It seems like Meetme or a similar solution could handle the front end, but what about channels? For a service like that, wouldn’t you have to buy tons of channels for all of your callers?
For instance, let’s say I occasionally burst up to 1000 simultaneous callers. If each caller requires a channel, and each channel costs $20 per month, that would cost $20,000 per month.
Is that what these guys providing free teleconference services are really doing? I find it hard to believe that they are losing $100,000 a month or more to give a free conference bridge to everyone.
Or am I missing something?
Given all of the cheap services out there, it seems like there must be a way to get around paying so much money per caller. I mean, even companies that charge for the service, such as EagleTel, only charge like $50 for 1000 simultaneous callers.
How are they making money? Is there a way to get around the one caller per channel barrier?
Ah, that answers a lot of questions! That’s pretty creative on their part.
But what about other, smaller flat rate companies like Eagle Teleconferencing (eagleconf.com)? You can get up to like 1000 callers for $50 a month. Their area code is 646. Are they also getting a portion of the fees?
There are lots of other companies, too. InstantConference.com, RentABridge.com, Yugma.com, and others all provide free or flat rate teleconferencing. Are they all getting a portion of the fees?
It’s possible, I suppose, but it seems like there may be another way of getting around the $20 per channel problem.
I don’t know how Eagle does it. But they all make money somehow. If they didn’t they wouldn’t be in business. Sometimes they make their revenue on added services (toll free access, Recordings, Transcriptions, Operator Assisted Services, Q&A Sessions, Web Collaboration, etc) other times they may charge a per minute bridge fee.
How are you coming up with $20/channel? A T1 typically runs less than that, and when you get into a DS3 the savings are larger. You could also colo your servers in a carrier facility and save on any last mile charges. There is also the options of using SIP via an ITSP.
Sometimes they make their revenue on added services (toll free access, Recordings, Transcriptions, Operator Assisted Services, Q&A Sessions, Web Collaboration, etc) other times they may charge a per minute bridge fee.