Overview
A conference call lets you join three or more people on a single line. This guide shows you how to bridge two outside callers from your desk phone, plus tips for keeping the call clear for everyone.
Before You Begin
- Your desk phone, with a free line.
- The phone numbers or extensions of the people you want to add.
- Permission from each participant to add them (a quick heads-up is enough).
- The conference code your administrator provided, if your phone uses one.
Steps
- Place or answer the first call as you normally would.
- While the call is active, press the Conf or Conference soft key. Your first caller goes on hold.
- Listen for a dial tone. Dial the second participant's number or extension.
- When they answer, let them know who is already on the line. This is courtesy and also confirms the audio works.
- Press the Conf soft key again to join everyone. All three of you are now on the same call.
- To add a fourth person, repeat steps 2 to 5 if your phone system allows it. Many systems support up to six legs from one desk phone.
- To drop one participant without ending the call, press the Drop or Split soft key. Most systems will let you choose who to remove.
- To end the conference, hang up. On most systems this releases everyone. On a few, it leaves the others connected, which is usually fine.
Troubleshooting
- If you cannot find a Conf button: open the in-call menu and look for Add call or Merge calls. The wording varies by phone model.
- If the second call drops when you try to merge: your phone may need a conference code first. Check with your administrator.
- If audio echoes: ask each participant to mute when not speaking. Echoes usually trace back to a single noisy line.
- If you need more than six people: use a dedicated conferencing tool like Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Zoom instead. Desk-phone bridging gets unreliable past six legs.
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