Any quality teleconferencing solution suggestions?

[pieterw]

Every month we have a 4 hour teleconference.

Telkom’s auto-teleconference served us well but since the number of participants exceeds their maximum we have tried out various VOIP solutions but without success and huge frustration. Telkoms operator assisted teleconferencing is also not an option - too cumbersome.

At this stage al of the ten participants are highly sceptical of VOIP solutions. Is there any other reliable and quality solution?

 

[LCBXX]

Have you tried ChorusCall?

 

[gmza]

Switch Telecom has a conference facility that can accomodate 100+ attendees. There is no service fee, but if you call in from another network (e.g. Telkom, Vodacom, MTN, etc.) then your network's applicable per-minute call charges apply. Please feel free to call 087 550 0000 to arrange for a dedicated permanent room number and PIN to be set up for you.

There is zero cost or commitment to set this up so hopefully you will give us the opportunity to show that VoIP solutions can be rock solid if implemented correctly!

 

[mollyclark]

Experience a full range of audio, video and web conferencing services from ConferenceShopper with a variety of options for managing participation. Conference Shopper is an online one-stop shop which is the fastest, least expensive way to set up your own dedicated telephone conference call service that's free, reliable, and easy to use.

Visit now to get 500 minutes of FREE audio conference calls and web conference calls for your business unified and in person meetings, From the largest Conferencing service provider like Pgi, InterCall and WebEx conferencing solutions can save your company’s thousand of dollars and enables you to communicate easily and with your large number of participants at the same time, as colleagues, clients, suppliers and partners, regardless of your and their location.

 

[sidai]

Factors to consider

VOIP can work, but does your internet/network allow it at all the locations?
There is a lot of factors you have to consider, Firstly;

• Where is the participants phoning from? Remote dodgy regions - Bundus...
• Are they connected to a WAN, where you can manage the connections(QOS)
• What internet connections do everyone have.

With decent internet speeds/latency at all the locations, a VOIP to any server hosted internally or cloud will handle it easily...
We currently can conference from JHB,PE,DBN to CPT via 512,256,256 lines respectively, no problems. (Asterisk in Cape Town)

Alliteratively, if you don't have the correct infrastructure you can look at other solutions like Webx ect. But again, internet speeds...

 

[mercenary]

google hangout?

 

[MapleTel]

1: Most international operators already switched to SIP (VOIP), especially if they implement IMS, and wants to implement advanced features not available with the old systems.
2. SIP solutions can be implemented with dedicated call links (or dedicated bandwidth) - and with quality most often exceeding that of the old PSTN systems. HD (High-Definition) voice for example is not possible through PSTN.
3. Dialup can be switched from PSTN to SIP/VOIP - that should not be a barrier.
4. With the kind of service requested, neither video, nor HD conferencing would be possible (if they want to stick to the antiquated PSTN).

We are soon (2-3 months) launching Conference calling (HD and Non-HD, Video and Webinar services).