Thread: Conference Calls

When wanting to make a 3 way conference call, does it matter what phone you have or is a service from the provider. I asked this question to some others and it was half and half, as some said its a phone facility and some said its a provider service and some said both.

Which is it exactly? And how clear is a 3 way call from a mobile?

Conference Call is primarily dependent on the Service Provider. Even the very basic handsets can be used to make conference calls if the facility is activated from the Service Provider side. Conference facility requires the availability of Call Waiting facility as a pre-requisite.
The only deviation is Conference calls using two different service providers made through a Dual SIM handset which is purely dependent on the handset.

Conference calls can be of four types
Incoming-Incoming
Incoming-Outgoing
Outgoing-Incoming
Outgoing-Outgoing

let us take the example of A, B & C where B has Call Waiting and Call Conferencing facility activated from the Service Provider side. Then the four types would be as follows.

Incoming-Incoming
A calls B
B receives call
meanwhile C also calls B
call waiting is displayed on B's screen
B puts A on hold and receives call from C
B then activates conference call facility and brings A also in the loop

Incoming-Outgoing
A calls B
B receives call
B puts A on hold and inititates call to C
C receives call
B then activates conference call facility and brings A also in the loop

Outgoing-Incoming
B calls A
A receives call
meanwhile C calls B
call waiting is displayed on B's screen
B puts A on hold and receives call from C
B then activates conference call facility and brings A also in the loop

Outgoing-Outgoing
B calls A
A receives call
B puts A on hold and inititates call to C
C receives call
B then activates conference call facility and brings A also in the loop

I use Call Conference facility extensively from my Reliance CDMA postpaid connection, and the clarity is as good as a normal two-way call.

As said above, it is purely dependent on the service provider and not on the handset.
Its a very best feature as many can talk (8 people max) at a time to every body. I use it sometimes when i need to make some decision and others are apart, like meeting. its really a good facility