Web conferencing headsets

At Mercuri we pride ourselves on providing the simplest, most user-friendly conferencing experience possible. Recently we heard from some of our customers about a little confusion around the best way to conduct an international conference call.

Conducting a conference call with participants all over the world is not as difficult as it seems. There are some simple steps you can take before the meeting to ensure everything goes according to plan.

Most of our clients connect to their meeting via a toll-free 1–800 number. However, these numbers often do not work outside of the US and Canada. In some cases the number can be called and and connected but your local carrier’s long distance fees will still apply, defeating the purpose of a toll-free number. So what’s the best way to get around this?

Here’s the good news. Mercuri provides local and international toll-free numbers in over 100 cities and 50 different countries, which are available at numbers.mercuri.ca. Conference planners can reference this page beforehand, or include the link in their meeting invitations so participants can choose the best option for their location. For convenience these links are included in Mercuri’s Outlook Scheduling Tool and the online Self-Care utility.

International toll-free numbers work best when called from a landline, because not all mobile carriers have agreements with international providers. If the participant must use a mobile phone we recommend test calling the toll-free number in advance to ensure everyone is connected on the day.

If landlines and mobile phones are both unavailable, Skype is an acceptable last resort. We strongly recommend using a headset and microphone instead of your computer’s built-in mic. Although Skype offers a VoIP dial-out feature, you’ll have a better quality call by connecting directly to our Skype contact “mercuri.bridge1”. Mercuri also offers an HTML5-based application for connecting to conferences from your browser, which is available at mercuri.ca/phoneWidget.

So what happens if you’re trying to conference with someone in Tuvalu or Burkina Faso? Countries with poor telecommunications infrastructure rarely offer international toll-free services, and Skype may not be an option as high-speed internet is required.