Telephony

Make calls

You can make regular calls to contacts and phone numbers worldwide at the cost of local calls. You can also make free calls to team members and other Sonetel users.

You make calls from the web app, Android app and iPhone app.

You can initiate a call from anywhere in the apps by clicking on the phone icon.

 

Start a call from the Web app

To start a call to a team member, contact, customer or phone number – click on the phone icon above the conversations list.

This will open the New call view.

In the New call view that follows, you have the following options.

  • Search or enter number
    Enter a phone number or search for contact in the Search field. You can search for team members, mobile contacts and customers by name.
  • Select from contacts.
    Click on the phone icon next to a contact or team member in the list. Your personal contacts will appear here if you have allowed us the access to these in the mobile app.
  • Dial pad
    To activate a classic dial pad, click on the dial pad icon.

 

 

Call options

Whenever you initiate a call you are presented with a set of call options.

  • Free
    This option is offered if the person you are calling is a Sonetel user. The call will go across the Internet between you and the person you call. The person called may however have their  call forwarding settings send the call onward to their mobile. If the person called is in another company, they would pay for that call forwarding. 
  • Internet
    With this option, the app will connect your call across the Internet/WIFI to Sonetel. Sonetel will thereafter set up an onward call across the regular telephone network to the number you want to call. The cost of the call per minute is specified.
  • Mobile call
    If you prefer to have a more secure connection with more dependable audio quality, Sonetel can optionally set up a mobile call to you and an additional call to the number you are calling – and then bridge those calls together. This provides a more reliable call quality and is recommended for business calls. The downside is that you may have to pay for two calls.

The method used for making an end-to-end mobile call with more dependable quality – can either be:

  • Call back
    Sonetel calls you + the person you want to call and charges you for both the calls. The calls are bridged together automatically.
  • Call thru
    The app asks your phone to call the Sonetel local access number in your country. Sonetel then automatically places an additional call to the destination and connects the two calls together. Call thru is supported in more than 40 countries. You pay your mobile provider for the call to Sonetel, but if you have free minutes in your plan with them, then there is no cost for the call to Sonetel Sonetel only charges you for the local call to the destination number.

You can see the call charges here.

In your Call settings it is possible to select if you want to make calls with Call thru or Call back. It is also possible if you have a preference for Internet calls or mobile calls. This preference defines which options that should be shown on top in the call options menu.

 

Call a team member

You can start a call to a team member via the team list.

Click on the people icon to see the Team list.

Click on a team member to see their profile, and then click on the phone icon (upper right).

You can also call team members from within your conversations with them.

 

Call a mobile contact

Go to the People section of the Android or iPhone app and click on Contacts.

If you select Connect contacts, we will save your contacts centrally, and make them available to you via the web app as well for making calls.

We will also identify contacts (based on email address and mobile number) that are Sonetel users, and mark them as Free to call.

To call a contact, click on the contact and then on the phone icon in their profile.

 

Call history

Each phone number you call to – or receive a call from – generates a conversation in the conversations list. This is where you will find call recordings and logs of calls made or received.

In each such Conversation it is possible to click on the phone icon to start a call to the same person/number.