Calling
From Ekiga
Contents |
Get a SIP address
If you want to call other users and to be callable, you need a SIP address. You can get a SIP address for free from
http://www.ekiga.net as described here: Ekiga.net VoIP service subscription.
You can call using the IP address and the H.323 protocol: h323:IP_address.
What is the SIP address for ?
A SIP address is a way to be reachable and to reach people. You can compare it to an e-mail address. You can signup for a free account on Ekiga.net. It will give you a unique SIP address that you can give to your friends so that they can contact you.
An example of SIP address is sip:dsandras@ekiga.net
Who can I reach ?
You can use the online address book of Ekiga to find the SIP addresses of other Ekiga users. It is of course possible to call people who are using another provider (other than ekiga.net) using Peering or Enum. You can actually call any user using SIP software or hardware, and registered to any public SIP provider.
FIXME: Short explaination of Peering and Enum.
How do I call ?
Using Ekiga to do PC-to-PC calls
If you know the SIP address of the party that you wish to call, you may enter that adress into the sip:_________ input box at the top of the screen and press the Connect button; eg: sip:foo@ekiga.net and pressing the Connect button would call the user at that address.
- With the default setup, you can simply type sip:foo to call user foo@ekiga.net
Using Ekiga to do PC-to-phone calls
Ekiga can be used with several Internet Telephony Service Providers. Those providers will allow calling real phones from your computer using Ekiga at interesting rates. There is no obligation for you to use the default provider, but we recommand it.
The default provider
The default provider is Diamondcard Worldwide Communication Service, which offers these rates
- When signing up for a DiamondCard account, a small amount of the subscription is given back to the Ekiga project.
- Open the PC-To-Phone configuration window from the Tools menu and purchase an account. You absolutely need to purchase the account from the PC-To-Phone configuration window or it won't work.
- Wait for the mail that will give you a login and a PIN.
- Enter that login and PIN in the appropriate fields in the window and enable the PC-To-Phone service.
You are now ready to do PC-To-Phone calls at very low rates all over the world.
To dial a number, simply add "00" followed by the country code, and by your number.
For example, sip:003210111111 to call number 10111111 in Belgium.
If Ekiga.NET or the PC-To-Phone account are not your default account, you will have to enter the full URL to be able to dial, without the leading "00": sip:3210111111@eugw.ast.diamondcard.us
Other providers
You can use several providers at the same time.
Ekiga users have reported many providers able to be used with Ekiga. Some may require you to use their own software to register their service. But once you get your username, password and registrar, you usually can use Ekiga. Read Managing VOIP Accounts for further informations on how to add new accounts.
Using Ekiga to receive phone calls from regular phones (Phone-to-PC)
Ekiga can be used to receive incoming calls from regular phones. To allow this, you simply login to your PC-To-Phone account using the Tools menu as described above, and buy a phone number in the country of your choice. Ekiga will ring when people call that phone number.
- You can actually use any H.323 or SIP ITSP provider, including your own PBX at work. However we recommend using the integrated provider.
Understanding addresses
SIP addresses
SIP addresses are formatted as such: sip:user@[host[:port]]
This permits you to call the given user or extension on the specified SIP service provider: sip:jonita@ekiga.net
H.323 addresses
H.323 addresses are formatted as such: h323:[user@][host[:port]]
This permits you to:
- Call a given host on a port different from the default port 1720: h323:seconix.com:1740
- Call a given user using their respective alias if registered to a gatekeeper: h323:jonita
- Call a given phone number if you are registered to a gatekeeper for a PC-To-Phone provider, or if that user has an ENUM record associated to an H.323 URL: h323:003210111222
- Call a given user using their alias through a specific gateway or proxy: h323:jonita@gateway.seconix.com
- Call an MCU and join a specific conference room: h323:myfriendsroom@mcu.seconix.com
CALLTO addresses
Callto addresses are formatted as such: callto:[user@][host[:port]]
Callto addresses and H.323 addresses are formatted exactly the same except callto addresses also support ILS addressbook server lookups through callto addresses of the type: callto:ils_server/user_mail.
For example, calling callto:ils.seconix.com/joe.user@somedomain.com will look for the user with the joe.user@somedomain.com email address on the ILS server ils.seconix.com and proceed to initiate a call.
