Conference calls can be a pain, and getting charged by the minute doesn’t help. But these days, there’s really no reason to pay for them. There’s FreeConfereceCall.com, FreeConference.com, Lypp, and a bunch of other small startups giving away the service.
But while there’s no difference in the cost, Rondee’s Evite-like web interface makes it the simplest conference calling system I’ve seen. The service lets you schedule calls with several little features that make it easier to use.
All you need to do is pick a date, fill out an invitation, and Rondee will email the participants with the number and a pin. Like Evite you can pick a theme, participants can invite others, times can be readjusted by participants, and the service sends an email reminder of the meeting. You can also add meetings to your Outlook calendar in one click.
Participants call into 619-2-RONDEE (619-276-6333) and enter a PIN number (You can pick your own). If you give Rondee your phone number, it automatically logs you in to your conference when you call. Rondee remembers your previous calls and contacts for future reference. Soon they’ll be adding free call recording.
Rondee has plans for putting premium services on top of the platform, such as transcription or WebEx-like screen casting. Competition is fierce, though, with a lot of startups looking to make Cisco regret that $3.2 billion they paid for WebEx. DimDim, Zoho, SightSpeed, Vyew, and Google (acquired Marratech) are all nibbling at their customer base.
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I have had great success with freeconference.com. I cannot imagine why anyone else would enter this market, where are they going to gain ground? I don’t think a slick site design will get people to switch from the current norm.
I like the fact that freeconference gives you a private pin and you can have your clients/associates call in at anytime, this is nice for the meetings that get pushed back 15 minutes.
I’ve been using this service for several months now - and by far I have found it to be the easiest to use conference call service - and everything works the first time!
It’s a fantastic product that I have recommended to a lot of my friends!
With the ever so growing demand for faster and cheaper and more effective ways to run a business, and this aspect of a business being so crucial, i believe it answers for itself why another competitor has come to the market.
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Thanks for the mention, Nick. However we have adjusted our strategy quite a bit and moved away from free calling altogether. Our model is providing simpler access to conference calling and call management from the mobile device, including scheduling, mobile address book integration, etc.
Interestingly we got quite a lot of kudos for advocating a paid approach at the Under the Radar conference last week. We received the judges’ award in part because our business model is about making money by charging for a business-class service, not by leveraging loopholes in telecom subsidies, etc.
With my company, we’ve been paying a lot for conference calls. This looks like a great idea and I’m defintely going to give it a shot!
Great we can use this to have a Defensive team meeting.
Maybe we could figure out how to stop the other team.
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interesting.
I like the Rondee idea but I don’t think they have such a good design. If you are interested in interface design you may like the article I wrote at my blog:
http://www.designvsart.com/blo.....-is-about/
Interesting Daniel. Are you saying that you do not and have never collected access termination from PayTec in San Diego?
It seems to me that PayTec is in the business of revenue sharing of termination access and if you didn’t take advantage of them then I would think your investors could be very upset with you. You would have missed a great opportunity to maximize profits that has and is still being up held by the FCC as legal enterprise.
Your ignorance displayed in your comment is evident. In 1986 the “Baby Bells” started the process of access revenue sharing and are only crying foul when it allows for competition.
Having said my piece, I do appluad your innovation, just be careful in pointing fingers.
Daniel,
I checked your website and I fail to see where you charge for your “business model is about making money by charging for a business-class service” I fail to see where you charge for your service. You recieved an award for what? Because you are charging for conference calling? Because you propose charging for conference calling? If you are not making money from termination and not charging for your service you must be bleeding money.
Why is that there is no toll free number? Is this service for only local 619 area code people only?
Goorsha, this is how “free conferencing” providers work. They give you toll numbers so that the cost is on the consumer and not the company. Mix Meeting offers toll-free conferencing starting at 5cpm and Web conferencing at 4.5 cpm with permanent pins for the hosts. This also includes free conference recording.
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