Vestalink and Cloud Softphone

[lrhyne]

Just signed up with Vestalink recently (with the help of the this forum - Thanks!).  Today I also put the Cloud Softphone on my smartphone to see how it worked.  Two quick questions:
First, if I travel to the Caribbean and have free Wi-Fi at my hotel, put my phone in airplane mode, wouldn't I be able to make a call back to the states without incurring roaming charges on my cell phone?  I know I would be using my Vestalink minutes, but just didn't want to incur expensive international roaming data or cell minutes.
Second, I do not have my Vestalink calls forwarded to my cell phone, but since I have downloaded the Cloud Softphone, my cell phone is ringing every time someone calls my home phone.  I have searched and searched, but cannot find a way to stop this from happening.  Any one know how?

[giqcass]

Airplane mode turns off all radios built into the phone.  After you turn airplane mode on for your cell phone you must turn the WiFi back on.  Your cell phone will incur no roaming charges when using WiFi only.

So far as your phone ringing I don't know if that can be turned off.  That is how it's supposed to work.  If you only want outbound calling then download the Vonage app for free.  It will make free outbound calls and it will fake your outgoing caller ID. The other benefit is it won't use your Vestalink minutes either.

[cluckercreek]

In your Vestalink setup check your "Ring All" setting on the dashboard. I don't have a smartphone so I don't know if it sets up there or not. Worth a check.

[Pa_Bell]

I've tried the Cloud softphone on Vestalink and like it.  To test it I put my phone into airplane mode, turned the WiFi back on and headed off to Starbucks to connect to their free WiFi.  I placed a call to my brother, he said that it sounded just fine.  I had him call me back and my phone rang.  I later checked my cell provider's and Vestalink's account pages and the calls were routed through Vestalink.  This is way better than that flakey ObiON.  

As for your cell phone ringing when someone calls your home phone, you can tell the Cloud Softphone to not load itself when you start your phone.  That way you can only fire it up when you need it.  Go to Settings, Preferences, Other and uncheck Start Application after boot.

On a related note, does anyone know of a Android softphone that will work with Bluetooth?  Cloud Softphone does not, at least not on my Galaxy SII.

[giqcass]

I think Sipdroid was working with Bluetooth when I used it.  I find Bluetooth support to be hit or miss on most VOIP applications.  You have to get the right combo of Bluetooth device, Android phone, and application.

I personally use Republic wireless as my cell phone provider.  They provide Celluar and WiFi calling so you are never out of network as long as you have WiFi.  They use the Sprint network and provide the cheapest unlimited plans available.  For someone that travels outside the Country and wants phone service on the cheap you can't beat them.  I personally use their $10 per month unlimited plan.  I shamelessly added my referral link above so if anyone wants to try them use that link and you get a $20 credit at checkout 

[lrhyne]

Sorry for not replying sooner.  Thanks for all the info below.  Good to know I can use the Cloud Softphone to make free/non roaming calls back home when I'm out of the country.  Still have not figured out how to make the app not ring my cell phone when someone calls my home phone, I tried exiting the app, telling it not to load when I start my phone (unchecked the "Start App after boot), etc...  but nothing seems to work.  No worries, since I don't plan on using it unless I leave the country (which will not be often), I will just download it before I leave each time.  Thanks again!

[OneForTheTeam]

1. You need not uninstall and reinstall Cloud App. If you find it is running, all you have to do is to use the Android Application Manager to "Force Close" it.
2. Also remember in your Cloud App Settings to make the app use "Wi-Fi only" as an added precaution. That way if you forget or butt dial using cloudphone, you won't use cellular data.

[lrhyne]

OneForTheTeam - Thank you so much!  Works perfect now.

[Pa_Bell]

1. You need not uninstall and reinstall Cloud App. If you find it is running, all you have to do is to use the Android Application Manager to "Force Close" it.
2. Also remember in your Cloud App Settings to make the app use "Wi-Fi only" as an added precaution. That way if you forget or butt dial using cloudphone, you won't use cellular data.

I've found that this is unfortunately the only way to stop Cloud Softphone.  It has an option to not run when the phone starts but no matter what I chose it always runs when I turn my phone on.  When I'm at home or work and on wifi and get a call the phone rings twice simultaneously, once from my cell provider and once from Cloud Softphone (I use my GV number to forward to Vestalink).  I'd rather not uninstall Cloud Softphone, I was in Canada a few days ago and it came in handy but at home it just gets in the way.  Is there another softphone out there that works with Vestalink that's a bit more flexible, that will run when I want it and really stop running when I don't want it?

[lrhyne]

Pa_Bell, when I did the "force close" to the Cloud Softphone within the application manager on my phone, as OneForTheTeam pointed out, I no longer have to uninstall/reinstall each time I wish to use the app.  You just have to remember to go back and force close after you have made your call.

[Pa_Bell]

On my phone the Force Close option is grayed out unless I start Cloud Softphone first, only then can I Force Close to kill it.  That's a big pain and makes me wonder if there's some more friendly software somewhere which will do the same thing.  Either that or I've somehow overlooked Cloud Softphone's master kill switch.  When I go overseas this will be a godsend but now it's just a pain.

[OneForTheTeam]

Force Close/Force Stop is enabled only if the application is running. Makes sense doesn't it. Is the claim that CloudPhone is running but Force Stop not enabled?

[Pa_Bell]

Force Close/Force Stop is enabled only if the application is running. Makes sense doesn't it. Is the claim that CloudPhone is running but Force Stop not enabled?

I realize that it sounds nutty and makes no sense. 
1. Cloud Softphone is set to not run when the phone boots (Start Application after boot is not checked).
2. Cloud Softphone is grayed out so force close/force stop isn't an option (because it isn't running).
3. If I'm on wifi and get a call Cloud Softphone rings my cell phone, Sprint rings my phone (my cell phone rings with 2 different and distinct tunes at the same time) and I get a request to answer the call on the screen from Cloud Softphone.
4. After the call the Cloud Softphone icon is in the upper left of the screen waiting for a new call.  If I check my phone after the call Force Close/Force Stop is now not grayed out, because it's obviously running.

I'm certainly willing to believe that I've missed something here.  The phone is a Samsung Galaxy S2 running Jelly Bean 4.1.2 and it's rooted.

[OneForTheTeam]

Pa_Bell,
It is certainly weird. Also can you just clarify one thing on Item 3. You indicate that both Cloud SoftPhone and your default cell Phone ringer go off when you get a call. What number was dialed by the caller? Your cell or your VestaLink number? I would think it is the cell phone number. If so, I fail to understand why CloudPhone would ring...
I would report issues with CloudPhone to Vestalink. Perhaps they can use their influence to have a fixed version released.

[Pa_Bell]

Pa_Bell,
It is certainly weird. Also can you just clarify one thing on Item 3. You indicate that both Cloud SoftPhone and your default cell Phone ringer go off when you get a call. What number was dialed by the caller? Your cell or your VestaLink number? I would think it is the cell phone number. If so, I fail to understand why CloudPhone would ring...
I would report issues with CloudPhone to Vestalink. Perhaps they can use their influence to have a fixed version released.

The called number is always my Google Voice number which I had ported to them from Sprint.  I don't use, have ever given out or offhand even know what my Vestalink or cellphone numbers are; GV is set to forward incoming calls to both.  Outgoing calls from my cell automatically are routed through GV and display my GV number, outgoing calls from Vestalink spoof my GV number just the way I want them to.  Thanks for any help on this puzzler.

An interesting aside, I'm on WiFi at work and I got a call on my cell phone this morning and Cloud Softphone didn't ring this time, just Sprint.  This is probably because when I booted the phone this morning I loaded up the Cloud Softphone to see if I could Force Close it and did so. 

Interesting, the Cloud Softphone folks are in the Czech republic: http://www.acrobits.cz/1/about-us

[Terry]

The called number is always my Google Voice number which I had ported to them from Sprint.  I don't use, have ever given out or offhand even know what my Vestalink or cellphone numbers are; GV is set to forward incoming calls to both.  Outgoing calls from my cell automatically are routed through GV and display my GV number, outgoing calls from Vestalink spoof my GV number just the way I want them to.  Thanks for any help on this puzzler.

Perhaps you could log in to your Google Voice page, click on your phone number in the lower left, and look at how the forwarding is set up, to confirm that it is being forwarded the way you want.

If your Google Voice doesn't have a phone number any more (meaning, the number is controlled by Vestalink) then you don't have to worry about that part of it.

If calls to your GV number are being forwarded to Vestalink, which in turns rings your home phone via the Obi, you should be able to see the Vestalink phone number (which is different) on your GV page. (You don't have to know what it is, just that you can find it there if you want.)

If you are using the same Vestalink SIP account on both Obi and Smartphone app (softphone), then of course they will both ring (when the softphone app is running on your phone). You'd want to have a second account, or a subuser account, or whatever it is called by Vestalink, so your softphone is logging in with a different login name. If you are away from home, you could then log in with your main Vestalink account information so you get phone calls to your home (GV? former GV?) number ringing on your cell when you want that. (I don't know about Vestalink, but some VOIP service providers can forward incoming calls to other SIP accounts at the same time or instead of your Obi, so it is theoretically possible Vestalink can do that also, leading to another way to introduce confusion or solve your problem.)

If your GV number is still being controlled by GV (as you can confirm from your GV web site) but being forwarded to your cellphone and to Vestalink, you could have some confusing things happening, such as the softphone app ringing when your home phone rings, and your cellphone ringing at the same time (so both softphone and cellphone are trying to ring). GV only forwards to phone numbers, not to SIP accounts, so if you want to forward calls to your softphone separately from your home phone via GV forwarding, you'd need to get another DID phone number from a VOIP provider.

CSipSimple (a different Android softphone) has an option to disable some or all of the SIP accounts I've entered into it. Any chance you could do the same with your Cloud softphone? If Cloud's "service" is running in the background all the time, even when you uncheck the "start with android" option, and doesn't give you a way to disable the SIP account, perhaps you could put a dummy account into it, or a SIP-only account (not one associated with a VOIP/Trunking provider). Put your "real" SIP account back when you want to get calls. Something like that?

Am I guessing anywhere close to what you are seeing, or otherwise making any sense?

[lrhyne]

Pa_Bell, I believe you are like me and only plan on using the Cloud Softphone when you are traveling out of the states.  If so, this should work:

1) Install Cloud Softphone App on phone
2) Do a force close (this should work since it will be running)
3) Once you are out of the country and wish to make a call, simply open the app (even with the forced close the app should still be on your phone) and make your call
4) Do a force close after you have completed the call

Now of course if you wish to also receive calls while you are out of the country, this would not work, since you would need to leave the app running all the time...

[Pa_Bell]

Am I guessing anywhere close to what you are seeing, or otherwise making any sense?

What you're saying does make sense.  A 2nd sub account/number from Vestalink for the softphone?  Too much trouble for my situation.  Everything is working the way I want it to except for the Cloud Softphone.  Google Voice is working exactly the way I want it to by simultaneously ringing my Obi connected landline through Vestalink and my cell phone.  Cloud Softphone is like a vampire, other than pounding a stake through its heart by uninstalling it I can't seem to control it.  And that's probably what I'm going to do, just uninstall it because it seems to have a mind of its own.  It was handy when I needed it last week in Canada and we're going to Asia in the fall so I'll certainly use it there.  I had thought that I could use Cloud Softphone around the house on my cell phone as a sort of cordless phone and as a way to keep per minute cell phone airtime costs down but it's proving to be too much of a PITA.