If your Vonage Contact Center (VCC) account uses WebRTC technology, agents don't need a physical telephone to use ContactPad. Instead an agent can use their usual computer or device to make and receive calls. To do so, WebRTC must be enabled for the agent's VCC account and the agent's individual account and ContactPad.
WebRTC for Vonage Contact Center extension
Previously, to use ContactPad with WebRTC agents had to install the WebRTC for Vonage Contact Center extension into their Chrome or Edge browser. From January 1, 2023, the extension will no longer work due to Google's changes to the way browser extensions work in Chromium-based browsers.
Over the coming months, Vonage will migrate VCC accounts to a new way of using ContactPad with WebRTC which doesn't require an extension. When your account has been migrated, we recommend that your agents disable or remove the WebRTC for Vonage Contact Center extension from their browser or browsers.
Limitations when using ContactPad with WebRTC
We develop, test, and support using ContactPad with WebRTC in the most recent version of Chrome only.
Supervisor monitoring does not work with WebRTC (unless you are using the Team Dashboards (beta access)).
When an agent uses ContactPad to make or receive a call, instead of their telephone ringing as normal, buttons for controlling the call appear in ContactPad. The buttons enable agents to accept incoming calls or continue with outbound calls. For information about using ContactPad with WebRTC, see Using ContactPad with WebRTC.
In addition to making and receiving calls, the agent can also mute and hang up the call, and configure options such as preferred audio devices, secondary ringing, and auto-answer.
Initial agent login state and auto answer
ContactPad must be open and the agent logged in to ContactPad when a call first arrives. If a call is already waiting, the agent's initial state is set to Ready, and auto answer for inbound calls is turned on, when the agent logs in, they may receive the call too soon. The agent, ContactPad, or WebRTC may not actually be ready to handle the call.
To avoid this issue, the initial agent login state for agents in your account should be a state other than Ready. We recommend that the state is set to either an offline or an away state, Ready for outgoing or Away, for example. For information about setting the initial agent login state, see Configuring agent states. Alternatively, auto answer for inbound calls should be turned off.
For information about using WebRTC in ContactPad, see Using ContactPad with WebRTC.
If ContactPad loses connection with Vonage's WebRTC and if enabled for your account, Vonage will automatically connect ContactPad to a backup WebRTC provider to restore service. As long as the backup provider is not blocked by your firewall, the switch from Vonage's WebRTC to the other provider will occur seamlessly. For information about configuring your firewall to allow WebRTC traffic, see Firewall configuration in Technical prerequisites.
WebRTC for Vonage Contact Center extension
The extension will no longer be supported from January 1, 2023.
To use the WebRTC for Vonage Contact Center extension, agents must add the extension into their Chrome or Edge browser.
Using the extension, when an agent uses ContactPad to make or receive a call, instead of their telephone ringing as normal, the WebRTC for Vonage Contact Center extension appears. The extension contains buttons that the agent can use to accept incoming calls or continue with outbound calls.
On adding the extension, agents can browse away from the Chrome or Edge window containing ContactPad during a call. The agent can open and close any number of browser windows—even the window containing ContactPad—and the call remains connected. The agent can also use the extension to answer and control calls from any Chrome or Edge browser window.
For information about using WebRTC in ContactPad, see the Using the WebRTC for Vonage Contact Center extension section in Using ContactPad with WebRTC.