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November 11, 2013

BrowserCalls Rolls Out WebRTC, HTML5 Browser Calling


WebRTC makes communications over the Internet much simpler than was ever possible before. As such, many companies that offered browser or desktop-based communications prior to WebRTC’s general availability have now begun to transition over to the HTML5-based technology as a way to simplify their offerings and technology. Take, for example, BrowserCalls.

BrowserCalls offers a handful of VoIP communications services for the fixed phone, mobile devices and desktop. Recently, the company released its own HTML5-based VoIP offering, which it claims makes it the first VoIP provider to fully support HTML5 VoIP. Regardless, this new offering allows BrowserCalls customers to place calls directly from any browser that supports WebRTC — in other words, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.

This calls to mind Flashphoner, a company that has offered browser-based voice functionality since 2009 by way of Adobe Flash. However, with Flash now on its way out, the company released Web Call Server 3 last month, which offers WebRTC functionality in conjunction with Flash, allowing it to support all browsers — even ones that don’t yet support WebRTC.

BrowserCalls’ WebRTC offering, meanwhile, features an integrated dialer on the BrowserCalls website that can run even in some mobile browsers. The VoIP provider is quick to point out that this means no app needs to be downloaded and that the dialer will work the same in any browser with HTML5 support.

As such, to place a WebRTC call with BrowserCalls’ service, users need only a compatible browser and a headset — or speakers in a microphone. According to the company’s figures, this means it can serve close to 40 percent of all desktop users since Firefox currently has an 18.8 percent share of the browser market, while Chrome owns 16 percent.

Meanwhile, users can still download independent BrowserCalls apps for various devices and systems, including Windows and Mac OS desktops as well as iOS, Android, Nokia Symbian, Windows Phone and BlackBerry mobile devices.



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Edited by Rachel Ramsey
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