Conference call with PM community team members

[Martin]

Hello,

There are 2 American companies that provide, free of charge, the platform and other features to host conference calls for MULTIPLE participants at the same time.

The companies are located at www.freeconferencecall.com and www.freeconferencecalling.com

The only possible expense is the cost of long-distance to a regular number, usually in the U.S. state of Iowa.

Instead of PM travelling to locations outside Toronto for meet-and-greets, which would become prohibitively expensive if ever implemented, we could get together much more frequently via call-in platform.

The only drawback is if a customer does not have a Canada/USA add-on, which could be overcome by the purchase of a calling card.

The platform can support up to 1,000 callers at any one time, and last up to 6 hours (10 hours as an exception). One of the features for admins of the call-in is the ability to mute all callers in order to speak to them without interruption or background noise. Then, the admins could enable the call-in so that only one or up to 25 callers, at any given time, would be able to speak to the admins and other callers.

The service, from either company, can be used as often as one wishes, free of charge. Within hours of the conference call ending, a free audio file of the entire call is made available to the admins. The file could then be downloaded or streamed to those customers who were unable to attend the call. Depending upon the file's content, it potentially could be used as a marketing tool to convert potential customers into actual ones.

I have used one of the companies' platforms many times, and I know that such a service would be ideal for chatting, brainstorming, and giving feedback to the Public Mobile community team.

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with either company, and receive nothing for recommending their services.

Cheers.

[chukdefatey]

^I like you idea.

How does that company make money? What do they gain from Providing this service?

[Martin]

Hi chuk,

According to the U.S. Telecommunications Act of 1996, small rural telephone companies are REQUIRED by law to charge larger companies, such as AT&T, a termination fee, which can be up to 20 times the norm. Due to the above quirk in law, the small companies started marketing themselves to telemarketing companies, erotic chat lines, etc. Profit for the telephone company and the service using it comes from each caller. The more callers, the greater the termination fees, and the greater the profit for the telephone company and service. The profit is split between them, by the telephone company paying the service for using its lines. 

The call-in platform is often used by companies trying to sell goods or services via telephone, and find making a marketing pitch to up to 1,000 people at the same time is very effective and time efficient.

Cheers!

[chukdefatey]

wow this is what I would call a Legit Scam.

[Mansi_G]

@Martin - Moved this topic to Public Lab board. 

[Charanth182]

That seems like a really low cost way of PM reaching out to those of us outside of Toronto.

[Martin]

Hi, The use of a calling platform is ideal, especially when participants are scattered far and wide. When I made use of a platform, everyone, excluding me, was from the States, from Hawaii in the west to the U.S. Virgin Islands in the east, and from northern Maine to southern Texas.

[Martin]

Hi Charanth182,

There is nothing unethical, spammy, or exploitative about either of the free conference-call companies. Each provides top-notch service. The reason that the law requires very high termination fees is to ensure that small rural telephone companies can remain viable, and therefore remain in business. Since they have less callers than large companies, the termination fee per caller must, as a result, be that much greater. If small rural telephone companies were not mandated by law to charge very high termination fees, they would go bankrupt. I can assure you that companies like AT&T would then be involuntarily required by law to start providing services, formerly made available by the now-bankrupt rural company. The present situation benefits both parties. The telephone company charges AT&T a higher termination fee, regardless of user, and those combined termination fees are far far less than what it would cost AT&T to provide services in a small rural area. Proof: If AT&T, with its billions, were displeased with the situation, it would "buy" enough politicians to have the law negated or changed in its favour. As things stand now, the status quo benefits all, including possibly PM staff and customers who may want to use the call-in platform free of charge.

Cheers!

[Charanth182]

@Martin Ok I take back what i said. I do agree that it sounds like a great way to have PM create a Q&A or Meet and Greet.

[Martin]

Hi, No taking back is necessary. You did nothing wrong. Happy Canada Day!