# Net Meeting Software?



## mvdm (Apr 13, 2009)

Once a month, I lead a post-high Bible study at our home. I would like to enable our church's college students who are away from us to log in via the internet and join our study from multiple locations. I found Microsoft Net Meeting as an option, but do not know if it is a good program. Does anyone have any experience with such software and have any free downloadable program recommendations? Thanks.


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## JTDyck (Apr 13, 2009)

I'm not sure what features you are looking for, but an inexpensive alternative to Net Meeting is Timebridge: Free Scheduling Software | Integrate Outlook, Google Calendar & Exchange Availability - TimeBridge

They offer free conference calling (each member has to pay their own long distance charges, but they will give you a phone number for free. They just added a conferencing feature which includes video. I've used it for a meeting and it works very well. If you use something like Skype to bring down your phone costs, it could be quite reasonable.

One of the difficulties with these programs is that they work best when everyone is on the same program. it might be more difficult to participate when most of the group is in a room and only one or two individuals are online. I have been in conference calls where two participants have been on a speaker phone, and it can be difficult to hear what everyone is saying.


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## mvdm (Apr 13, 2009)

Thanks, John.

While video conferencing would be great, the only feature that would be necessary is audio conferencing. And since these are college kids, I wouldn't want them having to pay for long distance charges for participating in the conference.

Which makes me wonder if Windows Messenger-- which I believe has audio capability-- would suffice by having everyone signed in at the same time. Maybe I'll give that a test run with one of the college students and see if it works. If you have any other recommendations, feel free to pass them along.


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## fredtgreco (Apr 13, 2009)

Mark,

You may want to check, but it may be that most or all of the college students have cell phones with free long distance.


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## mvdm (Apr 13, 2009)

fredtgreco said:


> Mark,
> 
> You may want to check, but it may be that most or all of the college students have cell phones with free long distance.



I'm not sure how well that would work to "conference" them in together, if I have multiple persons in multiple locations. Perhaps a cell phone can accomplish this, so I'll check it out. Thanks,


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## VictorBravo (Apr 13, 2009)

This looks pretty interesting. Free for up to 20 participants:

What is Dimdim? - Dimdim: Web conferencing that just works. Dimdim provides easy, open, affordable collaboration. Use for online meetings, eLearning, desktop sharing, training, distance education, unified collaboration, webinar, free web meetings and


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## fredtgreco (Apr 13, 2009)

mvdm said:


> fredtgreco said:
> 
> 
> > Mark,
> ...



You have a conference call dial in number, and then everyone (usually up to 100) is on the call. If you need a toll free number, there is a charge; usually you can find a free alternative if it is not toll free. The down side of that is long distance charges for the participants, but cell phone (or other) free long distance takes care of that.

Other free conferencing sites are:

Free Audio Conferencing - Free Reservationless Conference Call Service

FreeConference.com - Free Telephone Conference Call Service

Free Conference Calling: Conference Call Services Free from BV FreeConferencing


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## MLCOPE2 (Apr 13, 2009)

One word: Skype

Skype official website ? download Skype free now for free calls and internet calls


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