- Standard Subscription: $31.49 per month
- Set up fee: $14.99
- Very average desktop sharing application
- Share your desktop with meeting participants
- Different presentation modes to suit the situation
- Whiteboarding functionality to highlight important points
- Limited VOIP support
- Integrated webcam support for video conferencing
- Private or public text chat
- Password protect rooms
- Custom branding available
- Guests must download a small executable file
- 256-bit encryption on communications
- Invite up to 25 participants for video conferencing, or 10 for desktop sharing
- Share files easily
- Online technical support available
- Compatible with Windows only
From the moment you arrive at the Hot Conference web site you get the impression that this is an amateur organisation and perhaps not one that you would want to trust with your web conferencing requirements. The marketing information is confusing and contradicts itself and the 'live' text chat facility never seemed to be operational when we tried to talk to someone. The product itself works, although not brilliantly, and this is one of the poorer quality services we have reviewed.
The fact that the main page of Hot Conference has a big 'for sale' sign across the top of it does not inspire the consumer with confidence. The owner of the company/web site seems to be trying to sell off the domain for one reason or another and we weren't able to get in touch to ask what exactly would happen to the service - definitely something you would want to check out before signing up. The service itself allows you to share your desktop with a small number of meeting participants and communicate with them in a few different ways.
Hot Conference supports video and audio conferencing as well as straightforward text chat facilities. However, unlike a true VOIP application, conversation is restricted a bit by the fact that you have to click a button on screen each time you want to talk - a bit like trying to use a walkie talkie! This certainly isn't conducive to the kind of flowing dialogue most of us would probably like from our meetings.
The reliability of the application seemed to be OK, but the quality of service was quite poor when compared with other services we have looked at. The desktop sharing feature was very slow and clunky and seemed to struggle to synchronize everyone's screens. The sales information states in one place that communications are encrypted at 128-bit and another at 256-bit so we aren't entirely sure as to the security features of Hot Conference. Although you can password protect your meeting room.
Hot Conference does not seem like a serious competitor that you would want to consider for a web conferencing solution. The whole business seems to be run very amateurishly with the misleading sales information, poor spelling and grammar and the fact that they can only take payments through PayPal. This is one service we would recommend giving a miss, but for some much better options take a look at some of the products in our top 10 list of online meeting services.
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