Webphone alternatives

[tntconsulting]

We have been using both IAX and SIP with remote agents have some issues with routers not passing SIP and the phones losing connection.


Currently we are using softphones and are considering to integrate Phono using our Openfire servers.
Has anyone used the Phono/Redfire with Vicidial? Any success? Perhaps a working redirect file to pass variables to the Phono script?

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.




Vicidial 2.10
Scratch install on Centos 6.5 hosted servers

[geoff3dmg]

ViciBox comes integrated with Zoiper Webphone. I haven't used it myself personally as all my agents are on the Local LAN, but others here must of.

[mflorell]

We have dozens of our Vicihost clients using ZoiperWeb across hundreds of agents. It works great and is very reliable. We have also sold ZoiperWeb licenses to several clients who use it for their premises Vicidial systems.

As for Phono, have they open sourced the server side of that yet? Three years ago they said they were going to, but that was before they got bought out. I'm guessing since all I see is references to their hosted application that you have to connect to phono.com to actually use it.

I did a lot of testing of web-based browser phones a few years ago, and the most common problem was issues with keeping the agent phone call up for several hours without swallowing up all available memory, or degrading voice, or intolerable buffer issues. The second biggest problem was with compatibility issues.

[tntconsulting]

We have dozens of our Vicihost clients using ZoiperWeb across hundreds of agents. It works great and is very reliable. We have also sold ZoiperWeb licenses to several clients who use it for their premises Vicidial systems.

As for Phono, have they open sourced the server side of that yet? Three years ago they said they were going to, but that was before they got bought out. I'm guessing since all I see is references to their hosted application that you have to connect to phono.com to actually use it.

I did a lot of testing of web-based browser phones a few years ago, and the most common problem was issues with keeping the agent phone call up for several hours without swallowing up all available memory, or degrading voice, or intolerable buffer issues. The second biggest problem was with compatibility issues.

Redfire/Phono has been integrated into Openfire as a plugin.

Redfire is a plugin for Openfire that embeds the Red5 RTMP server, Cumulus RTMFP server and modified Phono SDK to provide audio/video streaming tools for XMPP application development. https://code.google.com/p/redfire/

[williamconley]

IF you can get Redfire to register and take a call, Vicidial will consider it a phone like any other. IF you also include the redfire phone code in a Vicidial Script (iframe or otherwise) or even add it directly to the AGC client ... it should work. The ZoiperWeb interface could also be altered for the new web phone, of course. The only actual hurdle is getting it to register and take calls from asterisk. The rest is a cakewalk.

And Vicidial could be modified to "close/reopen" the call after each customer to clean out memory. Perhaps.

[Anabia159]

Hi,

How can I get multiple incoming calls on vicidial. ?

I have configured an agent account and logged into it. when logged in i received a call in my sip phone. After that if someone calls to my sip phone i can receive the call in my phone but there is no intimation in vicidial.. how can i add calls to my vicidial queue and transfer the call to available agents..

[williamconley]

Hi,

How can I get multiple incoming calls on vicidial. ?

I have configured an agent account and logged into it. when logged in i received a call in my sip phone. After that if someone calls to my sip phone i can receive the call in my phone but there is no intimation in vicidial.. how can i add calls to my vicidial queue and transfer the call to available agents..

1) Welcome to the Party!

2) As you are obviously new here, I have some suggestions to help us all help you:

When you post, please post your entire configuration including (but not limited to) your installation method and vicidial version with build.

This IS a requirement for posting along with reading the stickies (at the top of each forum) and the manager's manual (available on EFLO.net, both free and paid versions)

You should also post: Asterisk version, telephony hardware (model number is helpful here), cluster information if you have one, and whether any other software is installed in the box. If your installation method is "from scratch" you must post your operating system and should also post the .iso version from which you installed your original operating system. If your installation is "Hosted" list the site name of the host.

If this is a "Cloud" or "Virtual" server, please note the technology involved along with the version of that techology (ie: VMware Server Version 2.0.2). If it is not, merely stating the Motherboard model # and CPU would be helpful.

Similar to This:

Vicibox X.X from .iso | Vicidial X.X.X-XXX Build XXXXXX-XXXX | Asterisk X.X.X | Single Server | No Digium/Sangoma Hardware | No Extra Software After Installation | Intel DG35EC | Core2Quad Q6600

3) Please do not hijack unrelated posts for your nefarious purposes! Post a fresh question and use a subject line related to Your Question.

4) If you read the manual, the method for routing inbound calls to an agent and the method to transfer a call from one agent to another are both listed. This is available in the FREE and the PAID versions of the manual.

5) If you do not have the patience (or attention span) to walk through the manual, line for line, without skipping anything, you can pay someone to configure this for you. Beware the reputation of the person/company with which you deal.

IF you choose to perform this configuration according to the manual, and you run into a problem: Create a new post with a proper subject line; Include the manual version, page and line that you're on; include the expected behavior along with what's actually happening; and include any relevant configuration information. We'll walk you through it.

Happy Hunting!

[Acidshock]

Anyone see that Google Chrome is going to stop NPAPI plugins in 2015? I checked with Zoiper and they said that they had no intention on making a dedicated Chrome plugin and were going to stick to NPAPI.

http://www.chromium.org/developers/npapi-deprecation

Zoiper's response:

"Hello,

Unfortunately Chrome does not offer any alternatives for this type of technologies, nothing can be done.

Best regards,

Joachim
"

[williamconley]

Anyone see that Google Chrome is going to stop NPAPI plugins in 2015? I checked with Zoiper and they said that they had no intention on making a dedicated Chrome plugin and were going to stick to NPAPI.

http://www.chromium.org/developers/npapi-deprecation

Zoiper's response:

"Hello,

Unfortunately Chrome does not offer any alternatives for this type of technologies, nothing can be done.

Best regards,

Joachim
"

Perhaps a little more detail linking NPAPI and its apparent imminent change to be more difficult to load/authorize and how this will affect zoiper web specifically. More difficult to load? Impossible to load? Specific to one browser? That sort of thing.

For instance: If this will only affect Chrome after a certain version ... well, Vicidial wasn't designed for Chrome in the first place. LOL

[Acidshock]

Yeah but according to W3Counter. Chrome represents 42.7% of the browser market share so its pretty significant. Obviously though its not the end of the world. Like you said people can switch to IE or Mozilla

[williamconley]

Yeah but according to W3Counter. Chrome represents 42.7% of the browser market share so its pretty significant. Obviously though its not the end of the world. Like you said people can switch to IE or Mozilla

That statistic would be a lot more relevant if it related to percentage of office computers used solely for business purposes by call centers worldwide.

But it likely includes "bot" results, cell phones, tablets, personal use, non-call-center computers ...

Would be very interesting to collect that data.

[tntconsulting]

We have implemented webrtc with our system and using SipML5 phones, however it does require us to have an additional asterisk11 server.

[williamconley]

We have implemented webrtc with our system and using SipML5 phones, however it does require us to have an additional asterisk11 server.

Nice. And will you then be sharing your installation scripts? Or did you just use a "stock install" from http://sipml5.org/docgen/index.html?svn=222 or elsewhere?

[tntconsulting]

we did a stock install at first, then my IT guys hacked the code to have the autologin and credentials. have 20 agents testing now for the past week and no issues. however it does use a bit more resources on the webserver. for me, the quality is better than Xlite and Zoiper. plus nothing to install on the agent side, only login and all is there.

once we are 100% I will post some details

[williamconley]

we did a stock install at first, then my IT guys hacked the code to have the autologin and credentials. have 20 agents testing now for the past week and no issues. however it does use a bit more resources on the webserver. for me, the quality is better than Xlite and Zoiper. plus nothing to install on the agent side, only login and all is there.

once we are 100% I will post some details

autologin and credentials aside, which site's "stock install" did you start with that worked?

And of course it'll use more resources on the web server because it has become the agent phone server as well. Worse: Now you have to pass the call through the dialer to the web server (two servers for one call). But when it's up and running this could likely be integrated better in the end. The advantage of "nothing to install" is worth some extra server usage to many centers.

[tntconsulting]

we started with the master files, https://github.com/sipml5/sipml5 and gave us the full html as this http://sipml5.org/call.htm?svn=222

then we removed all the code we didnt need, and setup the config/auto login/and the presets in the EXPERT MODE. currently for testing we have it in the original webphone Iframe. but once completed, we can hide the code as agents will never need to access it.

Yes, asterisk sends the calls to the webserver via SIP and then the webserver passes audio to agents via webrtc. Nice benefit also is not having the issues of some routers blocking SIP, as we have many home based agents. Philippine ISPs are horrible about blocking SIP calls.

As of now, for our testing of this system...we have 1 webserver, 1 Database , 2 Asterisk 1.8, and 1 Asterisk 11 box for the webrtc. but actually works out, because we use the 11 box as our company IVR and voicemail. So for us, we are using an Asterisk resource that we already had.

[williamconley]

Excellent. Thanks for the overview. Zoiperweb may not appreciate it, but the rest of us are quite happy to get the info.

Great post.

[mflorell]

I have no question that webrtc is the future, but we still have a huge installed client base with agents running workstations from 10 years ago, and webrtc just won't work on those machines. The added load on the webserver is also a concern, especially for clients with hundreds of agents. Thank you for posting your experience testing it, we've had a couple of our clients try out various webrtc options as well and they do seem to work pretty well in smaller deployments, nobody has tested a 100+ seat call center with it yet though.

[tntconsulting]

I have no question that webrtc is the future, but we still have a huge installed client base with agents running workstations from 10 years ago, and webrtc just won't work on those machines. The added load on the webserver is also a concern, especially for clients with hundreds of agents. Thank you for posting your experience testing it, we've had a couple of our clients try out various webrtc options as well and they do seem to work pretty well in smaller deployments, nobody has tested a 100+ seat call center with it yet though.

As Vicidial and GoAutoDial are FREE....centers should be able to spend money on equipment. I have seen MANY people post the exact same....use a FREE software and invest in the equipment.

Maybe I am lost or uninformed, but webrtc runs through Google Chrome browser and we have virtual agents with ancient laptops and PCs without issues.

As for the webserver, currently we are testing 20 agents with a small 2.4ghz Atom 8core 8gb webserver and only 30% maximum CPU load, and we ALSO run a chat inside the webpage. The main issue we have is 98% memory spikes (upgraded server will probably solve this). Will keep everyone updated as we add more agents.

[mflorell]

We have done a lot of testing of webrtc, and we did have difficulties at multiple client sites with old hardware. The issues were both just getting it to work, as well as audio and call longevity problems for a full agent session.

As for webserver load, currently we are safely getting over 220 agents per web server. If you are hitting 30% use at 20 agents, that would be a big drop in webserver capacity for large systems.

With the code you are using, do you have control over the codec from the webserver to the agent?

[williamconley]

And let's not forget that the ZoiperWeb software isn't free, which allows for purchase of hardware (and upgrading!) as a result of avoiding the fee.

However, I suspect we're a good distance from that until it's fully integrated and vetted. Then (I'm sure) new rooms will opt for WebRTC and build out accordingly.

Some serious development ahead, but in the end a much more robust package.

[mflorell]

Luckily, it won't require much in the way of editing the Vicidial code itself to add it, integrating ZoiperWeb has already put the necessary integration code into Vicidial

As for the cost, ZoiperWeb is sold as a site license only, so if you are a hosting company like Vicidial, the cost per agent is pennies, so there isn't as much barrier to entry for a very reliable webphone, and our clients don't have to pay anything extra to use it.

[williamconley]

Luckily, it won't require much in the way of editing the Vicidial code itself to add it, integrating ZoiperWeb has already put the necessary integration code into Vicidial

As for the cost, ZoiperWeb is sold as a site license only, so if you are a hosting company like Vicidial, the cost per agent is pennies, so there isn't as much barrier to entry for a very reliable webphone, and our clients don't have to pay anything extra to use it.

Wait a minnit dere ... "site license" ... so if ONE of the clients in our colo purchases it ... ALL of our clients could use it (Presumably if the first client had US make that purchase so it would apply to OUR physical site? Interesting ... )

[mflorell]

As long as they are clients of yours and they are using your licensed webserver to get the webphone from, yes.

[williamconley]

As long as they are clients of yours and they are using your licensed webserver to get the webphone from, yes.

"site license" vs "server license" ... all my "web servers" could be licensed by one "site license" ... yes? Or is that "site license" a "web site" license instead of a "physical location site" license?

[mflorell]

site license as in fully-qualified-domain name: "webphone.domain.com", then all of your hosted clients use the following in their System Settings webphone URL:

http://webphone.domain.com/webphone.php

The webphone does not have to be on a Vicidial web server to work with Vicidial.

[williamconley]

site license as in fully-qualified-domain name: "webphone.domain.com", then all of your hosted clients use the following in their System Settings webphone URL:

http://webphone.domain.com/webphone.php

The webphone does not have to be on a Vicidial web server to work with Vicidial.

And of course, if the call center has their own DNS server, they could re-define that to a different IP for each server running the software, if it's for an FQDN. Interesting.

[mflorell]

Apparently that's a thought that Zoiper has already thought of. You can get non-authoritative licenses from them, but they are not standard and you do have to sign a special release before they will sell it to you.

The license file exists on the webserver in the root directory, so you would have to know where to go to get that first.

[williamconley]

Well, we've installed it for several clients, so the license file we've dealt with many times. But I was not aware they sold it as a "site license" (which means something different to me than web domain license, lol). But I'd have to read their advertising to see about that.

Besides which, if this new web phone works (requiring just an asterisk 11 server to function), the entire concept becomes an exercise in futility. Unless we get several clients quickly who do not want to wait for the new version. And we only get a client who needs Zoiper Web once a quarter or so.

[nandotech]

Happy to report that we've implemented tntconsulting's solution from above successfully and have done some further customization.

We use the 1 central webphone for all of our clients, so several Vici installations are using a single installation/implementation of the webphone.

we started with the master files, url removed so I could post and gave us the full html as thisurl removed so I could post

then we removed all the code we didnt need, and setup the config/auto login/and the presets in the EXPERT MODE.

We now have it implemented where there is a single central web phone for several dialer clients and is currently supporting over 100 concurrent users at any given time
and still maintains great call quality and minimal issues with it being laggy and/or registration. Requires significant tinkering and in 3 or 4 separate implementations we've run into issues and the final stages of setting up are always spent reconfiguring the final pieces.
Our webphone is implemented vertically across the vicidial (screenshot below) where the agent is able to show/hide it. The agent does need to click the "answer" button on the webphone in order to complete registration, but otherwise it can then be hidden (forcefully, if you wish). We notice a lot of agents hide it on their own anyway.

So currently we have the below webphone installed on a single virtual machine (8 vCores, 4GB RAM) and about 4 or 5 different ViciDial installations that point to it to register their extensions & pass the calls.



Let us know if you have any questions! More than happy to help out.
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