Conference call service recommendations depend on the type of quality and service you need. If you are casual user who likes to talk to friends, a free conference service would be fine. However, businesses and associations would need a more professional service that is more reliable and geared toward providing customer service.

If you are a business, organization or association and are looking for conference service options there are many recommendations, including these top 6:

1) It's always best to provide an 800 call in number for customers and prospects, so they don't have to pay long distance charges to listen to you trying to sell them something. Conference calls that take place among internal company colleagues and associates usually wouldn't need a toll free number to call, since the long distance charges they pay would be less than paying for toll free service. So, the recommendation here is to have a toll free conference service for customers and prospects, and a non-toll free service for internal company calls.

2) Don't buy conference bridge hardware for your company if your conferencing costs are less than $2500 per month. Instead of getting hardware, just rent the service. You'll send up way ahead. Not to mention you'll be saving a small fortune on maintenance and line charges.

3) If you are an occasional conference user and only conference once or twice a month, you are better off on a pay-as-you-go basis. You only get billed for what you use. On the other hand, if you are heavy user you should get the fixed or flat rate conferencing service that gives you unlimited usage for a set rate each other. There are no per minutes charges with the fixed rate service and you can talk as much as you want, anytime you want.

4) If you get the unlimited fixed rate service, and want to add the convenience of a toll free number, you should consider a "hybrid" approach. Get a toll free number and have it "ring to" the flat rate conference bridge. So, very simply, you can save a ton of money by having your associates call the regular toll number to get into the conference, and at the same time, have your customers or prospects use the toll free number to end up at the same place. That way, you aren't paying for toll free expenses for everyone -- you are only giving the toll free number out to the people who need it. Everyone else is using the conference service for next to nothing.

5) Calling into a conference bridge on a regular landline phone will improve the quality of the call, versus using a cell phone or VoIP connection. If you are having quality issues, have everyone call from a regular analog landline phone. Otherwise, if the call quality is bad, you can have the caller mute himself, or the moderator can mute all the callers, or you can get an operator to isolate the issue and just mute that one caller with a bad connection.

6) If a conference call is very important, and there is a lot riding on the call (i.e. big contract or deal) you are well advised to get operator assistance. The operators can call out to each party and introduce participants into the conference. This professional touch will impress your most skeptical prospects and demonstrate you are taking the discussion very seriously. Having a professional operator handle and organize your conference with the highest level of service usually pays for itself many times over.



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