Non-internet (Landline) Teleconferencing Solutions

August 7, 2019 9:25 PM

I'm having trouble finding a non-internet teleconferencing solution for a person who travels a lot, especially in China. Any recommendations or ideas would be appreciated!
posted by rmmcclay to Technology (4 answers total)

How about UberConference? It can be web based to set up the meetings if you want, but entirely dial-in from any phone so no internet is needed. It will give you a specific number to use and you can keep using that without any internet. It’s free to use for 45 minutes, but we have a business account for $10/month. I think you have to have a US based number to set up the call, but with the business account, international numbers can call in. I think GoTo Meeting may be more international call friendly, and you wouldn’t need to use the Internet feature to set it up, just the toll free numbers and pin it gives you.
posted by buttonedup at 12:37 AM on August 8, 2019 [2 favorites]

Perhaps you could clarify what exactly you need. My employer uses skype and you can dial into any skype meeting using a phone number, no need for an internet connection. We get local area country numbers and local toll free numbers for just about every country.
posted by koahiatamadl at 12:51 AM on August 8, 2019

What you are looking for is "reservationless audio conferencing" with international dial-in numbers. With your account, you get a passcode for your personal conference and a list of dial-in telephone numbers you can use. No matter what number on the list your callers come in on, as long as they enter your passcode at the prompt, they will join your audio conference. There are lots of services that offer this, but most of them require multiple accounts. It is very convenient for international companies, as each participant can call a local-to-them number no matter where they are.
We use CallTower, but the international number list does not include Chinese numbers. We are looking at Zoom audio packages, which has better coverage, but it's $100/month for a site-wide license. This works out well for large businesses, but not individuals.
posted by domo at 6:58 AM on August 8, 2019 [3 favorites]

domo is spot-on, you're looking for on-demand (reservationless/unattended) audio conferencing. Full disclaimer, this is my employer, but this is what we do. I'm on the operations/engineering side. The product is called GlobalMeet and we've done audio conferencing for a long time.

We're moving away from the large enterprise model, so the pricing has changed and looks to accommodate individual users as well. There's certainly a focus on web/screenshare but we still have audio-only plans, including dial-in numbers in China. People can call in from any number on the list and enter a guest passcode to join the conference.

Happy to answer any questions about ours or any service, I'm not ever really excited about conferencing services but I'll say it's better (that is, less annoying) than many of the services I've used in the past.
posted by spbb at 2:42 PM on August 9, 2019 [1 favorite]