A work from home call center lets agents take and make customer calls from home, with the same queues, call recording and reports they would have in the office. The phone on the desk is replaced by a softphone on the agent’s laptop, and the contact centre system stays in your server room or cloud. This guide covers how remote calling works, what each agent needs at home, how much bandwidth a call uses, and how to keep calls secure.
How a remote call centre works
The contact centre software, queues and recordings stay in one place. Only the agent moves. Each agent signs in to a softphone that registers to the IP PBX over the internet, just like a desk phone registers over the office LAN. Incoming calls enter the same queues, ring the next free agent wherever they are, and every call is recorded and reported in one system.
Supervisors see home agents on the same live wallboard as office agents, with their status, calls waiting and service level. They can listen in, whisper or barge in on a home agent’s call exactly as they would in the office.
What is a softphone?
A softphone is phone software on a computer or mobile phone. It uses SIP to register an extension to the PBX and sends voice over the network. A WebRTC softphone runs on the same browser technology used for video calls, so audio is encrypted and works well through home routers.
The Voxdial Contact Center agent console is a desktop app for Windows, Mac and Linux with a WebRTC softphone built in. In one window the agent gets:
- Answer, hold, park, transfer (blind, attended or to another agent) and conference.
- Agent status and break reasons, so supervisors know who is available.
- Click to dial any phone number shown on screen, and click to call from the CRM tab.
- A call-quality monitor that shows jitter, packet loss and round-trip time during the call.
- STUN and TURN support, so calls connect from home networks behind NAT.
Administrators can lock the console settings, so agents cannot change server details or audio options and break their own set-up. Staff who are not contact centre agents can use any standard SIP softphone, or the BitVoice mobile app, as their extension on the Voxdial IP PBX.
Checklist for each home agent
- A wired USB headset with a noise-cancelling microphone. Laptop speakers and microphones cause echo and pick up household noise.
- A wired Ethernet connection to the router where possible. Wi-Fi far from the router is the most common cause of choppy audio.
- A stable broadband connection, with a mobile hotspot as a backup during outages.
- A UPS for the router, so a short power cut does not drop every call.
- A quiet place to work, and a laptop that is not running large uploads or video streaming during calls.
How much bandwidth does a call use?
Each call needs bandwidth in both directions, upload as well as download. Approximate figures per call, including network overhead:
| Codec | Bandwidth per call (each way) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| G.711 (ulaw/alaw) | about 90 kbps | Best quality on good connections |
| G.722 | about 90 kbps | HD voice |
| G.729 | about 30 kbps | For slow or shared connections |
Upload speed matters more than download. On most home broadband, one call is easy; the trouble starts when someone else in the house is uploading files or on a video call. Use the call-quality monitor to check jitter and packet loss when an agent reports poor audio.
Security for remote agents
Calls that leave your office network must be protected, both to keep customer conversations private and to stop attackers from using your PBX to make expensive calls.
- Encrypt signalling and audio. Voxdial supports TLS for SIP signalling and SRTP or DTLS-SRTP for audio, and secure WebSocket (WSS) for WebRTC.
- Use a VPN or restrict access by IP where your security policy requires it.
- Use strong, unique extension passwords and never share them between agents.
- Restrict outbound calls by role so a remote extension cannot dial international or premium numbers it does not need. See PBX security and toll fraud.
Managing a remote team
Remote agents need the same visibility as office agents. Use the call center wallboard and KPIs to track answer rate, average wait and service level, and use break reasons to see when agents are away. Call recording and agent performance reports make coaching possible without sitting next to someone. Missed calls go into a callback worklist, so nothing is lost when the team is small. For queue design, read call queue management.
Planning to move some or all of your agents home? Talk to BitVoice about setting up remote agents on Voxdial Contact Center.
FAQs
Can call centre agents work from home with the same system?
Yes. Home agents sign in to the Voxdial agent console, which registers to the same contact centre over the internet, so they take calls from the same queues with recording and reports.
What internet speed does a work from home agent need?
A single call uses about 30 to 90 kbps each way depending on the codec. Any stable broadband connection is enough; stability and upload speed matter more than headline speed.
Is a softphone secure for customer calls?
It is when signalling and audio are encrypted. Voxdial supports TLS, SRTP and secure WebSocket for WebRTC softphones, and administrators can lock the agent console settings.
Do remote agents need a desk phone?
No. The WebRTC softphone in the Voxdial agent console runs on the agent’s computer, so a good USB headset is all the extra hardware they need.
