VOICE CONFERENCING CAPABILITIES

Transcription

1 APPLICATION NOTE AN VOICE CONFERENCING CAPABILITIES Covad s voice and data conferencing features allow you to communicate effectively so that you can conduct your business wherever and whenever works best for you. These capabilities include: 3-Way/4-Way Conferencing Instant Conferencing Scheduled Conferencing Data Conferencing Instant Messaging This application note describes how to use the three different forms of voice conferencing most effectively. For further information on data conferencing, refer to Application Note #AN , Covad Data Conferencing Capabilities. For further information about instant messaging, refer to Application Note #AN , Covad Instant Messaging Capabilities. These documents are available by clicking the Help button on your Covad Dashboard. 3-WAY/4-WAY CONFERENCING Most traditional phone services allow you to add a third party to an existing phone call for a quick conference call. With Covad you have the ability to add a third (and fourth) party. For details on using 3-way/4-way conferencing using your particular phone, refer to the appropriate Using Covad Guide. These documents are available by clicking the Help button on your Covad Dashboard: Using Covad with your Analog Phone Using Covad with your Toshiba DKT Phone Using Covad with your Cisco IP Phone Using Covad with your Norstar Phone INSTANT CONFERENCING With Instant Conferencing, you can join 10 parties on a call while maintaining complete control of the call via the Covad Dashboard. To start an instant conference: 1. Log into your Covad Dashboard

2 2. Select the participants for the instant conference. You will always be listed as the first entry. If you change this entry, when you re taking the call from home or your cell phone for example, the new number will be used for all future conferences until you change it again. There are several ways to add attendees to the participant list: a. Type the telephone number (7-digit, 10-digit or international number) into one of the slots in the participant list. If you enter a 7-digit number, the system will assume that the call is within the same area code as your primary Covad telephone number. Do not include a leading 9 or 1. b. Click the instant conferencing icon ( ) within the instant conferencing panel to open your contact list. Click the instant conferencing icon next to the name of the contact you wish to add to see their available numbers. Click on one of the contact s numbers to enter the information into the next available participant slot. c. Click the instant conferencing icon within any of your call logs to copy the number into the next available participant slot. d. After searching for a contact, click the instant conferencing icon within the search results to add the entry to the next available participant slot. 3. Once you ve added the participants, start the call. There are two ways to start the call: a. Press Join All. You will be called first. The other participants will be added to the call sequentially. b. Press Join under an individual number to add participants independently. If you reach voic for one or more participants, drop them individually using the Drop button. 4. As the host, you can Add, Drop, Mute or Hold a participant without ending the call. You maintain control of the call as long as you keep the Covad Dashboard open to the main page: a. Add a participant to the existing call by entering their number into a new slot and pressing Join. b. Drop a participant from the call by hitting Drop. c. Mute a participant by pressing Mute. To unmute the party, press Mute again. d. Place a participant on hold using the Hold button. To rejoin the party to the conference, press Hold again. 5. To drop all the participants and end the call, simply press Drop All. If you wish to let the other participants continue talking, simply hang up without pressing Drop All. The other participants will remain in the conference until they all hang up. Even if you hang up, you maintain control of the call until you close your web browser or move off of the main Covad Dashboard page. SCHEDULED CONFERENCING Scheduled conferencing allows you to make a reservation for a specific number of ports on a service-bureau style conference bridge. With a reserved conference, participants

3 dial into the conference using an assigned telephone number and a Meeting ID. Scheduled conferencing includes capabilities often not available from a service bureau or available only at additional cost. Scheduling a Conference To make a new conference reservation: 1. Log into your Covad Dashboard 2. Click on the Meet button. The application will open a new browser window. 3. Click on Schedule Meeting from the left-hand menu. 4. Enter the desired parameters for your conference. These parameters are broken into four separate web pages: Essentials, Preferences, Participants and Attachments. After entering these parameters, you ll be asked to confirm the reservation on the Finish page. a. Meeting Essentials These parameters define the essential elements of the meeting. If you do not wish to take advantage of any of the advanced capabilities, you can skip the other parameters by pressing Schedule Now after entering this essential information: Date Select the date when the meeting will take place. Start Time Enter the time when the meeting will start. Length (Minutes) Enter the expected duration of the meeting in minutes. Your reservation will reserve the ports for the expected duration of the meeting. A few minutes before the scheduled end of your meeting, the system may offer to extend your meeting. The option to extend your meeting will be offered if enough ports are available to support the extension of your meeting. # of Locations Enter the number of ports you wish to reserve. For example, if 10 people will be dialing into the bridge from ten separate locations, reserve 10 ports. If several people at a specific location will be calling into the bridge from a conference room, you only need to reserve one port for this location. Frequency Select the frequency of the meeting. Options are: Once, Daily, Bi-Weekly, Weekly, Monthly by Date, Weekdays, and Continuous. The default is Once. # of Occurrences Enter the number of times the meeting will take place. This parameter should be left blank if the Frequency was set to Once. Billing Code If desired, enter an alphanumeric billing code up to 17 characters in length. This code will be provided in the monthly system usage spreadsheet. Meeting Category This parameter defaults to Standard. There is no need to change this parameter. Meeting Name Enter a descriptive name for your meeting.

4 Meeting ID Enter a numeric Meeting ID. Meeting IDs must be between 4 and 9 digits in length. Covad strongly recommends that you use 7 digits or more to avoid conflicts with other meetings. If you do not enter a Meeting ID, the system will assign a unique Meeting ID for you. Be sure to write down this Meeting ID. Participants must enter the Meeting ID to join the conference. Meeting Telephone Number The telephone number used to access the conference bridge. Be sure to write down the Meeting Telephone Number. Participants must call the Meeting Telephone Number to join the conference. Meeting Description Enter an optional description for the meeting. b. Preferences These parameters allow you to configure optional capabilities for your conference. Meeting Preferences Entry Announcement Select how new entrants to the conference will be announced. Options include: Beep and Name, Beep Only and Silent. The default value is Beep and Name. Departure Announcement Select how you would like to be notified when participants depart from the conference. Options include: Beep and Name, Beep Only and Silent. The default value is Beep and Name. Record Meeting Select whether or not you want to record the meeting. The default value is No. Meeting recordings can be accessed via the web for up to seven days following the meeting. Note that a meeting recording can not exceed four hours in length. Automatically Start Recording If you chose to record the meeting, select whether or not you want the recording to start automatically at the beginning of the meeting. If not, you will need to start recording manually. The default value is Yes. Meeting Security Who can access MeetingNotes Specify who has access to the MeetingNotes. These include recorded voice comments, agendas, messages and meeting recordings as well as related meeting attachments. Options include: None, Anyone, MeetingPlace Profile Users and Invited Profile Users. The default value is Anyone. Allow Guest Outdial This feature is not currently supported by Covad. The only available option is No. Password Required Select whether or not you want to password protect your meeting. If protected, participants will be prompted for the password before they are allowed to join the conference. The default value is No. Password If you chose to password protect your meeting, enter a numeric password. Display Meeting to Everyone? Select whether or not you want the meeting displayed in the Browse Meetings information. If you select No, the meeting will not be displayed unless the specific Meeting ID is entered.

5 Covad strongly recommends that you select No to preserve your privacy. Note that selecting Yes will make a limited amount of information about your meeting available to anyone. This may include other Covad customers and/or other guests to the Covad conferencing system. The default value is No. Notification Information Enabled for Meeting Select whether or not you want the system to send out meeting notifications when this meeting is scheduled, rescheduled or canceled. The default value is Yes. Include Attachments Would you like meeting attachments included in the meeting notifications? The default value is No. Send if Meeting Changes Would you like meeting notifications sent if the meeting reservation is modified in any way? The default value is Yes. Include Participant List Would you like the list of participants included in the meeting notification? The default value is No. c. Participants Use the Participants page to specify who is invited to the meeting. You should enter the list of participants. If you include invitees addresses meeting notifications will be sent to them via . If the participant you are adding is within your company, use the Add as Profile button to automatically get their phone and . Otherwise, use the Add as Guest button. You will be asked to enter their address and phone number, if available. d. Attachments If you wish to make documents or web pages accessible to the participants of your meeting, include them as attachments. e. Finish When you ve entered the meeting reservation parameters, press Schedule Now to complete your meeting reservation. Once you ve finished making your meeting reservation, be sure to notify the participants that they ve been invited to a conference. You may have already notified the participants using the Meeting Notification option. If not, be sure to provide each participant with the date and time of the conference, the Meeting Telephone Number, the Meeting ID and, if required, Meeting Password. Modifying or Canceling a Conference Reservation To modify or cancel an existing conference reservation: 1. Log into your Covad Dashboard 2. Click on the Meet button. The application will open a new browser window. 3. Click on Browse Meetings from the left-hand menu 4. If the meeting is not shown, click on Today s or Future depending upon when the meeting was originally scheduled to take place. Enter the Meeting ID and click Search. 5. Click on the Meeting ID

6 6. To cancel the reservation, click Cancel Meeting. AN To change the reservation, click Update Meeting, change the relevant information, and click Update Now. Joining a Conference To Join a Scheduled Conference: 1. Call the Scheduled Conferencing Bridge at Your office administrator may also provide a local access number for use by your company and its guests. * 2. When prompted, press 1 to join a conference 3. When prompted, enter the Meeting ID provided by the meeting coordinator followed by the # key. 4. When prompted, press 1 to confirm the Meeting ID. 5. If prompted, enter the Meeting Password. 6. When prompted, record your name and/or location. Press the # key when finished. 7. When prompted, press 1 to join the conference. * Calls to the GoBeam conference bridge are always considered on-net (i.e., free) calls when made from a GoBeam telephone. To provide local access to guests and employees from other phones, the OA may build a new GoBeam account using one of your available telephone numbers. Configure this account to Forward All Calls to This new number may then be used to provide local access to the GoBeam Conference Bridge.

7 In-Conference Options Within a conference, a number of options are available. You can access these by pressing # followed by a number. The in-conference options are outlined in the table, below. #0 Assistance (Covad Technical Support) #7 Q&A Options #1 Breakout Sessions 1 Ask a Question 1 9 Choose Breakout 2 Cancel a Question 0 Return to Main Meeting 3 Relinquish Floor #2 Roll Call 4 Determine Position #4 Admittance Options 9 Controller Options 1 Lock Meeting 1 Clear Floor 2 Admit Party 2 Clear Line 3 Delete Last Party 3 Add next in line 4 Open/Close Meeting 4 Disable Q&A 5 Manage Waiting Room #9 Depart Meeting #5 Mute/Un-Mute #* - Interrupt Prompt and Return to Meeting #6 Meeting Notes 1 Record On/Off 2 Meeting Name 3 Meeting Agenda 4 Meeting Message 5 Meeting Comments 6 Meeting Attachments After the Conference At the end of the conference, a participant may want to hear (or download) the meeting recording. Note that if your meeting ends early, your meeting recording may not be available until the end of your meeting reservation. The Meeting Recording is available for seven (7) days after the meeting. The instructions below will allow you to listen to the recording or save it permanently on your local machine. To access the Meeting Recording: 1. Use a web browser to access 2. Click on Public Meetings 3. Depending upon when the meeting took place, click on Past Meetings or Today s Meetings. 4. If the meeting listing was made available to Anyone, it will be listed. If not, search for the meeting by entering the Meeting ID and pressing Search. 5. When the meeting is shown, click on the Meeting ID. 6. If available, the Meeting Recording will be shown in the Meeting Recording and Comments section near the bottom of the page. To hear the recording, click on the Meeting Recording link. To save the recording permanently on your local machine, right-click on the Meeting Recording link and choose Save Target As from the menu. The Meeting Recording is stored as a standard WAV file and can be accessed using the Windows Media Player provided with Microsoft Windows.

8 If you have questions or concerns regarding this application note, please contact your Covad authorized agent or Covad Technical Support. Covad Technical Support can be reached at (800) or 2002 Covad, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

9 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT INSTANT CONFERENCING 1. Can people call into an Instant Conference? AN No. Instant Conferencing is designed for you to maintain complete control over the conference. You maintain this control by calling out to the parties. If you wish to have participants call into a conference, use the Scheduled Conferencing feature. 2. How do I get billed for Instant Conferencing? There is no additional charge for the Instant Conferencing feature. The easiest way to think of how Instant Conferencing gets charged is to think of an Instant Conference as a group of simultaneous individual calls from within your company. Thus, if you have called five people in an instant conference where three of the participants on the call are within your company and using phones on the Covad network and two are not, there is absolutely no cost for the connections to the first three participants because calls within your company are free. Connections to the other two participants are charged as if you were making two independent calls to outside numbers. 3. If I start an Instant Conference using my PC from home, does the call show up on my home phone bill? No. If you conduct an Instant Conference from home, the call will still be counted as part of your Covad service. If your call includes yourself (at home) and three other participants (within the office) and it lasts for five minutes, five minutes will be deducted from your bucket of standard Covad minutes. If you added three additional participants from other companies for the last 2 minutes of the call, six additional Covad minutes would be deducted (i.e., 3 participants * 2 minutes = 6 minutes). If you participate in the call on your cell phone, however, you would be billed from your cellular provider at their standard rate for inbound calls. 4. Will the Instant Conference be listed in my Call Log? No. Currently, instant conferences are not listed in your call log. 5. When I put the conference call on-hold using my telephone s hold feature, musicon-hold interrupts the meeting. How do I prevent this from happening? Mute yourself using the Mute button in the Instant Conferencing panel before putting the call on hold. When you return to the conference, press Mute again to unmute yourself.

10 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT SCHEDULED CONFERENCING 1. Is there a local access number for the Scheduled Conferencing system? AN Normally, the Scheduled Conferencing system is reached by calling (or 3697 from your Covad phone). Your Office Administrator may have configured an alternative local access (or 800/888) number for your company. Contact your Office Administrator to determine what access number you should use to reach the Scheduled Conferencing system. 2. How do I get billed for Scheduled Conferencing? Covad service plans include a bucket of conferencing minutes. These minutes are for use on the scheduled conferencing system which is tracked using port-minutes. For example, a 20-minute conference with 5 participants is counted as 100 minutes. If your company exceeds the number of minutes in its standard Covad plan, you will be billed for the additional conferencing minutes. If you expect your company s use of the scheduled conferencing system to exceed the standard allotment you can upgrade your service plan to include additional conferencing minutes. Conferencing upgrades are provided at a discounted rate compared to the traditional overage rate. For more information, contact your Covad authorized agent. 3. When I put the conference call on-hold, music-on-hold interrupts the meeting. How do I prevent this from happening? Press #5 to mute yourself from the conference call before putting the call on hold. When you return to the conference, press #5 again to unmute yourself.