Our conference bridges are physically located on the premises of telephone company central offices and are connected to the telephone network via high capacity digital circuits.  Our equipment does not itself introduce echo or noise into the conference.  However, echo or noise can enter the conference through the telephone lines used by one or more of the participants in the conference.  It is the nature of teleconferencing that all sound brought in to the conference is amplified and rebroadcast out to all the other participants in the conference.  If there is a barely noticeable echo in a two-party conversation, it may become a very pronounced echo in a 30-party conference call.  We STRONGLY recommend that all participants in the conference use only high quality telephones and avoid cellular phones, cordless phones, headsets, etc.

If you encounter an echo or noise during your conference you can try the following procedure:  Ask everyone to mute themselves using touch-tone *6 (see Hotkeys).  Then, slowly, one at a time, each participant should un-mute him or herself (again using touch-tone *6).  When the echo or noise returns, the "culprit" will have been identified.  That person should be asked to hang up and dial back in again, using a different telephone if possible.