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

[Tzafrir Cohen]

On Fri, Jul 15, 2005 at 07:04:58PM -0400, Tom Rymes wrote:
> 
> On Jul 15, 2005, at 5:00 PM, Time Bandit wrote:
> 
> >>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, 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.
> >>
> >Well, not with all softphones. I build mine trying to reproduce my
> >Nortel phone model 9316.
> >Also, I wanted to use the softphone without using the mouse, so I made
> >it so that you can dial with the numeric pad (using / for #), you can
> >pick up a line by pressing F1 for line 1, F2 for line 2, etc. Want to
> >hangup, just press ESC
> >
> >I received a lot of positive comment about it, and most people like
> >the fact that it looks like and behave like a normal phone.
> 
> I'm not trying to insult the interface that you folks put on your  
> software, I was talking about the inherent differences between a  
> physical phone and a "virtual" one. It is inherently better to pick  
> up the hardphone handset and press the dialpad, rather than jiggle  
> the mouse to wake up your computer/get rid of your screensaver/pull  
> your monitor out of energy saver/ etc, 

It pops up on an incoming call. Nothing new here about softphones:
instant messanger clients behave similarly.

> find your headset, put it on,  

You can always get a speaker/microphone pair dressed up as a "pone
handset". OTOH, I know many people who use a headset (and have to wear
it etc.) for their standard phone, because the quality a standard
handset provides is not good enough.

> press alt-tab three times to bring the softphone app to the front,  

It was in front if there were an incoming cal. If you want to dial out,
press the key combination or the icon in the taskbar.

> and then dial with the numeric keypad or mouse. 

dial only the relevant part. I still didn't see any hardware phone that
implements history properly. My web browsers have some interesting
varioations over the completion of names.

Also note that what you write does not have to be a phone number: we use
phone *numbers* because of the silly limitations of the original analog
phones. SIP and VoIP in general allow much more "text interaction", e.g:
an extension is a name, not a number. Hardware phones are still locked
into the concept of numbers-only, whereas softphones do much a better
job in adapting.

> Personally, omitting  
> any sound quality issues, I think softphones would work well in a  
> call center application, since the people aren't getting up from  
> their desk, idle long enough for their monitor to shut off, or ever  
> using a speakerphone (which you can't really do well with a  
> softphone). 

They also work well when you mostly want outgoing calls.

> However, if you ever get up and away from your desk, even  
> if you fix the ringing sound only playing the headset problem, then  
> you have to worry about rushing back to pick up your ringing phone  
> and going through the whole scenario I was talking about earlier.  
> Even in a call center, I still think that the cost of a Plantronics  
> analog headset only phone and an ATA is a better investment than a  
> softphone and a decent headset. (again, IMNSHO, a $5 headset just  
> doesn't cut it for business use. Calling your girlfriend, maybe, but  
> we want to project a quality, competent image to our customers, not  
> "It sounds like you are in a cave. Is there something wrong with your  
> phones? You should really have that checked out!"....

How much does a "quality headset" costs? What exactly is the difference
between a 5$ one and a 50$ one? And how much is that noticab;e over a
low quality phone line anyway?

> 
> >>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.
> 
> >I agree on the point that the quality of the headset and the soundcard
> >makes a huge difference on the quality of the call. 

Not sure here. What exactly do you miss in the on-board "sound card" of
your motherboard?

> > But compare the
> >price of a good soudcard/headset with the price of a Cisco phone and
> >you will still have money left to go have a nice meal with your
> >girlfriend.
> 
> Agreed, but not if you compare the cost of the soundcard, phone,  
> software install/maintenance, and headset with a $115 Polycom IP301.  
> Don't forget that you have to install all of those soundcards, along  
> with drivers, etc. 

No, you order your system with a decent sound card. But then again,
there are some issues here you overrate.

> as well as the software, while the Polycoms can be  
> centrally managed via TFTP/FTP/HTTP/HTTPS, etc.

You mean: getting close to almost barely good enough to be as managable
as a local software?

Unless your OS has a really really high TCO to manage, those hardware
phones are much more of a pain at that point.

> 
> >>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. If they
> >>have to use X-Lite, then their reaction is likely to be "This system
> >>works well, but I hate that I have to have my PC on, I have to dial
> >>with the mouse or numeric keypad, If software update is installing an
> >>update voice quality goes to hell, etc. This is not to mention that
> >>if you need Gigabit for the file transfers, etc that your computers
> >>are doing, then voice quality is likely to go to hell whenever they
> >>initiate a major file transfer.
> >>
> >I agree, your boss will judge the system based on is experience with
> >it. So don't skim on the quality if you want to keep him happy.
> 
> This is why I think that it is worth the extra $50 or so for the  
> cheaper hardphones. 

OTOH, there is the false logic that "just because you didn't pay enough
for it, means its quality is low". For instance, on typical mainframe 
installation, people spend much more on basically the same thing. This
is because they've already payed the 1,000,000$ for the system, and
are used to pay a bit more for accesories.

I figure you could have
snuk in there a headset you bought for, say, 100$, as "certiied quality
headset" and get some 2000$ for it. :-)

> Even go for a budgettone or a Sipura SPA-841 if  
> your budget is too tight for even the PolyCom 301. 

Those require an extra power connector , and I'm not sure about the
network wiring. 

> Install softphones  
> in call centers, maybe, and definitely for occasional remote users  
> and traveling laptops, etc.
> 
> Do it right. Phones are too important for businesses to skimp, and  
> you really do get what you pay for in this case.

However for the long run I'm interested to see what part of that quality
is missing in general-purpose PCs.

Summary: I'm not sure soft phones are there yet, but I suspect they will
be "good enough" for more and more people.

-- 
Tzafrir Cohen         | tzafrir at jbr.cohens.org.il | VIM is
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