Sorry no post in a while. Been on vacation, without broadband. :(
I'd like to correct an earlier statement, and report some encouraging findings.
- The Android SIP client -
I said that the Android built-in SIP client wasn't very good, and listed a few features that it lacked to provide proof of that statement. I've learned that its feature set isn't as small as I thought. (Instead, I simply couldn't get something to work, and assumed that since CSipSimple worked, that the built-in stack was insufficient. Alas, that is one of the sore spots of SIP: When something doesn't work, you don't know who to blame.)
The feature(s) that I mentioned didn't work concerned dialing regular phone numbers from the stock dialler over SIP. Namely, I said that the only thing that the built-in stack could do was dial someone@somewhere, i.e. SIP-to-SIP calls. Furthermore, that the only way to actually dial those numbers was to enter the address into the Contact list and select it. These 2 statements are untrue.
Assuming that you have an account where you can dial regular phone numbers (dial out capability), (and that your account has some money in its balance), you can dial any number - either from your address book or dialled manually - using this SIP account, straight from the stock dialler. I'll explain how after some soapboxing.
I like the idea of using the stock dialler because it doesn't require using extra software. CSipSimple isn't a small download. Furthermore, it doesn't always play nice with the stock dialler and Google Voice, if installed (not that making a SIP call from the stock dialler is trouble free either; see below.)
Don't get me wrong; CSipSimple is an awesome SIP client. It has CODECs galore, it has re-write rules, it can register multiple accounts, it has encryption and it has video (and these are just the features I can think of off the bat.) It really is a huge pile of awesome.
But if all you want to do is make SIP calls, and cheap international calls, it appears to work with some tweaking.
End of soapboxing; here's how to get it to work. I have an account with Mondotalk, so I'll use it as an example. Go into the stock dialler. Click Menu | Settings | Accounts. (Note that Menu | Accounts goes to an entirely different place; don't go there.) Click Add Account. Enter your username, password and, in my example, sip99.mondotalk.com. Click on Optional settings | Outbound proxy address. In my example, enter sip99.mondotalk.com again. Click Save.
You can play with the Receive incoming calls setting if you like, but it's not relevant to making calls.
Back out one level and click on Use Internet calling | Ask for each call or For all calls when data network is available.
Here's the important part: If you have Google Voice installed, set it to Ask for each call. If you have Skype installed, also set it to Ask for each, if that's possible.
When you want to make a SIP call, dial the number normally (from the Contact list or enter manually or click on a phone number in the webbrowser). If it then asks about Google Voice, say 'no'. If it asks about Phone vs Skype, pick Phone. It will then ask Mobile vs Internet call. Select the latter of course.
Update:
I've been using the stock dialler for a while now. I have to say I'm quite pleased with it.
One thing you should be aware of, if you're going to use it: Provide the complete country code while dialling. Mondotalk is an international carrier and assumes that the first digit(s) is part of a country code. Unfortunately, the stock dialler isn't as smart as CSipSimple and won't prefix a number for you. Therefore, you have to do it yourself.
For example, put a '1' in front of all your numbers that reside within the US. If you don't, your call likely won't connect, but if it does, you could be charged a fair amount of money for that first minute. Guess where country code 95 is ?
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