What is Answerbag?

Ask questions and share your knowledge with the world here on Answerbag. Get the best answers where there are no duplicate questions and questions are always open - our community of over 1,142,000 will find your answer!

Join For Free!
 

How Does On-Demand Conference Calling Work?

Thursday, April 09, 2009
 

Instructions

Participants Dial in to a Conferencing Station

  • Step 1:
    In on-demand conference calling, the "leader" of the conference call usually has a pre-assigned conference number or access code which can be distributed to the conference participants. The callers dial in to the conference from any type of telephone, including land line, mobile or VOIP phones. When the callers dial in, the number they dial may go directly in to the conferencing station, or it may terminate to a top-level interactive response unit that requires a conferencing code to proceed.

The Conference Call is Software Controlled

  • Step 1:
    When the participants dial in to the conferencing station, they are actually reaching a computer with multiple telephone interfaces (while many older conferencing stations actually used physical telephone lines, more modern equipment uses voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) and an Internet connection to facilitate conferences). The computer converts incoming voice connections into data packets, then uses specialized software to combine the many separate calls into a single conversation. As callers dial in or hang up, the computer registers the call and uses the called number or access code to match the caller with the appropriate conversation.

Leaders Control the Call

  • Step 1:
    Like participants, conference call leaders must dial in to the conferencing station via telephone. The leader identifies himself as a leader, though, by either dialing a separate number or entering a special code when first connected to the conferencing station (depending on the software configuration, all callers may hear a prompt to enter a leader "PIN" to assume leader responsibilities). Once the leader has identified himself, he may start the conference, put the conference on hold, end the conference, or activate various other conference call features.
    Depending on the software configuration and capabilities, leaders may also have the option to enable call recording, identify individual callers, manually add or disconnect participants, adjust the language of the greeting heard by callers, or even break participants out into separate conferences. Since the leader dials in via telephone, all of these features are activated by entering specific codes using the telephone keypad, though some conference stations allow leaders to activate and control the call on the World Wide Web.

Resources


Related Content
Conference Call Information
Many businesses and organizations have begun to incorporate the usage of conference calls into their daily operations. It is a means that can be used to enhance productivity. While businesses use...
How Does Reservationless Conference Calling Work?
Instructions Step 1: Many companies employ workers throughout the country or even around the world. They still need to get together for company meetings and to share information. Reservationless...
About Toll Free Conference Calls
When you have an important business meeting that must be conducted over the phone, the best solution for both you and your clients is to set up a toll free conference call. You can have 100 people...
The History of Teleconferencing
An ability to communicate to two family members or business associates in far places has been known in our society since the late 19th century. Since early discussions on telephone party lines,...