Using Voice over IP with Ekiga

Contents

12.1. Configuring Ekiga
12.2. The Ekiga User Interface
12.3. Making a Call
12.4. Answering a Call
12.5. Using the Address Book
12.6. For More Information

Abstract

Modern telecommunication means far more than just making a phone call. It is also about text messaging and sometimes even video conferencing. Roaming enables you to be reachable under one phone number all across the world. Ekiga brings these features to your Linux desktop, allowing you to communicate over broadband Internet.

Before starting, make sure that the following requirements are met:

Your sound card is properly configured.
A headset or a microphone and speakers are connected to your computer.
For dialing in to regular phone networks, a SIP account is required. SIP (Signaling protocol for Internet Telephony) is the protocol used to establish sessions for audio and video conferencing or call forwarding. There are many VoIP providers all over the world. For a quick start, have a look at the service that the Ekiga project provides at http://www.ekiga.net.
For video conferencing, a webcam is connected to your computer.

Configuring Ekiga

On first start, Ekiga opens a configuration assistant that requests all data needed to configure Ekiga. Proceed as follows:

Enter your full name (name and surname).
Enter your ekiga.net account data or choose not to sign up with ekiga.net.
To add other accounts later, configure them using Edit+Accounts.
Enter your Ekiga Call Out Account data or choose not to sign up with ekiga.net.
Determine your connection type.
Choose the audio manager to use. Accept the default setting ALSA, as it guarantees the best sound quality. Other sound systems, like OSS, are not available on openSUSE.
By default, there is no ringing device set. If you want a ring tone, change this to one of your available audio devices.
Choose the video input device, if available.
Check the summary of your settings and apply them.
If registration fails after making changes to your configuration, just restart Ekiga.

Ekiga allows you to maintain multiple accounts. To configure an additional account, proceed as follows:

Open Edit+Accounts.
Choose Accounts+Add <account type>. If unsure, select Add a SIP Account.
Enter the Registrar to which you want to register. This is usually an IP address or a host name that will be given to you by your Internet Telephony Service Provider. Enter User, and Password according to the data provided by your provider.
Leave the configuration dialog with OK and activate the account. The status of your account displayed in the Ekiga main window changes to Registered.

The Ekiga User Interface

The Ekiga user interface has several tabs available. The first tab is Contacts, the second is Dialpad and the last one is Call History. In addition, there is a Call Panel tab available, which displays pictures and videos of local or remote webcams.

Figure 12.1. Ekiga User Interface

The user interface has different modes. To switch between views, use the tab line. By default, Ekiga opens the Contacts tab. There, a local addressbook lets you quickly open connections to often-used numbers. To get a full view with webcam support and audio controls, activate the Call Panel with View+Show Call Panel.

At the bottom of the Call Panel, there are icons for several controls like Audio Settings, Video Settings, Video Display and Hold Call. All icons provide a tool tip that is activated by the mouse pointer hovering over the icon. Some settings like the Audio settings may only be changed during a phone call.

Many of the functions of Ekiga are available with keyboard shortcuts. Table 12.1, “Keyboard Shortcuts for Ekiga” summarizes the most important ones.

Table 12.1. Keyboard Shortcuts for Ekiga

Ctrl Sequence	Description
Ctrl+O	Initiate a call with the current number.
Esc	Hang up.
Ctrl+N	Add a contact to your address book.
Ctrl+B	Open the Address Book dialog.
H	Hold the current call.
T	Transfer the current call to another party.
M	Suspend the audio stream of the current call.
P	Suspend the video stream of the current call.
Ctrl+W	Close the Ekiga user interface.
Ctrl+Q	Quit Ekiga.
Ctrl+E	Start the account manager.
Ctrl+J	Activate the Call Panel on the main user interface.
Ctrl++	Zoom in to the picture from the Web cam.
Ctrl+-	Zoom out on the picture from the Web cam.
Ctrl+0	Return to the normal size of the Web cam display.
F11	Use full screen for the Web cam.

Making a Call

Once Ekiga is properly configured, making a call is straightforward.

Start Ekiga using the menu or the command line.
Enter the SIP address of the party to call at the SIP address prompt. The address should look like:
- for direct local calls: sip:username@domainname or username@hostname
- sip:username@domainname or userid@sipserver
Click Call or press Ctrl+O and wait for the other party to pick up the phone.
To end the call, click Hang up or press Esc.

If you need to tweak the sound parameters during a call, click on the Audio Settings icon in the Call Panel. A interface that holds the Audio options for Playback level and Recording level is displayed. Use the sliders to adjust the levels to fit your needs.

Answering a Call

Ekiga can receive calls in two different ways. First, the user may be called directly with sip:user@host. Conversely, make your calls via an SIP provider. Most SIP providers enable you to get calls from a normal landline to your VoIP account. Depending on the mode in which Ekiga is run, there are several ways in which you would be alerted to an incoming call:

Normal Application: Incoming calls can only be received and answered if Ekiga is already running. You hear the ring sound on your headset or your speakers. If Ekiga is not running, the call cannot be received.
Panel Applet: Normally, the Ekiga panel applet would run silently without giving any notice of its existence. This changes as soon as a call comes in. The main window of Ekiga opens and you hear a ring sound on your headset or speakers.

Once you have noticed an incoming call, just click Accept to answer the call then start talking. If you do not want to accept this call, click Reject. It is also possible to transfer the call to another SIP address.

Using the Address Book

Ekiga has the ability to manage your SIP contacts. All of the contacts are displayed in the Contacts tab, shown in the main window after startup. To add a contact or a new contact group, run Chat+Add Contact.

If you want to add a new group, enter the group name into the bottom input field and press Add. The new group is then added to the group list and preselected.

The following entries are required for a valid contact:

Name: Enter the name of your contact. This may be a full name, but you can also use a nickname here.
SIP Address: Enter a valid SIP address for your contact.
Groups: If you have many different contacts, add your own groups.

To call a contact from the address book, double-click this contact. The call is initiated immediately.

For More Information

The official home page of Ekiga is http://www.ekiga.org/. This site offers answers to frequently asked questions as well as more detailed documentation.

For information about the support of the H323 teleconferencing protocol in Linux, see http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/H.323. This is also a good starting point when searching for projects supporting VoIP.

To set up a private telephone network, you might be interested in the PBX software Asterisk http://www.asterisk.org/. Find information about at http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Asterisk.