extension, but you can converge those extensions to function better for one person.

Each Switchvox User Subscription comes with Additional Phone extensions. These extensions are generally hidden from the rest of Switchvox; the Main extension is used for voicemail, call logs, outgoing caller ID, etc. For example, when a user makes a call from an Additional Phone, the person receiving the call sees the same caller ID as if the call came from the Main extension. When logging into the user interface or Switchboard, use the Main extension and password.

IMPORTANT: an Additional Phone extension does not have any of its own settings, it behaves mostly like the Main extension. That means the outgoing caller ID will be the same as the Main extension, so an Additional Phone extension used at home should not be used for dialing 911. 

A Switchvox administrator can easily create an Additional Phone extension for someone working at home. Use the Manage Phones tool in the Setup > Manage Extensions list:

• Switchvox Desktop Softphone for Windows or macOS

• D-Series desk phone (D6X or D80)

• Switchvox Mobile Softphone for iOS or Android

Blocked IPs

When people are working from home, their home network must have access to Switchvox. It’s possible that their network has been blocked by Switchvox if, for example, they failed to enter the correct password too many times. 

If someone is working from home and is having trouble reaching Switchvox, the first thing to check is Server > Blocked IPs. If their network is blocked, use the Unblock action.

Options for remote users 

Here are the options that Switchvox has in order to have remote employees, at the top, you will find the most recommended option, please note that all of the option are possible, but some may be easier to implement as they are less dependent on external factors.  

Switchvox Desktop Softphone (Recommended)

The Desktop Softphone requires active User Subscriptions, and Switchvox server version 7.1. 

For someone working from home, they may not have an IP desk phone available. In that case, the Switchvox administrator can assign the Switchvox Desktop Softphone for Windows or macOS. 

When an admin creates the Additional Phone extension, the Phone setting includes the option to assign the Switchvox Desktop Softphone.

For more information about the Desktop Softphone, see How do I Use the Switchvox Desktop Softphone App? The user logs into the Desktop Softphone with their Main extension and password, so they won’t need to know their Additional Phone extension number.

Allow Remote Desktop Softphone Users

For Switchvox administrators, you need to be sure that remote Desktop Softphones can reach Switchvox. That includes several steps: 

1. Set up your Access Control Rules to include the remote users’ networks (IP address and netmask) and allow Web User Portal traffic (You won’t need to allow any other services). 

If you don’t know each of your users’ network details, you can allow Web User Portal for the All Networks rule. 

2. Set Allow NAT Port Forwarding to YES in the Server > Networking > IP Configuration page.

3. Forward port 443 back to your PBX. www.portforward.com is a good resource for documentation on how to forward ports on most routers. 

4. Audio uses ports 10,000-20,000 UDP

5. If you are running a version prior to 7.4, you also need to Enable SIP.

D-Series Desk Phones at Home 

When an admin creates an Additional Phone extension, the Phone setting includes the option to assign a Digium Desk Phone. You can provide the MAC address of the person’s D-Series phone so that when their phone starts up it is configured with their extension. 

Or, if you don’t have the MAC address of a phone (maybe someone already took it home), you can set up Switchvox to let people self-assign their D-Series phones:

1. In Setup > Digium Phones, click Desk Phone Assignment Options.

2. Enter a Server Name: This is the name of the Switchvox server as it appears in the phone's list of Digium Configuration Servers. Give it a name that will be obvious to your users.

3. Select Assignment Authentication Extension/Password. This tells the phone to display the extension list for the user to choose from. The user chooses an extension (Please change the filter to show all extensions), they must enter that extension's voicemail password. If you are using a global configuration, please make sure to share the pin code with your employees, we suggest Extension/Password as it's the easiest one to remember.

For someone taking a D-Series phone home, they may not have power over ethernet and will need a wall-plug adapter. You can order that from Sangoma or one of our reselling partners: 1TELD007LF.  Sangoma does not warrant the use of our phones with non-Sangoma power adapters, however, we understand that you may only have access to a non-Sangoma power adapter. In that case, Sangoma’s D-Series phones require a 5 Volt, 2 Amp supply with 5.5mm OD 2.5mm ID tip positive barrel connector.  Do not use a supply providing more than 5 Volts or less than 5 Volts otherwise you will damage the telephone and it's not covered under warranty.

Allow Remote D-Series Phone Users

For Switchvox administrators, you need to be sure that remote D-Series phones can reach Switchvox. That includes several steps: 

1. Set up and allow the remote networks to work. If you don’t know each of your users’ network details, you can use the All Networks rules.

   1. Set up Phone Networks for D-Series phones in remote locations. When a D-Series phone starts up on a network defined here, these rules determine how the phone reaches Switchvox.

   2. Set up your Access Control Rules to include the remote users’ networks (IP address and netmask) and allow User API and SIP traffic. You won’t need to allow any other services.

2. Enable Allow NAT Port Forwarding in the Server > Networking > IP Configuration page.

3. (Optional), if your remote phones will be connecting using a VPN, please make sure to add the remote networks to the additional local networks in the advance tab of the configuration page. 

4. Forward these ports back to your PBX. www.portforward.com is a good resource for documentation on how to forward ports on most routers. 

   • 5060: SIP signaling port (and 5061 if you are using TLS)

   • 10000-20000 RTP audio ports

   • 80 and 443 HTTP and HTTPS ports

Switchvox Softphone for Mobile Users

The Switchvox Mobile Softphone can be assigned to a Main or Additional SIP Phone extension, and there’s a version for iOS or Android. 

• For Switchvox administrators, see How to Set Up and Manage Switchvox for the Switchvox Softphone

• For users see How do I use the Switchvox Softphone?

Make Sure Your Phone Rings

Switchvox web suite: Features > Calls Rules

For someone with Additional Phones, you need to set up your Call Rules to ring whatever phone you are using. The Ring All call rule action is used to ring any phone other than your Main phone, and Ring All can ring 2 or 3 phones at once. 

You can set up your call rules to behave differently based on your Time Frames, or your Status. But that’s not necessary if you normally use the Default Standard rule. In that case, you just need to modify that rule:

1. Log into the Switchvox web suite (ask your administrator for this login information)

2. In your list of call rules (Features > Call Rules), modify the Default Standard rule

3. Click Create Action

4. Select Ring All, Please make sure to include any additional extensions that you created 

2. In Type of Call, you probably want All Calls to ring this phone.

3. In the Numbers to Ring, enter your phone extension(s) and any external numbers that you want to ring when you receive a call.  When entering an external number, if you are required to dial a leading digit, like a 9, you must add that to the number. Additionally, if you are using Switchvox Mobile phone, please increase the number of rings to at least 10.

4. Click Save Action.

Customizing your Call rules are voicemail greetings

We have created a presentation that can be shared with your employees on how to change voicemails greeting, calls rules. You can download that presentation here.