International Conference Calling Services
- International conference calling services make collaboration amongst a geograhically diverse team a simple matter of dialing a phone number
and entering a passcode.
Once all attendees dial in, the attendees can exchange ideas and come to decisions despite their country locations.
With international conference calling services, which services and features are the most important for a successful
global conference call?
Let's take a look.
- International Conference Calling Services - Toll Free or Local Access?
- The first consideration when using international conference calling services involves
who pays for the call. In some cases, toll free access makes the most sense, especially from a convenience standpoint.
It's very convenient for the participants to dial-in Toll Free and it's free to your guest to join your call.
One consideration, if the call will take place between employees of the same company, the company
will pay for the cost of accessing the call one way or the other.
In this example, toll free international conference calling services are the least expensive choice. Not
only are toll free international calling rates competitive and costs easy to predict, the leader of the conference
call has the option to dial-out to participants with lower calling rates in order to save even more.
Providing local access numbers, if practical, can also reduce costs. However, it's
likely that some participants will incur long distance charges.
For example, if you provide a Los Angeles phone number for your callers in the United States, some participants
dialing in to the Los Angeles access number from other cities and states may incur long distance charges from their
local phone company when making an out-of-state-call and many may not.
- It all depends on what type of calling plan the participant is using to join
your conference call
For example, if the conference call attendee is calling into an access number which is located in another
state and is using his/her landline and their long distance plan includes 'nationwide' calling, they will not pay
long distance fees to their local phone company to join the conference call, even though they may be calling an
interstate access number.
If they have an older traditional long distance plan, they may be subject to pay per minute long distance fees
to their local phone company to call an out-of-state phone number.
- What if your participants access your conference call using their cell phone?
Most U.S. cell phone plans do include 'nationwide' long distance. So again in this
case, there would be no long distance fees to call an out-of-state access number. But there will probably be 'airtime'
minutes deducted from the attendees monthly minutes allocation from their cell phone provider. This would depend
on the cell phone plan. There are 'unlimited' usage cell phone plans. Using an unlimited cell phone plan would
permit dialing an out-of-state conference call access number at no additional cost to the participant and no per
minute fees or airtime deductions, if their cellular plan is 'unlimited'.
- Toll Free Conference Call Access
Toll Free access is a free call to any participant within the bounds of the 63 countries on the Toll
Free list.
In some countries there are limitations set by the local governments as to what type of devices are allowed
to access Toll Free numbers. For example, in India there are several mobile phone providers and several landline
carriers. Each may impose their own rules as to what type of device can access their network to reach your conference
call.
- It can be a bit complicated but improving
Another example, if the participant is located in China, there is a north China toll free number and a south China
toll free number. Both China toll free numbers are only accessible from a 'landline' phone in China and they are
different numbers for each geography, north and south.
Then there is the recent addition of the China
'400' number. The China 400 access number works from landline and mobile phones no
matter where the caller is located in mainland China, north and south using either a mobile phone or landline.
This has greatly simplified accessing an international conference call 'from' China.
- International Conference Calling Services - Features that Make a Difference
- International conference calling services offer a variety of features that can enhance the overall communications
experience. Some of the features that you'll want to take advantage of include the following:
Call clarity - Using international conference calling services based on the public
switched telephone network ensures the best call quality. This is vital as your teleconference can only be successful
if all participants can hear one another adequately.
Constant numbers - Some conference call providers require the account owner to retrieve
a new set of passcodes for every new conference call they host. Changing the passcodes should be at the option
of the account owner, not the conference call company.
Leader dial out - The ability to dial some attendees directly can reduce costs and ensure
that some of the more forgetful participants don't miss the teleconference. In addition, if a participant is located
in a country where toll free access to the international conference calling service's system is not available, leader dial out ensures
that the participant can join the conference call. Leader dial-out
rates are typically lower then Toll Free access rates depending on the country.
Online management tools - Being able to schedule and control international conference calling
services online allows you to work more efficiently, mute noisy calls, dial specific participants, and much more.
Audio console - One of the online management tools that can make a dramatic difference
is the audio console tool. With this tool, the leader can mute and unmute callers thus ensuring that noisy distractions
(such as traffic noise, barking dogs, music on hold, people talking in the background, eating and drinking noises,
etc.) are kept to a minimum.
MP3 call recordings - The Leader enters * 2 keypad command (star-two) to begin recording
conference call and producing the MP3 file.
Recording your conference calls is an excellent way to save money and keep others informed. For example, instead of having non-essential participants
join the call as it takes place (and paying per minute per participant), you could have them listen to the recording
after the fact.
They'll receive the same information without the expense. MP3 call recordings are also useful for participants
that couldn't participate due to time zone differences or other commitments.
Podcasting - If your conference call is educational or part of a series, you could allow
others to subscribe to an RSS feed to hear the latest MP3 recordings.
On-demand conferences - Some issues require immediate collaboration. Being able to schedule
international conference calling services on demand means that you and your colleagues can immediately brainstorm
solutions without waiting for an available time slot with the conference call provider.
- Low rates - International conference calling services are extremely competitive with
low Toll Free and dial-out rates to dozens of countries around the world.
Pay as you go plans - While many international conference calling services offer tiered
and prepaid plans, pay as you go plans often make the most sense because you only pay for
the conference calls you host. There's no minimum usage requirement, no long-term contract, no setup fees.
There's the flexibility of using the international
conference call service only when you need it with no further commitments.
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American International Telephonics, LLC
9601 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1111
Beverly Hills, California 90210 USA
1 800 600 6151 US & Canada +1 310 281 5539 +1 310 424 7149 Fax
© Copyright 1996 - 2016 • American International Telephonics • All Rights Reserved
International Conference Calling Services
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