Webex has enhanced their free plan to remove the 40 minute limit on meetings, and also now includes dial-in access (not just VoIP) and support for up to 100 participants.

probably why Webex doesn’t work at all anymore for calls with video

We use webex at my job, and we've noticed multiple issues with the audio since wednesday. Some callers get all circuits are busy messages, and some when using VoIP, notice that the audio keeps cutting out. Is Zoom acting any better?

Zoom is working well for us. Haven't used it since Friday though. I have a call coming up this afternoon on Zoom.

Yes, one can have participants connect to zoom meetings from China without any VPN.

I use it as part of my online courses and training, all meeting passworded.

Is this different than any other day for Webex?

I work for a linux company, and the two worst tools that I'm forced to use due to customer requirements are, in order, WebEx and Lync/Skype For Business.

WebEx, for me, is spotty at best, and Skype doesn't work at all most of the time, even on my MacBook under OSX :(

We use Google Meet, Bluejeans, and Telegram mostly and they seem to work pretty well for all needs.

I've used zoom for many many years now and have never really had any issues. current company has webex which I've used just fine since Jan 2019... but in the past 3-4 weeks it has totally GTS. When the announced about a month ago they would make it free to all for 2 months, I figured that might be the end of the reliability and it was. As of now, I've moved my whole team to zoom and its working much much better.

+1 for hating on WebEx. Thankfully we just moved to MS Teams. It's a shame too, WebEx was like the earliest player in this space, but after Cisco bought them, innovation pretty much ceased. The current product is an overbloated pile of dung if you ask me.

Routers: Asus for most people, PFSense + Ubiquiti for advanced users, GL.Inet Mango / Slate for travel.

I've been recommending the Asus routers for the past few years. Their AIMesh system works fantastically and they're solid. The best part is someone can start with a single Asus mesh-capable router, and add another Asus Mesh router down the road if needed, or use their existing Asus router as a mesh node if they decide to upgrade to a newer router. Unlike the other mesh setups, each Asus mesh-capable router is a full router/wireless AP, so if your main router gets damaged, you can use one of the others as primary and life goes on until you can replace it. VERY important in somewhere like Florida where lightning, unreliably power companies, and hurricanes are common.

Our techie types run PFSense/M0n0wall/Mikrotek routers with Ubiquiti APs. It never ceases to amaze me how much abuse PFSense can take. I wish more hotels would go with something like this.

+1 on a GOOD keyboard! I'd add to that, a good MECHANICAL keyboard. I find the mechanical keyboards to be much more enjoyable and accurate to use, almost like the difference between using a nice fountain pen vs. BIC/ballpoint pen. I have a nice stash of IBM Model Ms, but I also have a few of the newer mechanicals as well. For 'portable' use, I'm currently using a Velocifire TKL02, which happens to sit perfectly on top of my MacbookPro's keyboard. It's much better than even the best laptop keyboards. Admittedly, it's heavy and a pain to carry around, so I only drag it with me if I'm going to be at a location for more than a few days, but it's worth it to me. I do have a Velocifire M2 and Keychron K6 on order which should make better travel companions. Most disappointing keyboard: Logitech K400. A compact wireless keyboard+touchpad seemed like a great idea. Except the keyboard on the K400 is terrible. It's the first and only keyboard I've ever used where my fingers hurt after just typing a paragraph on it, and I've been typing for 35 years.

Phone: Cisco 525G2. I know there's softphones, but I still prefer a physical phone. These are cheap on the resale market, support SIP, WiFi, and Bluetooth. You can even pair your mobile phone with it and use the Cisco's interface & handset for mobile phone calls. It also is quite happy using my phone's hotspot as its connection.

That article is clickbait written by someone who has no clue what she's talking about.

Keyboards and headphones are nerd black holes ;). I'm also pro good keyboard but it may be difficult to find at this stage. My rec is that if you aren't picky, use whatever you have or borrow it from work if possible. My employer basically said if you can carry it and need it - please take it home. If you share WFH space with others then for their sanity, perhaps use the quieter mechanical keyboard and/or order more noise cancelling headphones.

Headphones - Bose QC over-ears tend to work with mic & audio for zoom PC/mac calls via bluetooth. Sony WH-1000MX3's don't seem to allow enough bandwidth for voice when connected with my macbook (perhaps a different supported bluetooth codec ?) and/or the mic has gotten worse since I bought it. The mic doesn't work when it is plugged in with the headphone jack (as per spec). My in-ear headphones with mic will tend to fall out if I don't insert them properly like ear plugs and/or when I'm talking for longer durations. I should have brought my over-ear mono headset home from work but would need another usb-c w/ PD dongle to support that. I'll probably get some cheap ear add on ear hooks for ear pods and/or V-Moda Boompro to add to the Sony's. Zoom also lets you call into meetings via phone.

Question about a remote whiteboard
 

We might have a use for a virtual whiteboard that I can draw on and multiple people can see in real time. We have available Zoom, Google Docs, and iCloud and assorted Apple apps. Hardware wise I have an iPad Pro and a Pixelbook with a touch screen. I’m generally thinking something like broadcasting a presentation to remote people and marking up the slides but I’ve never really done anything like this. It could be a two component thing too, maybe sharing a screen in Zoom from an iPad and writing on the screen with an Apple Pencil? Any thoughts before I start trying some stuff out of stuff anyone knows works wel or doesn’t work well? Thanks.

When you share ppt screen you can mark it up within the professional version of zoom. Once you are done you can save the marked up image as a file.

I use a 32in monitor retrofitted with touch screen and mark up capabilities for zoom and live training. At live training my "little screen is projected to the big screen"

There is also a whiteboard only share screen as well.

I just find the extra real estate easier to mark and annotate.

NB: practise before going live

So, with the zoom app an ipad and apple pencil that is a great third screen for sharing and doing any sort of markup. At this point I'd just get a cheap ipad and an older apple pencil for this.

From there, I've setup zoom rooms with fully functioning whiteboards that are integrated into the zoom room and allow in room users to do large wall whiteboarding - probably not the best thing today since everything is solo and remote.

I've setup rooms with this big tv whiteboard, from DTEN https://dten.com (pretty spendy, but corporate clients buy them and get about 20% off with 2+)
and some with this simpler overlay for current grease market whiteboards https://kaptivo.com/zoom-rooms/ (pretty cheap overall, but monthly fees over time)

I've also setup google jambords, this is a very nice solution for companies that are heavy google cloud users, with video, whiteboarding and saving, sharing, remote sharing, remote markup (using ipad/tablets and finger/stylus) This is the closest thing to minority report that one is going to find.

Jamboards are pretty $$ too like 5K and annual support/maintenance fees.