Softphone Questions

[VOIPoTim]

Tim -

I was under the impression that for the softphone to work properly, you had to configure it with the same connection info as your ATA.

So, for example, if your server preferences are set to "East", then the sip connection in the softphone should be 'east01.voipwelcome.com'.

Just a bit confused, since my softphone has been working this way for a long time....and it works with the 'softphone' option in vPanel set to 'disabled' ?

I still haven't posted the full long explanation, but here's the quick version.

We've tried to find a way to balance things so that softphones/BYOD could fit into the mix. Even though we had stopped offering BYOD service, there was no clean way to deal with softphones without doing a proprietary one since people would just take the credentials and try to use them in something else. There is massive fraud with BYOD/Softphones but there are some legit uses for it as well, so it was a constant battle to stay on top of it without just banning it.

What we ended up doing was setting up a special server that is more locked down security wise and it's being dedicated to only BYOD. When a user activates the Softphone/BYOD option in their vPanel, it creates SIP credentials on the new BYOD server that they can use. When it's "disabled", the credentials are removed from that server and regenerated the next time it's enabled.

It is isolated from the rest of our network so it's not going to impact our core servers or primary SIP servers if someone does something bad on it. It's also significanlty more locked down and supports domestic calling to US/Canada ONLY. 99.9999% of fraud is with international calling. Since our primary service is delivered using the ATA and the BYOD/Softphone option is not meant for someone's primary use, international not being available on it should be fine. If a BYOD user makes a lot of international calls, chances are they will be savvy enough to route them through another provider anyway. Our international rates are competitive with traditional VoIP services, but if they're extremely savvy they'll find cheaper rates with some other BYOD providers.

Some older users have credentials for our primary SIP servers. If you already have these, they will continue to work, but we're not giving any out at all from this point on. The only credentials for any purpose that will be released are the seperate BYOD/Softphone ones found in vPanel.

The BYOD credentials will ONLY work on the BYOD server. The main credentials will only work on our core servers.

The system was implemented in a way that will allow you to register to both without issues. So if you have an ATA connected/provisioned at home and you connect with a softphone to the BYOD system, that's fine. Incoming calls would ring both and the first to answer would get the call.

Ultimately we think this will let us become a little more BYOD friendly while at the same time keeping things secure and contiuing to focus on our provisioned service as the main element.

Let me know if there are any questions.

[dbmaven]

Great explanation - thank you very much.

[fisamo]

In addition to 'great explanation' I'll also add that this approach seems to be very well thought out. In creating a relatively isolated 'sandbox' for BYOD use, you really do capture the best of both worlds. As you described, locking out international calling on the 'sandbox' should not affect power BYOD users (who would route via someone else) and should have little impact on 'legitimate' BYOD/softphone use. The biggest potential problem I foresee with this setup is the user who travels internationally and would want to use their service from their hotel room to call down the street. At some level, though, you have to set your limits. I think the line you've drawn is reasonable.

That being said, which server(s) is/are best for grandfathered customers to use?

Thanks...

[Russell]

The biggest potential problem I foresee with this setup is the user who travels internationally and would want to use their service from their hotel room to call down the street. At some level, though, you have to set your limits.
Thanks...

Last summer we were in London and in a similar situation. I was with a different provider. However, I had / have Future-Nine for international calling installed on the phone - silly though it may seem, at 1c a minute to call down the street it was a lot less expensive than the hotel phone. Just as Tim has said - if you're going to be doing international calling there are less expensive options.