[Asterisk-Users] Xten SIP client for Macintosh OSX

[John Todd]

[this post is just as much for the archives as it is for immediate consumption]

Somehow I had completely missed the announcement that XTen Networks 
had released a SIP client for Mac OSX.  Well, they have.  It seems to 
mostly work, even!   Very cool.

The User interface leaves something to be desired, with it's menus 
trying to force me to use cell-phone sized windows (!!!!) to 
manipulate the configurations.  Seems a bit silly, but if you only 
have to go through that infuriating process once, then I suppose it's 
acceptable. (Hint to xten: can you PLEASE make the windows 
re-sizeable?  Can you please read the Apple GUI Style manual?  I 
suppose the quick navigation with the arrow keys is a compromise.)

Speex does not seem to work as expected with Asterisk.  There is a 
bug already open on this topic.
http://bugs.digium.com/bug_view_page.php?bug_id=0000133   This is a 
shame, since it's the only SIP client that I know of that supports 
speex.  GSM is a reasonable alternative, though quality is not so hot 
with the client (at least, mine wasn't.  G711[a,u] sounded much 
better.)

The system is a bit susceptible to pops and clicks for some reason 
when calls went out over a PRI to a remote system (a movie hotline.) 
The 7960 sitting right beside my Mac gets perfect quality to the same 
proxy.  The Mac isn't overloaded (~20% CPU usage load according to 
"top" with a call in progress) so I've got to conclude it's the 
software's problem.   Oddly enough, a hairpin'ed call through the PRI 
back to another SIP phone sounds perfect with a "real" human talking 
on the line, so more experimentation is required.

It's an excellent release of the first (working) SIP UA for Macintosh 
systems that I've seen.  Hats off to xten.  I don't think this will 
replace my 'hardphone' but it will be the method of choice for 
communications when I'm on the road.

Now, if only MacOS would come with the support for the Jabra 
Bluetooth headsets...

JT