What is a VoIP SIP client? 

SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) is a protocol used in VoIP communications that allow users to place voice and video calls from a device that has a strong internet connection. In SIP either end of a conversation can initiate a transaction, the two ends have an end-to-end connection for the duration of the transaction and the end-to-end connection gets torn down when the transaction is completed. 

In simple terms, a SIP client is any network device that sends SIP requests and receives SIP responses from the other end. As the purpose of the SIP client is real-time communication, it has the functionalities of softphone which includes chat, file transfer, instant messaging, video capabilities, and even allows remote access.  

What is a Softphone? 

A softphone is a software program that allows you to do all the activities that you do on a traditional desk phone. For example, If you want to communicate with any kind of people, be them business partners, relatives, or friends you’ll need a softphone.  

Softphone gives you the freedom of communicating through any internet-connected device. You can make video calls and can speak with more than one partner at the same time with conference call options. You can always know if your partner is available to take a call and your partner also has the same information about you. With a softphone, you’ll never get an unwanted call during any meeting, as you have an option to set your status to do not disturb mode (DND), but you don’t miss important messages as your partner can leave voice or video messages that you can access at any time. 

How does a softphone VoIP SIP client work? 

Softphone application uses SIP protocol (signaling process that enables VoIP by defining the messages sent between endpoints) to make a connection to VoIP PBX (Private Branch Exchange) that allows the software to connect with other softphones. As any VoIP telephone, ordinary featured telephone device, mobile as PBX are connected to PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) it becomes easy for connecting and communicating on any internet-capable devices. All you need is a good SDK to build your softphone. 

There are different types of SIP clients available in the market. Among the most common ones are provided by VoIP service providers like Voxvalley. A complete guide of SDK helps you get all the necessary information for building your softphone. You’ll only have to call the functions and set some parameters that meet your business requirements. 

If you want to implement your own softphone application, you need to understand the basic concepts of SDK and then you’ll be able to find the best solution that matches your business needs. 

Here are a few things you need to consider before you decide to build your softphone client application: 

Now that you know, the softphone is a software application that allows you to make and receive phone calls through the internet, so it is important for you to know that when using a softphone, you’ll need a strong reliable internet connection like cable net and you must be having suitable hardware devices like a sound card, speaker, microphone, and a webcam for video phone. 

# Channel is important for communication 

WHether you use any kind of communication, you need a channel to transfer the data. Mobiles use certain radio frequencies, ordinary phone networks use phone cables, and online communication uses the internet to transfer data to the endpoint. 

Likewise, when using the internet to communicate online, it is needed to follow some communicating protocols. When making a call through a softphone you use VoIP protocols for voice transfer. To create a VoIP softphone, you need to have a VoIP SDK through which you can have all the main functions that a traditional phone has along with video phoning. 

# Softphone has a lot of capabilities other than calling 

In the case of softphone, you are not required to have a contact number of the other party to make or receive a call, all you need to have is, an established connection between the endpoints that you want to call just by accepting the connection request. 

Other than calling, softphones are capable of sending instant messages and are also capable of showing the contact status of the other party as available or unavailable which lets you check whether to make a voice call or leave a message. 

But, To leave an audio message, both parties must use the same codecs and some audio compression techniques (the same techniques are used in case of voice calling in transferring the voice to your contacts) 

 # Speak with more than one party at once 

It is known that a conference call is the possibility to communicate with more than one party at once. The softphone VoIP client is capable of connecting with more than two parties at once with some additional features like mute, switch on to video camera, and more. 

All the contacts participating in the conference call must have the essential hardware and software support for the call. 

A step-by-step guide to create a softphone using SDKs? 

Now that you understood the basics of VoIP softphone and its technologies, you can start to build your softphone SIP client. Let’s understand more about how to create a softphone using SDKs step-by-step. 

Download VoIP SDK kit received from the service provider: 

First of all, you’ll have to choose a good SDK provider that provides you with all the basic capabilities, so you will only have to use the technologies to start instead of building everything from the scratch. 

So, the first thing if you wish to build your softphone SIP client with Voxvalley VoIP SIP SDK, you need to install it on your windows computer. Once installed, you can add audio and video call capabilities to your project. 

To build a fully functional softphone, you will have to ensure that you have needed codecs, drivers, protocols in your application while developing a softphone. 

Below are the easiest steps you can follow to build your own softphone SIP client: 

1. Please install the Voxvalley VoIP SIP SDK client on your windows computer 

2. Read the basic documentation of SDK to see what features are available for you. It is recommended to choose the SDK that supports a wide list, so you will not have to worry about installing other software.   

3. Now, choose the codecs you want to use that suit your business requirements and the one that supports the SDK. If you chose the non-supported codec packs then you need to write codes on your own to support them. 

4. Configure the SDK to your needs, and use the provided tools to establish connections, place audio and video calls, send instant messages, set user information, etc. If you choose a good SDK with a variety of functions then you’ll be able to use the softphone to its best according to your needs. 

5. Now that you have a softphone, create a high-performance, and user-friendly graphical user interface. A good SDK can also support you in creating a great GUI. 

6. Create your contact list, make calls and explore the other functions. 

Configuring a SIP client is easy when you choose a good SDK from the service provider. With our Voxvalley VoIP SIP client, you can chat, have voice/video calls, and send instant messages. All these can be done at the same time within the business. 

For getting to know more about SIP communication, contact our SIP experts today who will surely help you in creating one for you.