Softphone - Overview

A software program that is used for making voice calls over VOIP using personal computer rather than using a handset is called softphone.

A technology that allows us to make calls using internet connection is called VOIP.

The softphone behaves like a phone and it appears as an image of a telephone on the computer screen.

The softphone can  be used either with a headset that is connected to the personal computer’s sound card or with a USB phone.

The softphone allows us to carry out the functions of the phone using the computer screen, mouse and keyboard.

In order to establish an end to end connection, both the end points should support the same VOIP and one common audio codec.

Features
A softphone provides all  telephony features  like DND, Flash, Hold, Transfer etc., It also provides several additional features for online messaging like user presence indication, video and wide-band audio. A user requires the things listed below to make calls over the internet.

• A Personal Computer with a microphone and speaker, or with a headphone, or with a USBphone.
• A high speed internet connection 
• An account with an ISP.
• Mobile phone or landline phone.

Some of the VoIP softphone services and applications are listed below:

Skype

• Skype is the most popular softphone, with millions of subscribers worldwide. Skype is voice Over internet protocol provider. In Skype, computer to computer calls are free whereas PC to Phone calls are paid.
• The skype application can be downloaded from www.skype.com for free.

Gizmo

• SIPPhone.com introduced the Gizmo project. 
• The features provided by Gizmo are similar to that of Skype.

Fring

• Firing is the best VoIP software application available for cell phones.
• After installing Fring application in your mobile phone, you can make free calls to any computer and phone .
• Fring application only works on 3G, Wifi or GPRS enables smart phones.

iChat

• iChat is the famous instant messaging application available for Mac operating systems. 

VoIPStunt

• VoIPStunt is more or less similar to Skype.
• VOIP offers free voice calls to landline and cellular phones in lot of countries.
• You can download VoIPStunt application from www.voipstunt.com.