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My plan is to enable 2 sets of unsophisticated users (children and their grandparents) in 2 different countries to talk easily. In practice I see it as:

  1. A quiet Linux computer is on all the time in both places.
  2. The user at one computer should be able to switch to an already running application and call the other party in the other country.
  3. The computer in the other country should ring.
  4. The person in the other country hearing the ring, should be able to answer the call. Again - nothing more complicated than pressing a button in an application.
  5. Video option is a bonus but not a must.

I unfortunately have little experience with VoIP. But I could do a fair job setting up firewalls as it might be necessary in such scenario. I am also used to various Linux distros. The question really is what applications could fit my purpose and if I must run a server (voip?) in one of the countries. As for users - less choice is better, if I could I would use this just for communication between these 2 "computer stations". Maybe even with telephone headsets :)

Many thanks for your suggestions.

r0berts
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    get them chrome web browsers and point them at `tawk.com`. It will even work on their phones. – mikeserv Aug 16 '14 at 20:37
  • Interesting, I will try. That probably is Google's WebRTC based. Which theoretically that could even work via my own webpage. I am afraid if there are problems this may turn to be a bit complicated for the users. – r0berts Aug 16 '14 at 22:07
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    yes, `tawk.com` just provides a STUN when/if needed, nothing more. It's peer-to-peer. And `tawk.com` will even give you a copy+paste `CALL ME` button for inserting it on your own webpage.I like it because they'll give you your own link. I'm tawk.com/mikeserv, for instance. And I get an email if I haven't got the page open and someone drops in to call me. – mikeserv Aug 16 '14 at 22:16
  • This is good, I will definitely try this. If it works reliably that would be grand - I could just offer 2 webpages in my web server after the said users log in. – r0berts Aug 17 '14 at 10:52

1 Answers1

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It is very easy to use Linphone to do what you want.

Follow these steps for each computer:

  1. Install Linphone

  2. Choose a SIP provider like Linphone SIP service or Iptel, and add the SIP account in Linphone

  3. Optionally if you would rather avoid the conversations taking place in the clear, it's very easy to set-up encryption which is mostly transparent to the end-user: Secure FOSS alternative to Skype on Linux & OpenBSD?

You can check that all works as expected by calling the respective Echo testing service: sip:[email protected] or sip:[email protected].

Linphone has impressive cross-platform support with most major platforms supported, if you need it. For a simpler UI you can even use Linphone from inside web browsers: LinphoneWeb. (To install it under Firefox you need to go to this address and allow Firefox to automatically install the extension. Never tested how it actually works, though.)

Some personal impressions:
I played around with many SIP Softphones (including Ekiga, Jitsi and others who simply crash and burn) and by far Linphone was the most reliable, especially in terms of audio and video throughput. It may be a little choppy wrt to the UI (where Jitsi is superior), even though recently they've made progress on that, but this is just a small nitpick compared to Linphone's technical reliability. It is available on most platforms you could think of, and it is subject to active development, namely wrt codec support (it supports VP8 and H264 video codecs, and Opus and Speex for audio, among others).

Usage-wise with unsophisticated users in mind, Linphone should cope very well (from experience). Once all is configured, placing an audio/video call is a matter of hitting the green Call button, and answering the phone is about hitting the green Answer button, even with encryption set-up. (Linphone's ring is so loud that it would wake up the dead, but that can be configured away.) In some instances it may be a good idea to set the upload and download bandwidth limits in order to avoid video quality issues: Linphone FAQ.

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landroni
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  • Hi, linphone looks great. It is just that I get "no codec intersection error" when I try to connect between 2 sip accounts via sip.linphone.org (one computer is running XP the other suse 13.1). They are both at my home. The ringing is fine, but when I try to pick up I get the said error. – r0berts Aug 26 '14 at 20:39
  • You probably need to check which codecs are enabled on each machine. Go to `Options > Prefs > Codecs` and make sure, for example, that on both machines `Speex 16KHz` is enabled. Same for the video. To test each machine individually, add an Iptel account and then call `echo` or `music` using that account. – landroni Aug 26 '14 at 20:59
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    Thanks a lot, this is getting me somewhere. XP machine could call music and echo and linux could not. Then in debug window I noticed SSL connection errors and set protocol to UDP as opposed to TLS. Right away I could call music and echo and then I could also call between the 2 local computers. Great stuff!! – r0berts Aug 26 '14 at 21:36
  • So it was not codec issue all in all, but error messages are not always what they seem :) – r0berts Aug 26 '14 at 21:42
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    "SSL connection errors and set protocol to UDP as opposed to TLS" Yes, in my experience Iptel does not support TLS (and depending on your Linphone version, you have to disable that). If you want an even simpler UI (and probably better configured by default and more cross-platform), as suggested in the answer try: [LinphoneWeb](http://web.linphone.org/). To install it under Firefox is to go this address and allow Firefox to automatically install the extension. (Never tested how it actually works, though.) – landroni Aug 27 '14 at 06:00