As US Businesses expand into international markets and the world continues to shrink we get more and more inquiries from people who want to do international conference calls. It used to be that we would get a company that had a participant in England or somewhere in Western Europe, but now participants are all over the world and it is only natural that companies would like to do an international conference call. So, what are the options if you have participants for a conference call in an international location? Well, there really are three options available from conference call service companies to do international conference calls.
- Local US Number – Since the international participant cannot dial a US toll free number, most conference call service companies also provide a local US number to dial in order to access the conference call. Since it is a local US number the international conference call participant can dial it from anywhere in the world and access the conference call. The only catch with this method of access is that the international participant is going to pay long distance toll charges to dial a US number and will pay those charges to their long distance phone company for the entire time they are on the conference call. If the participant is an employee and has a good calling plan to dial the US this may be the least expensive option. Usually the cost to the Host of the conference call is the same or less than the toll free access for US participants.
- Local In-Country Number – Some conference call service companies have set up local access in foreign countries where the international participant can dial in to a US conference call by dialing a local number where they are located. So, if the participant was in London, for example, they would dial a local London phone number and the conference call service company then transports the caller to the US conference call via their network. The international participant usually doesn’t have to pay any charges to access a local number and the Host of the conference call in the US usually pays a little more than the local US number access but less than an international toll free number.
- International Toll Free Number – An international toll free number is by the far the most convenient, but also the most expensive option for access to an international conference call. There is no universal toll free access available so you need to dial a specific toll free number from a particular country. But you can dial the number anywhere in that country and the participant will pay nothing to access the US conference call. But this type of access is the most expensive for the Host of the conference call. If the participant for the conference call is a customer or a prospective customer and you want to make sure they do not spend anything to access your conference call then this might be the best option for you.
International conference calls are now widely used and there are a variety of ways to connect to the call from around the world. Zip Conferencing offers all three types of access with over 40 local numbers and 40 toll free numbers around the world providing access throughout all major markets around the world.