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 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 record 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 the same or less than 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: Yes. You can use ZipDX's "sign up" page and enter your additional E-mail address(es). You'll get a confirmation E-mail with a Web link; click on that link and you'll be taken to the Registration page. At the top of that page, you'll see a link that allows you to associate this new address with another address you've already registered.

A: No, invitations are done with E-mail addresses. It's up to the 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.

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. 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: No, ZipDX works worldwide. Our North American Toll-Free number – 888-ZIPDX-88 (888-947-3988) – can be dialed toll-free in the USA and Canada. We also have dial-in numbers in several countries around the world. And if you activate our dial-out feature, ZipDX can call you anywhere.

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. With ZipDX, you can tell ZipDX to call you. When your conference is about to start – either one you organized, or one to which you've been invited – ZipDX will call the number(s) you supply (if there are multiple numbers in your list, ZipDX will call them simultaneously). When you answer, you'll be guided into your conference. And for conferences where you aren't the organizer, you can tell ZipDX not to call you until the host arrives. (Maybe that will encourage people to show up on time!)

A: It depends. Some phone calls are very expensive, and the account that's being billed for a particular conference may not be authorized for those expensive calls. In that case, you can get a "reminder" call telling you that the conference is starting; then you can dial back into the conference on your nickel.

A: You can use your 7-digit PIN to identify yourself to ZipDX. You can set this to a value of your choosing by logging in at the ZipDX web site and selecting the Profile tab. If you are setting the system up for your company, 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 dial-out capability if you like, and ZipDX will call the room when the meeting is supposed to start.

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: 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 9 Private Meeting Rooms associated with it. 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. And 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.

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.