Companies are turning increasingly to conference calling. Airfare costs continue to increase. Higher security measures make flight times longer. For less than one airline ticket you can purchase a Polycom Soundstation.

Can you afford not to buy Polycom?

Clear conversations lead to improved communications and fewer missed signals, but let's shortcut these factors and talk about the important item: Lost Sales.

It's all about credibility. Can you really ask your customer to put their company in your hands if your cheap conference phone sounds <snap> like <crackle> this? Your pitch will start out in the hole as soon as you introduce yourself. How many lost sales will it take to justify a Soundstation? Let's take a look at some of the key features.

Full Duplex or CB-Radio?

Those cheap phones only work one direction at a time: you can talk or listen, but not both. You end up with a call full of awkward pauses as you wait for the other party to finish. After a while you feel like you are using a CB radio. A computer fan, a cell phone, or any other noise on your side can blank out the caller.

The Soundstation is a full duplex conference phone. It allows you to talk and listen at the same time. You can have a true dialog with your customer.

The problem with cheap phones is that they can't overcome the feedback sqeal. If they provided you with full duplex conversation, you would hear a sharp feedback squeal as the mic rebroadcast the same sound it hears through the speaker. Polycom's sophisticated circuitry screens out the feedback effect so that full duplex conversation really works!

Could You Speak Up, Please?

Cheap phones will cut corners where they can in order to deliver your low cost price point. The problem is that you can't tell just how bad the microphone is in your cheap handset. When you listen to that tinny sound coming from that tiny speaker don't automatically assume that the mic only lives down to the sound you hear - it may be much worse.

Pass The Phone Please

Who has the phone? That cheap unit only has one mic, and you must talk directly into it. Each time someone else talks they have to pull the phone over. It looks like a game of musical chairs, with three to five particpants all fighting over the one phone.

The Soundstation provides a couple solutions to this problem. First, the base unit has three seperate microphones for full 360 degree coverage. For larger conference rooms you can choose Soundstations with extension microphones to bring coverage the length of the table. There are even wireless mic options for special situations.

Get the Picture?

There are times when words alone just won't cut it. The Polycom Viewstation delivers full motion video over ISDN or your high speed internet connection. Your recipients can view your video on any computer with a high speed internet connection. If your Viewstation saves just one airplane trip for your time, you will easily pay back the cost of the system. From them on, every time you use your Viewstation is just like money in the bank.

Of course, this just scratches the surface, but it give you a understanding of some of the features of the Soundstation terminal. For more information, use the links below to visit the product pages.