Several years ago I was engaged in a conference call with some executives from CA (Computer Associates a billion dollar company); instead of providing me with an in-house conference call number, they gave me a freeconferencecall.com number.  I figured, well if a billion dollar firm uses this, there must be something to it.

After investigating the freeconferencecall.com website, I learned:

1. You are given a (712) number; so the only cost involved is whatever rates you are paying in long distance.  You do not have to pay for your participants-their cost is whatever their long distance rates are to call into this (712) number.
2. You can have up to 96 participants.
3. Each call can last up to 6 hours.
4. You can record the calls (they are recorded in MP3 and WAV formats)
5. The calls can either be played back on the website, you can call a dial in number and listen to the recording, or they can be downloaded and archived.
6. Certain International Countries have dial in numbers (see below)
7. No limit to the amount of conference calls you can have in any given month!

Here is how the recorded conference call log looks like – it is important to note: The  calls are NOT automatically recorded, you must dial into your number and when asked for your access code, you enter it and press “*” star instead of pound (#).  Enabling the recording feature is as simple as entering in star 9 “*9″.  You will then be asked for a subscriber pin that you will enter and press pound (#).  You will then hear: “This conference is being recorded”.  You cannot record a call without the participants knowledge as this is illegal-so make sure that you announce that you are recording the call to those participating.

Here are the international countries that have dial in capabilities (you have to enable these in your account settings)

• Austria
• Belgium
• France
• Germany
• Ireland
• Netherlands
• UK
• Spain
• Switzerland

So why is this all so special?  If you need to cut costs for your business, teach or have meetings for a volunteer group with limited funds, this works super.  I started a Mentorship Program where I teach artists business and marketing skills using this service.  We have monthly calls, which I record then post them on a Wiki (more about wikis later) so that they can be accessed by all 2,500 members on-demand 24/7!  Many of them download the mp3 files onto their iPods for listening.  And all it costs me is my long distance (which is included in my cable bill).

This has also come in very handy if I am on the road and need to have a conference call on-demand.  So check it out!  Perhaps you save a couple of $$$.