Anyone old enough to recall how cumbersome and expensive conference calls were in the not-so-distant-past should be amazed by the low price (starting at free) and features of conference call services today.
Today, conference call services provide everything from video conferencing to automatic text transcription. And typically, they offer some basic services for free, following the “freemium” model of giving away something for free to be followed-up by selling premium features to users.
Some services also offer personalized greetings to those who dial in, customized hold music, operator assistance and a “dial-out” (or “call-me”) service that allows participants to be called by the conference, rather than dialing in.
Recently, CIO.com compared eight popular services. Here is a brief version of their comparison. (Click or tap here for their full comparisons.)
1 | ConferenceCalling.com
In addition to a basic “free” plan, a pay-per-use plan handles up to 300 callers and an unlimited plan lets you host any number of conference calls each month. | ConferenceCalling.com
2 | FreeConferenceCall.com
From small and niche needs to 1,000 participant calls, this service with the first name “free” can provide nearly everything you could possibly want — for a price. | FreeConferenceCall.com
3 | GoToMeeting
GoToMeeting (from Citrix) is reliable, moderately priced and supports various mobile devices. Citrix offers a free plan for meetings with up to three participants and sells monthly or annual subscriptions for plans that accommodate up to 10, 50 and 100 participants. | GoToMeeting
4 | InterCall
InterCall offers monthly plans geared for small businesses that typically have meetings with 10 and 25 attendees, as well as a pay-as-you-go plan for conference calls with up to 125 attendees. | InterCall
5 | Join.me
The free plan lets you hold conference calls with screen-sharing, whiteboarding and video conferencing over VoIP with up to 10 participants. Participants can use an app to join a conference or get access via a LogMeIn account using PCs, Android devices, Macs, iPads, iPhones or Apple Watches. (Note: SmallBusiness.com uses the free version regularly.) | join.me
6 | Skype for Business
Microsoft purchased Skype in 2011, and a free version still exists for personal Skype-to-Skype calls. An enterprise version, Skype for Business, is now part of the Microsoft product line. Stand-alone Skype for Business plans start at $2 per user per month. | Skype for Business
7 | UberConference
UberConference is simple to use and can be integrated into your social media accounts so that participants bios and usernames are displayed. | UberConference
8 | WebEx
Owned by Cisco, WebEx provides reliable audio- and video-conferencing, as well as screen sharing and lots of interactive features. It also connects in to pricey video conferencing services from Cisco. | WebEx
(Via and in-depth comparisons | CIO.com)
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