The teleconference pricing smoke screen
Teleconference providers often use complex tariff plans. Sometimes it seems that they prefer not to be understood. Below is an overview of items that may be charged by the service provider.
Conferencing costs
This is an amount per minute per participant that is charged for the actual conferencing facility. Usually this amount is paid by the organizer of the meeting. Sometimes each participant pays for his/her own participation. In that case a premium service number is used to charge each participant through its own phone bill.
Operator setup costs
If operators of the teleconference provider set up your conference call an call participants (dial out) set up costs may be charged. This is usually a fixed amount per participant. Or a surcharge to the conferencing tariff.
Telephony or traffic costs
If the teleconference provider calls the participants
(dial out) telephony costs will be charged to the organizer. The amount depends on the destination of each participant as one destination is more expensive than the other.
Some providers also charge telephony fees for dial in meetings. For example, because the participants can use a toll free access number or local access number abroad. They pass the cost of the "transport" of the calls to the teleconference provider to the organizer.