Troubleshooting Common Setup Issues with Softphones

Softphones are becoming increasingly popular as businesses become more mobile.  Not only are they convenient for taking your calls with you everywhere, but they’re also an extremely cost-effective communication solution. Despite their popularity, you can sometimes experience problems setting up your softphone. In this article, we’ll discuss these problems and ways that you can address these issues.

Related: Learn more about VoIP softphones

Your softphone can't make or receive phone calls

If you’re setting up your phone for the first time and you find that you can't make or receive calls, it’s likely that you’ve missed a step during the setup or installation process.  (If you're using a Bria softphone, you can take a look at these instructions as a reference point.)

But if you’ve used your softphone successfully before and now it’s not working correctly, there may be an issue with your telephone service.  In either case, work with your provider to ensure your service is live and your softphone is correctly set up to your phone service.

Call quality is low

Softphones run entirely over the Internet, utilizing your VoIP service.  Because of this, the quality of your calls is directly impacted by your Internet connection and service. If you are experiencing poor call quality on your softphone, it’s possible you don’t have the bandwidth to support Internet calls.  In most cases, you'll want to check with your Internet provider to ensure that you have the bandwidth needed for high quality VoIP calls.

You can’t correctly register your softphone

After your softphone has been purchased and installed, it then has to be registered and connected with your VoIP service.  This typically means you have to input keys and licenses as well as other information offered by your VoIP provider in order to start using your softphone.  Most softphone registration processes are similar; for an example, take a look at this explanation of how to register a Bria softphone.

If you’re experiencing issues during this part of the installation process, double-check your information with your provider and ensure that you’re configuring your account settings correctly.  You may also need to work with the supplier of the softphone to ensure that you've installed and registered it correctly.

Problems setting up your softphone are easily eliminated by working directly with your phone service provider and by following the installation instructions provided by your softphone supplier. Once it’s correctly set up, you’ll have an efficient communication tool.