Expanding its Voice over IP (VoIP) lineup, AT&T has begun marketing a customized version of its CallVantage service to small office/home office (SOHO) users, the company said.
The plan includes unlimited local and long-distance calling in North America, and the ability to send and receive faxes for $49.99 per month.
Subscribers can add premium features, such as choosing up to nine phone numbers with programmable calling features for $7.49 per number, per month. The additional numbers can be local to the firm or assigned area codes anywhere in the country.
Other options include directing calls based on who is calling for $1.99 per month and conference calling for up to 10 lines at a flat fee of 35 cents per minute.
Gary Morgenstern, a spokesman for the Bedminster, N.J., carrier, said the company's residential VoIP roll out last year "helped the business side of the house."
He went on to say that business decision-makers saw the technology was good enough to be deployed to residential users nationwide and were convinced it was ready for business use as well. Details of the company's marketing plan for the SOHO offering are not yet set, he said.
Several service providers have VoIP offerings that could fill the need for some SOHO customers, including telecom carrier Verizon and startups Vonage and Net2Phone.
And Covad Communications has been expanding its small businesses footprint.
AT&T first announced its VoIP plans in December 2003 and started rolling out service to residential customers in late March.
In recent years, the company's long-distance revenues have dropped sharply, as customers switched to regional telecoms and national wireless providers.
On the enterprise business side, AT&T already carries more IP traffic on its network than any other U.S. company. AT&T has been offering VoIP to business customers through virtual private network services since 1997.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Skype, Vapps offer free conference calling
Users of Skype's Internet telephony service can now create free conference calling with up to 500 participants on each call under a new service offered with VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) vendor Vapps, the companies said Thursday.
The two companies on Thursday launched,where Skype users can sign up for free conference rooms. Conference-call participants can also use traditional landline telephones to join the Skype conferences, but long-distance charges may apply. For Skype users, there are no fees, the companies said.
Last month, Skype announced thatall SkypeOut calls to landline and mobile phones within the U.S. and Canada will be free. The company hopes the free calling in those countries will expand Skype's penetration in North America, and willattract more people to Skype's premium products and services, Skype said.
Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO East - January 23-25, 2008 in Miami Beach, FL.
services for mobile networks while decreasing the development costs.
Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO East - January 23-25, 2008 in Miami Beach, FL.
services for mobile networks while decreasing the development costs.
Vendor Guru has done the research to help you quickly find respected, cutting-edge CRM companies with the products and services that are right for your business. Click here to learn more.
Vendor Guru has done the research to help you quickly find respected, cutting-edge Telephony companies with the products and services that are right for your business. Click here to learn more.
Skype offers SkypeIn, a pay service that allows users of landline and mobile phones to call in to a Skype phone. The company also offers a variety of VOIP-related hardware, some of it targeted toward small-business users. With hardware partners, Skype sells a speakerphone, a box that converts traditional phones to Skype phones, and a converter box for multiple users.
The new conferencing service appears to be targeted toward small and medium-sized business (SMB) users, as Skype looks to gain market share in that area, said Rebecca Swensen, a VOIP services analyst with IDC.
"Doing this helps them gain some market share in the market for enterprises and small businesses," Swensen said. "I'm sure Skype is trying to get them to see that using Skype in their sales departments is a lot cheaper that [traditional] telephone service."
Vapps, in Hoboken, New Jersey, is a supplier of VOIP conference-calling services and software focusing on the SMB market.
Source:http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/06/01/1667170.htm
The two companies on Thursday launched,where Skype users can sign up for free conference rooms. Conference-call participants can also use traditional landline telephones to join the Skype conferences, but long-distance charges may apply. For Skype users, there are no fees, the companies said.
Last month, Skype announced thatall SkypeOut calls to landline and mobile phones within the U.S. and Canada will be free. The company hopes the free calling in those countries will expand Skype's penetration in North America, and willattract more people to Skype's premium products and services, Skype said.
Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO East - January 23-25, 2008 in Miami Beach, FL.
services for mobile networks while decreasing the development costs.
Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO East - January 23-25, 2008 in Miami Beach, FL.
services for mobile networks while decreasing the development costs.
Vendor Guru has done the research to help you quickly find respected, cutting-edge CRM companies with the products and services that are right for your business. Click here to learn more.
Vendor Guru has done the research to help you quickly find respected, cutting-edge Telephony companies with the products and services that are right for your business. Click here to learn more.
Skype offers SkypeIn, a pay service that allows users of landline and mobile phones to call in to a Skype phone. The company also offers a variety of VOIP-related hardware, some of it targeted toward small-business users. With hardware partners, Skype sells a speakerphone, a box that converts traditional phones to Skype phones, and a converter box for multiple users.
The new conferencing service appears to be targeted toward small and medium-sized business (SMB) users, as Skype looks to gain market share in that area, said Rebecca Swensen, a VOIP services analyst with IDC.
"Doing this helps them gain some market share in the market for enterprises and small businesses," Swensen said. "I'm sure Skype is trying to get them to see that using Skype in their sales departments is a lot cheaper that [traditional] telephone service."
Vapps, in Hoboken, New Jersey, is a supplier of VOIP conference-calling services and software focusing on the SMB market.
Source:http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/06/01/1667170.htm
Friday, November 23, 2007
Best Buy: Free Conference Calling Services
There is much truth to this statement. If you buy a used watch on Ebay for $10, consider yourself lucky if it comes with a wristband- or hands. If you buy a jalopy for a hundred bucks from a used car salesman named Guido, cross your fingers before you turn that key. And how about that 6-day, 5-night getaway cruise to the Bahamas, for $200? It is probably nothing more than a ferry boat ride and a tour of roach motels. In one sense, you do get what you pay for. But there is also truth in the statement that "the best things in life are free." Watching a sunset, receiving a compliment, or seeing your firstborn child take her first step are all priceless moments. Free conference calling services can be one of life's priceless moments, too.
How It Works
After singing up for free conference calling services, you get your own conference number. You can use this number for any conference calls within the United States, and sometimes around the world as well. Companies can afford to offer free conference calling services because they charge for other services. Nationwide long distance carriers cover the fees. Sometimes, however, extra charges are required to avail of special services, such as downloading files or adding more conference participants, the number of which exceeds the maximum presently allowed.
No Free Lunches
These extra charges prove that nothing in life is really free, including "free" lunches. Someone pays for them. Likewise, free conference calling services are not totally free, and in the long term, traditional conferencing services could save your company more money. In fact, participants can avail of free conference calling services by paying the local or long distance charge to access the company's service computer. The exception is only when the conference organizer pays a small fee per minute per caller, to provide truly toll-free calling service to the caller.
To Free Or Not to Free - That Is the Question!
When choosing a conference calling service, find one that best meets your business' needs. Factor in such considerations as budget, scope, and size. To begin with, determine if free conference calling services is what you really need. A "Fortune 500" company that needs audio and web conferencing should go with a non-free conference call service provider. However, free conference calling services are generally ideal for small to medium-size businesses that can live without the extra services and features that full conference calling companies provide. Furthermore, if your company realizes that free conference services do not include toll-free calls and if they only need audio conferencing, then "free is key."
Benefits, Benefits, Benefits
When considering free conference calling services, it is wise to look at the features that may be included.
* No waiting and no reservations
* Digital fiber-optic lines
* Support for Voiceover Internet Protocol, or VOIP services
* Use of your conference number at any time and for an unlimited time
* Participant capacity ranging from 100 to more
* MP3 recording for archiving, sharing, and playback
* Support of any calling device, such as a cellular phone, broadband phone, traditional phone, desktop softphone, and many others
* Unlimited international conference calls using traditional calling tools, or VoIP
* Computers are unnecessary for audio conferencing
Free conference calling services are not perfect for every company. Neither do they come completely for free. They have their uses, however, and when utilized well, they can prove to be the best deal of the year.
Source:http://www.isnare.com/?aid=160256&ca=Opinions
Thursday, November 15, 2007
conference calling
CONFERENCE CALLS are an annoyance to entrepreneurs whose firms don't have advanced telephone systems that enable them to speak with multiple parties at once.
But with AT&T's new Click2Dial Conferencing , you use the Web to make these calls, entering the names and numbers of the people you want to call and when you want to call them. Click2Dial costs 15 cents per minute, per person.
At the scheduled time, AT&T automatically dials the listed parties. "All you need is one phone line and Internet access," says Janet Stone, a media relations director for AT&T. "The other people on the conference call don't even know you're using the Internet to call them."
Source:http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0DTI/is_4_27/ai_60036376
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Conference Calling
Originally the conference call was limited to businesses paying exorbitant fees to the telcos. For business, it still made sense economically because the costs were less than the travel costs involved in bringing the people together. Additionally, significant time savings are involved, both in terms of travel time and in being able to communicate fairly rapidly to an extended group.
Telcos then extended their market by providing conference calling services to home consumers for an added fee. For some, it made sense to be able to bring a family or group with common interests together easily, usually to plan some physical event.
With the expansion of the internet, and in particular, the increasing availability and decreasing pricing for high speed internet access, conference calling has expanded far beyond its original uses.
For business, it remains a vital tool and has, actually, become far more useful as prices fall and the ease of use increases. Real time audio/video conferencing is already in use (and in some organizations has been for quite some time). As the cost of bandwidth decreases and the technology underlying audio-video transmission over networks improves, true real-time video conferencing will increase dramatically.
With the growing sophistication of the typical surfer and the expansion of internet marketing, audio and video have become hot items. Within the internet marketing community, conference calls - usually known as teleseminars, have become a standard feature. Offering the opportunity to reach a large group of interested prospects in a relatively simple and inexpensive format, teleseminars also offer the marketer an opportunity to create an instant product. A recording of a teleseminar can either be sold as a stand-alone product or used as a marketing tool for back-end products.
Marketers are using both free and paid teleseminars. Generally there is a higher level of injected sales content in free teleseminars, but it does vary a great deal.
Solutions available now range from the rather expensive to essentially free. Your choice is going to depend on exactly what level of service you require. There are a number of providers which offer an introductory pricing scheme (I've seen it as low as a $1 for the first month), which gives you the opportunity to see firsthand how their service works at a very modest cost. You do need to make sure you understand just how your users will access the conference. Solutions which use telephone call-ins are generally more restrictive and/or expensive than those utilizing an internet connection or VoIP softphone connections.
True real-time audio/video conferencing hasn't arrived yet for most. The bandwidth requirements remain excessive and the quality of the video, in particular, is fairly low. If you ever done live chat with audio and a web camera, you've seen the limitations.
Most online presentations which involve both audio and video generally use static images which change either rarely or slowly, such as charts, website images, topic outlines and so on. This can be extremely useful for teleseminars, of course, because it makes it easier to demonstrate certain points and provides a visual as well as an audio focus for participants.
The combination of audio and visual elements is particularly useful in training situations where one can reinforce the other. Plus, you have the advantage of reaching those who learn better through visual means, as well as those partial to audio.
For those of you doing eCommerce the evolved conference call can be an incredible tool. Consider how much impact regular teleseminars about your area of expertise could have on future sales. You can provide buyers with instructional teleseminars. You can introduce new products. And in each instance you'll be generating recordings which you can either sell or make available on your sites, or use as added viral marketing tools.
With the increasing sophistication and usability of the tools for conference calling, the possibilities are virtually unlimited and well within the reach of every entrepreneur. You'll be hard pressed to find another tool that offers you the impact and potential of the conference call.
Source:http://ecommerce.articlesarchive.net/conference-calling-evolved.html
Telcos then extended their market by providing conference calling services to home consumers for an added fee. For some, it made sense to be able to bring a family or group with common interests together easily, usually to plan some physical event.
With the expansion of the internet, and in particular, the increasing availability and decreasing pricing for high speed internet access, conference calling has expanded far beyond its original uses.
For business, it remains a vital tool and has, actually, become far more useful as prices fall and the ease of use increases. Real time audio/video conferencing is already in use (and in some organizations has been for quite some time). As the cost of bandwidth decreases and the technology underlying audio-video transmission over networks improves, true real-time video conferencing will increase dramatically.
With the growing sophistication of the typical surfer and the expansion of internet marketing, audio and video have become hot items. Within the internet marketing community, conference calls - usually known as teleseminars, have become a standard feature. Offering the opportunity to reach a large group of interested prospects in a relatively simple and inexpensive format, teleseminars also offer the marketer an opportunity to create an instant product. A recording of a teleseminar can either be sold as a stand-alone product or used as a marketing tool for back-end products.
Marketers are using both free and paid teleseminars. Generally there is a higher level of injected sales content in free teleseminars, but it does vary a great deal.
Solutions available now range from the rather expensive to essentially free. Your choice is going to depend on exactly what level of service you require. There are a number of providers which offer an introductory pricing scheme (I've seen it as low as a $1 for the first month), which gives you the opportunity to see firsthand how their service works at a very modest cost. You do need to make sure you understand just how your users will access the conference. Solutions which use telephone call-ins are generally more restrictive and/or expensive than those utilizing an internet connection or VoIP softphone connections.
True real-time audio/video conferencing hasn't arrived yet for most. The bandwidth requirements remain excessive and the quality of the video, in particular, is fairly low. If you ever done live chat with audio and a web camera, you've seen the limitations.
Most online presentations which involve both audio and video generally use static images which change either rarely or slowly, such as charts, website images, topic outlines and so on. This can be extremely useful for teleseminars, of course, because it makes it easier to demonstrate certain points and provides a visual as well as an audio focus for participants.
The combination of audio and visual elements is particularly useful in training situations where one can reinforce the other. Plus, you have the advantage of reaching those who learn better through visual means, as well as those partial to audio.
For those of you doing eCommerce the evolved conference call can be an incredible tool. Consider how much impact regular teleseminars about your area of expertise could have on future sales. You can provide buyers with instructional teleseminars. You can introduce new products. And in each instance you'll be generating recordings which you can either sell or make available on your sites, or use as added viral marketing tools.
With the increasing sophistication and usability of the tools for conference calling, the possibilities are virtually unlimited and well within the reach of every entrepreneur. You'll be hard pressed to find another tool that offers you the impact and potential of the conference call.
Source:http://ecommerce.articlesarchive.net/conference-calling-evolved.html
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