What is a SIP account and softphone

First of all, this material was written for novice users of IP telephony in order to explain the basic terminology and capabilities, to facilitate understanding of the operating principle of the SIP.TG Telegram softphone. But we also included the current experience of our team in the material, and it will be of interest to many experienced users.
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Today, you can make or receive calls over the public telephone network (PSTN) over the Internet, not just from cell phones or landlines. For this, special programs called softphones are used.
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In general, this branch of communication between the telephone network and the Internet is called IP telephony. It has many interesting tools and features, but in these theses we will only touch on the topic of calls over the Internet, softphones and accounts for them.
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The transfer of calls between the Internet and the telephone network is carried out by special companies called IP telephony operators. Today there are IP telephony operators in almost every country where there is Internet.

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To be able to receive or make calls to the telephone network via the Internet, you must become a client of one of these telecom operators.
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Clients of telecom operators can be both individuals and organizations.
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To be able to receive incoming calls, you can purchase your own dedicated telephone number from your IP telephony operator. It is often called a DID number: it is a regular telephone number with a country, city or operator code at the beginning.
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It happens that an IP telephony operator allows only outgoing calls. The recipient of the call, in this case, will see a temporary or even non-existent phone number that cannot be called back, but this is cheaper than purchasing a DID number.
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The procedure for obtaining numbers from different IP telephony operators can vary greatly in terms of procedures and prices. In some countries, obtaining a phone number requires you to go through a complex verification process (with associated costs).
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Typically, telecom operators sell IP telephony numbers with their own country code, but often they have partnership agreements with telecom operators in other countries and resell numbers in other countries under simplified conditions. This knowledge helps in finding a suitable telecom operator, where it is easier to register and where prices for calls to the desired country will be quite adequate.
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Some countries have serious legal restrictions on the use of IP telephony, but there are also often ways to circumvent these restrictions.
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The cost of calls when using IP telephony is determined by the telecom operator, but it is often much lower than that of mobile operators, especially for international destinations. A significant reduction in cost is possible, since the call from the subscriber goes through a shorter chain via the Internet, bypassing many intermediaries.
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After registering with an IP telephony operator, the user receives a SIP account to connect to the softphone program (they are also called SIP clients). A SIP account usually consists of a login, password and server address of the telecom operator.
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Sometimes it happens that to connect a SIP account in a softphone, you need to specify a number of additional parameters: domain, codecs used and communication protocol. You can find them in your personal account or from your telecom operator’s support service.
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There are many different softphone programs for working on computers, mobile and other devices running a variety of operating systems from a variety of developers, including from telecom operators themselves.
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Almost any adequate softphone program is suitable for connecting and using your SIP account; there are even a number of good free softphone programs (Zoiper, Telephone, MicroSIP, etc.).
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Many telecom operators release their own free mobile applications through which you can receive and make calls. In essence, these applications are also softphones, but do not allow the use of accounts from other operators and often contain many of the disadvantages listed below.
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The main problems with free softphones are that often these applications do not work stably (due to the variety of devices and operating systems, their development and updating is very difficult), they require switching attention when making a call and have an unusual interface, must be constantly running and spend battery of mobile devices, do not support simultaneous connection of several numbers, may not allow the use of accounts from different telecom operators and their simultaneous use.
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Telegram softphone SIP.TG this is also a softphone program, but works through Telegram, with SIP accounts of any IP telephony operators in any quantity. The convenience of Telegram for receiving calls is that you do not need to install other applications, the Telegram interface is familiar, its applications work stably on a wide variety of devices, do not waste battery power and work all over the world. It becomes possible to receive calls wherever Telegram works.
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Voice transmission algorithms in Telegram are adapted even to slow and unstable Internet connections, which is especially important for use on mobile devices. Classic softphones are much more demanding on the quality of the communication channel.
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If an organization becomes a client of a telecom operator and it is necessary to give its employees the opportunity to use the purchased number, then a PBX is used (but that’s another story).
If you have any questions or need a carrier recommendation for your country, you can contact us to support.

See also


Receive and make calls from your phone number in Telegram via @siptg account (mobile, city or connected to a PBX)

The scheme allows you to receive (forward) only incoming calls to your mobile phone for free in Telegram via @siptg account

Instructions for employees on how to receive and make calls through the @siptg bot

Allows you to receive and make calls via Telegram from your personal and work numbers, use Telegram like a softphone