Selecting A Confrence
Call Provider
When it comes to selecting a confrence call service provider, your
choices are vast. Not only does virtually every long-distance carrier
offer conference call service, legions of stand-alone providers offer
comparable services, usually at a discount.
Although most providers offer similar services and features, pricing
is very competitive and can differ dramatically among providers. A
survey of stand-alone providers finds many companies offering
conferencing services for about $0.12 per minute (per line), which
works out to less than $300 for a two-hour conference call with 20
participants. Volume users may be able to negotiate even more
favorable rates.
Further, pricing for conference call services seems to be rather
fluid. Many carriers offer an introductory discount, and some even
offer a “Google” discount to customers who say they found their
services on that particular search engine.
Most providers offer their services a low monthly fee (or none at all)
and require no long-term commitment – meaning customers can try
different providers and shop around for the best prices and services
for their specific purposes.
Nearly every business has a need at some point to gather groups and
individuals from different locations to discuss strategy, form a
consensus or disseminate timely information. Whether this is a
one-time need or an ongoing requirement, conference calling may be the
most effective and efficient solution available.
For users with greater requirements for sharing video, multimedia and
other data, video and web conferencing may be warranted, but for most
users, confrence calling is the most economical way to convene a
meeting of the minds.
To get the best deal, shop around by consulting
several of the many conference call service providers in the market, a
selection of which is listed in our directory.
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