Webex vs. Microsoft Teams + FreePBX conference
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We currently use Webex for our conferences, one person has access to it, so it's a pain for him when somebody else needs to have a meeting. He sets it up and forwards the meeting to whoever else needs it. We are small enough that we never really have to worry about multiple meetings at the same time.
We also have Office 365 Business Premium for all of our users. The Teams meetings function looks pretty solid, but it doesn't look like I can add a call in number unless we're on either the E3/E5 plans. So, I was tinkering yesterday and bought a new number on Twilio and setup a new inbound route on our FreePBX directly to a conference and setup a 9 digit pin for the conference, and everything seems to function pretty smooth. We can just add the call in number and pin to the bottom of the meeting invitation and it looks pretty decent.
Does this sound like a feasible solution? Anybody have major issues with Teams? Is there anything I'm overlooking? I'm just trying to better utilize what we already have. There seems to be a pretty general dislike for Webex among the main contributors here.
One thing I didn't like about teams is that you have to install a client to attend the meeting, which is the same for Webex and just about every other major solution if I remember correctly.
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Have you considered Zoom too?
https://zoom.us/ -
I only use WebEx when vendors or someone else invites us to a meeting - so with that in mind - I hate WebEx because of the shit add-on they basically force on you... I really wish instead they would primarily push the one time use module that they have available.
The issue with the installer is that they have had security issues in the past, and their software doesn't auto update, plus it requires (I believe) local admin rights to install it - as it should - but why should this be a needed thing for a conference, especially when the temp version will run in userland?
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@black3dynamite said in Webex vs. Microsoft Teams + FreePBX conference:
Have you considered Zoom too?
https://zoom.us/I was looking into Zoom a little this morning. The 40 minute meeting limit on the free tier is a deal breaker there. The proposed Teams/FreePBX would be less expensive than the $14.99 tier, and anybody in our organization could use it instead of one person basically being the admin still.
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Zoom is awesome and cross platform.
WebEx can go sit next to faxes and wait for nuclear fire.You can certainly just use your own number tough. voice conference bridging in Asterisk is flawless.
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@bnrstnr said in Webex vs. Microsoft Teams + FreePBX conference:
@black3dynamite said in Webex vs. Microsoft Teams + FreePBX conference:
Have you considered Zoom too?
https://zoom.us/I was looking into Zoom a little this morning. The 40 minute meeting limit on the free tier is a deal breaker there. The proposed Teams/FreePBX would be less expensive than the $14.99 tier, and anybody in our organization could use it instead of one person basically being the admin still.
Yeah, kinda hard to beat "included with things you already have."
I'm also wondering if you're breaking the licensing of WebEx by having that one guy make meetings for other people when he himself is not attending? only a thought, I don't know the licensing requirements of WebEx.
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@Dashrender said in Webex vs. Microsoft Teams + FreePBX conference:
I'm also wondering if you're breaking the licensing of WebEx by having that one guy make meetings for other people when he himself is not attending? only a though, I don't know the licensing requirements of WebEx.
Probably. :see-no-evil_monkey: I haven't looked into it either.
It's only a couple times a year. Almost everybody has some kind of meeting software, our other users normally just tell the other parties to set it up.
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@Dashrender said in Webex vs. Microsoft Teams + FreePBX conference:
I'm also wondering if you're breaking the licensing of WebEx by having that one guy make meetings for other people when he himself is not attending? only a thought, I don't know the licensing requirements of WebEx.
It doesn't sound like what we do is against the rules. He doesn't share the credentials, he hosts (schedules) the meeting and then just doesn't attend.
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@bnrstnr said in Webex vs. Microsoft Teams + FreePBX conference:
@Dashrender said in Webex vs. Microsoft Teams + FreePBX conference:
I'm also wondering if you're breaking the licensing of WebEx by having that one guy make meetings for other people when he himself is not attending? only a thought, I don't know the licensing requirements of WebEx.
It doesn't sound like what we do is against the rules. He doesn't share the credentials, he hosts (schedules) the meeting and then just doesn't attend.
nice.
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We are ditching Webex for Teams (hooray), but I haven't dicked around with Teams too much yet. The owner is pretty stoked about having conference/chat/screen control all rolled into one. Webex is insanely expensive considering how we use it (99% of use screen control of a customer's pc by our support staff).
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@bnrstnr said in Webex vs. Microsoft Teams + FreePBX conference:
Does this sound like a feasible solution?
We do something similar. We have a conference on VitalPBX and use Zoho Meetings. The free version of Zoho Meetings doesn't offer "dial in" options, but we don't care because we have the conference bridge to use instead.
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@RojoLoco said in Webex vs. Microsoft Teams + FreePBX conference:
Webex is insanely expensive considering how we use it (99% of use screen control of a customer's pc by our support staff).
And if it is even free, it's still crap compared to other free options. It's the worst tool for meetings I've used in a long time.
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@bnrstnr said in Webex vs. Microsoft Teams + FreePBX conference:
It doesn't sound like what we do is against the rules. He doesn't share the credentials, he hosts (schedules) the meeting and then just doesn't attend.
I think that that is a really common model. Zoho works that way, too.
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@Dashrender said in Webex vs. Microsoft Teams + FreePBX conference:
I'm also wondering if you're breaking the licensing of WebEx by having that one guy make meetings for other people when he himself is not attending? only a thought, I don't know the licensing requirements of WebEx.
Imagine a rule where the host isn't allowed to "not pay attention." While you can write it, it's pretty grey no matter what.
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@JaredBusch said in Webex vs. Microsoft Teams + FreePBX conference:
Zoom is awesome and cross platform.
WebEx can go sit next to faxes and wait for nuclear fire.WebEx is definitely the fax machine of online conferencing.
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@Dashrender said in Webex vs. Microsoft Teams + FreePBX conference:
I only use WebEx when vendors or someone else invites us to a meeting - so with that in mind - I hate WebEx because of the shit add-on they basically force on you... I really wish instead they would primarily push the one time use module that they have available.
My favourite feature of WebEx is that they flat out don't support any OS that we run. So when vendors send us WebEx we just say "that's a pure dial in for us, no way around it." It's that simple.
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@scottalanmiller said in Webex vs. Microsoft Teams + FreePBX conference:
@RojoLoco said in Webex vs. Microsoft Teams + FreePBX conference:
Webex is insanely expensive considering how we use it (99% of use screen control of a customer's pc by our support staff).
And if it is even free, it's still crap compared to other free options. It's the worst tool for meetings I've used in a long time.
Our employees use it to control remote customer computers, but while on a regular phone call. Only 1 feature at a time...
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@scottalanmiller said in Webex vs. Microsoft Teams + FreePBX conference:
@Dashrender said in Webex vs. Microsoft Teams + FreePBX conference:
I only use WebEx when vendors or someone else invites us to a meeting - so with that in mind - I hate WebEx because of the shit add-on they basically force on you... I really wish instead they would primarily push the one time use module that they have available.
My favourite feature of WebEx is that they flat out don't support any OS that we run. So when vendors send us WebEx we just say "that's a pure dial in for us, no way around it." It's that simple.
Have you tried a MS Teams meeting on a Linux based OS? I don't think it's a huge deal for us. Most CAD shops that we deal with are also Windows shops.
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@bnrstnr said in Webex vs. Microsoft Teams + FreePBX conference:
@scottalanmiller said in Webex vs. Microsoft Teams + FreePBX conference:
@Dashrender said in Webex vs. Microsoft Teams + FreePBX conference:
I only use WebEx when vendors or someone else invites us to a meeting - so with that in mind - I hate WebEx because of the shit add-on they basically force on you... I really wish instead they would primarily push the one time use module that they have available.
My favourite feature of WebEx is that they flat out don't support any OS that we run. So when vendors send us WebEx we just say "that's a pure dial in for us, no way around it." It's that simple.
Have you tried a MS Teams meeting on a Linux based OS? I don't think it's a huge deal for us. Most CAD shops that we deal with are also Windows shops.
I don't think that I have. I've used Teams on it, but not for a meeting.
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@bnrstnr said in Webex vs. Microsoft Teams + FreePBX conference:
One thing I didn't like about teams is that you have to install a client to attend the meeting, which is the same for Webex and just about every other major solution if I remember correctly.
I just attended a Teams meeting today and it didn't require I install anything. Joined via web browser.
