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Cisco actually offers several different collaboration solutions, although its WebEx Meetings offering, which starts at $ 19 per month, is probably the most widely applicable and best-suited solution for small and medium-sized customers. You can group various services according to your needs, including training and support centers, as well as webinars. Like StartMeeting, Cisco WebEx Meetings offers a limited free plan and a free trial of its paid features. The service is easy to use and includes some features that you will not find in others videoconferencing services, including the possibility that the meeting calls you rather than calling you. Cisco WebEx Meetings does not offer a conference call (only web calls), but you can connect it to the service of your choice. It's quite expensive, but Cisco has dropped the price considerably over the past year, which could make it attractive for budget-conscious customers. However, if you want call numbers and integrated video calls, ClickMeeting, our choice of publishers, is worth the detour. In addition, if you are looking for a videoconference for a business-clbad voice over IP (VoIP) service, call on our other Choice Choice Editors Choice winner. RingCentral Office (for businesses).
WebEx Packages
Paid packages include Premium 8 ($ 19 per month for up to eight participants), Premium 25 ($ 29 per month for up to 25 participants), Premium 200 ($ 39 per month for up to 200 participants), and Enterprise for which you will need to contact Cisco for accurate pricing, but that will bring together up to 1,000 participants per meeting. All paid packages include video conferencing with up to seven video streams, application and screen sharing, meeting recording (audio, video and content), free mobile apps and the ability to share the presenter role . CallMe packages are also available in which the conference calls you, but you must pay a monthly subscription starting at $ 45 for 500 minutes, with an extra 9 cents per minute for overruns.
WebEx Meetings Free can be used by up to three people. It also includes a 14-day free trial of the Premium 25 plan. With this free package, you get a host license, Voice over IP (VoIP) connection (no dial-up), desktop sharing and documents, a whiteboard feature, standard-quality videos, and 250 megabytes (MB) of online storage. By registering for the test, you gather up to 25 participants, an HD video and add inbound numbers.
In a useful way, every time you log in, a message at the top of your dashboard tells you the end of your free trial. However, since you do not have to provide a credit card, you do not have to worry about being charged automatically.
Start with WebEx
Registration is as easy as entering your contact information, creating a pbadword, and enabling or disabling e-mail notifications from Cisco WebEx meetings. Then you activate your account by e-mail. You can then add a photo and other details to your profile, or skip it if you wish. Then you can download a quick start guide or watch demo videos before diving.
Cisco WebEx Meetings& # 39; UI has a modern look compared to other services such as StartMeeting and InterCall. The homepage has a startup look, with a large "hero" image at the top and a long page that you scroll down to see the details of the services offered. You can host or join meetings easily from the home page, which is nice because some services require you to log in from a custom URL.
Setting up a meeting
In your dashboard, you can select Meet Now, Schedule, or Join by Number. On the right panel, you'll see upcoming meetings (if any) and recently watched files. If you choose to schedule a meeting, you can set the time, date, and duration. Add guests, include a calendar, upload files, set a meeting pbadword, choose an audio connection, and select a check box to automatically save the meeting.
For the audio connection, you can use WebEx audio (VoIP), another teleconference service, or none. As I mentioned, Cisco WebEx Meetings does not offer his own conference appointment. If you want to use another teleconference service, you must enter the phone number, moderator and participant codes, as well as the notes you want to include. All these elements will then be displayed in your invitation.
When the time comes, you will need to download Cisco WebEx software Meetings extension or run a temporary application to join the meeting. The extension installs quickly but I have encountered some problems here, which also occurred while downloading the join.me file. module in test. I have a high resolution screen (3,200 out of 1,800) that does not work well with all office applications. So Cisco WebEx Meetings and the join.me modules showed incredibly tiny text that could only be magnified by changing the screen resolution of my laptop to 1600 x 900 pixels (which, of course, ruined the Appearance of my other desktop applications).
From there, you can choose to connect or use VoIP, share your screen, invite or remind participants, save and turn on or off the camera. You can add contacts by importing them from Micrsoft Outlook or a file, or adding them manually.
If you are Cisco WebEx Meetings member and you are invited to a meeting, you can click the Join button on the home page and enter your name, email address and meeting number. Otherwise, click on your meeting link and join as a guest by providing your display name and email address.
The experience of the meeting
Hosts can save the meeting (audio and items on the screen), disable and reactivate participants, and terminate the meeting. All participants can use the chat feature. During the meeting, hosts can share their desktop, a specific application, or files from their computer, including videos. A module at the top of the host screen indicates whether sharing is enabled or not, so as not to leave this feature enabled after the meeting. You can also share a virtual whiteboard for sketches and notes. All sharing features can be used simultaneously with video chat, which is useful and unavailable on some services.
At a video conference, you can have up to seven video streams at a time. The host can lock and unlock focus on a participant at any point in the meeting. In this way, all participants can see who is speaking. Hosts can also protect meetings with a pbadword.
There are mobile apps for Android, BlackBerry 10, Apple iOS and Windows Phone 8, including Apple Watch and Android wearable devices. This left you Join or host Cisco WebEx Meetings from your smartphone or smart watch. You can also download plug-ins to schedule meetings directly from your Microsoft Outlook account. WebEx Universal Toolkit allows you to create multimedia slideshows for your meetings, including Flash animations.
Get help
If you encounter problems, the searchable help documentation is accessible from the meeting space. You can also download user guides, watch demo videos, and access a knowledge base and FAQ. Support can be contacted by phone, via comments sent via a web form, or you can submit a support case (ticket). The hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but only for paid packages.
To do Cisco WebEx Meetings more accessible to business users who host meetings in large conference rooms, Cisco recently unveiled the Cisco Spark Card. This 55-inch and 70-inch wireless presentation device lets you share your screen from a Mac, a PC and a mobile device in a larger format, so that wider audiences can see the content more easily. Like the Microsoft Surface Hub and the Google Jamboard, the Cisco Spark card includes an interactive whiteboard that allows users to organize brainstorming and design meetings.
If your company is interested in this type of group collaboration, you will have to skip Cisco WebEx. Meetings and just get a Cisco Spark Meetings account. Like Cisco WebEx MeetingsCisco Spark Meetings allows you to conduct video calls remotely, but the app can connect to the Cisco Spark card, allowing you to write on the whiteboard, schedule meetings on the Spark card, all from from your smartphone. The Cisco Spark Card is not designed for mainstream use; the 55-inch version costs $ 4,990 and the 70-inch version $ 9,990. Both require an additional monthly subscription of $ 199 to Cisco Spark. However, anyone can use Cisco Spark Free for video calls to three people and up to 5 gigabytes (GB) of file sharing.
WebEx is a solid conferencing solution
If you are looking for a screen sharing and video conferencing service badociated with your existing meeting conferencing service, then Cisco WebEx Meetings is a good choice. It offers all the features you need for a quality web meeting, including VoIP calls, but you must provide a connection number if you want to use landlines. Cisco WebEx Meetings The user interface is easy to use, but the service is expensive. Therefore, it is worth taking the free trial to see if it works for you. For a less expensive conference call service, go to ClickMeeting, our choice of publishers.
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