FOP2 and FreePBX

Is anyone using FOP2 with FreePBX?

Just started looking at it and it looks pretty good.

Anyone have any recent experience they would like to share with either installing it on the same server as FreePBX or installing it on a different server that “points” at the FreePBX server?

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I use the paid version for 250 extensions on FreePBX13, no problem. It’s on the same server.

Fop2 works.
Install on the same server as Asterisk.

You can install on a separate server, but then you would have to configure buttons and users manually and deal with other limitations.

I use FOP2 at a school with around 100 extensions as well as at a few other locations. It works great.

You probably don’t need the full $80 version. For $40 you can get the important functionalities and still maitain the ability to upgrade at no additional cost. The two things you are missing is sms and voicemail explorer, both of which I don’t see a huge purpose for. But even with the lower tier, you can still see when an extension has a voicemail.

If you have many extensions, using the grouping features makes the panel look neat and clean. You can see disconnected extensions, extensions in use and who they’re talking to, as well as coach your employees using the whisper options. The plugins offer nice additional functionality too.

I’ve only ever installed it on the same server as asterisk, and that’s what I would recommend to you to. Just follow their installation guide.

Their technical support is very good too, if you can get a hold of someone. For a while, it seemed like that had slipped off the planet, but I think they may be doing a better job now.

Thank you for the feedback.

Is FOP2 useful for any reporting such as giving managers access to hear call recordings for certain members of staff?

FOP2 is rather a monitoring solution than a reporting solution.

Managers can monitor queues, extensions, ring groups, parking lots, trunks, see statistics, drag and drop calls, listen, listen & whisper etc.

I would also recommend the FOB2 extension for Chrome, if you use Chrome. It’s got some neat features.

We’ve used it for years and have loved it. Support can be hit or miss but the product is quite reliable and very cost effective

Yes. This is a great addition to an already great product. The click to dial feature makes it especially nice for people who do a lot of calling.

We love it. Installed on the same server as FreePBX.

Support has been awesome, once I realized they’re based in Spain (I think) & have gone home by the time I’m looking for help.

Actually Argentina, “they” is a bit of an exageration :slight_smile:

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Yeah - IIRC, it’s more of a “he”.

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You’re probably better to use UCP for listening to call recordings. You can give managers access to a number of extensions via UCP to listen to recordings from other users in their group. The FOP2 people also product a very good contact centre reporting tool called Asternic if you want more in depth reporting on call stats.

A little late to this discussion perhaps but FWIW I’ve installed it on my home instance of FreePBX and it appears to work fine. It was a little difficult to install but it’s been reliable since.

My reason for installing it was to evaluate for a [possible] replacement of a commercial 3CX exchange I look after. The users of that system (occasionally) like to use the separate 3CX application on their desktop machines or mobiles, and have asked that a similar system be available for whatever they may go to.

To this end I like that FOP is effectively cross-platform and should work on anything a browser will work on, and that it doesn’t need individual configuration on user’s machines. However it’s not as small or ‘neat’ as the 3CX offering and if there were something similar I’d need to look at that closely as it may be a better fit or ‘feel’ for these people…

I also have a Swyx exchange for which a FreePBX alternative has been mooted and is in partly in place. They have enquired about a replacement for the Swyx desktop software and while I’ve suggested FOP I think they may have similar reservations re the browser-based nature of it.

I make these comments simply to give some feedback on what I’ve found. Personally I like the fact that it’s browser-based, however in both of these cases they’ve been used to something else and are clearly wanting to replicate that as much possible. As with most people they don’t like change!

Fyi, you can customize FOP2. You can change the HTML and CSS on your own.

Thanks for that, I think the main issue is that the browser window itself is fairly ‘large’ already whereas the separate 3CX offering doesn’t take up a lot of space on the desktop.

I’m not sure that altering the page coding would help in this instance (and unfortunately I’m not an HTML/CSS guru), but I’d be delighted if someone were to able to show me otherwise - have you any screenshots perhaps?

The fop2 desktop is ‘responsive’ it adapts its layout to suit the browser window and runs just fine on a cellphone or 55 inch monitor

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Thanks, yes it resizes reasonably well for me and with just a few extensions I find it’s ok.

However in the case of the two sites I’m talking about they each have ~100 extensions which (from what I can tell) won’t format all that well in a smaller window - at least compared to the 3CX application. I will try and look into this further though, if it’s possible to address this in a way that satisfies these potential users I’d be very pleased.

FWIW an example of the 3CX desktop application is here, as you’ll see it has quite a small footprint.

Each login is configurable as to what extensions it would like to see, am I correct in guessing that very few users out of one hundred would need more than their departments worth, and the few that want the whole panoply have big enough screens to suit? further each element you choose to display can be "rolled up or down’ if you r interest changes, and displayed or not to suit the account, you can template the display for easily applying a particular group of users desired, you can even add elements not offered by the asterisk server if you want.

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Their current use is to see all of the extensions (ie. they’re not grouped), however a number of the users set the application to be fairly small and they just scroll as needed. Others have it occupying the necessary desk space in order to see the entire dataset - they are typically the receptionists.

Oh answering the question - all their screens are large enough to host the entire extension lists should they want.

I’ll have another look at the roll up/down function you mention, I seem to recall something of that but it’s been a while so could be worth investigating again - thanks.

BTW It’s getting late here so should you reply again it may be a while before I get to see it :slight_smile: