This section is designed for you to find answers to questions you may have regarding TelePacific Connect. Select the topic that interests you from the links below, and browse questions and answers.
How much does it cost? | Conference Basics | Noise and Echo | Scheduling Conferences
Conference Functionality | Managing Invitations & RSVP's | Worldwide Usage
Local, 800 & Toll-Free Numbers | Time Zone Management | Privacy & Security
Customer Support | Quick Start Guide | Conference Touch-Tone Quick Reference
Telephone Playback Touch-Tone Quick Reference | Glossary of Terms

In order for conference participants to reach our service, each one must call a telephone number. For Reservationless Standard and Web-Scheduled Standard conferences this number may be local or long distance, depending on their location. The only costs for these type of conference calls are whatever long distance rates are charged by each individual conference participant's long distance carrier (Sprint, MCI, AT&T, etc.). We do not require the use of any specific carrier, nor do we know what rates you pay on your calling plan.
For Web-Scheduled Premium 800 conference calls the dial-in number will be a toll-free number. The conference Organizer will pay $0.16 per minute for each Participant in the conference. Since the Participants in the conference will use a toll-free number they will not pay anything to use our service.
For further information please refer to our Services chart for a detailed comparison of our 3 conference products. 



We have created a QuickStart Guide to acquaint you with our conference call services, and to help you decide which service best suits your needs. Click here to get started. 

Web-scheduled conferences have a guaranteed time slot on our conference bridge at a specific time for a specific number of participants. You reserve this time slot in advance using this Web site and call the dial-in telephone number the Web site issues to you. You can choose the time and date and the number of participants, but our Web server will determine which of our conference bridges you will use. More information. Reservationless conferences allow you to call any time you wish, and you can choose to call any one of our conference bridges you wish (List of dial-in numbers), but there is no guarantee that there will be sufficient space for your conference on any given conference server at any given time. You may receive a busy signal with Reservationless conferences although we work very hard to provide adequate capacity for everyone. More information. 

Most often, this happens when the person using our Web site doesn't complete the process of reserving the conference by selecting "confirm this conference". It is very important to follow the prompts all the way through the process until our system reads "confirmed conference". Please visit the Conference Manager page of our site well in advance of your scheduled conference time and verify that the upcoming conference is displayed there. Also, you may wish to take advantage of our e-mail invitations and confirmations feature to gain a measure of confidence that the conference is truly reserved on our server. 

Currently, Web-Scheduled Standard conference calls can include up to 100 participants, Web-Scheduled Premium 800 conference calls can have up to 150 participants, and Reservationless Standard conferences can include up to 50 participants. For further information, please see our Services comparison chart. 




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.
Basically, 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. For additional information, please see our guide to Eliminating Background Noise and Distractions. 

We do not offer telephone support for non-emergency problems of users of our free services. We do, however, offer toll-free customer support for our Web-Scheduled Premium 800 service. The toll-free customer support number, along with a support authorization number required when calling customer support, is displayed on the confirmation page and e-mail once a Web-Scheduled Premium 800 call is scheduled. 

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. We STRONGLY recommend that all participants in the conference use only high quality telephones and avoid cellular phones, cordless phones, headsets, etc.
If you encounter an echo or noise during your conference you can try the following procedure: Ask everyone to mute themselves using touch-tone *6 (see Hotkeys). Then, slowly, one at a time, each participant should un-mute him or herself (again using touch-tone *6). 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. 

If you use our Quick Scheduler feature, (see What is Quick Scheduler?) you can easily schedule multiple conferences in quick succession, up to 11 months in advance. In addition, if you use our RSVP email invitation tool, you can organize your contacts into groups and with one click, copy your group into the e-mail invitation for your conference. Scheduling each conference should take less than one minute. 

Web-scheduled conference call lengths are only scheduled in increments as specified on the web site. You may call in up to 20 minutes early but you will hear music-on-hold until the scheduled start time of your conference. If facilities are available at the time your conference is scheduled to end, our system will automatically extend it if it runs long. Of course, Reservationless conference calls can start at any time and can last up to three hours. See our Services page for a comparison between our different services. 


Quick Scheduler saves you time by "copying" previous conference settings into a new conference in 3 easy steps. Just select any previously scheduled conference, input your new date and time, then Quick Scheduler will duplicate your attendees, organizer code, access code, subject, agenda and invitees. You can still edit any conference setting on the manage page as usual. 




Yes, with our Web-Scheduled Premium 800 service we offer Conference Recording, Computer Download and Telephone Playback of your conference call. (learn more). If you wish, after the conference has ended we will contact a qualified third-party transcription service on your behalf.
We do not offer Conference Recording with our Web-Scheduled Standard service. You must conduct a Web-Scheduled Premium 800 conference to have your conference recorded. 




Local, 800 & Toll-Free Numbers




If you are more concerned about simplicity than flexibility and security, we have another service that might be better for your needs. It's an instant, "no frills", Reservationless conference service that has no web association. Try calling one the numbers listed here and listen to the instructions or click here for more information. 

Yes. You should be able to reach our conference systems from anywhere in the world. Of course, you will incur international long distance charges if you are not within the United States when you call.
Our Premium service provides toll-free numbers that can be reached only from within the fifty United States and Canada. If you use our Web-Scheduled Premium 800 service we provide a long distance dial-in telephone number for use by callers who are outside the USA and Canada. 




