Posts Tagged ‘Local Access’

Conference Calls make the World a Smaller Place

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

A conference call has the ability to bring people together from great distances so that they can meet when it otherwise would be impossible.  And today, with the globalization of many companies there really is no better option than a conference call to keep your organization going around the world.  And with Zip Conferencing you can even have your participants around the world dial into the conference in their country.  We routinely have customers who will have participants on a conference call that are in Europe, Asia and the US at the same time.  There is not an easier more cost effective solution to hold a meeting with participants in these locations than a conference call.

There are currently 40 cities where you can dial a local number in that city to connect to a conference call with Zip Conferencing that can have participants on it from around the world.  Any size company can look like a large company when you have the ability to have your customer in Paris dial a local number to get on a conference call with you in the United States and you can also share a presentation by using web conferencing as well.  The way it works is there are 40 cities around the world that have a local access number that transports the participant to the United States conferencing center through our network.  So, what looks like a local number to them is actually a connection all the way back in the United States to the conference call. 

Another way to connect from around the world is by using an International Toll Free access number that is available in over 30 countries around the world.  If someone is in France but not local to Paris they can still join the conference call by dialing a toll free number in France and they will get connected to the conference call in the United States with you.  The Toll Free access is a little more expensive but certainly impressive when your customer or prospect is dialing a toll free number outside the United States to join your conference call.

As technology progresses the world continues to get smaller and with an International conference call you can help make the world a lot smaller for your company.

www.zipconferencing.com

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From Russia with Conference Calls

Monday, October 26th, 2009

I guess the cold war has really officially ended.  Zip Conferencing now offers local number access for participants of your conference calls from Moscow and St. Petersburg.  That’s right, you can access our conference calls from Russia. 

The world continues to shrink and businesses continue to expand so it is only normal to have enough demand for conference call services in places all over the world including Russia.  In fact there are participants on our conference calls from all corners of the globe.  That is why over time we have continues to expand the coverage of our network to include access from every major city in the world.  There are a couple of ways to access conference calls from outside the United States.

Toll Number Access – The most common way to access a conference call from outside the United States has always been by using the toll or local number provided with a conference call.  That is because the toll free number is not accessible from outside the Untied States, but you can call a local number in the United States from anywhere.  The one drawback to this type of access is that the participants have to pay the long distance charges to access the call from outside the Untied States.  Which if it is an internal company call this may not be a bad thing, but you certainly don’t want a customer or prospect to have to pay to join your call.

International Local Access – Zip Conferencing provides access through local numbers in a number of large cites internationally.  That way if a participant is in that city they simply have to call a local number in their city to get on a conference call in the United States.  Thay way they also don’t need to pay any long distacne charges to access the conference call.  It is just like any other local call to them.

International Toll Free Access – For participants who are not located in a major city that has a local access number, they can dial into the conference call using an International Toll Free access number.  No matter where they are in that country they can dial the toll free access number in their country and not incur any charges to access the conference call.  The only drawback to this service is that it is the most expensive way to access an international conference call.

The bottom line is that there are now many options on how to access a conference call from an international location.  And now with the addition of Moscow and St. Petersburg, there are very few locations that do not have an access number.

www.zipconferencing.com

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Conference Call Access – Toll or Toll Free

Monday, August 31st, 2009

There are two basic ways to connect to a conference call, through a toll or toll free phone number.  Which one is best for you? 

Originally, the way you were connected to a conference call was to have the conference call operator call out to you and connect you to the conference call.  You didn’t have to worry about access numbers or codes, you simply waited for the call from the operator to come to you and connect you to the conference call.  These types of calls still exist, but they are generally expensive since an operator is involved in the process.  They are also not very convenient or even realistic in today’s environment when you could just as easily be joining the conference call from your cell phone while travelling.  So, when the reservationless type conference call was invented where you dial an access number and put in a passcode to connect to the conference call there were two main ways to connect, a toll free access number or a toll access number.  Ten years ago the cost of telecommunications was much higher and the cost of toll free access was much higher.  So, having an alternative made a lot of sense to some people.  Let’s examine both w2ays to connect to a conference call and see if having the local or toll connection still makes sense.

Toll or Local Access – A toll or local access number for a conference call is simply a number that is local to where the conference call equipment is located.  Since the conference call service company does not have to pay any long distance charges to get you connected to the equipment they can offer a lower rate to you.  Another advantage of this type of conference call access number is the fact that you access this number from anywhere in the world.  The disadvantage of this type of conference call access number is that you and your participants have to pay a toll charge to call this number.  Let’s say the conference call equipment is in Boston, MA and you are calling from California.  You will pay your long distance phone company a per minute charge to be connected tot he conference call quipment and the toll access charge to the conference call service company.  If you do not want you customer, prospect or employee to incur any charges for attending your conference call then you should not use this type of number.

Toll Free Access – A toll free access number for a conference call is an 800, 866 or 877 number that you would dial to connect to the conference call.  The conference call service company is typically going to charge a little more for this type of access because they are paying the long distance charges to connect you to the conference call.  The advantage on this type of number is that you or your participants do not have to pay any access charges to your long distance company to access the conference call.  This type of call is good if you do not want your participants to incur any hcarges to attend your conference call.

As prices for long distance have declined over the years there has become a smaller difference between the cost of local versus toll free access.  Today some companies, like Zip Conferencing, have rates so low that there is no difference between the cost of local and toll free access to the conference call.  And with rates less than 5 cents per minute it is hard to justify the reason to go with a local number since all of your participants will have to pay to get to your conference call.  The most convenient and now the lowest cost method to access a conference call these days is using a toll free access number.  www.zipconferencing.com

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