Hardphone (deskphone)

A hardphone, often called a deskphone, is a real physical telephone with its own buttons, screen, and handset. Unlike a Softphone that runs on a computer, a hardphone is a dedicated device that does one job and does it reliably. Modern hardphones are not the old analog units, though — they connect to the network and place calls over the internet rather than over a copper line.

To work with VICIdial a hardphone registers to the server using SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), the same protocol a softphone uses, and carries audio over VoIP. You enter the phone's credentials into its settings menu, it completes Phone registration, and from then on it rings for that agent. The setup is fiddlier than a browser tab because you are configuring a separate piece of hardware by hand.

Hardphones win on durability and audio quality. They have proper handsets, dedicated speakers, and no browser tab to accidentally close mid-call. The downsides are cost and effort — you buy the units, ship them, and configure each one. Most VICIdial floors now favor a Webphone for speed of onboarding, but hardphones still make sense for fixed seats, supervisors, or anywhere a dropped browser session would be unacceptable.