Good Programs out there?

[VTAllan]

I am sure many of you who read this use a lot of different softphone programs. Let's talk about some good ones out there, bad ones out there, etc.

We cite on our page "Xten" as we know it's a decent free one, any users care to comment on it?

[JAS]

XTen is now CounterPath and seems to work well. My favorite softphone is SJPhone by www.sjlabs.com (http://www.sjlabs.com) (free download). They offer numerous versions for different platforms. I have used the Windows version on both Vista B2 and XP Pro and the CE version on my Pocket PC with a wireless card. All of them worked great with ViaTalk.

[sbradshaw]

Express Talk is a great one. It can handle six different lines. It is free, but you can always upgrade to the "Business Version" if you need those features.

http://www.nch.com.au/talk/index.html

[chas3]

I've been using X-Lite. Seems to work well. One nice feature that other don't have is when starting, it assigns the mic as input. My laptop defailts to line in on every reboot, so with other softphones (gizmo and sjphone) I would forget to change the setting and make a call not being able to talk.

[connervt]

Been using SJPhone for awhile now, and haven't had the problem that Chas3 wrote of.

One of the things that makes the softphone usable for me is using an AU-100 USB phone in combination with SJPhone. It is a great sounding Nokia-looking handset (soundcard, speaker, mic, and keypad), and unlike many "Skype phones", has usable drivers for several popular softphone applications.

[chas3]

The problem I mentioned isn't really as much of a problem with SJphone as it is with my laptop. X-lite happens to "hide" my laptop issue my always enabling the mic.

[Residual]

There are so many different softphones (Speaq, cicerphone, express talk, xten, sjlabs, etc.)

I've only really used X-Lite, which is great, but which softphone has the best features? Which SIP provider has the best features?

If VT can provide a sip service with 3-way, call waiting, cid, etc in the softphone of your choice, then I think that's one of the best
services. Gizmo, Skype, et al don't provide that.

[ktdid]

I agree with sbradshaw, I like Express Talk. They have companion software, one for an answering manager with lots of features, and others to create multiple "virtual" extension and recordings. They are called IVM Answer Attendant" and VRS Recording System respectively. They also have a call on hold handling program that is for business to use to play recordings/music, etc while calls are on hold - IMS Telephone On-Hold Player. Express Talk is free and has a real nice interface and contacts feature. I also really like their free CD/DVD Burn Software, Express Burn. My experience with NCH has been very good, a hands-on company that will try to help you with support issues. NCH Swift Sound has a lot of other software, some free and some others at a very reasonable price.

[Avatar]

I ditched SJPhone because it keeps crashing on me. I'm going to try some of the other programs mentioned here and give some feedback.

[Avatar]

Didn't like Express Talk. Too many features for me. Needed something lighter, so I got X-Lite and I prefer that. Will see if it crashes...

[drig23]

For the Linux folk out there (I can't be the only one), I love ekiga, but linphone works nicely, too. The Nokia N800 now has rtcomm. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good for an alpha version.