Best softphone app for iPhone?

[pen2670]

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post in here so hope it's the right place!

I bought a geographical phone number from voipfone so that we can answer business calls before our shop opens and use the same number when we open. Diverting phone calls to a mobile was getting expensive and there was no way to tell which was a diverted call and which a personal call.

So we downloaded 3CX phone iPhone app, tested it, and it appeared to work. Until today when we realised we have missed loads of calls and it only seems to work when at the front of the phone and hubby's not doing anything else on it.

Can anyone recommend a good app that will ring even when running in the background on an iPhone 4S? (Currently looking at Bria, Voipfone recommend Zoiper - but it didn't have great reviews).

Thanks
Penny

 

[RemoteTechs]

Zoiper for the iPhone is pretty good, it had some issue with the first few versions but seems to be a lot more stable lately.
We only use it for on call engineers so its not running all the time, but its good for what we use it for.
If you are using it on the Voipfone network then Bria will unregister consistently, we tried lots of them before we settled on Zoiper.

 

[Posilan]

Acrobits Softphone works well for me.

Edit: Just to add, I only use it occasionally, but push notifications for new calls seem to work well - I wouldn't recommend any of them if only using 3G - wifi is necessary.

Steve

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Do not use your mobile!!

Use a specific hard phone!!!

 

[pen2670]

Do not use your mobile!!

Use a specific hard phone!!!

Oh dear, so what's the point in having the voip numbers then - should we just stick with BT and divert it to the mobile when not at the shop as by the time we've paid £100 for an extra voip phone at home and paid for diverted calls for when we're not at home it's going to be really expensive!!! Being able to get an app to receive the calls on the iphone seemed really attractive...

 

[pen2670]

Thanks for all the advice!!!

Think we'll give zoiper a go and then either acrobits or back to the drawing board if we still have probs.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

The purpose of VoIP is many!!!!


Why did you pay £100 for a VoIP phone, when you could use your PC or get a handset for £30-40?

Using an app is a good idea, but I wouldn't even go as far as running my business on it!

Do you have a landline or internet at the shop?

 

[pen2670]

The purpose of VoIP is many!!!!


Why did you pay £100 for a VoIP phone, when you could use your PC or get a handset for £30-40?

Using an app is a good idea, but I wouldn't even go as far as running my business on it!

Do you have a landline or internet at the shop?

We haven't got the shop yet - lease arrived for signature today, then once it's officially ours we're looking at at least a month before we open. In the meantime bt want 3 weeks and £100 to install a phone line so voip sounded ideal to get the numbers now and keep them consistant throughout the process. plus being able to answer anywhere out of hours without a divert fee sounded great!

£100 was what I remember seeing the mid range snom phones at on Voipfone's site. Havent bought one yet because the iPhone app seemed more versatile.

I have downloaded Zoiper to my laptop, but tbh its not going too well. Had some probs during installation so it will only open when told to run as administrator so cant add it to startup and the one time I was using the laptop when someone called he was v uncomfortable throughout the call and said he could hear his voice echoing back to him. Would prob be better with a headset, but they also seemed pretty expensive and tbh deal with hubby was that he gets his ideal phone, the iPhone, in return for answering all out of hours work calls wherever he is.....

 

[leemason]

Have a look at Bria for iPhone: http://www.counterpath.com/bria-iphone-edition.html. I use it on Android and under Linux and it's a great softphone.

 

[maxine]

Just to say I've been using the zoiper iPhone app for quite a while now with no problems. being a telemarketer and handling inbound calls I use it a lot although it's a personal overflow thing for me (meetings etc) and most calls handled via zoiper soft phone on pc with headset. It needn't be an expensive headset as Argos ones work just fine

Make sure your internet connection is good though

 

[pen2670]

Thanks for the help I wonder if anyone can shed any light on what I'm doing wrong now....

We've installed Zoiper on the iPhone and tested it by ringing the shop's voip number. Also set the advanced settings to make sure it was permanantly connected to wifi and would work in the background - iphone says this means the battery will only last 2hours! At this time the laptop was also on so I'd expect both to ring?!?

Out of 4 tries first time I think both rang, 2nd just the laptop rang. I then re-opened the app on the iphone tried again and just it rang. Forth time nether rang and it went straight to voicemail.

What am I doing wrong. Surely if set up wrong they wouldnt ring at all...

Consultant: Where do I get a £30-£40 voiphone?

fyi we have bt broadband with homehub. Not the best service as in a rural area and BT havent been great for us, but signal was high on both devices and iternet was working well.

 

[maxine]

Yes it does drain the battery! forgot to say that

The way I use mine on my phone is via a different voipfone extension. They are both then set to the same call group so they ring at the same time.

 

[cjd]

We generally recommend acrobits for an iPhone app.

http://www.voipfone.co.uk/acrobits.php

Can I suggest you call our support on 020 7043 5555. There's quite a few options for you here - they'll find the best one for you.

 

[pen2670]

We generally recommend acrobits for an iPhone app.

http://www.voipfone.co.uk/acrobits.php

Can I suggest you call our support on 020 7043 5555. There's quite a few options for you here - they'll find the best one for you.

Could you not explain the options here?

Just by the time I've rung up, queued for a support member, explained and listened to the options all the while with my 17 month trying to join in the conversation I'm not likely to be able to make an informed choice on how to go forward or to learn how to implement it. Plus I always like a little time to think things through anyway before deciding on options.

 

[Posilan]

Out of 4 tries first time I think both rang, 2nd just the laptop rang. I then re-opened the app on the iphone tried again and just it rang. Forth time nether rang and it went straight to voicemail.

What am I doing wrong. Surely if set up wrong they wouldnt ring at all....

The issue will be with push notifications. When the app is in the background, it needs to rely on push notifications from teh app maker to alert you of incoming calls (not a problem if the app is in the foreground).

As mentioned, i've not had any problems using Acrobits softphone - and although it's not free, push notifications seem to work reliably - maybe they use payments to make their push notification infrastructure more reliable.

Steve

 

[cjd]

Could you not explain the options here?

Sure, I'll have a bash.

1. Try the acrobats app for your iPhone, that may well get over the issues you have with 3CX. You will though, run into the problem of battery life. You can get over that by having the phone on charge whilst not actually in use (or even while in use).

2. Install Zoiper - or other free softphone - on your laptop or PC, then use a simple headset to make and receive calls. (Tescos used to do a good one for about £7). Don't buy anything that says VoIP or Skype - you just need a simple phono type headset. The downside of this is that your PC/laptop needs to be on to make or receive a call and it needs to be reasonably up to date to cope with multitasking - this is not usually a problem, but if your PC is very old it can be.

3. Buy a dedicated VoIP telephone or adapter. This is actually the best solution (but does require a cable connection to your router) and we'd always start by recommending a snom 300. A cheaper, but still very good solution is to use an adapter like the Cisco SPA 112 which you can plug an ordinary telephone into. The nice thing about the adapter is that if you plug in a DECT phone, you have a wireless telephone. The main advantage of a proper telephone is that it's always on and the call quality is as good as it gets.

If you buy a phone or adapter, it really is best to buy it from us as we will configure it for you so that it's plug and play, remote manage it for you for as long as its on our network and we have no excuse if you have problems with it.

Having said that, if you find something on eBay, we'll do our best to get it working for you. You need to find a device that is SIP compliant - NOT Skype.

 

[JohnGeek]

I use and recommend Acrobits Softphone.

 

[DigitalDaz]

I use the Bria app and it works brilliantly. I think it costs about a fiver but it seems well worth every penny.

With regards to iphone and voip in general, the problem you are always going to have is that if you are on a voip call and you get an incoming voice call, it will interrupt it.

With the Bria, I don't know if this works with others, you can reject the voice call and resume your voip call.

 

[andygambles]

At this time the laptop was also on so I'd expect both to ring?!?

Out of 4 tries first time I think both rang, 2nd just the laptop rang. I then re-opened the app on the iphone tried again and just it rang. Forth time nether rang and it went straight to voicemail.

Doesn't work like that unless the VOIP provider has set it up that way. Registration of one device may have taken over the other.

Generally you would need two extensions and group calling for both to ring.

 

[ITsoldUK]

Cannot recommend for iPhone sorry, android user and I used to use sipdroid when out and about and found it OK but not 100% reliable so now I just redirect via my pbx on voipfone.

I then use a snom 300 when at base (my office/shed at the end of the garden) and it works better than my landline...(got my snom off feebay for less than £40)

t'internet is no probs, just plugged in a plugin network adaptor at both ends and connect the shed one to my snom then run the cable from the snom to the pc et voila.

In the short term, you can set up a voip (with a call package) and just redirect but there is of course the cost implications BUT as you won't be in situ for a month, you can still grab the number and become active wherever you are based.

Hope this helps...

 

[leemason]

Where do I get a £30-£40 voiphone?

Have a look at this: http://www.voipon.co.uk/yealink-t18p-ip-phone-sipt18p-p-2527.html. Yealink are quite new to the market but I tried out some of their phones recently and I have to say they were pretty good.

 

[pen2670]

Thanks for all the advice!

Have bitten the bullet and ordered a snom and a couple of extensions to stop any conflicts and receive our calls without draining hubby's battery!

 

[william04]

Does anyone know how to set up the Bria softphone app on iPhone ?

 

[jamesmathews]

Acrobits is really the best softphone application for Iphone

 

[yorkukhosting]

I have to second Bria for iPhone, along with the G729 codec it works fantastically well on the iphone, much better than their Android version. It even works well over 3G. Whichever you go for it is worth making sure you force the use of a low bandwidth codec, ideally G729 for the best performance in my experience.

 

[fattony]

Do not use your mobile!!

Use a specific hard phone!!!

difficult when Im on the road / out on site though

 

[maxine]

I'm struggling with acrobits. I downloaded it as a result of this thread and can not get the darn thing to work properly at all! right pain

 

[Posilan]

I'm struggling with acrobits. I downloaded it as a result of this thread and can not get the darn thing to work properly at all! right pain

Why? What's wrong with it? I use it and it was the best of the bunch for me...

Steve

 

[cjd]

I'm struggling with acrobits. I downloaded it as a result of this thread and can not get the darn thing to work properly at all! right pain

If it's us, the number is 020 7043 5555 (before 5!)

 

[maxine]

Ok it's taken me a little while but sorted it out properly today. I think I set it up incorrectly before as seems ok now. Push notifications coming through fab! It keeps ringing though about 4 rings after its been answered on another extension though

Also does anyone know how you transfer a call?

 

[cjd]

For someone who spends her life on the phone, you seem reluctant to use it ;-)

At least 5 of our guys use Acrobits personally - give us a call and ask; that's what I pay them for!

 

[maxine]

Lol I've been on the live chat for what seems like most of the day today which is great as I'm always on the phone too much to be on the phone to you!! Hehe

I'm sure they must see "chat from Maxxy" and groan but they've earned their money this week as I've asked about faxes, IVR features for if you know the extension you require enter it now, plus diverts between voipfone customers and line presentation queries so no I didn't get around to acrobits at least not yet