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Free
Conference Calling Services
How free are free conference calling services?
Free conference calling services are not completely free and
traditional conferencing services may save more money for
the company in the long run. However, when choosing a
conference calling service, a company must determine its
budget and usage plans to settle on a discount or full
service conferencing provider that will best meet its needs.
A company such as
FreeConference.com is trying to entice the consumer away
from the traditional conferencing services by providing free
calling services that may or may not be suitable for every
company.
What FreeConference.com offers
FreeConference.com is a conference call service provider
that offers three different conferencing tiers: Web
Scheduled Premium 800, Web Scheduled Standard, and the
Reservationless Standard that are all free, yet charge for
toll-free (800) numbers. The free features include no
monthly or one-time set-up fee and everyone who calls in on
the same dial-in number is able to participate. Users should
expect to pay the long-distance rates for the length of the
call, except when using the Web Scheduled Premium 800, which
allows the conference organizer to pay $.10/minute per
caller to receive the toll-free service free of charge.
Reservationless Standard does not require Internet access,
while the two other services use the Internet for online
scheduling only. Keeping in mind that FreeConference.com is
just an audio conferencing provider, many of its features
could help companies fulfill their conferencing requirements
by using normal telephones.
What traditional conferencing services offer
Once traditional conference users set up their corporate
accounts with a service such as
Intercall or
ConferencePlus, they have many more options than the
free conference users. For instance, these full service
conference providers offer audio, video, web and event
conferencing all under one roof, and their customers receive
exceptional service and options tailored to fit their needs.
Audio conferencing features include operated-assisted calls,
polling, recording and streaming for later feedback, and
Outlook integration. Of course, these services come with a
price that may be out of the range of smaller companies
trying to find simpler, yet reliable conferencing solutions.
How companies should choose their teleconferencing
services
Companies need to assess their size, budgets and scope in
order to find the right conferencing solution. Using the
free conferencing services that FreeConference.com offers
would be the right choice for a small or medium-sized
business that would not need all of the extra features and
services provided by the full conferencing providers. In
addition, if that company only will use audio conferencing
and knows up front that the free conferencing services are
not toll-free calls, then this choice would be the best
option. On the other hand, a Fortune 500 company should
choose a provider such as Intercall or ConferencePlus if
they make not only audio, but also frequent web conference
calls a quarter in order to achieve economies of scale and
meet their volume requirements.
Using free teleconferencing services is the right
solution for many small to medium-sized companies looking
for a cost-effective way to manage conferencing while
avoiding large set-up fees and expensive options.
Also See: [
VoIP service provider regulatory issues -- new E911
requirements ]
[ VoIP conference
software by Voxwire -- affordable web conferencing ]
[ Companies must
evaluate VoIP service providers with their security concerns ]
Home Page:
[ Audio-Conferencing-Guide.com ]
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