Softphone Instead Of Desktop Phones

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Asterisk Users 11 Comments

In my quest for finding a Softphone for iPhone, this is what I found:

Note: I tried Zoiper and CSipSimple but quality was bad compared to an desktop SIP phone.

For Windows

  • Bria
  • Linphone

For Mac/iPhone:

  • Bria
  • Growndwire
  • Linphone

For Android:

  • Groundwire
  • Linphone

What other solution do you propose?

11 thoughts on - Softphone Instead Of Desktop Phones

  • iPhone and android : growndwire

    Also you have media5 works well for iPhone

    Linphone for iOS,android and Windows

    Jitsi for windows works very well.

    Sent from my iPhone

  • Thomas

    I have found you will likely end up spending more with softphones. You have to purchase a good headset and quality does not come inexpensive with headsets. We find we will pay $80 to $100 dollars plus for a fair quality headset. You also have to support deployment to devices. Which means in many cases you must touch the device for maintenance.

    The best softphone I have found is by counter path. They have versions for PC, MAC, Android and IOS. You will spend about $60.00 / device for the software. They have a fee edition for some devices, but not as feature rich.

    I have found it much more successful to deploy something like a Grand Stream Phone $100.00 for a nice feature phone, and I get convenient remote provisioning, Users never have username and passwords so security is ensured, Quality is good, I don’t have to worry about phone issues if their pc or smartphone is acting up for the most part they just work. There are phones for as low as $50.00 from grand stream with high quality audio just fewer features.

    Softphones can work well, but when looking at trouble tickets over the last 13 years. I get more from my softphone users then from my desk phone users. And I can hear the quality difference when I talk to the softphone users it is such a wild card. How important is consistent quality to you?
    Users change headsets, move mic positions and the caller on the other end gets the short end of it. Also remember virus scans, patches, updates, system reboots, wifi signal strength, cell signal (cell ip calls) cheep Bluetooth headsets and the list goes on and on.

    The counterpath software is as good as I have found, but there are additional variables you have to look at. Which is the best for your use case and the cheapest? You have to figure out your formula make sure to look at all the costs and factors how much is support time worth?

    In very controlled environments where you can have consistent control and good quality headsets such as call centers soft clients can work well, but that is not how you started out you are looking for quality on the cheep.

    Desk phones are cheep and in most cases just work and offer consistent quality.

    If others have found different I look forward to seeing their responses. This is a great question thanks for asking it Thomas.

    Best of luck

    Bryant Zimmerman (ZK Tech Inc.)
    616-855-1030 Ext. 2003

    ————————————–

  • Linphone is available for all major OS platforms. Then there is PortGo as well Regards, Amit Patkar

  • Thirdlane Connect can be used as a softphone. It works in modern browsers (no installation is required), on Mac, Windows and Linux desktops, and on mobile phones.

    Besides basic softphone functionality, it provides instant messaging, group chat (channels), voice and video conferencing, and screen sharing. It integrates with a variety of applications and CRMs such as Salesforce, Zoho, Zendesk, Redmine, etc.

    Try it out!

  • Yeah, I wouldn’t mind so much if it had actually answered the original poster’s query. “Switch to our proprietary solution and we can offer you this proprietary solution” isn’t a contribution, it’s an ad.

    -Barry

  • Thomas was asking how to save money and I was just offering an option. I am sorry if my post was inappropriate.

    That said, Thirdlane Connect itself is free, and we do offer a free version for companies with up to 10 users.

  • No need for thirdlane or any proprietary extensions . All you need is jssip open source that works with webrtc. Just point it to wss of asterisk. No restrictions nor min or max number and best of all it is free open source and web based (no software installation). Also here is another web phone that can be used with asterisk https://tryit.jssip.net

    You can find both on github

    Sent from my iPhone