Setup Voicent with a PBX system

The easiest method to configure Voicent software to use a PBX system is through PBX system’s IP extensions, which are used for IP phones or soft phones. Today, most major brands, such as Cisco, Avaya, Mitel, etc, all support IP extensions.

Before you start, first take a look at your PBX connections. If it is using a SIP trunking service, such as Broadvox or bandwidth.com, then you should configure Voicent to use the trunking service directly.

If you are not using SIP trunking service, then follow the following instructions:

Configure IP Extensions

The first step is to configure an IP extension (or extensions for multiple lines) for an IP phone or soft phone on your PBX system. The exact steps depends on your PBX system. Please check your PBX admin manual for details. The IP extensions, sometime also called SIP extensions, are different from traditional extensions that are used for physical line connections.

The extension should contain connection information, such as extension number, user name and password. Along with the IP address of the PBX system, the information (a.k.a. SIP credential) allows software programs like Voicent to connect to the PBX and use the extension.

Test with a Soft Phone

Once an extension is configured, you need to test it with a soft phone like X-lite. There are many free soft phones online and one of the most popular one is X-lite. Many of the PBX user and admin manuals, as well as many online content, contain sections on how to configure for X-Lite. All these steps described for setting up X-Lite should also apply to Voicent software, since it also acts as a set of soft phones.

Enter the SIP credential information to the soft phone’s setup page. For X-Lite, it is under the “SIP Account Settings”. If the SIP information is correct, X-Lite should start and show it is connected. Try to make a few test calls and make sure audio works both ways.

Please note the above two steps are independent from Voicent software.

Setup Voicent

Once X-Lite is running and working, Voicent software should be working too. All you need to do is use the same SIP credentials to configure Voicent gateway. To enter this information, open Voicent Gateway, select Setup > Options > SIP tab, and click the Add button.

If you want to setup multiple lines, you need to repeat the steps to create additional extensions.