Thanks for your interest in how to talk with a business
associates, friends or family members anywhere in the world for
free.
VoIP or Voice Over Internet Protocol is exploding onto the scene.
You’ll find hundreds of companies getting into the market…
Along with that, you’ll find that “conferencing” is rapidly
becoming the “new way to do business” on the Internet. Again… the
marketplace is becoming very noisy with all kinds of companies
screaming “PICK ME! PICK ME!”
Your problem…
How do you figure out which one
works best for you at the most affordable price?
Let’s quickly cover a few things about VoIP.
Most VoIP is single user to single user, or at best… up to 5
users. It is purely a voice application. Some of the better known
applications are still “free” to use, while they claim to be in
“beta testing”.
There is VoIP which is “phone to PC”, which again is single
user and for the most part… voice only. These companies generally
charge a fee and may even have a special external box you must
rent or purchase to make your phone work.
VoIP as a technology has been around for a long time. Increased
connection speeds as well as computer power has made it a usable
technology for the general public.
The other “new kid” on the block is “conferencing”.
This technology is fueling the distance learning, webinar, and
online “chat” services.
Things you need to know about “conferencing” or more
importantly the services and the software running them are that
most services are created from a very few software
programs.
That means the services are leasing their
software platforms from huge companies in the marketplace. They
are generally locked in as to styles, features, and pricing.
Additionally, the conferencing software commonly available
today is “cumbersome” and generally regarded as a “bandwidth hog”
making it quite expensive if you want to have more than a few
dozen people attend a conference.
The most common conferencing systems also use technology which
has been labeled “dangerous to use” to the point that Microsoft
has issued a patch which turns off the software. It’s referred to
as “Active X” and can be used to download all kinds of virus’s,
spyware, ad-ware, etc.
Let’s see where your needs lie so you can make an
intelligent informed decision.
By answering the following questions, you’ll easily determine
which option works best for you. This isn’t a
test… and no one but you will see your answers
About your business…
What kind of business do you own… off line traditional, on line
affiliate, a service, your own products… or network marketing .
What methods do you currently use to contact your prospects, and
customers? Telephone, e-mail, traditional mail using postcards or
direct mail pieces, or some form of VoIP?
How much travel time do you spend monthly going to and from
appointments, meetings, conducting prospecting sessions, doing
trainings, and attending professional seminars.
How many miles do you put on your car, or in public
transportation while getting to all of the above activities?
Do you have employees or associates who have to do the same kind
of traveling? If so, how much?
About your family and friends…
Is your family spread out, requiring long distance calls or
travel?
Got teenagers who hog your phone?
Got kids in distant schools, or in the military?
If you wanted to get your whole family together for a good old
gab-fest and share digital photos, how many would be in your family
and are they local or long-distance to each other?
Got your answers jotted down somewhere?
Great, let’s explore the options and costs.
No matter what kind of business you have, obtaining and using
either VoIP or conferencing software should be among your top
priorities for the rest of this year.
You can reduce your phone costs (no long distance, including
inbound 800 numbers.
You can expand your business significantly without leaving your
base of operations.
With conferencing software you can look “much bigger” than you
really are… Communicating with prospects and customers in a
professional manner is your top priority. Some VoIP and
conferencing programs provide a more polished appearance than
others.
When you must contact companies larger than you… conferencing
software will level your playing field by enabling you to present
a very professional cutting-edge image.
When you work from home, VoIP and conferencing software enables
you to maintain a professional image.
When you are the large company, using this cutting edge
technology positions you in your industry as the leader.
With VoIP and/or conferencing software, you severely reduce or
eliminate long distance phone charges, nearly all your e-mail
communications, and you can even re-think your traditional direct
mail pieces. With online shopping becoming the “norm”,
conferencing software can provide your customer a very personal
and positive service.
Fuel prices may dip in the short term. However, they are expected
to rise in the long term (that’s over the next 4 years). As fuel
goes up, so do labor costs.
Reducing unnecessary travel improves your own productivity.
Eliminating 1 hour a day of travel time saves you 220 business
hours each year.
Time your employees spend getting to and from meetings costs
you in multiple ways… you pay labor, and all of the overhead just
for them to sit in a car and get somewhere..
When you’re self-employed, and you have to travel to an
appointment, if the other person has “blown off” the appointment…
your time is wasted.
Calling your “field reps” into your home office for a weekly
meeting costs you the “multiple” of how many reps by how much
time…
When you send someone (or you ) to attend a seminar, your costs
are not only for that seminar, but for the travel, the lodging,
the food, and entertainment. Those are business deductions, but
wouldn’t it make more sense not to incur the expense?
Family time is precious
Most families today live over a wide area. To have a reunion
requires over a year of preparations…
There are actually families who rent “tele-conferencing”
services just to have a gab-fest.
Some family members haven’t seen each other in years. They
don’t even exchange pictures since the costs of film, processing
and mail are so expensive.
For some families to get together on holidays, they must drive
long distances or even use public transportation… spend long hours
and exposing themselves to the inherent risks of holiday
travel
Did you know the US Telephone system routinely crashes on
Mother’s Day? That’s right… too many calls for the century old
system to handle.
What can you do about these issues?
You can use VoIP and talk one-to-one or maybe one-to-five people.
You can use conferencing software… but which one works for you?
At the beginning of the report, we said you’d be able to figure
out which conferencing service is best for you.
Time to lay the popular ones out for you to examine…
If you watch TV, you’ve seen WebEx
Here are their latest offerings…
You can get a “pay-as-you-go” plan for .33 per minute/per
participant.
You can get an “express” package which allows you 5 seats and
200 minutes. You get a number of business tool, including
PowerPoint, file sharing, duplexing, etc. The cost is a minimum of
$375/mo billable in 3 month increments.
The traditional full program is just under $1000 monthly with
lots of bells and whistles and still 5 seats and 500 hundred
minutes.
WiredRed had been in the conferencing business since 1998
Up to 5 users is $2995 annually
Up to 10 users is $4900 annually
Up to 25 users is $9600 annually
Beyond that, you must call the company for a price quote
They claim to offer state-of-the-art peer-to-peer
communications which are firewall friendly and secure as well as
unlimited priority hotline support.
Convoq has just announced (Oct 18, 2004) the following new
conferencing options
Conference room with up to 50 participants, unlimited number of
meetings for $2995 per year
For 100 participants you get the same deal for $4995 per year.
They also have a personal license option of $199.95 per year
for a single room with up to 25 participants… unlimited
meetings
Breeze by Macromedia is offering hassle free meeting options…
You get up to 5 seats, and 5 “support calls” for $375 a month,
or…
You can “pay as you go” for .32 per minute/per participant and
1 “support call”
Cata has a “limited users” fee which is much more reasonable…
For a one time setup fee of $19.95 you may have a 3 person room
(that’s you and two others) for a low price of $69 per month
They advertise other packages, however the link was broken.
EBlvd offers some interesting plans…
For $29.95 you can have unlimited web and tele-conferencing with
2 other participants.
For 5 participants your cost is $59.95 per month
For 10 participants you’ll pay $99.95 per month… of course
there are annual payment plans which save you 20%.
Canfone offers the following
There you have it… 7 different companies from among the
hundreds, if not thousands of conferencing companies all vying for
your attention and your business.
What if I told you there was something far better available to
you today. And, what if I told you that you could literally save
hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year while still getting all
the things you really want in a conferencing system.
Wait a minute… no one ever asked you what features you
really want!
Here’s a list… you check off the things you feel are really
important to you, your business and your family…
Ability to
have an unlimited number of people in your conference.
No time
restrictions
No hidden
charges of any kind
A support
team so if there’s a problem, it’s fixed immediately, not 3 days
later.
Voice
enabled… and very easy to use.
Web
camera, so I can show off my face and see my clients
Web
browser, so I can show pages to the participants
White
board, where we can collaborate on projects ( word documents,
scripts, files, etc) and then be able to send (FTP) them as well as
make notes.
PowerPoint
module so I can show professional presentations to my colleagues
Phone to
PC so people who don’t have a computer can communicate with me.
PC to
phone so I can communicate with people who don’t have a computer
The
ability to have more than one room… perhaps several, one for
business, one for family, one for community use, etc
No
advertising… I want the room to look like my own business
Oh, and these features have to be available at a reasonable cost…
HotConference.com is the perfect solution!
For less than $70 a month, you get 5 conference rooms.
Unlimited seating in each room … even if you need to seat
thousands
Fully voice enabled… duplexing available for small groups at no
extra charge
Web browser with a synchronous feature so you can show web
pages of your choice
White board, where you may share applications
PowerPoint presentation module for your business presentations
Complete moderator functions so you can see who’s there, and
allow/disallow certain functions
Web camera module for high speed users
Password protection for each room if necessary
24/7 fanatical support services…BY PHONE during normal working
hours, help desk system and live conference support 24/7. and even
an emergency paging system if your conference room is
inaccessible
With many more features added regularly
When you really don’t need the “branded” versions… you can choose
the standard conferencing version with most of the same great
features for less than $40 a month. That’s right, you still get 5
rooms, with unlimited seating, and all the other goodies including
the fanatical support.
Are you a personal conference software user?
Do you simply need a single room to “do your thing”? Get the
single room option at just under $30 a month. You get all the great
features, voice enabled, web browser, white board, PowerPoint, web
camera, etc.
While the competition would have you believe conferencing
software is “mumbo-jumbo” and you are “server dependent”,
HotConference.com puts you in control. The software is fully
proprietary…
You need something special?
No problem! Call the company, or better yet, submit a request
form and you’ll get a quick answer from the support team. Often
changes can be made with little problem or cost.
A closing word about support…
Careful research has revealed that the greatest majority of
support questions have to do with “how to set up” a system, and with
questions unrelated to the actual conferencing software from most
companies.
With that in mind, most companies now limit the “support
requests” to a few at no charge and then an additional fee for
asking questions and seeking assistance.
The better companies have created a FAQ where you may query to
see if your question has been asked, and answered before filing a
support request.
Only HotConference.com has a system where you may obtain
unlimited live support from the company staff, as well as a highly
trained support group of conferencing software users, 24/7 anywhere
in the world.
To get your own demo copy of the absolutely revolutionary
HotConference software, simply download
it from here
