3CX is a software-based VoIP ecosystem that lets you operate your business’s communications. Because it’s such a good product, it’s rather trusted across the world. Over 350,000 installs ain’t too shabby.
You can operate 3CX on-premise on your own servers or self-hosted in the cloud. 3CX also offers hosting themselves: they host, you manage.
How do you keep your communications running smoothly and securely when you’re using the cloud?
3CX uses what they call “router phones.” It uses a VoIP phone as a router for communications, connecting your phones to a cloud-based 3CX instance. Note that the information in this blog only applies to cloud-based instances of 3CX, not on-premise.
The router phone topology eliminates the need for a separate device on the remote end, which saves you money and gets rid of supply chain worries. It’s one less device to manage. And it’s very easy to set up.
In this blog, we clearly explain what a router phone for 3CX is.
If you’d like an in-depth look into VoIP phone systems like 3CX, check out our expert, detailed VoIP Phone Systems Buyer’s Guide.
Let’s get into it!
3CX Router VoIP Phones
A 3CX Router Phone is a VoIP phone that runs the 3CX SBC software on it. A router phone acts as a secure gateway for all the locally connected phones in a location. At the same time, can still function as a normal VoIP phone.
SBC stands for “Session Border Controller.” An SBC is a networking device that manages and protects the flow of your communications. It’s basically a gatekeeper for communications data, only letting authorized data pass through.
Because 3CX is a software-based phone system, 3CX SBC is a software-based SBC. 3CX works with phone manufacturers, giving them the SBC code for trustworthy performance.
Essentially, what 3CX SBC does is gather all the VoIP communications data from all the phones at one location, then securely delivers that data to a 3CX phone system that’s being hosted in the cloud.
It combines SIP and RTP packets for more reliable firewall and NAT traversal. A firewall filters out dangerous traffic; a NAT router directs traffic from a public IP address to a private IP address and vice versa. The two together are part of the process of protecting a network. Phones in one location will be “behind” the two, which, in some cases, can lead to problems getting communications data to pass through. That’s why you need 3CX SBC: to reliably, securely pass data through.
The router phone with 3CX SBC also encrypts data for security. It reconnects calls in case they’re disconnected. And it sets up internal calls among the phones at the location, so the communications data doesn’t need to go to the cloud. This last feature saves your network real bandwidth.
The router phone will have a static IP address. You’ll need to keep it running all the time, too.
Because of hardware limitations, only up to 10 phones can be supported by a single router phone.
If you have more than 10 phones in one location, you’ll need to set up 3CX SBC on a separate device: a Raspberry Pi 5, a Windows 10 / Server 2016 and up machine, or a Debian Linux machine using the 3CX ISO.
If you host 3CX in the cloud, you must have 3CX SBC running on at least one router phone or one SBC for the phones on a local network.
What models work as router phones for 3CX?
Not every VoIP phone can work as a 3CX router phone. Only specific models can:
- Fanvil V65
- Fanvil X210-V2, X210i-V2
- Snom D862, D865
- Yealink AX83H
- Yealink T42U, T43U, T44U, T44W, T46U, T48U
- Yealink T53, T53W, T54W, T57W, T58W
This information is correct as of January 2025. We only listed models that 3CX says can be full router phones; other models might work as router phones for limited deployments. Please consult “Supported IP Phones” (external link) on 3CX’s website for up-to-date compatibility information. This site not only tells you which phone models can be router phones, but also lists VoIP phone compatibility for 3CX in general.