If you want to call other users and to be callable, you need a SIP address. You can get a SIP address from http://www.ekiga.net as described above.
The SIP address can be used by other users to call you. Similarly, you can use the SIP address of your friends and family to call them. You can for example use sip:dsandras@ekiga.net to call the author of Ekiga.
You can use the online address book of Ekiga to find the SIP addresses of other Ekiga users. It is of course possible to call users who are using another provider than ekiga.net. You can actually call any user using SIP software or hardware, and registered to any public SIP provider
If you know the URI address of the party that you wish to call, you may choose the Chat -> Call a number action, enter that URI into the sip: input box at the bottom of the window and press the Connect button; eg: sip:foo@ekiga.net and clicking on the Connect button would call the user at that address.
It is also possible to call contacts using the address book, the call history or the roster. You can add contacts you call frequently to your roster, and watch their presence information in order to know when they are available. Please refer to the appropriate section of the manual for full explanations.
Ekiga also supports H.323 and as such can call any H.323 software or hardware. Please refer to the section related to URIs to learn more about the various types of URIs that can be used to call remote H.323 and SIP users.
Ekiga can be used with several Internet Telephony Service Providers. Those providers will allow calling real phones from your computer using Ekiga at interesting rates. We recommend you use the default Ekiga provider. You can get an account using the links in the configuration assistant as described above.
With the default setup, you can simply use sip:3210444555 and select sip.diamondcard.us in the list to call the real phone number +3210444555, 32 being the country code and 10444555 being the number you wish to call.
You can also dial real phone numbers from the address book. If the phone number of the contact you want to call is stored in the address book, simply select Action -> Call [Ekiga Call Out] when the contact is highlighted. It will dial the phone number of the contact using the Ekiga Call Out account.
Ekiga also supports connecting to H.323 and SIP PBX systems. If the PBX at your office supports those protocols, you will be able to call real phones and be called from real phones after having connected to the PBX. Please ask for the settings from your administrator.
Ekiga can be used to receive incoming calls from regular phones. To allow this, you can simply login to your PC-To-Phone account using the Tools menu as described above, and buy a phone number in the country of your choice. Ekiga will ring when people will call that phone number.
You can actually use any H.323 or SIP ITSP provider, including your own PBX at work. However we recommend using the integrated provider.
Ekiga allows you to add the contacts you dial the most to the roster, so that you can call or start a chat conversation with your friends without having to remember their URI. If supported by the service you are connecting to, Ekiga will display extended presence information about your friends. Ekiga.net supports publishing presence information for its users. Software PBX systems like Asterisk can report if a user is on the phone or not, and Ekiga will display that information in its roster.
You can thus use Ekiga to monitor lines on your PBX.
Ekiga is also able to detect other Ekiga users on the LAN using the Bonjour technology popularized by Apple (tm) and to display them in the roster. That supposes you have a local mDNSResponder daemon running on your computer. On Linux systems this service will usually be provided by Avahi.
To add a contact to the roster, select Chat -> Add Contact, and fill in the required fields. If the service managing the URI you entered for the contact is able to publish presence status, Ekiga will automatically display it.
If you do not know the VoIP URI of a contact, you might try searching for him/her using the Ekiga.net online directory. To do so, select Chat -> Address Book, and start searching using the 'Search Filter' feature.
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Ekiga allows you to look for contacts using various sources like the Novell Evolution Email and Calendaring address book, any LDAP directory or the Ekiga.net contact directory. You can use the result of your search to start a chat, call the contact, or simply add him to your roster if you have frequent calls with him. To start looking for contacts, select Chat -> Address Book in the menu. To your left there will be a list dialog showing the LDAP directories as well as a list of local Address Books. The defaults are the Ekiga white pages, and the personal address book from Novell Evolution. Support for more contact sources is possible.
Ekiga is able to browse any LDAP directory and use any attribute as the calling URI. For example, you could have an LDAP directory in your company, with a specific attribute containing the local extensions of all your colleagues. Ekiga is able to use such an LDAP directory. Simply select in Address Book -> Add an LDAP Address Book, and fill in the required details. You can then right-click on the contact and call him using the call attribute as VoIP URI.
The LDAP Address Book supports a range of settings to allow it to work with any LDAPv3 directory. It allows you to choose the attribute to use for displaying a contact's name in the address book as well as a list of attributes for calling info. E.g., if the directory uses the LDAP inetOrgPerson schema you can configure the Address Book to retrieve the homePhone, mobile, and pager attributes make those values available for calling or messaging. You can also customize a Filter Template for the default LDAP search filter, and override the default filter at any time if you need to perform a more specialized search. The browser also supports all security options for LDAP including ldaps:// (LDAP over SSL), StartTLS, and SASL authentication.
To refresh the list of users for a specific address book, simply click the Find button. It will search for all users in that address book. You can contact people by double clicking on their highlighted field. You can also message them by right-clicking or by choosing the appropriate action in the Action menu of the window.
In certain cases you will want to search specifically for a person name, or his or her call URI in the Ekiga white pages. The address book window allows you to apply filters when searching for contacts. When searching an LDAP directory, entering a simple name in the Search Filter field will perform an LDAP Substring search using the configured Filter Template. If you need to perform a more specialized search you can enter a complete LDAP Filter string, and it will be used instead of the configured Filter Template.
The Ekiga white pages return a limited number of results corresponding to your search. You can then add them to your personal roster to call them later.
Local address books provided by Novell Evolution allow you to add new contacts, or to edit existing contacts. Each different address book allows a different set of features depending on what makes sense for that specific address book. To discover what features are possible, simply select the address book and consult the Action menu, or right-click on the address book name.
To add a contact to one of your local address books, simply select the address book you wish to add the contact to and select Action -> New Contact. The option of adding a New Contact will appear and you may now enter his name and VoIP URI as well as other settings. When finished, select 'OK' and your contact has been added. You can only add contacts to local address books. The contact parameters can be changed at any time by selecting Action -> Edit when the contact is highlighted. He can also be deleted by selecting Action -> Remove.
You can also add a contact from the white pages (or any other local or remote address book) to the roster by selecting Action -> Add to local roster.
Ekiga allows you to send instant messages to remote users provided that you know their URI.
You can send instant messages from the roster, from the call history or from the address book. From the roster or from the call history, simply select Chat -> Contact -> Message in the main window when a contact is highlighted. From the address book window, simply select Action -> Message when the contact is highlighted. A window pops up, enter your text message, and hit the Enter key.
You can not exchange text messages with all protocols. Ekiga will only display the Message menu item when the protocol associated with the user permits it.
Ekiga allows you to publish your status to other users.
There are three categories of status messages : online, away and busy. Each of them allows you to specify a more complete status information. Simply select Custom message in the status menu at the bottom of the main window. You can then define your extended status message that will be published using all available protocols supporting it.
Many servers will not support relaying your extended presence information. To make sure that this feature is available with the server you are using or with the PBX you are connected to, please ask your administrator. Please note that Ekiga.net will publish your presence information.
Ekiga supports different policies for unanswered incoming calls. Per default it displays a popup window which allows you to decide whether you want to refuse or accept the request for an incoming call. If you do not answer the call in the required time, or if you are busy, or if you do not want to receive any call, Ekiga can forward the call to another party.
Notice that you need to specify an URI where to forward calls in the preferences to be able to activate that option. Open the preferences window by choosing Edit -> Preferences in the main window and select Call Options on the left. You will now see the appropriate section. It contains three checkboxes for the three cases described above. The URI of the party the calls shall be forwarded to can be configured separately in SIP Settings for SIP and accordingly in H.323 Settings for H.323.
Ekiga supports several actions which can be performed when being in a call. These actions enable you to control active sessions. It can be done using the menu and toolbar icons from the call window that appears as soon as a call is setup.
Ending a call: The communication to the remote user can be ended by selecting Call -> Hang up.
Holding a call: You can hold a remote party call by selecting Call -> Hold Call. This effectively pauses Video and Audio transmission; to continue transmission again you select Call -> Retrieve Call and Video and Audio Transmission will begin again.
Suspending Audio: This effectively prevents all Audio communication to your respective party when selecting Call -> Mute Audio.
Suspending Video: This effectively prevents all Video transmission to your respective party when selecting Call -> Suspend Video.
Transferring the remote party: You can transfer the remote user to another user by selecting Call -> Transfer Call. It is also possible to transfer an active call by right-clicking and choosing the transfer action when a contact is highlighted in the roster, in the address book or in the call history. Double-clicking or selecting the Contact menu in the main window or the Action menu in the Address Book window and choosing the transfer action will also work.
All URIs supported by Ekiga can be used for call transfer if the protocol supports it.
Your audio and video settings can be adjusted through the call window while you are in a call. The audio volume, but also the brightness, whiteness, color and contrast of your video input device can be changed to achieve the best quality.
You can also change your audio and video devices during a call. Simply go in the preferences window by selecting Edit -> Preferences in the menu, and adjust your devices in the appropriate section.
The Call History stores information (date, duration, URI, Remote user) about all outgoing and incoming calls. They are divided into three groups - received calls, placed calls and missed calls. You can consult the call history by selecting View -> Call History in the menu or by clicking on the appropriate icon in the toolbar.
Double-clicking on a row in the Calls History will call back the selected user or transfer any active call to that user. Notice that you can also add the contact to your roster by selecting Chat -> Contact -> Add to local roster in the main menu when the call is highlighted.