Teleconferencing is the use of telephone or other means to conduct meetings between two or more people who are not in the same place. With teleconferencing--or its newer counterparts videoconferencing (uses television or other visual means) and people can exchange information and discuss related matters without the expense or hassle of traveling. Teleconferencing can also be used as a means for families separated by distance as well as an educational tool. Institutions of higher learning can conduct seminars with a teacher in one location and students in others, via videoconferencing. The only limitations of teleconferencing, videoconferencing, and computer teleconferencing are technological.

Teleconferencing, in the strictest sense, is the use of the telephone as a conferencing medium for people at different locations. Teleconferencing was almost prohibitively expensive until the late 1960s and early 1970s because of the amount of work operators involved in setting up conference calls. With direct...