What is a Softphone?
A softphone is software that turns a computer or mobile device into a business phone, placing and receiving calls over the internet without dedicated desk hardware.
It registers to the phone system the same way a desk phone does, with the same extension, caller ID and call-handling features. To everyone outside, a call from a softphone is indistinguishable from one from a handset.
The practical gain is that the extension stops being tied to a desk. The same number rings wherever the person is, which is why softphones became the default for distributed teams rather than an alternative to desk phones.
The honest trade-off is audio. A desk phone has a dedicated handset and echo cancellation designed for voice; a laptop microphone in an open office does not. A decent USB headset closes most of that gap, and is worth budgeting for rather than discovering later.
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