How can a small group of people (10) use this program to have a group conference call daily and hopefully be able to forward calls from an outside line (Comcast) to the entire group so anyone can answer it? Is this possible?

We have Windows 10 and one or two on 7. Most have Office 2016. None have a 365 subscription.

We prefer to do this as simply and economically as possible.

We have tested the free version. It’s nice but limited.

It's not as good as skype the connection is choppy and it does not supply an external number for those not calling in from a PC.

Have you looked into Zoom? My GF is using it for an online class and setting her up with an app on my iPad could not have been easier. Connection was good and stream was decent as well.

We just switched to it about two weeks ago. Once I got used to the UI I really like it. It's really good for screen sharing.

Might need to have one person subscribe to office 365 E3 at $20 per month, annual commitment to get the full functionality.

We just went to full Office 365 for my company, and have a group with E3 subscription to host Teams mtgs.

quote:

Originally posted by dewhorse:
It's not as good as skype the connection is choppy and it does not supply an external number for those not calling in from a PC.

There is an additional license needed for allowing phone in participation. Audio something it is called. It is only needed for the organizer of the meeting. The meeting will then have a phone number and ID code that phone only will use.

I work for local government and we just were looking into this TEAMS product to have our meetings and keep our City moving along. Sorry for not knowing the exact "audio" name. Normal licenses were 8 per month with the audio being an additional 4. Microsoft has offered six months of free trial for government right now.

IIRC Skype is moving to Teams. Same backend anyway (iirc).

Zoom is pretty nice. I’m not super familiar with anything outside of those two and Webex tho.

What do gamers use? Could you use one of those? Teamspeak or some such?

Zoom is indeed a good option, normally, but I'd be hesitant to add any more volume to it at the moment given its getting bombarded with users now that schools and workplaces are all functioning in a remote environment.

You can ALL get a free version of Zoom that never expires just by signing up at zoom.us

The main difference between a Basic (Free) license and a Paid License is that free licenses only allow meetings to last for 40 minutes. You then need to exit and come back in to "restart the clock". A few other minor things like you can't record to the cloud, can't make API Calls, etc.

There's issues where Zoom basically tracks everything you do on your computer even when not using it. Zoom support is saying oh, that has to be turned on specifically, but tracking like that simply should never be put into a program like this, end of story.

For video conferencing, try https://meet.jit.si/ because it's free, open source, encrypted.

Another commercial option is https://globalmeet.com

I use GoToMeeting for the training I give. It's a commercial product. There is also https://www.freeconferencecall.com, which I haven't used.

Can any of these take an incoming call to an office phone forwarded to the software for multiple people to be able to answer?

Just my opinion, but Teams sucks! We are switching over from Skype and it is the most cluttered POS interface created by M$ in a long time. When both it and Skype fails due to our shitty IT infrastructure, we fail back to Zoom accounts even if we have to use the free trial versions.

quote:

Originally posted by K0ZZZ:
There's issues where Zoom basically tracks everything you do on your computer even when not using it. Zoom support is saying oh, that has to be turned on specifically, but tracking like that simply should never be put into a program like this, end of story.

For video conferencing, try https://meet.jit.si/ because it's free, open source, encrypted.

Another commercial option is https://globalmeet.com

K0ZZZ, I have to call Bullshit on that. I work for Zoom. Can you please provide proof of what your saying?

quote:

Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:
Can any of these take an incoming call to an office phone forwarded to the software for multiple people to be able to answer?

Sounds like you're looking for a virtual PBX, where you can setup an incoming line to hit a hunt group.

Then the calls can be routed to an open terminal which is logged in to take calls, you might check with Ring Central or a similar call providing service of virtual PBX...


https://www.ringcentral.com/home_p.html

quote:

Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:
Can any of these take an incoming call to an office phone forwarded to the software for multiple people to be able to answer?

Oz_Shadow, you can do that with Zoom Phone Service. Better yet, you have a desktop and mobile application so even though you may be using your mobile phone, you're customers are not seeing your personal cell number.

zoom.us

quote:

Originally posted by Rolan_Kraps:

quote:

Originally posted by K0ZZZ:
There's issues where Zoom basically tracks everything you do on your computer even when not using it. Zoom support is saying oh, that has to be turned on specifically, but tracking like that simply should never be put into a program like this, end of story.

For video conferencing, try https://meet.jit.si/ because it's free, open source, encrypted.

Another commercial option is https://globalmeet.com

K0ZZZ, I have to call Bullshit on that. I work for Zoom. Can you please provide proof of what your saying?

I'd like proof on this too. Been using Zoom for years and I've never seen anything remotely like this.

Just started with MS Teams. Both work well for our use: international video conference and now WFH chat, conference, screen sharing.

quote:

Originally posted by K0ZZZ:
There's issues where Zoom basically tracks everything you do on your computer even when not using it. Zoom support is saying oh, that has to be turned on specifically, but tracking like that simply should never be put into a program like this, end of story.

For video conferencing, try https://meet.jit.si/ because it's free, open source, encrypted.

Another commercial option is https://globalmeet.com

Just download any version before V4. No participation tracking functionality. It's what I use. I don't have time for all of the tracking BS (I'm an admin).

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-...e-attention-tracking

It's annoying and unhelpful for the most part, unless you're a trainer (or you depend on it for your occupation).

quote:

Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:
How can a small group of people (10) use this program to have a group conference call daily and hopefully be able to forward calls from an outside line (Comcast) to the entire group so anyone can answer it? Is this possible?

We have Windows 10 and one or two on 7. Most have Office 2016. None have a 365 subscription.

We prefer to do this as simply and economically as possible.

We have tested the free version. It’s nice but limited.

Due to the current COVID stuff Teams has a free version. Unfortunately if you want to use anythign with an actual phone number you'll need some licensing. It's pretty cheap but it's still licensing.

If you are just looking to do a shared VOIP conference call, teams is easy for that it integrates into outlook done. I think the major question is what are the 10 of you using as your current office solution? - Microsoft, Google, Open office?