Most conference calling options are limited to operator-assisted or reservations-based
services, which require advanced set-up and are often controlled by an outside party. The
TelePost Conference Center, however, is a Web-based conference calling service that
empowers users to create and supervise conference calls.
TelePost has targeted this product for mobile professionals, corporate telecommuters,
and the small or home office. Accordingly, TelePost has taken care to keep system
requirements as easy to meet as possible. All the user needs is a frames-enabled browser
with an Internet connection and a phone.
The product allows the same capabilities as traditional conference calls without the
sort of scheduling and organizing that characterize operator-initiated conference calls.
In essence, the Internet becomes the operator, and the user controls all aspects of the
conference call through the Internet, all of which makes for much quicker handling of
conference calls.
INSTALLATION/DOCUMENTATION
A user needs very little to start Conference Center. All the user needs is an account
(available through TelePost), a phone, and an Internet connection with a frames-enabled
browser. To begin, the user enters TelePost's Web site at www.telepost.net and logs in
with the appropriate user name and password. Then, the user can immediately take advantage
of the system's capabilities.
All of the system's capabilities are accessible through a single screen. Much of the
system's capabilities are self-explanatory, so users don't have to wade through a lot of
documentation. And, if the user does have any problems, there are Internet-based prompts
that can help the user set up phone calls.
FEATURES
The Conference Center consists of two communications tools: Point-to-Point, a tool
designed to facilitate regular two-way calling, and Conference Call, a tool designed to
link up to nine participants, including the call initiator. (The Conference Center
utilizes PSTN connections, thereby ensuring standard call quality, unlike many IP-based
techniques.)
Both Point-to-Point and Conference Call make use of the Contact Manager, which allows
the user to manage contact information directly from the Conference Center. With the
Contact Manager, setting up calls is made even easier by providing point-and-click call
initiation through speed dial capabilities. In addition, existing contact information,
from such sources as Symantec's ACT! and Microsoft's Outlook, can be integrated into the
Conference Center's Contact Manager through a step-by-step upload procedure. The
Conference Center real-time Status Manager gives the user real-time information concerning
the status of every participant in the conference call. From this screen, the user has the
ability to disconnect, mute, or put a participant on hold.
The Conference Center contains the Presentation Center, a document sharing feature that
lets the user provide documents while exercising the calling capabilities of the
Conference Center. In conjunction with a conference call, any Office 95, Office 97, or
Corel Suite documents can be shared with call participants for printing, editing, or
downloading.
OPERATIONAL TESTING
We arranged to test the Conference Center by having TelePost set up an account for us.
(Our account included five free calls.) We logged onto the TelePost Web site and entered
the user name and password that corresponded to our account.
Configuration
Once we had accessed our account, the first thing we had to do was configure our calling
information. This procedure was simply a matter of entering our ten-digit phone number
along with the extension. Then we saved the settings. (Incidentally, for the purposes of
our review, we were restricted to placing domestic calls, but the service does allow the
dialing of international numbers through the use of country and city codes.)
Entering Contacts
Our next step: adding a few new contacts in the Contact Manager. When we brought up the
screen, we were asked to complete a form that included contact name, company, title,
address, and phone number(s). The phone number(s) section covered various types of
numbers, including work, fax, home, mobile, and pager numbers, as well as an alternate
number. These possiblities seemed to cover just about every conceivable way a user might
contact a person. So, we concluded that this contact manager would suffice for most
business needs. We also notice that, in addition to all the fields already mentioned,
there was a notes field, for whatever miscellaneous information it might occur to a user
to record.
Initiating A Point-To-Point Call
We placed a point-to-point call between two phones in our lab. To do so, we clicked on
Point-to-Point in the left frame, and then we clicked on the phone icon next to the phone
number of the second phone. We watched as the Conference Status window appeared and
provided the information as to which members were included in the call. The status of both
entries changed to "connected" as the phones were both answered. Ultimately, we
completed the call (that is, we discontinued it) with a single click of the mouse.
Initiating A Conference Call
This procedure was much the same as connecting point-to-point calls. To begin, we clicked
on Conference Call in the left frame and choose a contact from the speed dial list at the
bottom of the main frame. The Conference Status window displayed the connection
information for both participants in the conference call.
To add another caller, we could have clicked on another of the speed dial contacts at
the bottom of the screen, but we decided to enter one manually in the main window. To do
so, we had to enter the complete phone number, in the required format, which included a
one preceding the ten-digits of the phone number, and parentheses to enclose the area
code.
After we clicked on the Call button, the Conference Status window was updated with the
information for the third caller in the conference. We were able to disconnect
participants in the conference call individually by clicking on their associated
Disconnect buttons, which appeared next to their names in the Conference Status window.
Alternatively, we could have discontinued the entire conference with a single click.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
Make no mistake about it, the TelePost Conference Center is expensive. For example,
Point-to-Point calls cost $0.15/min per participant. At this rate, Point-to-Point calls
should offer a significant functional advantage over traditional conferencing, that is,
simply picking up a phone and dialing an extension. But in fact it doesn't. About the only
portion of the Point-to-Point tool that delivers any new substance is the availability of
the Contact Manager. Even this is merely an alternative for a traditional contact
management database, which often can be configured to contain much more specific
information.
With the Conference Calling tool, which runs at $0.29/min per participant,
multiple-person conference calls can cost upwards of $2 per minute. Thus, calls are
expensive at this level, too.
What we are looking for TelePost to do is to transfer this service to an IP-based
technology. This is the only way we'll see true cost savings. In the meantime, conference
calling with the TelePost product will simply be a fancy method of initiating a conference
call.
CONCLUSION
While conference calling with the TelePost Conference Center is as expensive as
traditional phone service, it does offer some flexibility that cannot be found in
conventional conferencing methods. For example, placing a participant on hold or muting
volume to a third-party conference participant isn't always possible with analog phone
sets. However, with the click of a mouse, these functions can be controlled from the
Conference Center. This is the true benefit of TelePost's product. It lets conference
initiators administer conference calls the way they see fit, and with a degree of ease and
a display of professionalism seldom available with traditional methods. |
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