Last September I talked about how businesses use Skype for free teleconferencing in "Another IM-VoIP Advantage." Limitations in Skype conferencing include a maximum of five total users, only one of which can be a SkypeOut user (someone you reach through a traditional telephone number). Those who typically conference five or fewer folks can take advantage of the option, but many people would like to have nine or ninety on their calls. Right now, they're out of luck, but not for long.

Vapps, makes audio conferencing systems, and it has joined the Skype developer program and upgraded Skype conferencing capabilities. The public rollout will be Jan. 19.

I spoke with Vapps CEO Ben Lilienthal about the product and his plans. Using the company’s teleconferencing equipment, Vapps can support up to 1,000 concurrent users, but the press release puts a limit of 500 on a conference call.

Teleconferences over Skype work the same as traditional ones. Call the number (or click the Skype contact) and put in the passcode to join the conference, which is the High Speed conference option. Vapps offers a Get Personal option that assigns you a specific conference passcode you keep and can embed in your Skype contact profile. Once saved, one click calls in to the conference and connects you directly to your pre-assigned conference "room."

Readers in Great Britain can use the service as well. Since Skype's European users far outnumber their U.S. user base, I expect Vapps may expand across the European union.

One reason Skype limits conferences to five users? Bandwidth. The initiating Skype client must make all those connections and keep them running. That means the client needs a fair amount of upstream bandwidth and plenty of computer horsepower.

Vapps shifts the primary client workload to its network and its conferencing equipment, allowing hundreds of Skype and regular telephone users to connect to a conference call. The basic service is free, although Skype users must pay the SkypeOut charge of about 2 cents per minute for connections to non-Skype users. In the U.S., traditional telephone users call a specific number and pay nothing beyond their long-distance charges.

Traditional teleconferencing services usually charge a setup fee and anywhere from 5 cents to 50 cents per user per minute. Being computer based, Skype connections can be linked into a conference without operator intervention. Vapps offers upgraded services for a bit of extra money, including Web-based controls over the conference.

James Gaskin writes books (16 so far), articles and jokes about technology and real life from his home office in the Dallas area.