How to Maximize Conference Quality
In any conference call, no matter what conference bridge or provider you use, the clarity will decrease somewhat as you add more participants. The more conference participants, the more likely the use of cell phones, cordless phones, speakerphones, headsets, background noise, and other low-quality transmission problems. Also, there is more chance of someone putting the call 'on hold' without remembering to mute their phone and broadcasting their "hold music" or radio station to the remainder of the conference.
Under normal circumstances, it is human error that causes problems as a conference grows larger, and generally not our conference bridge. Since all lines are bridged together, a conference call can never be better than the worst connection on the call.
Focus on What's Important: Eliminating Background Noise and Distractions
Be Mindful of Your Surroundings
- Call from a quiet location.
- Turn off the ringer of a multi-line phone or any other phone in the room.
Don't Forget the Extras
- Do not put your phone on hold if you have on-hold music or advertisements. Your on-hold music will play for conference Participants making conversation impossible in your absence.
- Turn off your call waiting or its beeping will disrupt the conference and may be confused with entry or exit chimes. For example, dialing *70 before the conference number disables call waiting for some phone services. If you need assistance with this feature, contact your local phone service provider.
Take Advantage of Conference Controls
- Self-mute can be used by any conference participant and can be turned on and off by toggling
on the telephone keypad.
Echos and How to Minimize Them
Our conference bridges are physically located on the premises of telephone company central offices and are connected to the telephone network via high capacity digital circuits. Our equipment does not itself introduce echo or noise into the conference. However, echo or noise can enter the conference through the telephone lines used by one or more of the participants in the conference. It is the nature of teleconferencing that all sound brought in to the conference is amplified and rebroadcast out to all the other participants in the conference. If there is a barely noticeable echo in a two-party conversation, it may become a very pronounced echo in a 30-party conference call.
If you encounter an echo or noise during your conference you can try the following procedure: Ask everyone to mute themselves using touch-tone (see the Touch Tone quick reference guide). Then, slowly, one at a time, each participant should un-mute him or herself (again using ). When the echo or noise returns, the "culprit" will have been identified. That person should be asked to hang up and dial back in again, using a different telephone if possible.