Zoom, Webex, Microsoft team calls

[jelloshots4all]

Why are these needed in business?  I love the social calls, but the business ones seem like a hot mess.

Why not just a conference call?  Everyone has different internet providers, and every call for business I have been on has been a cluster with delays, freezing up, people dropping off, etc.

Would like others input

[Sharon]

We are using Microsoft Teams for work and the only time there is an issue is when the network crashes.  We are all on company issued laptops connected remotely so that probably makes a difference.  I'm finding it to actually be an effective way to work.  We'd had it installed for maybe a month before they kicked us all home so we've had to learn as we go.

Zoom is forbidden at work because of the security flaws.

[Deleted]

Our HOA is using Skype because the president uses a company-issued laptop and can't use Zoom for security issues.  Many of our "community partners" use Zoom.  Some are pushing for Microsoft Teams.  We have to have a "public" meeting aka open to anyone in the whole universe on June 25 and they are going to have to figure out the best platform for what could be 100+ attendees.  And that platform has to allow live, real-time participation by directors like myself who will not go to a public gathering of that size, but must be accessible online to receive and answer questions.  I use an IPad and sure ain't buying a laptop just for this fertilizer festival.  Ain't technology fun?

[Happy prose]

We use webex at work. It is used by admin to keep everyone updated. We have about 300 people. They ask you to shut video, and mute your mic. They are not using video either; voice only. The first ten minutes is spent giving people directions. When they send out the invite, they give instructions on how to log on. Then it says if you have difficulty, you can dial in with your phone, which is what I do every time. Why not just provide this phone number? Or better yet, being it is not a question and answer session, send an email.

[Lizard Queen]

We use WebEx for work. We also all have company laptops. I got better internet at home, at that has made all the difference. We do get a phone number to call if we want to instead, which I've had to do a few times with the old ISP.

My kids used Zoom for school. I actually liked that a little better. My kids caught right on. Never used teams, but have used Skype for business.

The problem with all (or most) of them is that only one person can talk at a time. Sometimes that makes it hard to chime in.

[Cheesy FL-Vol]

Being profoundly hearing impaired, a conference call would a disaster.

[jerseygirl]

At companies I worked with a telecon was standard. Only used video if someone wanted to show s graph or some such. Usually international, years ago video was used and abandoned. Video takes a much larger bandwidth and problems arise. Also there are delays in international video between pictures and voice. We’d see an Indian person but the voice of someone in Scotland - weird and distracting
I am on s board of s charity for deaf people and we always had ASL sign language interpreters on video calls.
If you have hearing problems for work calls, you can insist on an interpreter or appropriate accommodation to help you. It’s required by American Dissbility Act

[saveinla]

We have a lot of screen sharing, design discussions, white boarding etc. which does not work well with just voice calls.

We use Teams more now, since Webex is not able to handle the bandwidth. It's also good to see the people and the discussion is much more enjoyable when we see someone face to face and can see their reactions and also understand the nuances.

We have people from all over the world and sometimes accents and language barriers are easier to handle if they can show us what they mean.

No zoom, skype etc. due to security concerns.

[giramomma]

You can turn the video part off.

That's what I do for 100% of my meetings, now that I'm working in my bedroom. No one needs to see *that.*

We actually use four different tools at work: Zoom (though that's a special case), WebEx, Teams, and Blackboard Ultra.

Each tool has different use cases. We also, for example, can't extend a teams invite to people that I work with outside of my organization.

Blackboard Ultra has limitations, right now, for the number of folks that can join at one time.

[happyhoix]

We use zoom and Skype, the only problem person is the one with the slow home internet. He starts talking over people because is audio is about 10 seconds slower than the rest of us. 

Had one funny event, very large zoom conference call for a couple hundred people and one of the upper managers was talking, then forgot to mute himself and started talking to someone else (maybe on the phone?) and being fairly swear-y and aggressive. Someone had to finally message him to let him know he was still on the call. All of a sudden, his mic turned off and he was gone - I'm sure I wasn't the only person laughing with my own mic muted. 

[buystoys]

We used Webex when I worked.  There was a lot of screen sharing in the monthly meetings I hosted.  Webex was easy to use. 

[flamingo]

I was initially resistant to all the video calls, but now I don't mind them. We use Zoom mostly. I have 2 regularly scheduled Zoom meetings a week. I feel more connected that I would with just a regular conf. call which is a nightmare to manage and I'd have to take notes on who's there, whereas Zoom shows me their photo/name. And, like others have said, it's nice to be able to share my screen so we can all see the same docs at the same time.

Beyond all of that, I need to be able to do presentations for my students (higher ed). I can't do that over conf. call AT ALL, so Zoom it is. And it's been nice to have one on one Zoom calls with students who want to meet. Slightly more personal than a phone call.

[raeoflyte]

Video calls have come a long way. They're no worse than conference calls and better in a lot of ways because you know whose talking, the presenter can mute just the problem person, etc. I used to hate the idea of being on camera, but I'm over that.