Flat Fee Phoning

If your firm uses or anticipates using conference call services extensively or on any regular basis at all, a flat rate may be a better buy than the per minute per user fee that many vendors offer. Knowing what your break even numbers are may be a little time consuming, especially given the variations in rates and pricing among the various conference call services, but this is about the only way to determine if the flat rate is the way to go.

If, for instance, you’re paying 5 cents per minute per user and conducting an average of 5 conferences a month that last approximately one hour each and have 25 participants each you’re paying a monthly fee to your conference call vendor of 5 cents x 25 participants x 60 minutes times 5 conference calls, for a total cost of $375 each month. If you find a vendor (perhaps the same vendor would offer you a flat rate) that charges considerably less than this each month the flat rate would be the better deal for your conference call services. Your firm’s continuity of conference calling is, of course, a crucial factor in this ROI decision. Should you have one or two months that fall below this number, or one month when you have no conference calls you’d need a flat rate that is considerably under this $375 month cost to make the flat rate commitment worth your while.

Another point to keep in mind as well is that a commitment to a flat rate is an ongoing commitment to the vendor and vendors like that. Some, if not most, of them reward this with additional features.

One vendor that we looked at provided a 70 percent discount off their standard per minute per user charge for a flat rate commitment. Here are some sample fees. Flat rate unlimited conference calls with this vendor’s services start at $50 per month for audio conferencing for up to 10 participants. Each additional user is an additional $5 per month. There is no toll free number at this flat rate and the conference call services must be prepaid, but this vendor’s flat rate can work out to as low as one cent per minute per user.

Web conferencing call services for up to 10 participants are a flat rate of $175 per month and $5 per month additional for each participant beyond the initial 10.

A combo flat rate of $200 per month provides a 10 participant option for conference calls services that are both audio and Web calls.