The iPhone Anywhere Dialer is an iPhone application used to initiate a call via BroadWorks.  Simply type in a number and click dial.  Then wait for the BroadWorks-powered VoIP network to return the call to your iPhone.  Click answer and BroadWorks places the call to the number you just dialed.  This application makes use of the incredibly powerful BroadWorks Anywhere functionality. 

Benefits

As a native iPhone application, with the iPhone Anywhere Dialer your BroadWorks-based phone service is just one click away on your favorite mobile phone.

• Since the BroadWorks-based VoIP network places the call, BroadWorks based service capabilities are invoked.  For example, if you do not have international dialing capabilities on your iPhone, but do have international dialing on your business/home account, you can now place an international call from your iPhone.

• As another example, let’s say only out-bound calls count towards your valuable mobile minutes on your current plan.   To save minutes, even though you want to place a call to someone, use the iPhone Anywhere Dialer.  Since BroadWorks is calling you back before it places the call to the number you are dialing, your mobile provide will treat it as an incoming call. 

Design

A simple native iPhone application, the iPhone Anywhere Dialer was written using the iPhone SDK environment in Objective C.  When a number is dialed, the application uses the data network to issue an HTTP command to place a new call.   This HTTP command is part of the BroadWorks Xtended Services Interface RESTful API.  This is all the application needs to do.

When BroadWorks receives this command, it knows the subscriber placing this command has the BroadWorks Anywhere service.  This extremely simple, yet powerful, service allows a subscriber to add any number to a list - allowing this number to act like a BroadWorks-based number.  In this example, placing the iPhone in the BroadWorks Anywhere list for a subscriber allows BroadWorks to call the iPhone back.  Answering the incoming call tells BroadWorks to take the number sent in the Xsi command and actually ring that number.

You can find the configuration for this application is in the Settings icon on an iPhone, under the XDialer menu item.  The settings are simple.  First, give the server address running the Xsi web application API your BroadWorks username and password.  When the dialer places the call, it will automatically use these credentials “under-the-hood” when BroadWorks challenges the command via the HTTP 401 command.

Technical Specifications