Getting Started with Cloud PBX

Welcome to Simtex Cloud PBX — Australia’s flexible hosted phone system built for businesses of every size. Whether you’re setting up phones for a small office or a growing team, this guide walks you through everything from placing your first order to making your first call.

Cloud PBX gives each team member their own business phone extension with enterprise-grade features like call routing, voicemail, ring groups, and an interactive IVR designer — all managed from a simple web portal. No on-premises hardware required.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to:

• Choose the right phone plan for each team member
• Set up a Call Director for inbound call routing
• Configure call recording (optional)
• Select your phone numbers
• Complete your order and get started

Before You Begin

Before starting the ordering wizard, make sure you have the following ready:

• A Zettagrid account — If you don’t have one yet, sign up here.
• Your team size — Know how many people need a phone extension. Each person gets their own plan.
• A rough idea of calling patterns — Do your team mainly call local/national numbers, or do they also call mobiles and 13/1300 numbers? This helps you pick the right plan tier.
• Your existing phone numbers (optional) — If you want to keep your current business numbers, you can port them across after placing your order.

Ready? Head to the Cloud PBX ordering wizard and follow along with this guide.

Step 1 — Choose Your Phone Plans

The first step is selecting a phone plan for each team member who needs an extension. Each plan includes a full business phone extension with voicemail, call transfer, and access to the IVR Designer.

There are four plan tiers to choose from:

All prices are per month and include GST.

Which plan should you choose?

• PhonePAYG is ideal for extensions that rarely make outbound calls, such as a reception desk that mainly receives calls.
• PhoneEssentials suits teams that mainly call landlines — local and national calls are included.
• PhonePlus is the most popular choice because it includes mobile calls, which is what most businesses need.
• PhoneMax is perfect if your team regularly calls 13 and 1300 numbers, as these are included in the plan.

Call Recording

Each plan card in the wizard has a Call Recording toggle. If you need to record calls for compliance or training, simply switch it on for the relevant extensions. If you enable call recording on any plan, you’ll be asked to configure recording storage in Step 3.

Use the quantity selector to add the number of extensions you need for each plan tier. You can mix and match — for example, two PhonePlus extensions for your sales team and one PhonePAYG for the break room.

Step 2 — Add a Call Director

A Call Director is the brains behind your inbound call routing. It’s the service that answers your main business number and directs callers to the right person or team using features like:

• IVR (Auto Attendant) — “Press 1 for Sales, Press 2 for Support”
• Ring Groups — Ring multiple extensions simultaneously or in sequence
• Call Queues — Hold callers in a queue with music until an agent is available

Every Cloud PBX order requires at least one Call Director. There are three tiers:

All prices are per month and include GST.

Which Call Director tier do you need?

CallDirector Free is a great starting point for most businesses. It includes all the routing features — IVR, ring groups, and queues — at no cost. Call charges only apply when the Call Director routes a call to an external number (such as a mobile). If calls are only routed to your Cloud PBX extensions, there are no call charges at all.

The paid tiers (Plus and Max) include call minutes for external routing. Choose these if your Call Director frequently diverts calls to mobiles or 13/1300 numbers outside your PBX.

Step 3 — Call Recording Storage (Optional)

If you enabled Call Recording on any of your phone plans in Step 1, the wizard will ask you to configure your recording storage. If you didn’t enable call recording, this step is skipped automatically.

How it works

Call recording storage is measured in minutes and sold in blocks:

• 1 block = 1,000 minutes of recording storage
• Price: $1.50 per block per month (including GST)

For example, 10 blocks gives you 10,000 minutes of storage for $15.00/month.

How much storage do you need?

As a general rule, estimate the total minutes of calls your team records per month and add a comfortable buffer. For most small teams, 10,000 minutes (10 blocks) is a solid starting point.

What happens when storage is full?

You choose one of two policies:

• Auto Increase — Automatically adds more storage blocks when you run out. You’ll never lose a recording, but your monthly cost may increase.
• Auto Rotate — When storage is full, the oldest recordings are automatically deleted to make room for new ones. Your cost stays fixed, but older recordings are recycled.

Our recommendation: Start with Auto Increase if compliance is important to you, or Auto Rotate if you want predictable costs and don’t need long-term archives.

Step 4 — Choose Your Phone Numbers

The final step is selecting your phone numbers. Every phone plan comes with one free included number, and you can add more numbers as needed.

All prices are per month and include GST.

Directory Listing

For each number, you can configure a directory listing:

• Unlisted — Not published in any directory (most common for businesses)
• Listed — Published in the White Pages directory
• Suppressed Address — Listed in the directory but with your address hidden

You’ll also choose whether the listing is Business or Residential, and set the Service Location (defaults to your account address).

Volume discounts

If you need many numbers — for example, a direct number for every team member — take advantage of the volume pricing. A 10-pack of standard numbers drops the price from $1.95 to $1.495 each, and a 100-pack brings it down to just $0.35 each.

Complete Your Order

Once you’ve configured all four steps, the wizard presents an order summary showing everything you’ve selected along with the total monthly cost.

Review your selections carefully:

• Phone plans and quantities
• Call Director tier
• Call recording storage (if applicable)
• Phone numbers and directory listings

When you’re happy with everything, click Add to Order and proceed to checkout. Your Cloud PBX extensions will be provisioned and ready to use as soon as the order is processed.

Number Porting — Keep Your Existing Numbers

Already have business phone numbers you want to keep? No problem. Number porting lets you transfer your existing numbers from your current provider to Zettagrid Cloud PBX.

Here’s how it works:

1. Place your Cloud PBX order first — Get your new system up and running with temporary numbers.
2. Submit a porting request — Complete the number porting application form with your existing numbers and current provider details.
3. We handle the rest — Our team coordinates with your current provider to transfer the numbers. Porting typically takes 5–10 business days depending on the number type and provider.
4. Seamless cutover — Once porting is complete, your existing numbers will ring on your new Cloud PBX extensions with no downtime.

Access Your Portal

Once your order is complete, you can manage your entire Cloud PBX from the MyCloudVoIP portal at account.mycloudvoip.com.au.

Log in using your Zettagrid account credentials — the same username and password you use for the Zettagrid portal.

From the portal you can:

• Design IVR menus — Use the drag-and-drop IVR Designer to create professional auto-attendant menus
• Configure ring groups — Set up teams that ring simultaneously or in a defined sequence
• Manage call queues — Configure hold music, queue announcements, and agent availability
• Set up voicemail — Configure voicemail greetings and email notifications for each extension
• Upload audio prompts — Add custom on-hold music, IVR greetings, and announcement files
• View call history — Access detailed call records and recordings
• Manage phone numbers — Configure directory listings and routing for each number
• Provision handsets — Auto-configure supported desk phones with zero-touch provisioning

What’s Next?

Now that your Cloud PBX is up and running, explore these guides to get the most out of your system:

• IVR Designer Guide — Learn how to build professional auto-attendant menus with the visual IVR Designer
• Handset Provisioning — Set up supported desk phones with zero-touch auto-configuration
• Call Recording Management — Search, download, and manage your recorded calls
• Audio Prompt Management — Upload and manage custom hold music, IVR greetings, and announcements
• Number Porting — Transfer your existing phone numbers to Cloud PBX

Each guide is available in our Knowledge Base. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, our support team is always happy to help.