Conferencing
One of the marvels of modern telecommunications is that of the teleconferencing service. Allowing a group of people to connect on a single phone call, at a reasonable expense, may have done more to further global commerce than the fax machine. Unfortunately, very few people are familiar with teleconferencing services and how to buy them.
Ultimately, there are three tiers of teleconferencing services:
- Tier 1: Global Telecoms (think Ma Bell)
- Tier 2: Reputable Conferencing Services
- Tier 3: Bottom Feeders
By understanding your needs and where these tiers meet them, you can feel confident when purchasing conference calling service. The first tier contains the most reputable companies, who have incredibly stable products at an outrageous cost. The price here is generally about $0.25 per minute, per participant. Of course, you probably get a live operator at that price, and they might even dial out to your participants for you. This is the gold standard of conferencing, but this doesn't mean that they'll necessarily provide extensive web features. The service is really targetted towards "old school" folks, those needing to do huge (hundreds of participants) conferences, and folks who don't know any better.
The second tier is your best bet for a balance of high quality conferencing and a reasonable price. The price is in the $0.10 / minute / participant range. The feature set is incredibly variable - look for a provider in this tier that balances price and features.
That bottom tier - well, it's just that. Many of these vendors have part time staff, and run off of a single server, or perhaps two or three servers. The quality varies, even with a provider. A given provider may be great for a while, but then before oversubscribed and begin to have problems. The prices they charge make it difficult to provide a high quality, long term conferencing solution. Buy here if you have no other choice, or are extremely cost conscious above all else. These vendors almost always require credit card payment, and cost less than $0.05 / minute / participant.