FreeConferenceCall.com is an audio, Web and video conferencing company based in Long Beach, California. The service is available over the phone, as a Web-based Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) cloud-based online platform, and as an app on iOS and Android. It is the largest privately owned conference calling service in the United States, with over 800,000 users.
Video FreeConferenceCall.com
History
The company was founded in 2001 by David Erickson, who serves as CEO. Prior to founding the company, Erickson had been developing vDesk, a program that would allow users to make voice calls, hold video conferences, and share information on their computer screens. After a rival company started offering a similar service for free, Erickson looked for ways to provide free conference calls. He purchased the FreeConferenceCall.com domain name through GoDaddy for $10 and built a website capable of patching users from around the world into a call hosted on a single high-definition conferencing bridge. Erickson was the only employee for the company's first two years; as of 2016, the company has 150 employees. It has more than 5,000 new customers sign up per day, users from over 800,000 businesses, and worldwide service with local dial-in numbers in more than 60 countries, including the United States, Japan, England, Mexico, France, Germany, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and India. By 2015, the company was the fifth-largest conferencing provider in the world (by volume of minutes).
The premium audio conference and screen sharing service StartMeeting, intended for companies, was launched in 2012. To expand the StartMeeting service, in March 2015, the company launched FreeConferenceCall.com For Business, a paid service with secure, high-quality HD audio, Web and video conference calls, corporate branding, personalized audio greetings, hold music and messaging, private branch exchange (PBX) integration, and 24-hour customer support and training.
Based in Long Beach, California, the company opened a second office in Signal Hill, California in July 2016 for customer service staff members.
Maps FreeConferenceCall.com
Business overview
The company makes money on its free service by routing non-toll-free calls through lesser-used exchanges for a small fee from the exchange provider, who in turn receives a fraction of a cent from the carriers for each minute of the call. FreeConferenceCall.com has agreements with various phone networks to receive a portion of those fees when its users make a call. Clients include users at IBM, John Deere, Marriott, Bank of America, General Motors and Starbucks. The service was used by Barack Obama and John McCain to coordinate their 2008 presidential campaigns.
Features
Services
The basic service includes free audio, conferencing and online meetings with screen sharing and video conferencing, call recording, scheduling and tracking in Microsoft Outlook and Google Calendar, mobile applications, customer support, and security features. The business service includes enterprise account management, billing, analytic reports and training. It can accommodate up to 1,000 participants per call, with calls lasting up to six hours. The Broadcaster feature allows the user to play audio files or pre-recorded screen sharing sessions during live calls. Calls can be broadcast in real time as Internet radio, and recorded calls are searchable by keywords. After a user signs up, they receive a dedicated dial-in number and access code to set up conference calls. For those who install the mobile app (available on iOS and Android), they can dial in to a call without having to manually dial the number or enter a PIN. The service has been noted for its ease of use, clear connections and stable network infrastructure, with minimal dropped calls.
In June 2006, the company began offering conference recording, enabling users to record and download recordings of their calls. In May 2014, the company launched visual web conferencing capabilities through its new cloud-based platform. In December 2015, the company began offering online video conferencing and screen sharing capabilities, along with a technology that focuses participants' attention on the current presenter.
Santa's hotline
Since 2010, each year at Christmastime the company offers Santa's Hotline, which allows children around the world to call in and leave a message with their Christmas wish lists. According to the company, in 2015, nine million children from around the world used the free service.
Hold music
Since 2004, the service's hold music has been "Sunshine Soul" by New York Jazz Ensemble, a modern R&B song repeating in a one-minute loop. It was recorded and produced by James Waddell and Michael McEvoy through a licensing deal with Warner/Chappell Music. When the company attempted to change the hold music in the late 2000s, customers complained, and so the hold music remained the same.
See also
- Conference call
- Web conferencing
- Videotelephony
- Unified Communications as a Service
- Voice over IP
References
External links
- Official website
- StartMeeting website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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