Free Conference Calls
Should you pay for conferencing?
When choosing a conference calling services, consumers have a number of factors to weigh, from conference size to conference features to pricing options. The very first option most decide on is whether to go with a free conference calling service or pay for toll free conferencing. We believe that toll free conferencing provides a more professional, reliable and complete experience for you and your callers.
Long-distance dial-in vs. toll free dial-in
Common amongst free conference call services is the method used to access the conference bridge. This is accomplished using a long-distance number and as such, is a long-distance call, also known as a toll call. While the host doesn't incur the cost for the whole conference call, each of her participants is billed by their long-distance carrier. Now, while in many cases a participant may have a nationwide long-distance plan or be equipped with a large monthly cell phone plan and consider this acceptable, there are a still a large portion of average participants that only feel a toll-free dial-in is proper for a business or "professional" conference call.
Advertising and distractions when joining
Many of the free conferencing services subsidize their operational costs by playing advertisements on their lines. While this may help their bottom lines, the confusion and irritation your callers experience don't present you in the best light. Additionally, some free conference services have long winded introductions or distracting instructions causing many participants to feel lost when they try joining your conference call and abandon the join process altogether.
Getting support when you need it
You will definitely want to concern yourself with support. While Toll Free Conferencing offers telephone, online chat and email support, many free conference call providers don't. You'll be lucky to find a service that offers chat support and email. It is nice to be able to pick up the phone and speak to specialists and support representatives, when the need arises.
When you call, will anyone answer?
At its most basic, a conference call allows multiple people to talk to each other at the same time. This is hard to accomplish when your participants dial in and the conferencing system is full. Every reservation-less conferencing system experiences ebb and flows in their call traffic, but it is the service provider's responsibility to have enough resources so your call can go off without a hitch. Because of their price, free conference systems attract a lot of users and are generally not equipped well enough to handle the interest. So that means, during peak times, there may be no spots left for your callers.
Free services have their place
Free conferencing services provide a valuable service that allows many consumers to hold conference calls that otherwise would never be able to. But if reliability and professional are important to you, we recommend you go with Tollfreeconferencing.com.
