We live in a time where there is a heavy emphasis on mobile experiences, so adding calling capability to your app should be no problem right? Well in order for your app to make calls, it has to use data rather than cellular. This isn’t possible without a Voice Over Internet Protocol.
Voice Over Internet Protocols or VOIPs for short are a technology that enables users to make voice calls over an internet connection as opposed to a regular phone line. VOIPs are necessary if you want your app to make a call without leaving the app. This has many uses in a lot of fields from the airline industry to an app that organizes calls. Here are some of the top VOIP SDKs that some of your favorite mobile apps have used.
The latest tech unicorn to join the ranks of the New York Stock Exchange, Twilio has created a voice over IP API complete with an SIP interface for cloud capabilities. The service adds new functionality to existing phone numbers and can access communications from any browser or mobile app. For example their airline app featured Twilio’s voice over IP, which was used by a customer to call an agent to change their flight. Calling an agent in-app provides them with valuable context like flight number and departure time. This makes sure the customer doesn’t have to switch between screens to make a call and gather information about the flight.
SipWise has various platforms and software to suit the needs of a business or consumer client. Their C5 platform is one of their more popular ones because of the turn-key nature of it and the fact that it can handle over a million subscribers. SipWise takes great pride in their carrier-grade quality that combines an easy and cheap deployment with innovative communication features.
Pilvo can make phone calls to all countries and has 24/7 native SIP support
Has SDKs for mobile and web. They also have a large inventory of mobile numbers in 55 countries and over 8000 area codes. Their call quality is also on par with some carriers with a platform that is enterprise grade and data centers with 99.95% uptime. The platform features a wide variety of uses call-tracking and two-factor authentication.
Bandwidth provides VOIP and SIP services by acting as the middle man that navigates through the telecom world so their clients don’t have to. Bandwidth is unique for providing voice services for connecting 9–1–1 emergency services with businesses. They also provide specialty communication for people who are deaf and phone systems for corporate, government, and military customers.
In addition to easy, plug and play implementation for their voice over IP, Nexmo also has direct relationships with phone carriers, which provides them with knowledge of the carrier’s rules. Nexmo applied this knowledge by integrating carrier rules with their APIs. This means the customer can no longer worry about carrier rules and can install Nexmo’s API with an added peace of mind. Nexmo also has their own special algorithm for calls to adapt and find the optimal path of delivery.
Honorable Mention: Asterisk
Our honorable mention is Asterisk. Asterisk features open source software that converts almost any computer into a communications server with VOIP capabilities. In addition to their software, Asterisk offers a variety of phones and hardware systems that specialize in VOIPs. Although their software is nothing to shake a stick at, their hardware is where Asterisk truly excels. Their hardware has an advantage in being a leader in technology for VOIP specialized phones.
Takeaways
It is truly a special time in tech with so many options for not just VOIPs, but for other software services in general that can help improve one’s app. Find out more about what we did with Twilio’s voice over IP here.
Originally posted on Impekable’s blog.
