Have you ever made a call to an insurance company or customer service line and heard that “this call may be recorded”? Have you ever wanted or needed to record a phone call yourself, whether it was a phone interview or a business-related conference call?

Start by checking your local laws
Before you start recording phone calls, you should first check your state’s laws regarding recording phone calls (in some places you have to inform all parties involved). Once you’re ready, try some of these free services.

1. Free Conference Calling

Do you need to record a conference call for your business? Give Free Conference Calling a try. This free service records your call and makes it available in an MP3 format within an hour. This is useful for those who need a copy of the call for reference or team members who couldn’t participate in the live call and need to listen to it on their own time. Simply provide the playback number and access code, and they can listen to it anywhere, anytime.

2. Oreka

Oreka is a free, open-source software that allows you to record phone calls. It is designed for business use and records using VoIP (Voice Over IP). The open-source format allows you to receive updates, add-ons and plug-ins. Once you are done recording, you can retrieve the file online.

3. Google Voice

Google Voice is a phone management service that allows you to make phone calls using either the Internet or your regular phone. You can tie all your phones together with one number to make things easy. By pressing the number ’4,’ you can record any call. Once complete, your file will be sent to your Google Voice inbox.

4. Skype

Skype is an inexpensive way to make calls to anywhere in the world. If you are placing a call to another Skype user, the call is free. With your choice of an add-on, recording Skype phone calls can be simple, and you can store the audio directly onto your computer. You have the potential to get good, clean audio. Of course, it all depends on the quality of your equipment and Internet connection, but recording online can reduce the hums and buzzes that one might encounter when dealing with a regular phone system.

5. Cell Phone features

Some cell phones have a built-in facility to allow call recording. This might be the easiest way to store a recorded phone call. If your phone has this feature, and you want to record the conversation, you will generally have to initiate the call. Once the call is in progress, just select the ‘options’ or ‘preferences’ button and tell the phone to begin recording. It will stop recording automatically once the call has ended, or you can manually stop recording at any time.

If your phone doesn’t have this feature, there are call recording apps available for iPhone and Android.

Whatever your reason may be for recording phone calls, these tips and services can help to make your job easier, and you’ll always have the files for future reference.

About The Author:
Karen Goor is a Customer interaction specialist at Nice, a firm specializing in call recording strategies.