Conference calling has become a routinely used service in the corporate world. Companies promote its use as it cuts down unneccessary travel, saves time and improves employee productivity. There are two ways a company can provide this capability to its employees. 

Managed Service: This refers to company buying audio conferencing service from a service provider. Most of the phone companies , large and small offer audio conferencing service these days. These companies then bill based on number of minutes used. The rates for conference calls range from 5 – 20 cents per minute based on number of minutes used. Typically the phone company also provides an 800 number for using the service. So the charge for long distance call is built into the per minute price.

On Premises Conference Bridge: This refers to a company deploying a conference bridge in its own network. The bridge is usually deployed behind a company’s PBX. A TIE trunk is required between the PBX and the bridge. Depending on the PBX and the conference bridge, the TIE trunk can be either based on TDM connection (CAS or PRI T1 or E1) or based on SIP/ H.323 connection. A on premises bridge makes sense when monthly conference usage goes above a few hundred Dollars per month. The conference bridges are sold on a per port basis. One port equates to one voice call. So a 24 port conference bridge can support up to 24 callers. These callers can be in one 24 party conference or four 6 party conferences or any combination in between. 

Owning a conference call bridge also means that you have to maintain it. Modern conference bridges provide web portals for this purpose and are usually easy to learn and use.

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