Free vs. Paid Large Conference Call Services

Large conference call services are popular communication tools for both personal and business purposes due to its convenience and advantages. Especially in a time like this, large conference calls are necessary. Through this service, you are able to hold a large conference call among your peers either for entertainment or for formal reasons such as hosting a meeting if you own a business. Companies with remote workers greatly benefit through these conference calls as well.

Given such a wide use of these services, it’s crucial for you to choose the right conference call provider. Unlike free call providers, paid call services offer subscriptions with more features that aid in improving the security and efficiency of a large conference call. Some may argue that there are services that can provide free access to all their features through advertisements. However, these providers might have issues in terms of quality or use toll numbers that may cost higher depending on the call’s duration. Another method would be opting to create their own conference calling systems through open source applications and the unused Web servers in their office networks. Then again, not a lot of businesses choose this option since it requires a lot of time, money, and the right technical resources.

So which one should you use? Should you go with free or paid large conference call services? Listed below is a quick list of some factors that may help you make a more informed decision.

Vital Factors to Consider When Choosing the Right Large Conference Call Service

1. Call Quality
   

   Free conference call services are recommended for personal calls that you might want to set up for your friends and relatives although these platforms might not offer a good audio call quality. Nevertheless, numerous users find these free services sufficient enough for their personal audio conference calling needs. On the other hand, if you want to host a really important business call that requires high audio call quality to fulfill your needs, then consider using paid conference call services. Companies that offer paid large conference calls constantly update their networks with the newest hardware and software technologies. Therefore, they have the right technical resources to ensure that their services can provide the highest audio call quality possible.

2. Call Reliability
   

   Generally, paid event call providers are more reliable than those with free subscriptions. Companies that offer paid services have back and front end processes and a vast pool of technical resources to help them implement advanced security protocols into their networks. They also make use of redundant server systems which increases the overall reliability of their services for their customers. Although, if lags and downtimes aren’t a concern, you can still choose free conference call services. A lot of them offer standard security features with their audio conference calling tools. You can even augment these by using your own system security products from third party providers.

3. More User Features
   

   In general, paid conference call services give more freedom to their customers, as opposed to what free conference call providers can give you. For example, paid services allow you to set your own moderator, give out individual passkeys to your participants, set up a pre-conference room, kick or add people in the middle of the call, and the like. Unfortunately, this vast array of controls are unavailable in most free audio conference calling platforms. This is why users of these free services mostly depend on the provider to moderate and control their conference calls. This increases the chances of uncomfortable experiences as well as the possibility of hacking. In this perspective, paid large conference call services should be used if you want complete freedom over these granular user functions as well as maximize the features of a large conference call.