Travel Technology - Best conference call options?

Haven't needed to do this in awhile, but now I need to set up a conference call for half a dozen participants this afternoon.

What's the best/cheapest conference call outfit these days?

Quite a few of the companies I work with use freeconference.com

Seems to work just fine.

At a previous job we dealt with a company that ran all it's conference calls through

http://www.freeconferencecall.com/

You get one number and access code that was yours 24/7, they offer free recording, no ads, etc. Not really sure what their business model was, but never had a problem with them

There are a ton of services like that (including the very tricky folks over at freeconference.com who registered the name above with an S on the end to catch anybody who mistypes), but that's the one I have used most recently.

At a previous job we dealt with a company that ran all it's conference calls through

http://www.freeconferencecall.com/

You get one number and access code that was yours 24/7, they offer free recording, no ads, etc. Not really sure what their business model was, but never had a problem with them

There are a ton of services like that (including the very tricky folks over at freeconference.com who registered the name above with an S on the end to catch anybody who mistypes), but that's the one I have used most recently.

I think they make money through interconnection fees paid to them by the operators of the line that makes the call. It is in the fractions of a penny, but toll free to us is apparently not toll free to an operator.

So I did some research

Ever wonder how free conference call service make money

First, notice how all their area codes are in rural areas (e.g. one I have is area code 218 - rural northern Minnesota). The FCC allows rural telecoms (e.g. Northern Valley Telecom) to charge long distance companies (e.g. AT&T) higher interchange rates. This was originally intended to be a way subsidize rural telecoms that have lower volumes and higher costs. The local telecoms split the fees with the free conference call providers (along with other service that do this like sex chat lines).


Which is what Scott said.

But wait there's more. How much money are we talking about? According to this post

http://feefighters.com/blog/how-are-free-conference-calls-free/

it could be as much as twenty cents a minute the phone companies have to pay.

Freeconferencecall.com does ~20 million calls per month and it did $23million in revenues in 2010.

This ain't chump change.

AT&T estimated in 2007 that they were paying an additional $250 million to connect these calls.

Wow.

Freeconferencecall.com worked swimmingly.

Wow.

Freeconferencecall.com worked swimmingly.

Agreed.

But do be aware that some IP based phone services (e.g. Ooma) either won't connect to the free conference call services or they surcharge your account to pay for the higher rural interconnect fees.

Another one I have used for years without problem:
http://www.freeconference.com/

Wow.

Freeconferencecall.com worked swimmingly.

I use this routinely and have only had problems a couple of times when the service was down.

I'd like to find a teleconference service with more options (e.g., a web interface that shows the IDs and statuses of the callers) but haven't yet found one of those with all of the free international access numbers offered by freeconferencecall.com. As I often have people calling in from several different countries, the toll-free international access is essential.

I'd like to find a teleconference service with more options (e.g., a web interface that shows the IDs and statuses of the callers)

You might look at FreeConferencePro (http://www.freeconferencepro.com/). Good luck!

You might look at FreeConferencePro (http://www.freeconferencepro.com/). Good luck!

Thanks for the suggestion, but you left out the critical part of my sentence: free international access numbers. FreeConferencePro doesn't offer that.

Thanks for the suggestion, but you left out the critical part of my sentence: free international access numbers. FreeConferencePro doesn't offer that.

Alrighty then.

Ooma works for me when using freeconferencecall.com
Google Voice blocks their numbers.

Agreed.

But do be aware that some IP based phone services (e.g. Ooma) either won't connect to the free conference call services or they surcharge your account to pay for the higher rural interconnect fees.

Gotomeeting is a premium service that lets you do screen sharing and audio conferencing. It's about $50/month paid monthly, or $40/month if you prepay for a year.

Check out http://www.uberconference.com, their free service is pretty useful and you can always pay for additional features if needed.

I find that of all the online conference call services online, http://www.uberconference.com/ has been the most effective.