What do I need for VOIP call-out notification?

For many years TopView has supported voice call-out notification over traditional phone lines but, due to both hardware and software developments, voice notification via TAPI modems is much less reliable than it used to be (see the reliability section below for an explanation). With TopView VOIP notification you can perform the same functions over your network without voice modems or TAPI devices.

Requirements

TopView VOIP notification requires a VOIP service that provides a SIP server and a network connection to that SIP server.

VOIP service options

A SIP server can be provided by:

your own phone system provided by your local telecom,
an online provider, see our list of providers for more information, or
a dedicated VOIP server device and access to an analog phone line

Costs range from option to option, so investigate each option to see which one best fits your business's requirements on functionality and cost.

Why is notification via TAPI less reliable?

TAPI notification is less reliable because the software systems are less reliable, on multiple levels:

Soon after its release, Windows 10 experienced TAPI issues for a year before they were fixed
TAPI hardware drivers may be highly dependent upon Windows versions and updates
Using USB devices on VMs can be problematic

We find that the time spent setting up, testing, and supporting TAPI hardware and software through its issues is far more expensive than VOIP.