A conference call or teleconference is nothing more than a phone call with more than two participants. A distinction is made between dial in and dial out teleconferences. In a dial in meeting the participants call theirselves for their participation to the conference. In the case of a dial out meeting they are being called and placed in the teleconference.
Sometimes a web based real time control panel can be accessed that shows who joined the meeting or that allows to mute microphones of (individual) participants. Also in some cases the recording of the meeting can be started from this panel and downloaded when the teleconference is finished.
The increasing popularity of teleconferencing is is not surprising given the many advantages that it brings.
Is a teleseminar something else than a conference call?
A teleseminar is a special type of a teleconference. Usually there is one speaker and there are many listeners like in a class room. This requires specific tools for the speaker. For example, to mute the microphones of all participants to eliminate background noise. A teleseminar can be extended with a presentation shared through the Internet. In this case one speaks of a webinar where also a webcam, desktop and chat window can be shared.