Use the Internet to Save on Conference Calls

Conference calling is the lifeblood of many modern businesses. By allowing meeting participants to participate via conference calls, it is possible to include stakeholders who are separated by hundreds or thousands of miles without incurring the expense of physically bringing everyone together. This both saves money and increased productivity. It is now possible to user the internet to save on conference calls and to make such calls more effective thereby increasing the impact of conference calls on your company\’s bottom line.

Traditionally, conference calling capability was only available from the major telecom suppliers under various business packages. These business packages were quite expensive, particularly if the end user required advanced conference calling capabilities, and the monopolistic nature of the telecom industry meant that users had very few options and therefore had to live with the high rates. There simply was not much that the consumer could do to save on conference calls. With the deregulation of the telecommunications industry came an increase in competition that paved the way for low cost personal and business telephone service (first long distance and later local service became deregulated). Now there are many providers competing for business and consumers are able to shop around when looking to save on conference calls. Competition has turned out to be a boon for consumers who can now save on conference calls since market pressure has pushed the cost downward. The advent of internet telephony has made it even easier for consumers to save on conference calls.

The internet has revolutionized many areas of business and commerce and the impact is most recently being felt in the area of telephony. It is now possible to use the internet to send two way voice messages along with other network data so you can make phone calls from your computer. Many companies are now offering this sort of voice over internet protocol (VOIP) service for a much lower fee than what is charged for standard telephone service. It is therefore possible to save on conference calls by arranging to have your conference calls made using VOIP. In addition to using the internet to save on conference calls, you can also use the internet to share images, documents, files, presentations, and other media that are pertinent to the information at hand. No longer is it necessary to keep conferences calls limited to voice only.

For those who are really looking to save on conference calls, there is the new online service Skype (http://www.skype.com). Skype utilizes voice over IP technology, but it does some things that others do not. For example, at the basic level, Skype is free. You can make telephone calls between PCs, to and from anywhere in the world, using the Skype basic service. Those who are looking to save on conference calls would be hard pressed to do better than free. While the base package of Skype only allows calls to be made by and to personal computers, the Skype subscriber plans allow calls to be made to and from mobile and land lines as well. In fact, it is possible to have Skype assign a telephone number to your computer that you can use to receive calls from land lines and mobiles. The customers who are calling you need not even know that they are calling a computer.

It is now possible to take advantage of competition and new technology when looking to save on conference calls. Federal deregulation of the telecommunications industry has opened the door to competition, and the internet has enabled calls to be made at unimaginably low prices. These developments are all in the consumer\’s favor, and conference calling is now available to virtually any business regardless of budget.