The requirements for a good conference call vary depending on whether you are conducting a voice or a video conference call. The requirements for a voice conference call are not that much and are as follows:
- A Skype account. Your free account is sufficient to hold conference calls with up to 25 participants.
- The Skype software on your computer or mobile device.
- People in your contact list that are willing to participate in a conference calling. You need to have their numbers or Skype names. See who can participate in a Skype call.
- A decent Internet connection. A DSL line will do for crisp call quality. But the other participants need to have same, for a poor connection can affect the voice quality of the call.
- Audio input and output devices. A headset is ideal but speakers and microphone will just do.
Video conference calls are more demanding. You will need:
- A Skype account. Your free account allows only 4 people in a video call. For up to 10 people, you have to upgrade to the paid Skype premium plan.
- The Skype software on your computer or mobile device. Make sure your software has video calling capability, as some versions for mobile phones are short of some features.
- Your buddies, who are other Skype users. They all need to have the same requirements as you. They also need to be willing to participate in a video conference call.
- A good Internet connection. Good video quality depends a lot on the connection. Here, consider a minimum of 512 kbps per user. For crisp HD video quality, consider having 1 Mbps per user. Everyone needs to have a good Internet connection with sufficient bandwidth for good quality. Keep this mind if you are holding meetings over 3G.
- Powerful processor and sufficient amount of RAM to process the graphics.
- A good web cam. For HD, you and the other participants need to consider acquiring a Skype HD web cam.
- Audio input and output devices.
What does it cost? Nothing if you stick to your free account.
