HOW TO MAKE A CONFERENCE CALL

Conferencing on iPhone lets you talk to up to five people at the same time. This feature helps users to conduct important discussions. The process is simple and the other participants don’t need any special device. They can be on a landline phone, an Android phone, or a basic phone. So let’s get started right now and see how to make a conference call on iPhone.

How to make a conference call on iPhone

Step 1. Use your iPhone to make the first call as usual.

Step 2. Once the person accepts, click on Add Call.

This is a good way to let this person know that you are putting them off for a conference call.

Step 3. Now select the person to call from the contact list. Click on their phone number. You can also tap Favorites, Recents, or use the keypad to dial an unsaved number.

Step # 4. When the second person accepts the call, click on Merge Calls to establish a conference call.

Accept an incoming call and add the person to the conference call

When you are on a conference call (or one call) and you receive an incoming call, tap on Hold and Accept. The current call will be put on hold. Now click on Merge Calls to include this person in a conference call (or start a conference call).

How to have a private conversation with a participant during a conference call on iPhone

Note: You can only have a private conversation during conference calls on certain types of cellular networks. So on some phones the Private button will not be available during a conference call.

When you are in a conference, click on (i) at the top right. Here you will see End and Private. Using this, you can remove a participant from the conference call or have a private conversation.

When you are in a private conversation with a person, the other participants in the conference call will be put on hold. Once you’re done talking in person, you can tap merge calls and resume talking to everyone.

A Few Tips for an iPhone Conference

• Use other apps during a call: Press the Home button or swipe up to go to the home screen. You can now use other apps. When doing this, make sure you are using a Bluetooth headset or iPhone speaker. To return to the call, click on the green bar at the top / green time button at the top left.
• Mute during a conference call: Press the mute button on the call screen. You can now listen to what other people are saying on the call. But the voice at your end is muffled.
• Other participants can also add to an existing conference call: Even in a conference call you initiated, other participants can also add people to this conference call by following the steps above.
• Conference calls depend on your carrier: Most carriers around the world support it, but if you cannot make a conference call, contact yours.
• VoLTE or Wi-Fi Calling? In some cases, conference calling is not available if your call is using Voice over LTE (VoLTE) or Wi-Fi Calling.

Final thoughts …

What do you think of conference calls? Are you planning to use it when talking to multiple family members? Or will you be making conference calls solely for business purposes? Do you think this is helpful? Please share your word in the comments below.

One of the convenient, useful communication methods is conference calls. This type of communication is suitable for conducting various types of activities, both commercial and non-commercial. Thanks to him, you can collectively make various decisions, bringing together a group of people of more than 3 people located in different places. There are several ways to organize a conference call, which will be discussed below.

Standard option on mobile

You can make a group call using your smartphone. To do this, you must:

• • call the required subscriber by selecting him from the list of contacts or using the keypad to dial the number;
• • after connection, use the “Add call” option, automatically transferring the subscriber to the standby mode;
• • call the next conference participant and press “Merge calls”.

Thanks to this method, up to 5 people can be connected to the conference. This number varies depending on the mobile operator used. This type of conference is most likely not suitable for business in most cases. It can be used when you need to quickly make a decision with a small number of participants. And for a long discussion of problems, business meetings or reports, this method is not suitable. It must be remembered that this option is far from the cheapest. It is good if all conference participants are within the same region and use the services of one mobile operator. And if not, then the conversation will cost a penny.

Apps and services

You can also arrange a conference call with the help of applications, services, which are not difficult to find on the network. This is the well-known Skype, and Telegram, and the recently widely used platform Zoom, and Google Meet and many others. Most of these services are paid. Free versions have a limit on the number of connected participants. As a rule, these services allow only their own users to be connected to the conference. That is, in order to conduct an online conference via Skype, all participants must have this program installed.

Office or cloud PBX

The most professional, progressive and convenient option for organizing conference calls for business is to use an office or cloud PBX . The following advantages of this method can be distinguished:

• • free conference calls within the corporate network;
• • recording and storage of conference conversations;
• • connection and listening to any conference by the head;
• • availability of subscribers of the corporate network, wherever they are;
• • making conference calls from instant messengers, smartphones, softphones, and other devices.

In most cases, a cloud PBX will be the right choice for holding conferences, because it can be deployed faster than an office one: no need to spend money on expensive equipment and specialists, or lay telephone lines. All that is needed is a stable Internet connection, a device, a program for receiving and making calls. And now, using the example of the IP telephony provider 1ATS , let ‘s take a closer look at how to organize a conference call using a virtual PBX.

What you need to organize a conference call

In order to create a conference call using a cloud PBX, you first need to connect to an IP telephony provider, one of which is 1ATS, choosing the most suitable tariff. You will also need a computer or smartphone with a softphone installed on them, or SIP phones with conference calls. Subscribers of fixed and mobile networks can be connected to the conference.

To connect a subscriber to the conference from external telephony, it is necessary that in the call scheme the caller has the opportunity to get to the “Voice menu” or “Entering an extension number”. Any participant entering or exiting a call will not affect the conference in any way.

Settings are made in your personal account in the “General settings” section in the “Conferences” item. In this case, the organizer of the conference call can:

• • switch the conversation to standby mode;
• • add or disconnect any participant to the conference;
• • make or receive calls.

How to start a conference call

There are two ways to create a conference call in a cloud PBX:

• • using the phone – you can connect any subscriber to the current conversation;
• • in “Virtual room” – a short number (PIN-code) is assigned to the conference.

In order to make a call in the first way, you must:

• • call one of the participants and during the conversation press # * on the telephone keypad;
• • dial the number of the next participant and press # * again;
• • if any of the participants is not available, you can return to the conversation by typing # on the keypad.

To organize a call using the second method, you need to create a virtual room in your personal account by clicking the “Create conference” button. In the appeared window of parameters, enter the internal number of the conference, its name and PIN-code to enter the conference. After entering all the data, save the settings.

In order for external subscribers to get into the virtual room, in the telephony scheme, after the “New call arrived” action, add the “Enter an extension number” action. After that, the scheme must be saved. Now external subscribers, having called the city number, can dial the extension number of the conference by entering the PIN-code and join the conference. Internal subscribers (company employees) can directly call the conference extension number by dialing the PIN code.

In a virtual PBX from 1ATS, you can create an unlimited number of conference rooms with an unlimited number of participants. By default, there is a limit of 10 people, but, at the request of the client, this number can be increased.

Option cost

When connecting to a virtual PBX, the conference call service is provided free of charge. When organizing a conference for corporate numbers, you do not need to pay anything, and if you use external city, intercity, international or mobile operator numbers, then the payment will be per minute for each such call at 1ATS tariffs. For example, a conference with 3 mobiles and one extension will be charged as three calls to mobiles.

Conference calls go a long way towards improving company operations. The service allows you to save time costs associated with the movement of employees to the meeting place, with the convenience of organizing virtual negotiations for important partners and clients. Today, conference calls are one of the most demanded, frequently used communication services in various fields of activity.

Who needs conference calling on a phone

Conference calling can come in handy:

• businessmen discussing business issues;
• students working on a joint project;
• family or friends who need to coordinate plans together.

If you know how to set up a conference call, you don’t have to call each one individually to discuss the same thing. Knowing how to put together a conference call on your phone allows you to collectively discuss important issues.

Making a conference call or group call using the iPhone XS Max Phone app

The following steps explain the standard conferencing process using the standard Phone / dialer app on your iPhone XS Max through the iOS 12 platform.

1. Open the Phone app, then dial your preferred contact number to call. Wait for the other person to answer the call.
2. Then click “Add Call” in the “In-Call” menu. This will put the first call on hold while you dial the second number to call.
3. Wait for the third party to answer the call, then tap Merge Calls. This will lead everyone to a three-way conversation.
4. If you want to add more people to the conference, tap the Add call option in the Inbox menu, and then tap Merge calls to join all calls.

Making a conference call or group call using the iPhone XS Max Group FaceTime app

One of the latest additions from the latest iOS 12 update is the so-called FaceTime group. Basically it is a FaceTime video calling application that has gained a new ability to make group video calls, allowing a total of 32 people to talk to each other. And this is how it works:

1. Open the FaceTime app.
2. On the FaceTime app screen, tap the plus (+) symbol in the upper right corner.
3. Then enter the name or contact number of the person you want to call via FaceTime.
4. After connecting to the first contact, you can add additional contacts by entering their names or phone numbers. The maximum number of people to participate in a Group FaceTime conference call is 32, including you and the first person you connect to.
5. After you’ve finished adding all the contacts you want, you can start a conference call via FaceTime Video or Audio.

Make a conference call or group call using the iPhone XS Max Messages app with FaceTime integration

You can also start a conference call or group conversation via messages. First, you need to create a group chat by clicking on the contact’s name and then on FaceTime. All participants must have an iPhone running iOS 12. Here’s how to start hosting a conference call or group conversation using iPhone XS Max messaging and FaceTime:

1. Open the Messages app.
2. Highlight and select an existing group conversation, or start a new one.
3. Click on the avatars or profile pictures of the people / contacts you want to add to your group conversation. Avatars can be found at the top center of the screen.
4. After choosing avatars, tap FaceTime.