BSNL Audio Conference FAQ

Q. What are the conference tariffs?

A. Conferences will be charged at Rs.3.00 per person, per minute for conferees within
Karnataka State. For conferees outside Karnataka, charges of Rs.4.00 will apply per
person, per minute.

Q. How do I make conference calls?

A. Dial 12 88 88 from your BSNL landline.

You will be answered by an operator.

Mention the time, date and number of participants in your conference call.

On booking, you will be provided with a Chairperson PIN and a Partcipant PIN.

The Chairperson PIN is what you will use to enter the conference room, and your other
members in the conference will use their Participant PINs.

Note down your booking number for further alterations or cancellations.

Make sure that you inform the other parties about the conference call to ensure their
attendance.

The calls will be billed to the BSNL landline number from which you book the conference
call.

The parties attending the conference can be situated anywhere in India, and can be on any
network.

Q. Can I accept participant calls from other service providers?

A. You can book calls only from your BSNL landline. But your conferees can be linked
with any operator. You can also include conferees with mobile numbers, but that is not
recommended as calls to mobile phones easily get dropped.


Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is an audio conference?

A. Audio Conference - as the name suggests, enables you to connect to numerous
people over telephone simultaneously. The number of people that you can connect to
would depend on your service provider’s capabilities. In any case it could vary from 3 to
30 beyond which it becomes an Audio Broadcast.

Audio Conference offers you prompt and cost - effective group communication, thereby
saving you and the others the trouble of travel. You can meet up with many people from
around the world while sitting at your desk.

Q. Does it mean that an audio conference can happen only with a maximum
of 30 people?

A. Not really. There can even be 500 or 1000 people in an audio conference,
depending on the size of the conference bridge. But when an audio conference crosses
50 people, then it becomes a little difficult to manage and coordinate. Think of it like a
party in your house. If you had 25 guests, you can possibly give them individual
attention. But if you had 200 guests, then managing it becomes an entirely different
thing.

Q. Which type of conferencing does BSNL offer?

A. BSNL currently offers you reserved dial-in conferences.

Q. When can we access conference facility?

A. Anytime. The facility is available on 24 x 7 basis.

Q. How reliable is your service?

A. This conferencing technology has carrier class equipment that ensures that all
systems have in-built redundancies to provide reliable service.

Q. What equipment do I require to access your service? Do I need a special
phone?

A. You require a BSNL landline to book the conference. Your telephone should have a
TONE dialling mode. Nowadays, most telephones in corporate environment as well as
all mobiles are on TONE mode. Some telephones provide a toggle switch for shifting
from PULSE mode to TONE mode while in some models you need to press * to enable
TONE mode. For doubts on how to enable TONE mode in your phone, kindly refer to
your telephone's User Manual.

Q. Why do I require a BSNL landline to book a conference call?

A. Your landline number is the pilot number on which the conference is initiated. Since
you are the “Chairperson” the conference call will be set up only on confirmation from
your side. The conferencing charges will be billed on this pilot number only.


Q. Can I book a conference for a third party?

A. No. The number from which you have booked the conference call is the pilot number
of the conference call. Since the bill will be raised on the pilot number, the conference
call has to be booked only from that number.

Q. What is the process involved?

A. Our operator will call the pilot number and verify the conference booking. The
conference will be established only on confirmation.

Q. What are the advantages of audio conferencing?

A. Audio Conferencing is critical because (a) It saves on travel time and travel costs (b) It
makes executive time more productive (c) It is the quickest way to communicate and take
decisions involving many people (d) It makes businesses more efficient and economical
(e) It requires just a telephone instrument.

Q. How many people can I speak to at a time in an audio conference?

A. BSNL has the capability to enable you to confer with 1500 people simultaneously.
However, like in real life meetings, normal interactive conferences are conducted with
typically up to 30 participants. For larger meetings, there are one or two speakers only
and the rest of the participants are essentially listening to a broadcast / lecture and have
to be on mute mode.

Q. How do I get billed?

A. Since these are dial-in conferences, call charges are based on usage basis - meaning
you will be charge per person, per minute. So if 5 people (excluding yourself) attended a
conference call which you initiated, and you spoke for 5 minutes, then you will be
charged for 5 minutes per person x 6 persons=30 person minutes.

6 people (including yourself)
5 minutes
Rs.3.00 per minute
Charges = 6 x 5 x 3.00 = Rs.90.00

The charges will be included in the monthly/bi-monthly BSNL bill under the heading
“audio conferencing charges”