NethVoice: Disable ringtone and incoming call UI when NethLink is used only for Click-to-Call

[tonyco97]

Description

Some customers use NethLink only for Click-to-Call, while incoming and outgoing calls are handled by a physical desk phone (for example Yealink).

In this scenario:

• The user answers calls on the desk phone
• NethLink is used only to start outbound calls
• Incoming calls should not open Phone Island
• Incoming calls should not play any ringtone

Currently, when a call arrives, NethLink always:

• opens Phone Island
• plays a ringtone
• shows OS notifications

This creates confusion and is disruptive when the desk phone is the primary device.

---

Why this feature is needed

This use case is common in real offices:

• Operators work with a desk phone on their desk
• They want Click-to-Call from CRM or browser
• They do not want NethLink to behave like a softphone for inbound calls

Today the only available workarounds are:

• disabling Windows notifications
• muting the whole application from the OS mixer
• or manually replacing sound files

These solutions are not reliable, portable or testable.

A native solution inside NethLink / Phone Island is needed.

---

Purpose of the feature

Provide a supported and configurable way to use NethLink in Click-to-Call only mode, without:

• ringtone
• Phone Island popup
• visual or audio noise on incoming calls

This also improves QA and support workflows, because silent clients can be configured without OS-level hacks.

---

Proposed solution

1. Incoming call behavior settings

Add user-level settings in NethLink:

When receiving an incoming call:

• Show Phone Island
• Play ringtone

This allows:

• Click-to-Call only mode
• Silent softphone mode
• Normal softphone mode

---

2. Silent ringtone option

Provide a "Silent" ringtone inside Phone Island (a WAV or MP3 file with no audio).

This allows:

• Muting only the ringtone
• Keeping all other audio (calls, notifications, etc.)

This ringtone can be bundled directly inside the phone-island repository.

---

Alternative solutions

• Muting the app via OS audio mixer
• Disabling Windows notifications
• Replacing ringtone files manually

These approaches are:

• not portable
• not user-friendly
• not testable
• not manageable by support

---

Additional context

From support and development discussion:

Users with desk phones want:

• No Phone Island popup
• No ringing sound
• NethLink used only to start calls

The Phone Island UI is still useful when NethLink is the main device, but in desk-phone scenarios it becomes unnecessary noise.

---

See also

• Phone Island repository
  https://github.com/nethesis/phone-island

[federicoballarini]

Disabling Windows notifications doesn't seem to be a workaround, as Phone Island opens anyway.