AGEphone Mobile 2 Reference

AGEphone Mobile 2 comes with a host of menus and options that, while designed to be intuitive and easy to use, have a certain learning curve to them in some areas. This is mainly because there are so many different VoIP providers and possible usage scenarios that it is impossible to cover them all with only a basic featureset. To make the setup as easy as possible this, section gives a detailed reference on every single option that you can find in AGEphone Mobile. This allows to look up single points of interest quickly and makes finding the relevant functions a breeze. However, if you are interested in more general usage instructions, please refer to the "Howto" part of this manual.

1. State

The state menu lets you put AGEphone Mobile into different modes in order to manage different call situations. In the menu order these states are:

a) Ready

Usually AGEphone will show "Ready" on its main screen if configured correctly and no other status was selected. You can accept  ignore or decline incoming calls manually.

b) Answerphone

If "Answerphone" is selected the softphone doesn't ring on incoming calls and instead sends the caller directly to the answering machine where he can leave his message. This mode is useful in situations where you can't accept calls but want to make sure that people who call you can at least leave a message. As the call was taken by the answerphone it does not show up as a missed call on the main display.

c) DND

In "Do Not Disturb" mode the caller gets to hear a short announcement telling him that you are busy at the moment. Contrary to the answerphone mode this is not followed by the possibility to leave a message. Use this mode in situations where you can't be bothered by calls and want your callers to try again instead of leaving a message.

d) Auto Decline

Once selected all every caller will be hung up immediately without any message. It's just like pressing the red button on your cell, but much faster and convenient. This is probably the equivalent to turning your phone off without actually turning it off and we all probably have our days where this can be put to good use.

e) Auto Accept

The counterpart of auto decline: Accepts each and every call right away and makes your friends, clients and partners wonder how you can make your fingers fly like that :-) A possible usage scenario would be if you have your phone in the pocket and a headset in your ear and want to keep your hands free at all time.

f) Stealth Mode

And advanced auto decline mode that helps you ignoring calls without the caller knowing that you are doing so. The call will just continue to ring on his / her side without disturbing you any further. You can also access this function on the fly by pressing the Enter or action button on an incoming call. This can come in handy in many situations and we'll leave it up to you to come up with some good usage scenarios ;-)

g) Vibration

Does what it says and makes your phone vibrate on incoming calls. The setting can (and has to!) be activated independently from the standard audio settings. Meetings, the cinema and all other places where ringing cellphones are banned come to mind when it comes to this mode.

2. SIP Accounts Overview

a) Provider Entries

Depending on how you manage your telephony you can have one or multiple SIP accounts with AGEphone Mobile 2 and the overview lists them all for you. You can select single or multiple entries and either use the "Options" softkey or a right click (tap and hold) to execute different functions on your selection. If you see a provider listed with a ";1" appendix you probably have multiple entries for that host. Because the provider name can't be changed for now this is AGEphone's way of listing multiple accounts with the same provider.

 

b) Checkboxes

You will notice that before each provider entry there is a checkbox. You can use these checkboxes to tell AGEphone Mobile to actively register to that provider in order to receive calls. If you leave the box unchecked you can still place calls with that provider, but incoming calls won't make it through. This is practical for providers that don't offer incoming calls. A lot of Betamax providers fall into that category and it's no use to actively register to them. It even saves you a little battery life if you keep provider registrations to the absolute minimum.

 

c) Options / Right Click Menu: Add

Invokes the SIP accounts add menu. Please refer to SIP Account Add / Edit Menu for further information.

 

d) Options / Right Click Menu: Edit

Invokes the SIP accounts edit menu. You will see a confirmation dialog if you try to edit multiple providers. Please refer to SIP Account Add / Edit Menu for further information.

 

e) Options / Right Click Menu: Make Default

Makes the selected provider default for outgoing connections. This is merely a preference for startup and can be changed at any time by invoking the provider quickswitch on the main screen.

 

f) Options / Right lick Menu: Serverless

This puts AGEphone in serverless mode and allows for softphone to softphone calls using a IPv4 / IPv6 IP address or SIP URI.  

 

g) Options / Right Click Menu: Delete

Deletes the selected provider(s) permanently after showing a confirmation dialogue.  

3. SIP Account Add / Edit Menu

This is probably one of the most difficult and error prone areas of AGEphone Mobile 2 as we've had to include a host of options to ensure that SIP providers around the world can be used without problems. The basic settings can be made on the first two pages while the latter two can usually be left alone.

 

a) Realm

This is usually the same as your VoIP provider's SIP domain (3b) and comes in the "domain.tld" format. There are numerous exceptions and it's best to consult your provider if you are unsure and the information hasn't been published on their page. The realm also determines under which name your VoIP provider shows up in the provider list.

 

b) SIP Domain

This is your VoIP providers domain and comes in the "domain.tld" format. There are numerous exceptions and it's best to consult your provider if you are unsure and the information hasn't been published on their page.

 

c) SIP Server

The SIP server is often noted as "sip.domain.tld", but there are many situations where this entry looks completely different. It could just as well be an IP address or a rather cryptic string. You should be able to find this information on your (VoIP) provider's home- or settings page or through getting in touch with their support.

 

d) Registrar

This entry ist often identical to the SIP Server, but can also lookcompletely different depending on how your VoIP provider has set things up.  You should be able to find this information on your (VoIP) provider's home- or settings page or through getting in touch with their support.

 

e) User Name

Chances are that you have chosen your username yourself with most VoIP providers, but if internet telephony is provided by your ISP you might have to look this information up on their page or ask the support. At times this can also be a dial in number if your provider has assigned one to you. In that case you might have to enter it here to show that number on outgoing calls. Please keep in mind that the username is case sensitive.  

 

f) Authorization

The authorization ID is often identical with the User Name (3e), but contrary to the latter it's rarely your dial in number. It is always required to register with your SIP server and can never be set to random values like the user and display name in some cases. Chances are that you have chosen your username yourself with most VoIP providers, but if internet telephony is provided by your ISP you might have to look this information up on their page or ask the support. Please keep in mind that the athorization ID is case sensitive.

 

g) Display Name

The Display name is what you see on the main screen before in the upper left corner before the "@" sign. Depending on your provider it could be a dial in number if one was assigned one to your account. In that case you might have to enter it here to show that number on outgoing calls.

 

h) Password

You either chose your password yourself during the signup process or it was assigned and you have to ask for it. As there is no verification box or check mechanism to verify the password on the spot please enter it carefully to avoid trouble later on. 

 

i) Register Expires

This value basically makes AGEphone Mobile say "I'm still here!" to your SIP server in periodical intervals and can usually be left at 3600 seconds. Some servers have the bad habit to disconnect clients before that time though and leave you without incoming calls until your phone registers again. If you experience a lot of missed calls that get relayed to your voicebox you might want to check this option and set it to 1800 or - at worst - 600 seconds. ageet doesn't recommend going lower than that as it might be considered hammering by some servers.

 

k) Session Expires

If your calls repeatedly get disconnected after a fixed amount of time it might be that your provider is terminating them because it needs a signal that they are still alive. AGEphone Mobile can send this signal if you fill ina value in seconds slightly below the disconnect time to prevent your calls from being cut off.

 

l) DTMF Method

Here you can choose between two methods for DTMF tone transmission: "RFC 2833" and "Inbound". While some VoIP providers may offer support for both variants, others respont to only one and you usually only notice this when your keypresses are not accepted by voiceboxes or service numbers. 

 

m) Audio Packet Size

Audio packet size determines the size of each packet sent out to the network and can usually be left at 20 ms. If you experience periodic gaps in your conversations and use a 3G / HSDPA connection you may want to change the value to 40 ms and if that doesn't work 10, 30 or 50 ms. 

 

n) Dial Prefix

With this settings you can prefix any dialed number that goes through this provider with anything you want. While this can be practical in some situations there is currently no way to suppress the prefix and thus each and every number gets extended.

 

o) Country Code

In this field you can insert the country code for each number dialed on this provider. This is practical when your numbers have to be stored in local format for PSTN calls but your VoIP provider needs them to be dialed in international format (like most do). The downside to this approach is that each and every number uses this country code which may lead to unwanted results.

 

p) Dial Suffix

The counterpart to the Dial Prefix appends the string you enter here to every number dialed with this provider. While this can be practical in some situations there is currently no way to suppress the suffix and thus each and every number gets extended.

 

q) Symmetric Response Routing

Symmetric response routing is a feature that allowd NAT traversal without "STUN / UPnP" in certain network situations and if the SIP server allows for it. This option is disabled by default because most SIP servers don't support it properly and even if they do there are many situations where it doesn't work reliably. If your network requires NAT traversal you are usually better off with "STUN / UPnP". 

 

r) Hold (RFC 3264)

Usually hold music is streamed by AGEphone Mobile directly, but if you enable the "Hold (RFC 3264)" function and if your VoIP provider supports it the audio gets streamed by the SIP server. This works particularly well with Asterisk implementations and should be used if you or your company have a unified hold melody. 

4. Network Settings

a) NAT Traveral

This option is essential for making AGEphone Mobile work in different networks and network situations. Whenever your computer or device is part of a local or cellular network without a direct connection to the internet "STUN / UPnP" is a good bet to get through to your callees. Manual configurations can help in more complicated and non standard network setups that you know better than AGEphone can get to know them. And for all direct internet connections "Local IP" is the best choice as "STUN / UPnP" might mess  things up and is at least wasting resources as it constantly sends out pings to make sure that your connection is up and running well. Depending on your choice the below options will be either accessible or (partially) greyed out.

 

b) Local IP Address

This field will be greyed out unless "STUN / UPnP" or "Manual" are selected under NAT Traversal. It can help to clarify your devices's LAN IP address in situations where the network environment is more complicated, e.g. with multiple routers chained behind each other. Generally spoken, you will need this field very rarely and even if it is not greyed out with "STUN / UPnP" you usually do not need to bother.

 

c) Global IP Address

This is the counterpart of the Local IP Address and like the former not available unless "Manual" or "STUN / UPnP" is selected under NAT Traversal. It is adviseable to fill in this field when you are running on a more complex network setup that makes it difficult for AGEphone Mobile to properly discern your WAN IP address. Generally spoken, you will need this field very rarely and even if it is accessible with STUN / UPnP you usually do not need to bother.

 

d) Primary STUN Server

Greyed out with any other option than "STUN / UPnP" this field holds the STUN server that AGEphone has to ping in order to find out more about your network situation. It does not really matter where your server is located as the latency is not crucial to the detection process and does not influence your telephony. The standard s1.voipstation.jp and s2.voipstation.jp therefore are perfectly fine no matter where you live in the world. If you want to change to a geographically closer STUN server anyway you can find a small list of public ones here.

 

e) Backup STUN Server

The backup STUN server field is only accessible with "STUN / UPnP" selected under NAT Traversal. It is an optional entry and you may very well go with just one STUN server as AGEphone just uses the spare when the primary STUN server is unresponsible.

 

f) STUN Keep Alive

You won't be able to access this checkbox unless "STUN / UPnP" is set under NAT Traversal is selected. If enabled, AGEphone Mobile checks the current status of the NAT again and again in periodical intervals to make sure that your calls still reach their destination properly. This consumes a little bandwidth and battery power, but should be left on anyway as you may be unable to receive, start or conduct proper calls otherwise.

 

g) Port Management

Let's you switch the management method from automatic to manual for the very few cases where this may be needed. It's safe to leave this option alone under normal circumstances as AGEphone Mobile usually is very capable of picking the correct ports by itself.

 

h) SIP Port

Is greyed out and inaccessible and long as Port Management is set to automatic. When set to normal, the SIP server port can be entered here in case a special port is required. This could be an Asterisk server that can be accessed only through certain ports from external addresses.

 

i) First RTP Port

Is greyed out and inaccessible and long as Port Management is set to automatic. When set to normal, the first media transport port can be entered here in case a special port is required. This could be an Asterisk server that can be accessed only through certain ports from external addresses.

 

k) Last RTP Port

Is greyed out and inaccessible and long as Port Management is set to automatic. When set to normal, the last media transport port can be entered here in case a special port is required. This could be an Asterisk server that can be accessed only through certain ports from external addresses. The last should be 45 numbers larger than the First RTP Port.

 

l) Network Interface

Here you can force a certain network interface to be used. Active interfaces are listed with their IP addresses, inactive you'll see as hexadecimal numbers. Usually, you can leave this function on autopilot, but there are some situations where being able to change the interface can make the difference between a usable and unusable AGEphone Mobile. That is for example if you are on a very tight data plan for your 3G connection and can't afford to use it for VoIP. Normally, AGEphone takes the first connection available and does not care whether it's WiFi or cellular. By setting the network interface here you can make sure that only one connection gets used. Please note that if that connection is not available, AGEphone will not workuntil you change to another connection or back to automatic mode.

 

m) TOS Base for QOS

This setting changes how AGEphone Mobile plays together with managed networks and should be changed only if you know what you are doing in which case you are probably the network admin ;-)

5. Audio Settings

a) Speaker

Allows you to manually set the output device in some rare cases where this might be needed. 

 

b) Microphone

Allows you to manually set the input device in some rare cases where this might be needed. 

 

c) Ringer

Allows you to manually set the ringer device in some rare cases where this might be needed. 

 

d) Playback Buffer

This setting controls how much of the incoming audio data AGEphone Mobile stores before playing it back to you. While this evens out the audio stream and prevents stuttering it also introduces delay into the conversation. Values around 120 - 180 ms have proven to work reliably for 3G connections.

 

e) Record Buffer

This setting is the counterpart to the Playback Buffer and controls how much of the outgoing audio data AGEphone Mobile stores before sending it out to the callee. While this evens out the audio stream and prevents stuttering it also introduces delay into the conversation. Values around 120 - 180 ms have proven to work reliably for 3G connections.

 

f) Voice Activity Detection

If activated, this function checks whether you or your partner are actually talking and stops transmitting up and / or down data if that is not the case. As a typical G.711 call needs 85 kbit/s in each direction (including overhead) this means that a significant amount of bandwidth can be saved. This option is definitely worth a second look for people on a tight data plan!

 

g) Ringtone

In this field and file dialog you can select any 8 Khz, 8 bit mono .wav file to act as your ringtone.

 

h) Record Calls

If you set a checkmark for this option, each and every call will be recorded into the "My Documents \ My Phone Booth \ Account Name" folder. At the current point there is no other way to enable or disable call recording, but we will offer a more fine grained option in due time. 

 

i) Switch Speakers during Call

Whether you are able to use this feature or not depends on your device and ROM at the moment. We support the HTC Trinity, Hermes, Touch (Dual) and Kaiser if the correct ROMs are installed (refere to this thread for more info). Using the function on other devices will show a confirmation dialog first and may potentially lock up your phone to the point where it needs a hard reset. If you back up your data it may be well worth the try. Please let us see your simple log (instructions here) no matter how it turns out and we will be able to improve this feature for everyone. Please also let us know if using the function results in low audio volume on your device. 

 

k) Play Dial Button Sound

If feedback on pressing the phone keys is not your thing you can disable the dial button sound here. All other sound files can be accessed directly in the Program Files \ AGEphone folder should you wish to change or delete them.

6. Power Saving Settings

a) Keep Device on

You have three settings to choose from here: "Never" disables AGEphone Mobile's Power Management completely which is the recommended setting on Windows Mobile touchscreen devices as those come with a more fine grained power management anyway. "AC only" and "AC & Battery" make available Keep Alive Intervall and Dim Backlight which allow for keep alive and backlight dimming management in situations when turning off the device after a while (non-touchscreen device standard behavior) is not an option.

 

b) Keep Alive Intervall

Here you can set the interval in which AGEphone Mobile sends a signal to the device to prevent the automatic shutdown which can't be disabled on some non-touchscreen devices. You can safely turn this and Keep Device on off if your device has no problems managing this setting on its own.

 

c) Dim Backlight

This setting determines when AGEphone Mobile will turn off the backlight on devices that don't offer proper adjustments to conserve as much battery power as possible if the device has to be left running. You can safely turn this and Keep Device on off if your device has no problems managing this setting on its own.

 

d) Activate Bluetooth

Activates Bluetooth upon AGEphone Mobile start in case you have a wireless headset that you want to use with AGEphone. There is no turn off dialog implemented yet when you close the program and if you don't use BT otherwise you might want to turn it off manually to conserve battery power. Also, there is no official Bluetooth support in AGEphone Mobile at this point and if you want to have your headset turn on and off automatically there's currently no other way but to resort to 3rd party tools.

 

e) Activate Wireless

This menu offers you three options: "Never" leaves your connections alone on program start, "3G" turns on your cellular data connection and "WiFi" enables your wireless network card to connect to the nearest hotspot. Please note that if you don't use "STUN / UPnP" under NAT Traversal you will need to invoke a "Refresh" under "Menu" on the main screen. Also, if there is already one connection enabled, this setting will be ignored. If you want to save on your 3G budget by using WiFi you have to change the Network Interface to you LAN IP address and start the connection manually in that case.

7. Interface Settings

a. Swap History Position

When checked, it swaps the incoming (standard: right) and outgoing (standard: left) history fields in he main interface.

 

b. Number Pad on

This checkbox affects some WM phones with a hardware keyboard and number keys that have to be accessed in combination with the FN key. While the standard phone application doesn't require any combination, AGEphone Mobile sometimes doesn't recognize this correctly and can be forced to do so if you turn this option on.

 

c. Lock Phone during Call

This option only affects touchscreen phones. When its box is checked, the main screen will be locked during calls so that you can't accidentally touch any program elements. Please notice that the softkeys and upper Windows bar will not get locked and are still prone to accidental input. If you decide to enable this option s and need to unlock your phone, simply double tap on the screen and press the "*" symbol. Simply double tap the screen if you want to lock it again.

 

d. Language

Here you can check the program language for the options and main screen. At the current time, AGEphone supports English, Japanese, German, Italian and Portugese. Please note that while this will likely work on local phones you might see corrupted characters when you select a language on a non native (e.g., Portugese on a Japanese) phone. This can't be helped at this point because AGEphone Mobile does not support UTF-8 encoding. Once we have fixed this there shouldn't be problems on any phone.

On a sidenote: if you want to create your own translations, you will find everything you need in the "AGEphone" folder under "Program Files". Just take one of the "language.xx.ini" files and send the result to support // ageet // com. We will include your work then in the next version so that other users can use the program in their native language.

8. Other Settings

a. Execute on Connect

This is a purely optional dialog that allows you to enter a program or shortcut which then gets executed as soon as you press "connect" on a call (Auto Accept connects for you). This is immensely practical if you want to extend AGEphone Mobile's functionality, e.g. by turning of the screen or connecting to a Bluetooth headset. The "Parameter" field below allows you to enter options for the program that you want to start (if it offers any). Please note that ageet is not responsible for any problems created by 3rd party software that you run in conjunction with AGEphone Mobile.

 

b. Execute on Disconnect

This is a purely optional dialog that allows you to enter a program or shortcut which then gets executed as soon as you press "disconnect" on a call or get disconnected. This is immensely practical if you want to extend AGEphone Mobile's functionality, e.g. by turning on the screen or disconnecting a Bluetooth headset. The "Parameter" field below allows you to enter options for the program that you want to start (if it offers any). Please note that ageet is not responsible for any problems created by 3rd party software that you run in conjunction with AGEphone Mobile.

 

c. Launch on Startup

Setting your checkmark here makes AGEphone Mobile run on Windows startup and saves you the trouble to start it manually every time if it's in your list of standard programs.

 

d. Today Plugin

The Today plugin is available on the Today screen and in the settings if you enable this option. It will be completely removed from both locations if you uncheck the box. Please note, that if you have the plugin displayed on the WM main screen it takes a restart or entering the Today settings to remove it from tthere.

9. Maintenance Settings

a. Delete History

Does what it says and deletes all of your incoming and outgoing call history. This also clears the number autocomplete field until the time when you have dialed some new numbers. 

 

b. Delete Recordings

This deletes all your recorded calls for all accounts. If you need more fine grained control over this, please go to the "My Documents \ My Phone Booth" folder and just delete the according "account name" folder which contains all recordings for that account. 

 

c. Backup Settings

Opens a dialog to save a backup file that contains all of your settings and provider configurations, but not your voicemails and call history. As you can select the location and name of the fil, please make sure to place it somewhere save with a descriptive name for further reference. Please note that reinstalling AGEphone doesn't touch any of your settings which are all located in the "My Documents \ My Phone Booth" folder.

 

d. Restore Settings

The counterpart to the Backup Settings function that allows you to restore your previously taken backup. Please do not use this function to restore backups between major release numbers (e.g. 1.X <--> 2.X).

 

e. Reset Settings

If you would like to reset your settings and provider list to the default values this is the option to go. It doesn't touch your voicemail and the call history, but everything else is just like you found it on the first program start. This also goes for the product key which you should have ready for the next AGEphone Mobile start.

 

f. Create Detailed Log

You never need to touch this option if AGEphone Mobile is running fine. It is reserved for situations where we need to take a closer look at your configuration. If that's the case, simply reproduce the errors that you described to us and send "My Documents \ My Phone Booth \ log.txt" in afterwards. Once done, it'sbetter to disable the function again as it tends to get rather large quickly.