Zoom in to increase the 40-minute reunion limit at Thanksgiving for longer family hangouts

Zoom said earlier this week that it will be lifting its standard 40-minute limit on free video chats for Thanksgiving Day to make it easier to spend time with friends and family virtually while on vacation in the United States. Given the nationwide peaks of COVID-19 cases and various new and existing restrictions on interstate travel, this year’s Thanksgiving will be an unprecedented affair likely involving a mix of in-person and virtual hangouts using software from videoconferencing like Zoom.

The 40-minute limit has been one of the main restrictions in Zoom’s basic plan throughout the pandemic, often forcing groups to restart a chat after the deadline expires and causing quite a bit of friction to keep a conversation going. or a virtual gathering. Many of Zoom’s competitors have imposed similar restrictions, including Google Meet (60-minute limit) and Cisco Webex (50-minute limit), and all vendors charge additional fees for enterprise-level plans that remove the limit and increase. the number of authorized participants.

But Zoom, who has emerged as the face of the video conferencing boom the pandemic created earlier this year, has every interest in removing that limit, even just for a day, on a high-traffic holiday like Thanksgiving. In this way, it can become a destination for virtual celebrations and further establish its platform as a way to connect with others during the pandemic.

This is only a temporary removal of the 40-minute restriction, running from midnight on Thanksgiving Day (November 26) to 6 a.m. ET on November 27. But the fact that Zoom does this at all – and that it will likely go a long way in helping users use video chat as a substitute for a traditional family reunion – speaks volumes about the strange and uncharted territory we are entering this into. holiday season. as COVID-19 continues to rage in the United States.

It’s also a good reminder that, given the grim predictions by health experts about coronaviruses and the current surges of positive results in virtually every state in the United States, it’s best to rely on technology. to bridge the gap rather than taking the risk of traveling during riskier times of the year like Thanksgiving.