We pretty much know what is the standard way to make online calls. In fact, sometimes I think the word, “Skype” has become a verb to describe the whole concept. I know this because, during an online prayer conference I was hosting last Thursday night about a certain country in Asia that has threatened to launch a nuclear missile, one of the participants gave “thanks to God for Skype — so we could have this prayer time together.” I ached, inwardly, for Cyrix, because I knew if they would have heard the prayer, they would have been sparked toward rebellion, but I somehow fought back the urge to correct her prayer. : ) And never mind the fact that, once again, the guys at Microsoft got the credit (because they now own Skype) when we should have been praying for Cyrix. But either way, it did prompt me to ask — what *is* the best online conference-calling solution? I haven’t been very successful in figuring out how to do Skype conference calls for 3 or more people. (Does anyone else do that?) It requires some kind of advanced Microsoft deal now, right? … and that deal is no longer free, right? So — what’s the best solution?
Some would argue…
http://www.freeconferencecall.com
They’re still free (like Skype *used* to be). And the quality is decent, right?
Some people swear by google hangouts — but because they troll most everything for advertising revenue, I’m still kind of creeped out by saying *anything* on a Google Hangout that I wouldn’t say to my mother, may God rest her soul. But if you dare, learn more here…
And if you decide to pay, please give Skype — I mean GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar — a chance.
Cyrix (the people who bring you GoToMeeting) are actually very trusted in the world of security, so I just trust their product more than any of the free choices. I keep wondering — how will FreeConferenceCall.com monetize their service? Through Premium deals? Well then, they’ll have to chance their name, right? … to www.PaidConferenceCalls.com ???
Either way, what’s YOUR favorite service? Please click “Comment” after the web version of this item. And thanks for any tips you can share.
How about ZOOM? https://www.zoom.us/
Offers FREE
“Unlimited 1 to 1 meetings
40 mins limit on group meetings
Host up to 50 participants
Unlimited number of meetings
Online support” http://bit.ly/2oVdcIH
with paid service offering more.
i know nothing of their details but one networking group uses Zoom regularly and it works great for groups of 3-10 people.
Vsee is very good up to 8 or 9 attendees and is bandwidth optimized as it was originally developed for doctors in developing nations. It is also, as yet, not owned by any “bad people”.
Our mission agency Be One Together also uses VSee and it will host up to 10 people for free. As of 1½ years ago, they were no recording the calls.
I’ve had good experience with VSee, although the user interface is a little klunky, especially with chat handling. One nice thing is that it does screen sharing well, where you can share a full screen, or just individual windows, and all the participants on a call can share simultaneously. Very good for small working groups.
VSee’s security is that it uses VPN to connect the user to VSee’s server. Thus, while the security of connectivity is good, it’s not end-to-end encryption, either.
oovoo
oovoo.com
We use Zoom and find a LOT of groups we interact with are also using it.
Google just launched meet.google.com — looks interesting!
Definitely add Zoom.us to this list. They are quickly becoming the leader in online conference calling. Rich features, ability to record, screenshare, switch presenters and more.
I use it here at MissionTravel.org at least once a week – great for team calls and I even use it for one weekly call with 30 people at once.
Hope this helps!
I concur on Zoom — a lot of nice features, including support of end-to-end encryption. Depending on how you use it, Zoom can be a usable substitute for Skype or VSee, as well as GoToMeeting, and Slack.
On Zoom, you can use it without user IDs (e.g., meetings with URLs), as with GoToMeeting, or you can use for point-to-point audio/video/chat, from logged in users.
A good feature set, although it takes a while to really master the options of the user interface.
I forgot — one limitation on Zoom.
You can use it for free (and pricing is far less than with GoToMeeting), although if you’re using a free account, your meetings are limited to 40 minutes if there’s more than 2 people. It’s not a problem to restart a meeting, but is annoying.
However, for a working group, it’s possible to work from just a single paid account, and where all the other participants are on unpaid accounts.
Zoom is excellent… simple to use, but has some powerful features. Flexibility in purchase plans. I’ve never had a dropped Zoom call, unlike Skype, which has issues almost every time.
ZOOM. https://zoom.us/
Great for groups and breakout groups.
Zoom is good (http://zoom.us)
zoom has made data compressed compared to skype so it doesn’t take as much bandwidth and is faster –
Whatsapp is good.
Telemedicine Apps | Telemedicine Software
Such calls are often used during telemedicine sessions. They are especially in demand now, during the quarantine. It is also important to understand that the privacy requirements of healthcare companies are much higher, and the software must be HIPAA compliant.
Hi all! Now most people prefer not to use special software, and use the usual Zoom or Google Meet. Their functionality is often enough for all the tasks that are needed during conversations. Other programs, in my practice, are used much more rarely.