Telephone conference calls: Consumers are spoiled for choice when it comes to suppliers of telephone conference calls and the

various options on offer.  Make sure that you do thorough research before choosing a provider or you will end up paying for services that you don’t need or losing out on features that would have been to the benefit of your callers.  Take the time to find a service suited to your needs – you may even end up with more money in your pocket at the end of the day!

How to identify the most suitable service provider for your telephone conference calls

The first step is to analyse what you need in terms of telephone conference calls and what your requirements will be in the near future.  Some considerations would be, for example, how many calls you make weekly, whether they are local or international calls, the duration of your calls and the cost of telephone conference calls per month.  An analysis of a few recent bills will provide you with indicators and if your usage is set to increase, keep it in mind when choosing an appropriate service.

Perhaps you have become used to the options offered by your current provider or you have not used such a service before.  Either way, be informed about the range of services that can be utilized so that you can make a more informed choice.  For example, are you aware that some services will make recordings and supply MP3 files of your telephone conference calls?

Jot down the services that catch your eye as you come across them.  For example, you may be interested in a “no reservations” option so that you can call whenever you want or if you often call internationally you will want to employ a service that caters for the needs of international callers.

Comparing various plans for telephone conference calls

Once you are familiar with all the options on offer, start comparing service providers and the plans that they propose for telephone conference calls.  Be organized about it:  create a spreadsheet listing your must-have options in order of priority down the side and at the top put the names of the top five service providers that you will consider.  Place a tick in the block for each service offered per service provider and at the bottom of each column record the monthly fees charged for telephone conference calls by the service provider as well as any other pertinent information that may turn your head.

Once you have completed this exercise you will have a graphic and comprehensive summary to guide you in choosing the best possible service provider in terms of features and cost to suit your telephone conference callstelephone conference calls needs.

 

Don’t simply go for the plan with the lowest cost.  Set up mock telephone conference calls with a couple of potential service providers so that you can check on the standard of the service they provide and the quality of their calls.

The pros and cons of telephone conference calls

Free conference calls can be a mixed experience and it is good practice to keep yourself informed as to what to expect.

On the positive side, conference calls offer the opportunity to communicate with your colleagues despite being geographically separated and in the case of free telephone conference calls it is a very cost-effective way of doing business.  In theory, all that is required is for all participants to phone a toll free number and start chatting.

On the down side, you need to look deeper into the issue of whether telephone conference calls claiming to be free are in fact devoid of any cost.  The objective of any business is to make money so look out for hidden costs in services offered by suppliers.

The conference call “dial in” numbers may not in fact be toll free numbers or they may be free only to callers in a certain area whereas callers from other areas may have to pay whatever rates their carrier charges for long distance calls.  Callers are less likely to join in a conference if they have to pay for their calls themselves or if they do join they may limit their call time or leave the conference prematurely as their concern about the cost escalates.

Service providers may put a limit on the number of participants in a conference call or manipulate users into upgrading to more expensive telephone conference calls service plans which may be free with other service providers.  Technical problems experience with telephone conference calls include callers being cut off, bad connections, inability to connect to a conference call, lack of customer support, and so forth.  Strangely enough, the service may improve if you switch from a free to a paid service with the same provider and one wonder what game they are actually playing.

One way of service providers making money while offering free calls is by selling advertising so although callers get their telephone conference calls for free, they have to listen to annoying advertisements after having dialed in.

So although you may not have to expend cash on conference calls, be aware that they may cost you dearly in other ways!

Conference calling has its dark side too, with suppliers sometimes connive with local carriers to split the connection fees paid by long distance carriers for connecting to local numbers.  The telecommunications industry is highly regulated and standard fees are applied across the board.  Long distance calls, including free conference calls, will cost the long distance carrier a certain fee to connect to the local carrier.  Since local fees vary, free conference call services may opt to contract with a high fee carrier to split the difference.

What this boils down to for consumers?  Historically, callers have been blocked by participating in telephone conference calls by their long distance carriers.  Also, increased costs for long distance carriers may be distributed amongst consumers so that everyone ends up paying more.  One example is that of AT&T/Cingular which, in 2007, blocked callers to a free conference call provider’s long distance numbers.  Apparently this company’s Iowa connection fees bill jumped from $2000 to $2 million from one month to the next when a free calling service managed to exploit a weakness in the interconnection system. Hope you enjoy this information about telephone conference calls.

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