The Evolution of Conference Call Lines: From Copper to VoIP

In today's VoIP telephone system environment, businesses can easily accomplish conference calls by outsourcing to a company that provides conference bridge services. This has revolutionized the way we conduct meetings and discussions with multiple participants.

In the past, conference calls were limited by the technology available at the time. T1/PRI circuits were only accessible on larger and more expensive PBXs, which made it difficult for smaller businesses to participate in large-scale meetings. However, even with these limitations, some digital telephone system manufacturers included a conference bridge in their basic system software package.

This early implementation of conference bridges had its drawbacks, such as requiring professional onsite installation and being unreliable. Despite these issues, the quality of the conference call was significantly improved due to amplification and line balancing provided by the system.

During the 1990s, some manufacturers developed special conference bridge cards that increased the capacity for participants, but these were often limited to just a few people and resulted in poor audio quality.

In the 1980s, telephone system manufacturers began adding a conference call feature to their systems. However, as more participants joined the call, the quality of the conversation would degrade significantly due to limitations imposed by copper lines, which were designed for one-on-one conversations.

In the 1970s, conference calls were accomplished by physically bridging copper lines together, allowing multiple people to participate in a meeting without having to be in the same physical room. This setup was generally limited to just three participants.

Fast-forwarding to today, a conference bridge gives businesses the ability to connect with multiple people at once, making it easier than ever to conduct meetings and discussions remotely. With the advancement of VoIP technology, businesses can now easily outsource their conference call needs to a company that provides reliable and high-quality services.

Conference call lines