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What the softphone is #
The softphone is your work extension, running on your computer and your mobile instead of a handset on a desk. Same number, same colleagues, same transfers.
The things people find genuinely useful:
- Your work number goes with you. Calls reach you at home, in a hotel or at a customer site, with no forwarding to set up.
- Your mobile number stays private. Calls you make show your work number, so customers never end up with your personal mobile.
- You can see your colleagues. Who is free, who is on a call, and who is out.
- Everything is in one place. Call history, voicemail and your company directory.
- Transfers are easier than on a handset. You can see who you are transferring to instead of remembering an extension number.
Having the softphone does not mean losing your handset. Both can be logged in at once, both ring, and you answer on whichever suits. Plenty of people use the desk phone in the office and the mobile app everywhere else.
A laptop's built in microphone works, but it picks up the room and everyone can hear it. Any USB or Bluetooth headset is a significant improvement, and it is the single thing that most affects whether people enjoy using a softphone.
Getting started
Installing it #
Install it on both your computer and your mobile. They work together rather than competing, and having the mobile one set up means you are covered when you step away from your desk.
Computer
On Windows or Mac
- Look for your welcome email When we set up your extension, an email goes to your work address containing your sign in details and a download link. Check your junk folder if you cannot see it.
- Install the desktop app If your device is managed by us, it may already be installed. Look in your Start menu or Applications folder before downloading anything.
- Allow it through when prompted Windows or macOS will ask for permission to use your microphone, and possibly your network. Both are needed for calls to work.
- Plug in your headset before signing in That way it is picked up as an option straight away and you can set it as the default.
If you are on a machine where you cannot install software, the same thing runs in a browser tab. Handy on a borrowed computer. Ask us for the address.
Getting started
Signing in #
Your welcome email has everything you need. The quickest route on a mobile is to scan the QR code from that email rather than typing anything.
- Open the welcome email on your computer It contains your extension number, your sign in details, and a QR code.
- On the computer, sign in with the details in the email Enter them once and it stays signed in.
- On the mobile, scan the QR code Choose the sign in by QR option in the app and point it at the code on your screen. This saves typing a server address and a password on a phone keyboard.
- Make a test call Ring a colleague's extension, and ask them to ring you back. Thirty seconds now saves finding out at the wrong moment.
Anyone who scans it can sign in as you and make calls on your extension. Do not forward the welcome email on, and do not leave it open on a shared screen. If you think someone else has had it, tell us and we will issue new details.
Contact us and we will send it again. Do not try to guess your details, and do not borrow a colleague's, because their calls would then ring your phone.
Everyday use
Making and answering calls #
Much like a mobile, with the advantage of a keyboard and a directory.
Making a call
- To a colleague. Start typing their name and pick them from the list. You do not need to know their extension number.
- To an outside number. Type or paste it and dial. Numbers copied from an email or a website work fine, spaces and all.
- From your call history. The fastest way to ring someone back.
Answering
Incoming calls pop up on whichever devices you are signed in on, all at once. Answer on any of them and the others stop ringing. The pop up tells you who is calling and, usefully, which number or queue they came through, so you know whether to answer with your name or your company's.
If calls are not arriving, check you have not left yourself on do not disturb, and that you have not got a forward set from last week. Both are easy to switch on and easy to forget about.
Everyday use
Transferring and holding #
Transferring is the thing worth learning properly, because doing it well is the difference between a caller feeling handled and feeling passed around.
| What | What happens | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Attended transfer | You call your colleague first, tell them who is on the line, then connect the two. | Almost always. It is the polite one. |
| Blind transfer | The call goes straight over without warning. | When you know they are expecting it, or for a switchboard handling volume. |
| Hold | The caller hears music and waits on your line. | Looking something up. Do not forget them. |
| Park | The caller goes into a numbered slot that anyone can collect from any phone. | When you need to find someone who is not at their desk. |
| Transfer to voicemail | Straight to a colleague's voicemail without ringing them. | When you know they are out but the caller wants to leave a message. |
Doing an attended transfer
- Choose transfer while on the call The caller goes on hold automatically.
- Pick your colleague Start typing their name. The list shows who is free and who is already on a call, so you can avoid sending someone into a busy line.
- Speak to them first Tell them who is calling and what it is about. This is the whole point.
- Complete the transfer The two are connected and you drop out. If your colleague cannot take it, you can cancel and go back to the caller instead.
Until you complete an attended transfer, the caller is still yours. If your colleague turns out to be unavailable, cancel and pick the call back up. Nobody is stranded.
Everyday use
Logging in and out of queues #
If you take calls for a team, you are probably in a queue. Logging out when you step away is the single most considerate thing you can do for your callers and your colleagues.
Logged in, queue calls ring you. Logged out, they skip you and go to whoever is available, while calls dialled directly to your extension still come through as normal.
- Find the queue or agent status control It is usually a toggle in the main window, or a status control near your name.
- Log out when you step away Lunch, meetings, the school run, or an hour of concentration on something else.
- Log back in when you return This is the half people forget. Set a reminder for a week or two until it becomes habit.
Do
- Log out for anything longer than a couple of minutes.
- Log in first thing, before anything else.
- Log out at the end of your shift if your team covers different hours.
- Tell a colleague if you are the only one logged in and need to go.
Do not
- Stay logged in while away from your desk.
- Use do not disturb instead. It hides your direct calls too.
- Assume someone else is covering. Look before you log out.
- Log out for the day and forget to log back in tomorrow.
A caller in a queue where everyone is logged in but away from their desks holds for several minutes listening to music, then gives up. From their side, your business simply did not answer. The system is doing exactly what it was told, which is to wait for you.
Everyday use
Voicemail and call history #
Both live in the app, and voicemail normally arrives in your email as well.
- Voicemail. Messages appear in the app to play, and are usually emailed to you as an audio attachment too. That means you can deal with one from a train without dialling in.
- Call history. Everything in and out, including missed calls and which queue or number they came through. Tap or click any entry to ring back.
- Missed queue calls. These show separately, so you can see calls the team missed rather than only the ones that rang you directly.
The default greeting is a robot reading your extension number. Thirty seconds recording your own name and a sentence makes a noticeable difference to callers, and it is the sort of thing nobody ever gets around to. Do it in your first week.
Everyday use
Getting on well with the mobile app #
The mobile app is excellent once it is set up properly, and frustrating if it is not. Almost all of the frustration comes from three settings.
| Setting | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Notifications on | Without them, the phone does not alert you to an incoming call. This is the number one cause of “the app does not work”. |
| Background activity allowed | Otherwise the phone suspends the app and calls stop arriving until you open it. |
| Excluded from battery optimisation | Android especially. Battery savers put the app to sleep and calls go straight past you. |
Worth knowing
- Your work number shows, not your mobile. Calls you make from the app present your work number, so customers ring back the office rather than your personal phone.
- It works on mobile data and on Wi-Fi. Data usage for calls is modest, far less than video streaming.
- Poor signal means poor calls. One bar of 4G will sound rough. If you are somewhere with weak signal but decent Wi-Fi, use the Wi-Fi.
- You can sign out at the end of the day. If you do not want work calls in the evening and your role allows it, sign out or log out of your queues rather than living with it ringing.
The app is tied to your work extension, so when your account is disabled it stops working. There is nothing for you to uninstall for security reasons, though you may as well remove it.
Support
If something goes wrong #
Most problems are one of these.
Calls are not ringing my mobile
Check notifications are allowed for the app, that background activity is permitted, and that the app is excluded from battery optimisation. On Android, check any manufacturer battery saver as well, since some phones have a second one separate from the Android setting.
Also check you have not left yourself logged out of your queues or on do not disturb.
People say I sound distant or echoey
Almost always the microphone. Check the app is using your headset rather than the laptop's built in microphone, which picks up the room and produces echo through the speakers.
The call keeps breaking up
Usually the network. On Wi-Fi, move closer to the access point. On mobile data, check your signal. If it happens on a wired connection in the office, tell us, because that points at something we should look at rather than something you can fix.
I cannot hear the caller, or they cannot hear me
Check the app's audio settings are pointing at the right device, particularly if you have plugged in or unplugged a headset since it started. Restarting the app after changing headsets fixes this most of the time.
It has signed me out
Sign back in with the details in your welcome email. If it will not accept them, or you have lost the email, contact us rather than trying repeatedly, since too many attempts can lock the extension.
Calls ring my desk phone but not the app
That usually means the app is not connected. Open it and check it shows as registered or online. If it says it is offline, check your internet connection first, then contact us.
I answered on my mobile and want it on my computer
Most versions let you move a live call between your signed in devices without hanging up. Look for a switch or move option while on the call. If yours does not have it, park the call and pick it up on the other device.
Getting help
If the app will not sign in, calls are not arriving, or you simply want someone to walk through it with you for ten minutes, get in touch. We would much rather do that than have you quietly go back to using your own mobile.