You are here: Home / Phones / Conference Phones / What is a Conference Phone?

What is a Conference Phone?

Posted by mark on Gadget Heaven · Leave a Comment 

What is a Conference Phone?

Ok, so you’ve people talk about Conference Phones and how much money they can save your business but perhaps you’re not completely au fait with exactly what they are. Let’s see if we can help with this overview.

Many businesses find that, for economic, practical and eco reasons, having employees travel from location to location for meetings is less than ideal. Communication between three, or more, employees at a time is, nevertheless, important in the processes of problem solving and decision making within a business, so a viable, cost-effective alternative to face-to-face meetings is required. This is where a conference phone comes in.

Conference phone units consist of microphones and speakers in a single, portable unit, so that multiple users can speak, and listen, at the same time, without huddling around a single telephone handset. The purchase of a conference phone can prove highly cost-effective, eliminating the need for outside service providers, and associated per minute, per person charges, or monthly subscriptions.

Conference Phone Features, Benefits & Considerations

Conference rooms themselves, and conference room tables vary widely in size, shape and acoustic characteristics, so you should try to choose a conference phone to suit your own particular configuration. A conference phone is typically positioned at the centre of a conference table, and plugged into a standard telephone socket. As a rule of thumb, however, conference participants should be able to sit, or stand, within between 3′ and 6′ of a conference phone unit, in order to hear, and be heard, clearly.

Unlike standard speaker phones – which typically operate in what is known a half duplex mode, effectively allowing just on person at a time to speak – conference phones operate in full duplex mode. Full duplex mode employs a DSP, or Digital Signal Processor, which prevents feedback and allows any number of people to speak at the same time, without the conversation becoming disjointed.

Audio conferencing – or teleconferencing as it is sometimes known – has been in existence for many years, so conference phones and equipment are well established, although the advent of wireless technologies, and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), for example, have added an extra dimension. Wireless, or cordless, conference phones can be used in a conference room without its own telephone connection, provided that a telephone socket, and a mains power outlet, for a base station is located within range (typically 100′ or so).

VoIP conference software, on the other hand, can allow remote users to connect to a corporate VPN, or Virtual Private Network, and make conference calls whilst on the move, at no additional coast.

If you have a PBX, or Personal Branch eXchange, however, do bear in mind that a conference phone can only performed as well as the PBX allows. A conference phone should be connected to an extension that goes through the conference card on the PBX, if need be, and the total number of participants in a conference call will also be dictated by the PBX.

More Reviews:

Filed under Conference Phones · Tagged with

Speak Your Mind

Tell us what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!