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Phone conferencing is a method that allows multiple teams to interact and have a group discussion or meeting with each other in real-time, either over telephone, internet, web, etc.
As conferencing helps in reducing communication and travel costs in today’s tech savvy world, companies and individuals prefer telephone conferencing over physical meetings or onsite visits.
What are the Options?
There are multiple ways a conferencing can be scheduled. Some of the available options are:
- Standard International Telephone conferencing
- VOIP conferencing
- Vonage conferencing
- Web phone conferencing
- Free and Publicly available MSN, Yahoo, AOL Messengers Conferencing
- Web-based Conferencing Applications like Go-To-Meeting, Webex, and Mypowwow, etc.
- And many more...
For each method of communication, a number of services are available in the market and there is considerable difference between telephone conferencing, internet conferencing, and web conferencing.
The telephone conferencing uses the normal telephone/AT&T cable networks & International dialing, the call routing from node-to-node via intermediate predefined handshake of switches and routing hubs of multiple service providers.
No special machine or internet connection is required. A person can just use his normal telephone or mobile to avail the international dialing and conferencing facility.
The applicable charges are computed based on service provider rates, the distance, timing and duration of the call. Some of the India service providers providing this facility are Hutch, Airtel, VSNL, BSNL, Tata, etc.
The internet phone uses internet and Voice-Over-IP (VOIP) protocol to route the conference call.
The simplest way to achieve this is by using a device called an ATA (analog telephone adaptor), which allows you to connect a standard phone to your computer or your Internet connection for use with VoIP.
There are special VOIP phones (RJ-45 Ethernet connection instead of standard RJ11 connector) available which, when used in conjunction with live IP or internet, dial another VOIP phone or IP address. Security and protection of data transferred over VOIP is assured by encrypting and decrypting the transfer.
Implementation of this method is typically seen in organizations having a heavy phone conferencing usage and demanding tight security.
For a single point-to-point VOIP connection, it's as good as using any normal phone (Just pick up the phone & dial the number), however, in corporate with large size audiences and usage, generally, this service is operator assisted and users need to register the conference call.
Many vendors provide such a service on chargeable basis, where a bridge number is provided and individual access codes need to be punched in to enter and attend the conference.
Vonage Wi-Fi phones also work on VOIP Phones principle. The Vonage Wi-Fi phone accesses wireless Internet connections (a Wi-Fi hotspot or wireless router in office or your home).
Employees in offices having Wi-Fi connectivity, use their Vonage Wi-Fi phone over wireless Internet connection and to talk family and co-workers across the globe at no additional charge. It acts as a portable, high-quality phone conferencing service with low cost.
Web Conferencing on the other hand, allows you to conference around the world by just using your PC or laptop.
However, it requires you to have a high bandwidth internet access, the software / service, speakers, microphone & sound card. Multiple free (msn, yahoo, AOL) as well as paid services (go-to-meeting, Webex, Zoho Meeting) are available to users to choose from.
With many options to choose from, at times it becomes confusing for a non-technical person to decide which equipment and method is most suitable for his unique requirement.
However, even before looking for best-fit and comparing between the methods, one must take into consideration his the purpose as well as depth of usage, quality expectations, and security concerns along with cost.
For an individual user having an existing internet connection, a freely available web phone conferencing facility like MSN, Yahoo, AOL, etc. would be best.
This is because the basic requirement of the individual is to use the facility for personal use (may be mostly a one-to-one communication mostly) and has low demand on quality, security, service availability and one-to-one discussions.
The corporate world demands highly secure and reliable communication along with a 24x7 service availability. They therefore generally opt for VOIP Phones, net conferencing or Web Conferencing over telephone conferencing.
Vonage phones are best suited for people with high travel demands.
While VOIP phone conferencing is generally & broadly used for quick one-on-one or a small group phone communication, necessity and requirement of additional services like application/screen/white-board sharing facilities, etc. leads to availing paid web conferencing services.
Web Conferencing facilitates web meetings, web seminars & web broadcasting. Web meeting is useful when one wants to share the desktop sharing, do a presentation walk-thru, show application demos, etc.
Based on the software and service chosen, one can even pass his machine’s mouse-keyboard control, etc. to the other person. Web seminars for best suited for a larger audience, while Web Broadcasting befits Live and Pre-recorded audio as well as video broadcasts.
Web phone conferencing is a boon for internet pre-sales. Instant sharing, demo and walk-thru of products and services helps them to present and sell your services in real-time environment, as if sitting live in front of client.
It is also much in demand by online training institutes as well. Web conferencing is the need of the hour, making this world a smaller and smarter place to work.
Related article: Finding The Best Solution For Internet Conferencing - From Skype To Professional Web Conferences
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