[Asterisk-Users] SoftPhones: Bad, or just bad QoS?

[Tzafrir Cohen]

On Fri, Jul 15, 2005 at 12:29:00PM -0400, Tom Rymes wrote:
> Ed,
> 
> There are two main drawbacks to the softphone, as I see it:
> 
> 1.) User interface - The interface to the softphones is really less  
> than ideal. This includes the problem mentioned earlier about not  
> hearing ringing unless you have your headset on, dialing with the  
> mouse, 

dialing with the keypad, actually. Put in a number of shortcuts for
common operations, a decent menu for the more complicated operations,
etc.

> not having telephone service if your PC isn't on, etc. The  
> traditional telephone "interface" of handset, dialpad, etc. is  
> utterly pervasive and very simple and user-friendly. You lose that  
> with a softphone.

Actually, it is much easiler to play with the user interface of a soft
phone than with the one of a hardware phone. e.g: any hardware gadget
managed to imeplement themes? 

Decent support for history. Decent support for dial history. And the
ability for the user to customize it.

> 
> 2.) Quality/Cost - For good softphone quality, you HAVE to use a  
> headset or external USB handset, etc. This is a pain, because users  
> don't always want to use a headset, they want the choice. The other  
> problem is that one of the main advantages of the softphone is that  
> it is cheap, and paying for a good headset reduces that advantage  
> (and you DON'T want to skimp on headsets). The other factor is that  
> softphone quality depends on soundcard quality, etc. As a Mac shop,  
> this ought to be a smaller problem.

A simple headset costs 5$? 

A lousy (ergonomically-wise) hardware SIP phone costs soewhere between 
50$ and 100$. Good phones cost much more.

> 
> The other thing to keep in mind is that your users, especially your  
> boss, are going to be judging the Asterisk system, and you  
> performance, based mostly on their interaction with the system. If  
> their main interface to the system is a Cisco 7940G or Polycom 501,  
> they are likely to be impressed because the new system gives them  
> such major benefits, but doesn't require them to use funny computer  
> phones, start up their PC to receive or make a call, etc. 

My desktop computer runs 24h a day. 

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