Posts Tagged ‘Free Conference Call Service’

Is a Free Telephone Conference Call Service really Free?

Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

So here you are searching for a conference call service provider and there are companies advertising a free telephone conference call service.  Free is good, right?  Why shouldn’t you use a free telephone conference call ervice?  Let’s examine how a free telephone conference call service works and see if you are still interested in trusting your business to a free conference call service.

  • A Free telephone conference call service is not really Free – The Free conference call service companies are advertising on the internet and other places so if they are truly free how are they making money?  These companies make money by working out a deal with a local phone company to terminate calls within their equipment.  That’s because the local phone company makes money when a long distance call terminates on their equipment.  It doesn’t pay a lot but when you consider the volume of calls that can be generated it does add up to enough money to pay for the equipment over time.  The problem is they don’t make enough to provide all of the services a regular conference call service provider does and they are usually a little thin in other areas of their business as well.  The main problem is that you are the one paying the bill.  Because you and your participants are dialing a long distance number to join the conference call.  So it appears free until you get your long distance bill or cell bill and see all the minutes on it.  And if the local number connection was so good why do all of the “Free” conference call companies offer toll free access?
  • Quality – A Free telephone conference call service is not concerned with providing a reliable and quality service to its customers.  It doesn’t have to because it is free.  It is hard to argue with free so people put up with capacity issues, unavailability and noisy connections.  Do you want to trust your important business calls to a free service where quality and reliability are not assured?  Also you will find that many of the features you expect to have on a conference call service are not there on a free telephone conference call service.  They can’t afford the best equipment with the latest features.
  • Support – Lastly, probably the biggest hole in the services for a free telephone conference call service is the support you will receive.  You will find that support is given to their customers that pay for the upgrade to toll free service but little is provided to the free conference call customers.  Its free so who can complain.

If you will look at the free telephone conference call service companies you will see they all offer a toll free service option but at rates higher than Zip Conferencing.  So why fool around with a service that will cost you anyway when you can get a toll free service that is highly reliable and high quality from the start for less money?

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Why doesn’t Zip Conferencing offer a Free Conference Call Service?

Thursday, July 7th, 2011

When I started Zip Conferencing I formed the company around a strong foundation of offering a high quality, reliable conference call service with outstanding customer service.  And the idea of offering a free conference call service just did not match up well with these principals.  So why doesn’t Zip Conferencing offer a free conference call service?

  • Quality – The first thing to suffer when a company offers a free conference call service is the quality of the conference call.  In order to be able to provide a free conference call service the conference call service provider needs to keep their costs way down.  That is because they only earn money from the local phone company where their equipment is and the rate they earn is very small.  That is because the conference call service provider makes money on a free conference call by getting paid to terminate long distance calls on the local provider’s network.  And you and all of your participants are required to dial long distance to get to the conference call bridge.  The local phone company is paid by the long distance carriers to terminate calls and they in turn pay the free conference call service company.  So, typically the conference call equipment is not the best available and many times it is VOIP based and believe me you will hear the difference.  Zip Conferencing uses the latest conference call service equipment directly connected to the long distance carrier networks to insure the highest quality conference calls possible.
  • Reliability- Quality and reliability go hand and hand and if you are not using the best equipment you tend to have more issues than if your equipment is top of the line.  In addition, to keep costs down the free conference call service companies usually do not have as extensive a back up network in place in case there is an issue.  It cost money to have back up equipment on standby and to have back up generators and other systems in place to insure the conference call service is in place when you need it.  Zip Conferencing has back up systems and power in place for the highest standard in reliability.
  • Cost- Lastly is the cost.  But it is Free right?  Actually no.  A free conference call service makes you call a long distance number to connect to it.  So you and all of your participants are going to pay a long distance charge to connect to the conference call.  Do you really want your participants to have to pay to get on your conference call?  This hidden cost is the main reason to avoid using a free conference call service.  With rates for toll free conference calls as low as Zip Conferencing’s why make your participants pay?

So why should Zip Conferencing offer a free confernece call service when it can provide the highest quality, most reliable conference calls at rates that beat even the free conference call service providers?

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Free Conference Call Services

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

So, you think you want free conference call services?  Think again!  Like most things in life, nothing really comes for free.  And before you risk your reputation and business you will want to understand what free conference call services are all about. 

When the first free conference call service was introduced everyone in the conference call industry kind of shrugged and figured everyone would understand the deficiencies with the service and steer clear of them.  Well, free conference call services have survived because everyone likes something “free” so its attraction can not be underestimated.  But, is it truly free?  And what is the difference between free conference call services and paid conference call services?  Here are the details behind free conference call services.

  • Free Doesn’t mean No Cost- True, after the conference call is over you may not owe the free conference call service provider anything, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t cost you anything.  That is because all free conference call service providers give you a local number to access your conference call.  That “local” number is usually not local for anyone on the conference call which means you and you participants have to make a long distance call to connect to your conference.  Do you want your customer or prospect to get long distance charges on their phone bill for attending your conference call?
  • Will it be available when you dial in – The way a free conference call service company makes money is by getting the termination fee for having you call into a location where long distance providers pay the local telephone company to terminate the call.  The amount they are paid is very small so they can’t afford the best conference call equipment and have a limitation on capacity.  There is no guarantee that when you call in for your conference call that the capacity will be there for you.  Do you want to chance having the conference call available?
  • Toll Free at a Price – You can usually get a toll free access number for your conference call, but you will pay for it.  And if you find that if you shopped around the competition you could find a better toll free conference call rate from a company with better features and more reliable conference call equipment.
  • Support is Not Free – And if you need any support, how much support do you expect if the service is free? 

So, if you want to make sure your conference call is there when you need and not get hit with hidden charges you may want to examine what it means to be a free conference call service.

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A Conference Call Service Reflects on Your Company

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

As a business we sometimes get caught up in saving money on the things we use in the business and forget to think about how it will reflect on the image of our company.  Let’s face it.  We’ve all done it.  Save a little money by replacing a reliable service or product with a cheaper one only to find that in most case, you really do get what you pay for.  It is the same with a conference call service company.  It is okay to switch to a new conference call vendor to save some money, but you do need to be careful about the service you are getting as the participants on the conference calls you run will see the conference call service you use as a reflection of your company.

You see, you are going to invite customers and prospects to attend meetings you hold via a conference call or web conference.  And it is important that the meeting have the kind of quality and reliability you expect.  After all, you would not invite your guests to a roadside motel where the lights don’t work for a meeting, right?  With a conference call service company it is not always so apparent to see the differences in the companies, but if you know what to look for, at least you will have a chance.

First of all something for free is rarely free.  In some way or another you are paying for the service.  Many times there are advertisements associated with free conference call service that the company is putting in front of your audience.  And invariably, the conference call service is not as good as a fee based service either.  Free conference calls make the participants pay to connect to the conference call because they have to dial a long distance number to connect to the call.  And the conference call service company can’t afford the latest equipment or services, or the best connections tot he telephone network either.  And they might not even have the conference call capacity to support your call when you need it.  All of these things cost money and free doesn’t pay for them.

Some of the conference call service companies are now offering unlimited capacity and rates that are less expensive than a long distance phone call.  How do they do that?  Well, they are probably offering a service based on VOIP technology.  Don’t get me wrong, VOIP has come a long way in the past 5 years, but would you trust your business to it?  Again, if it looks too good to be true it probably is. 

In the end you should be looking for a conference call service company that uses the latest conference call equipment, solid connections to the telephone network, back up network provisi0ns and provides service to back up their conference calls like Zip Conferencing.  Because when you hold an audio or web conference, the conference call service company you choose will reflect on your company.

www.zipconferencing.com

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Free Conference Calls

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

I am sure you have seen them if you have done a search for conference calls on the internet.  Free conference calls.  So what is the deal?  Are they really free?  How do they afford to do that?

Well I am sure you have also heard the saying, “There is no such thing as a Free Lunch” and with free conference calls it is all too true.  First of all who had the idea in the first place and how do they make money?  A number of years ago someone had the idea to give away conference calls in order to generate traffic to a carriers’ network, because the carrier gets paid by the long distance carriers a small amount of money to terminate the call on the local network.  So, even though to you the conference call is “free” the conference call service provider is paid by the carrier for the traffic they are generating.  So, then it is a Free Conference Call, right?  Not exactly.

The problem with the free conference call is that you have to pay a long distance charge to whoever your long distance provider is in order to get to the location where their conference call equipment is installed.  Let’s say that their equipment is in Kansas City for instance.  You and all of your participants have to pay the long distance charge, per minute to connect to Kansas City.  Now that rates for toll free conference calls have come down, why would you want to have hidden charges for you and your participants?

There are other problems with many of these free conference call services.  Some are using VOIP to connect the call resulting in poor quality.  Many will have capacity issues because they really can’t afford to have lots of equipment sitting idle because their financial model is so thin.  Many of the conference call features you will get with a toll free conference call service provider are not available with a free conference call service provider.  In order to compensate for some of these shortfalls some of the free providers started offering toll free conference calls as well.  But the pricing for these services is higher than some of the conference call service providers that are built to provide a high quality service like Zip Conferencing.  So, you end up paying a higher price for a lower grade of service. 

So, why would anyone use a free conference call service?  Because its “free”.  In the end, like so many other things in life, with conference calls you get what you pay for.

www.zipconferencing.com

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