A: Most conference systems expect you to make the phone call to connect to the conference bridge. But sometimes you lose track of time or just forget. ZipDX can call you. When your conference is about to start, ZipDX will call the number(s) you supply (or that have been supplied on your behalf). If there are multiple numbers in your list, ZipDX will call them simultaneously unless you explicitly specify a sequence. When you answer, you'll be asked to press "1" to accept the call. (Any other phones will stop ringing.) You'll then be guided into your conference; the first time (only) you'll be asked to record your name. Your numbers are stored in your ZipDX Profile and can be updated by you at any time.

A: You can manage your Profile, including your phone numbers, on-line by logging into www.ZipDX.com. Follow the link inside the email that ZipDX sends you, or log in at the web site using your email address and ZipDX 7-digit PIN. Go to the PROFILE tab to make changes to your phone numbers and call-me settings.

In your profile, you can also set a "time window" (under Edit Personal Profile "Advanced Preferences") when Call-Me will be active. And it is possible to "opt out" of individual meetings -- do this from the HOME tab at www.ZipDX.com, under the "Pending Conferences" heading.

A: No. ZipDX will make at most two attempts. The first will occur just before the conference scheduled start time. If it doesn't reach you on the first attempt, it will try again 3 minutes later. Then it gives up. If, when ZipDX calls the first time, you answer, press "1" and then immediately hang up, ZipDX will not call a second time.

If you are busy when ZipDX calls, treat the Call-Me feature as a "reminder" and then dial into the conference when you're ready.

You can also use the "Call Me Now" function from the ZipDX HOME page once you've logged in.

A: If you call from a number in your Profile, ZipDX will try to identify you automatically using Caller-ID. If it can't recognize you, it will ask you to enter your 7-digit PIN. You can change your PIN to something easy to remember -- but hopefully something confidential -- at www.ZipDX.com (Edit Personal Profile from the Profile tab).

A: No, ZipDX works worldwide. Our North American Toll-Free numbers (starting with 800, 888, 877, 866 or 855) can be dialed toll-free in the USA and Canada. We also have dial-in numbers in several countries around the world. And with the call-me feature, ZipDX can dial you anywhere. (Certain connections cost more than others, and some Administrators may restrict participation via high-cost connections.)

A: No, you shouldn't share your PIN. It is your PERSONAL identification number, meant to identify just you. If you want to invite somebody else to a conference, add their name to the invite list via the ZipDX Web site (or ask the host to do so), and ZipDX will issue them their own PIN. If you DO share your PIN, others will be able to use it to join meetings to which you are invited, and you (and they) will hear a warning over the phone stating that your PIN has been compromised.

A: Yes. Log into www.ZipDX.com with your existing E-mail address and click on the PROFILE tab, then next to your E-mail address near the top, look for the link that says "add another" and follow those directions.

A: The first time you connect to ZipDX, it will ask you to say your name. The recording will be stored in your profile so you don't have to repeat it every time you connect. If you want to re-record your name, just dial into ZipDX. If you have any calls active, you'll have to "press star for other options." Otherwise, you'll hear "You have no scheduled conferences." Then ZipDX will play a list of options. The last is "Press 9 to re-record your name."

A: Yes. You can use an IP Phone or a PC SoftPhone to connect to ZipDX. For best results, download the ZipDX SoftPhone Client, available under the "Profile" tab once you are logged in at www.zipdx.com. If you are using your own client or a SIP Phone, you can have ZipDX recognize you automatically by using the following URI -- SIP:YYYYYYY@login.zipdx.com, where YYYYYYY is the 7-digit PIN that you've assigned to yourself. And if available, be sure to enable the G.722 CODEC, so that you can participate in WIDEBAND. (The narrowband CODEC supported by ZipDX is G.711.)

A: Sometimes a problem with a phone or a particular network prevents ZipDX from detecting the "1" when you press it. If you can't find any setting on your phone that might correct this, then you should dial INTO the conference instead of using the Call Me feature.

Or, you can use the "Call Me Now" capability from the ZipDX HOME page. Click the gold "Call Me Now" button (which appears when you are invited to, or hosting, an upcoming meeting) and select or enter your phone number. Once you've answered, you can click the "Acknowledge" link in the call-me-now box, instead of pressing "1" on your phone.

A: After you've logged into www.ZipDX.com for the first time, the system will stop sending you meeting reminders (the duplicate notices that come a few hours before the meeting is scheduled to start). If you get invited to meetings via electronic calendar notices, you can turn off the additional emails that ZipDX sends in those cases from the Profile tab, Edit Personal Profile. Look under "Advanced Preferences" and check the box labeled "Suppress additional notifications."

A: No, invitations are done with E-mail addresses. You can leave it up to individual participants to register with ZipDX and provide their phone numbers; then, they can choose to dial in, or to have the system call them when the conference begins. If you know your participants' phone number(s), you can "pre-register" them before scheduling your call if they aren't already in the ZipDX database (on the HOME tab, look for Pre-Register a Participant).

A: You can schedule a conference at the ZipDX web site. Just log in, and then choose "create a conference." Set the date and time, fill in the participants' E-mail addresses, and set the conference options to your liking. Alternatively, use your on-line calendaring tool (such as Outlook, Lotus Notes, Google Calendar, Zimbra). Invite everyone as you normally would, but include this special address as an additional participant: meeting@cal.zipdx.com. When ZipDX receives your meeting invitation, it will automatically learn the date and time of the meeting, as well as the identities of all the participants. For those participants that are already members at ZipDX, it will send a reminder E-mail containing their credentials; for new participants, it will issue new credentials. They'll be able to click on a link inside the E-mail to finish the registration process.

A: You can still assign an "old fashioned" code to your conference if you wish. Log in at the ZipDX web site and assign a Conference Code to your template (so the code will apply to all of your calls), or just to one specific call. You decide.

A: Yes. Set these up using your on-line calendar and include meeting@cal.zipdx.com as a participant.

A: It's a conference that hasn't been planned in advance for a specific time using the Calendaring or Web interfaces. Here are a couple of examples of how this can work. Suppose you and your colleagues have just wrapped up a customer visit, and you're all walking out to your cars. You want to post-mortem the visit, so you tell your team, "Let's meet on ZipDX – call from your mobile and enter conference code 654123." As the host, you dial in, and once recognized, you can start a spontaneous conference by pressing 1, and then entering that code, which you will have previously chosen and entered into a call template. You'll be placed into the conference; when the others dial in, they can enter 1 and then that same code to join the call. If they aren't registered ZipDX users, they can enter the call code at the main prompt. Now, here's a more powerful example. Suppose you've got a crisis management team that you occasionally need to put into action when the going gets tough. Create a call template that includes each of the team members as a participant, and give that template a conference code, like 911911. Subsequently, when the need arises, you just call ZipDX, and enter 1 and that crisis code, 911911, to invoke the spontaneous conference. If all of your team members have enabled automatic dial out, they'll immediately be called (at all of their defined telephone numbers) in an attempt to get them to join the conference. You'll want to use this feature judiciously, but a little advance planning could be a tremendous help in that crisis.

A: Your conference will be most secure if you DO NOT assign a conference code to it. Invite participants individually with their E-mail addresses, and let them each use their own PINs. If you need to do Spontaneous Conferencing, then you'll need to assign a conference code to at least one of your Conference Templates. And if you're planning a more general "public" conference, you can assign a Conference Code to that conference, and then publish the code to your guests (rather than inviting them via E-mail). In these cases, anybody that knows the code will be able to join the conference.

A: Yes. With code-based systems, anybody that you invite to one conference can potentially dial into another of your conferences in the future. With ZipDX, you invite the participants to each conference explicitly via E-mail. It's up to you to open your conference to others via a code.

A: No, we won't go that far. For example, if you invite Joe to your conference, and Joe has shared his personal credentials with Fred, Fred will be able to impersonate Joe. But you can use ZipDX tools, such as the on-line conference dashboard and the post-call E-mail summary, as well as traditional techniques like quizzing voices that you don't recognize, to make sure your conferences are private.

A: No, you shouldn't do that, and it shouldn't be necessary. Your PIN is a PERSONAL identification number, meant to identify just you. If you want to invite somebody else to a conference, add their name to the invite list at the ZipDX Web site (or ask the host to do so), and ZipDX will issue them their own PIN.

A: NOTE: Java must be installed on your computer to host a WebSharing sesison. Go to www.java.com to make sure you have Java. When you are ready to start your meeting, first connect on the phone to your audio conference. When you, as the host, login at ZipDX.com and click on the HOME tab, you'll see your conference listed under "In-Progress Conferences" and a "Start WebShare" link will appear. Click on that and a WebShare controller window will open in your browser. If a browser message appears asking if its okay to run the Java program, click Yes. Sometimes a Java test runs; click CONTINUE when that button appears. Then you'll get confirmation that your screen is being shared. Others can join at this point. Note that when your audio conference ends, your WebSharing session will automatically be ended also.

A: Invited participants should log in at ZipDX.com. Once the host has started the WebSharing session, participants will see a link under the "In-Progress Conferences" heading that says "Join WebShare." Clicking on that will open a new window. If a browser message appears asking if its okay to run the Java program, click Yes. Sometimes a Java test runs in this window; when the Continue button appears, click on that. After a few more seconds, an image of the host's screen will appear in a new Java window. In the upper left corner, you'll see a button that says "Actual Size" and you can click on that to adjust scaling and switch to "Fit In Window" mode.

If you've assigned a Conference Code to your meeting, you can also direct your participants to guest.zipdx.com, where they can enter that code and get access to the Join WebShare link.

A: Yes. As the host, you can go to the WebShare Controller window or tab in your browser, and you'll see a list of participants. Click on a participant, and a menu will appear. You can chose "Make Co-Presenter" to allow that individual to share their screen. Or you can choose "Grant Remote Control" which allows that individual to control, via their keyboard and mouse, the computer that is currently screen-sharing. The affected individual will see a pop-up box that they'll have to accept before the action becomes effective. You can revoke remote control, or resume sharing your own screen, by clicking again on names in the WebShare Controller window.

A: No, the ZipDX recording feature only records the audio portion of the call. You can use ZipDX in conjunction with other web conferencing tools (like Adobe Connect or WebEx). Those tools can connect to ZipDX, and their recording feature can then capture both the screen images and the audio.

A: Certainly. This is the function of the ZipDX dashboard. The dashboard shows who is in the conference and even who's talking! The host can see who has raised their hand, tally votes, put the conference in "lecture mode" (muting the participants), remove someone from the conference, and more. Log in using your E-mail address and ZipDX password at www.zipdx.com.

A: The person that organized the conference (and sent out the meeting notice) is the "host". The Organizer can share host "privileges" (and responsibilities) with others, if desired. In the ZipDX Customer Portal, you can confer host status to each participant as you add them to your conference list. When setting up a conference in a calendar program, include "Host" in the participant's "Display Name" (the proper name that shows up beside the xyz@abc.com E-mail address). You can also designate somebody as an alternate host via the dashboard, by clicking on their name.

A: You bet. For conferences that are started spontaneously, and for conferences that you specify require the host, there is a timer that will end the conference after a set amount of time. Even if you don't want to leave your participants chatting forever, it's a great idea to set this value to 10 minutes. That way, if, for example, you call in from a mobile phone and get dropped during the conference, you can dial back in and your conference will still be going. The timer will reset, and it won't start until you disconnect again. Another ZipDX innovation.

A: Yes! Each conference has 8 Private Meeting Rooms associated with it, numbered 1 through 8. Members of the conference can move between rooms by keying *4X, where X is the room number. "0" is the main conference, so just press *40 to return there.

A: A host of a conference can dial out to anywhere in the world – just key *98, followed by the telephone number (1 + area code + number in North America, 011 + country code + number elsewhere), and then #. The number you dial will be immediately patched into the conference, so the group will hear ringing (or busy). When the called party answers, make the proper introductions and you're ready to continue conferencing. If you need to disconnect the call (due to no answer or voice-mail, perhaps), dial *99.

If you want to establish the call without involving the entire conference, just step into a private room (*41, for example), dial the number (*98-XXX), and once you're ready, you can dial *941 to take both you and the new party back to the main conference.

Of course, the dial-out feature is also available (to conference hosts) via the on-line dashboard. Click on "Dialout" near the top.

Most international phones don't carry and extra charge, but it costs extra to call certain numbers in specific locations. To protect your account from unanticipated charges, you must contact us to enable extra-cost dialing.

A: A ZipDX account is the mechanism that we use to authorize and charge for the service. You need a ZipDX account if you want to ORGANIZE and serve as the HOST of a ZipDX conference. Anybody can be a PARTICIPANT in a ZipDX conference. As a ZipDX MEMBER, you can be automatically recognized when you dial in, and you can tell ZipDX to dial out to you when you are scheduled for a conference. Your MEMBER profile is linked to an account when the account administrator adds your E-mail address to the account's list of authorized users.

A: No. Like many conferencing services, the conference organizer (or "host") has to have an account and gets billed for the conference. ZipDX costs less than most other paid conferencing services, but offers much more in terms of sound quality, connectivity, features and ease-of-use. In North America, ZipDX offers a toll-free dial-in number, so participants don't pay anything to use the system.

A: ZipDX can call anywhere in the world. However, some locations do carry an extra charge. An account administrator can prohibit calls above a certain cost from connecting to their conferences. Participants will have to connect using a lower-cost option (such as dialing the ZipDX USA toll access number).

A: A host or participant can use their own 7-digit PIN to dial into ZipDX from a conference room. OR, consider creating a ZipDX "identity" for the conference room. Start by creating an E-mail address (MeetingRoom1@mycompany.com). Register that address with ZipDX, and fill in the phone number of the room's speakerphone. Then, whenever anybody schedules a meeting in that room, they can include MeetingRoom1@mycompany.com as a participant, and they'll enjoy all the system's slick features -- without needing any codes. You can even enable Call-Me capability if you like, and ZipDX will call the room when the meeting is scheduled to start.

A: Wideband refers to a digital technique for carrying a fuller, better-sounding and more complete representation of the audio signal, compared to "narrowband" which is what is used in the traditional telephone network. With wideband, it is easier to distinguish sounds, recognize speakers, and understand accents. It makes conferencing less fatiguing.

A: You will get the most out of wideband technology when two or more participants in the conference have wideband-capable phones. Those connected in wideband will hear each other with high fidelity; while those connected in narrowband will suffer from the usual loss of quality associated with the traditional phone network.

A: Send E-mail to support@zipdx.com.

A: Yes! Please E-mail us at ideas@zipdx.com.