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BUYERS' GUIDE

The 7 DIRTY TRICKS you must be aware of before choosing an audio & web conferencing company. Submit form below.

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Audio & Web Conferencing FAQ

GENERAL AUDIO AND WEB CONFERENCING QUESTIONS

Q. What is an audio conference?

A. An audio conference is a meeting on the telephone. The terms 'audio conference' and 'phone conference' or 'telephone conference' all mean the same thing. For a more in-depth answer to this question, please click to read our article what is audio conferencing. Ozone provide to audio conferencing solutions, OzoneENTERPRISE and OzoneLITE.

Q. What is a web conference (or webinar)?

A. The terms Web Conference and Webinar are used interchangeably to mean the sharing of content over the world wide web.

The most common use for web conferencing is to deliver PowerPoint presentations to groups of geographically dispersed customers or staff. Participants log onto a website and can see the presentation slides and hear the presenter over the phone.

A more advanced form of web conferencing known as 'Application Sharing' or 'Screen Sharing' allows participants to interact with the material presented. Ozone's web conferencing service provides all this functionality and more besides.

Q. What are the main advantages of meeting by phone and web?

A. Meeting by phone and web instead of traveling to meetings is much cheaper and saves you time. Research indicates that an average out of town 6-peraon meeting can cost over £1,600.

The same meeting held using our services would cost less than £30. As fuel cost rise and awareness of the environmental damage caused by travel heightens the business case and moral case for meeting virtually is ever strengthened. For a more detailed discussion, please see our article on virtual meetings vs traditional meetings.

Q. What is a reservationless conference call?

A. A reservationless conference call is a conference call which the host can set up without needing to pre-book with their service provider.

Q. Can you give me any tips for effective audio conferencing?

A. Yes. There are several simple things you can do to make your audio conference go much more smoothly. We have compiled a complete list, see our guidelines for successful audio conferencing.

Q. What is the difference between Web Conferencing and Video Conferencing?

A. With Web Conferencing there is no live video component. Participants concentrate on the materials being presented rather than on a video stream of the presenter themselves. With Video conferencing. participants are able to see a moving picture of the presenter. For more information please see our article web conferencing vs video-conferencing.

Q. What are the advantages and disadvantages of video conferencing vs Web Conferencing?

A. With Web Conferencing, since there is no video component, no special equipment is required (not even a webcam). With Ozone's web conferencing service, you don't even need to load any software onto your computer. All you need is a browser and internet connection (even a dial up connection is fine).

With video conferencing you need a webcam, software download and reliable broadband connection. It is often necessary to configure corporate firewalls to allow video conferencing. Our web conferencing service requires no firewall changes.

Q. Do I need any special equipment to participate in an audio conference using Ozone's services?

A. No - all you need is a standard telephone (land line or mobile).

Q. Can participants dial in from overseas?

A. Yes. Our OzoneENTERPRISE audio conferencing service can be accessed from any phone in the world. Our global VPN means that callers have a choice of in-country freephone and local rate access from most countries. Our free OzoneLITE telephone conferencing service is designed for UK use only.

Q. How many people can participate in a conference call?

A. OzoneLITE is limited to 40 participants whereas OzoneENTERPRISE can easily support 1,000+ participants on a single call.

Q. Is there a maximum time limit for a conference call?

A. No. There are no time limits. You can talk for as long as you like.

Q. Do I need to book conference calls in advance?

A. No. Our audio and web conferences are 'Reservation less'. You do not need to contact us to arrange your conference call. Once we have issued you with your PIN codes, you can hold conference calls when ever you like.

Q. Security is important to me. Can anyone else hear my conversations?

A. No, absolutely not. Your telephone conference is 100% secure. We issue you with unique PIN codes. Only people you give the codes to can join your call. You can even lock the call before you start talking to prevent unauthorized participants joining.

Q. Is there a minimum contract period for your audio conferencing services?

A. No. There is no minimum contract length for any of our phone conferencing services.

Q. Is there a minimum contract period for your web conferencing services?

A. Yes and No. We offer pay-as-you-go tariffs with no minimum contact length and monthly 'all you can eat' tariffs with a 3 month minimum contact length.

Q. What's the difference between a phone conference and using internet (Voice over IP) based services like Skype?

A. There are 3 main differences.

1. Quality & Reliability
2. Salability
3. Cost

Quality & Reliability: VoIP calls are subject to the vagaries of internet connectivity between parties which can impact call quality and reliability. By contrast traditional telephone based services use lines specially designed to carry voice traffic and are therefore much clearer and more reliable.

Salability: For non-critical one to one conversations. Skype and other VoIP systems can be adequate however adding more callers compounds the problems with noise on the line meaning that there is a practical limit of just a few users. Telephone based services can easily handle tens or even thousands of callers without loss of quality and offer value added services such as managed event calls and call recording.

Cost: Many VoIP systems do not charge for call time and are therefore often described as free. This is somewhat misleading in that to access the free service you need a broadband internet connection and a computer. For more information on free conference calls, please see our article on free conference calling.

Telephone based systems normally involve call charges with are either paid by the host of the conference call or the participants in the call. For more details please see audio conference charging models explained.