After building our own WebRTC platform with GetOnSIP, we're always excited to see how other developers are using the technology to foster real time communications. Here's a fun demo by Versatica, a leading developer of VoIP and WebRTC related projects:
RetroRTC, a WebRTC-powered SIP video chat, incorporates an "old timey" rotary phone into its interface. (It reminds us of our latest From Rotary to WebRTC Infographic!) Each user is given a four digit number that can be called by another user. A user must dial this number on the rotary phone before placing the call. The finger wheel turns slowly and dramatically for each number, and when the call is finally initiated, the user's image appears on an old school TV on the right hand side of the page (chats can also take place without video).
JsSIP is a Versatica project, so it's no surprise that RetroRTC is powered by it. This is one of the JavaScript SIP libraries utilized by GetOnSIP. Besides RetroRTC and JsSIP, Versatica has also produced OverSIP and SIP on the Web. There's no doubt Versatica has a leading presence in the SIP community.
The RetroRTC interface
Although RetroRTC is a fine SIP video chat, we're pretty sure the purpose of this project isn't to supplant similar clients. The prolonged dialing and the hokey TV contribute to an aesthetic that is consciously humorous. But beneath the light heartedness, RetroRTC appears to be making an increasingly substantiated statement about WebRTC's place in the world of telephony. By linking WebRTC to the rotary telephone, RetroRTC suggests that emerging technologies such as WebRTC could be just as crucial to human communication in the coming decades as the rotary telephone was in its day.
"It's one of the quickest, simplest WebRTC demos out there," said OnSIP Software Engineer James Criscuolo. "It's a clever play on WebRTC's emerging importance and the technologies it could eventually upend."