Community Impact Circles Communication
Recommended Providers
Screen-Sharing
Up to 96 persons on a computer sharing conference call. Allowing you to share computer screens, talk and edit LIVE.
www.freescreensharing.com (long distance charges apply)
www.wiggio.com (long distance charges apply)
Conference Call (Phone contact only)
www.freeconferencecall.com (long distance charges apply)
www.skype.com Audio-only chats are free for groups, video chat is free for one-on-one calls (low quality screen-sharing is also free).
Meeting Planning
www.doodle.com (No cost)
Doodle helps scheduling meetings and other appointments. Doodle is simple, quick, free and requires no registration.
Communicate (Screen Sharing, Conference Calls, and Meeting Planning)
Your Community Impact Circle has access to computer screen-sharing and conference call applications allowing you to have virtual web-based meetings without leaving your office.
Tips
The Providers
The services we have found to date that provide good functionality at a low cost are all private firms. This is not a tailored service designed for the Platform. We are always open to any suggestion of other provides or options. But this is the lowest cost and highest quality (based on cost) we could identify at this time.
Long Distance Phone Charges
You are not charged any fee by the Providers. But, your phone company will charge you your normal long-distance charges to the number you are dialing into. These charges will be charged to the person "organizing" the meeting and will be on a per-participant basis.
For example: If you have a long-distance plan that allows for minimal rates per minute (e.g. 3 cents) and your conference call partners have a similar rate. Here is a potential cost for a one-hour screen-sharing conference call with 10 participants.
10 participants x 60 minutes x 3 cents = $18 for a one hour meeting.
Getting a Standard 6 cent rate
If a member of your Impact Circle does not have low cost long distance plan they can obtain a standard 6 cents per minute using www.Simpletollfree.comRemember to Disconnect
You must not only hang up the phone when you conclude a screen-sharing conference call, you must also close the URL on your computer. Otherwise the meter is still running and you are being charged.