zoom

It’s an app that allows joint online meetings. It’s easy to use. Here’s a link.

zoom.us/download

I haven’t tried it yet mainly because I can’t bear seeing myself on the screen ( perhaps you don’t on zoom ) but I hate video calls because all I can see is me looking back at myself and I don’t like it and I nearly always get called when I just get out of the shower or loo or something

you can have your camera turned off

Theres only 40 mins free on zoom then you have to pay, whereas Skype is free.

Dead easy to use, even I managed to download it last week and set up a family meeting for the New Year.

Genty

Theres only 40 mins free on zoom then you have to pay, whereas Skype is free.

You don’t need to pay. You can just rejoin the Zoom session you’re on, it’s very easy.

We can’t use Skype as our broadband isn’t good enough to support it, whereas Zoom is fine.

I’ve only used Zoom a couple of times but found the sound quality not as good as WhatsApp video calling. It’s possible to have 8 devices on WhatsApp so we stick with that for our family group calls.

A few times we’ve teamed up with my Dil’s extended family for a quiz but I found it too much of a rabble with everyone talking over each other.

My DH, who lives in France, and I meet every day for a Zoom call and it is very easy to install and set up, providing you have reasonable broadband. If only two participate, you can talk for as long as you like! And we do!!

The problem with Zoom is that the loudest person gets the larger ‘picture’ of themselves and seem to take over, fine for adults, but a mess with young children. We use Whereby for family quizzes and so far it’s supported 5 of our families all on screen with no problems.
Unless of course you get a SIL who can’t understand that she has muted the sound on her device, several phone calls later she has found her volume switches, which took a while......

Do try Zoom. I belong to a couple of groups who have met throughout the pandemic using Zoom. We enjoyed a 'drinks and nibbles' party before Christmas, and even put on a pantomime, which was great fun. There's also a monthly 'coffee morning'. Zoom have given extra time, free of charge occasionally, but as someone said, upthread, if more time is needed, just log out and back in. Zoom is a great medium for helping people to feel connected. There are glitches occasionally, usually a cause for much laughter as we try to sort things out. I'm looking forward to our January meeting on Zoom, when we will play 'Would I Lie to You'.

Seven of us used to meet up regularly for lunch but decided to have a zoom call when meeting was not allowed. The first time was hilarious with several calls on mobiles along the lines of ‘turn up the sound’ and ‘switch on your camera’.

We have our book group meetings on zoom successfully

We have a weekly choir meeting on Zoom and over 40 people log on. Quite a few of the ladies live on their own and say it is the highlight of their week. It’s really easy to use.

It’s like Skype, but enables many people to meet at once. My kids use it in the work place all the time, to the point they’re sick of it when it comes to socialising! I personally think Skype has a better sound quality, zoom can be a bit ‘ tinny’.

Zoom has, for me, been a life-line over the past months. So easy to use. You an turn off your own picture if you wish.

Several of my U3A groups have continued meeting with this and it has been great. Wonderful for anything requiring a presentation. So good being able to sit comfortably in my own chair at home and attend these, mug of coffee in my hand.

Had family zoom meet-up on Christmas Day. That was really nice to see all children and g.children.

joannapiano

We have a weekly choir meeting on Zoom and over 40 people log on. Quite a few of the ladies live on their own and say it is the highlight of their week. It’s really easy to use.

How does that work joannapiano? Can you hear each other sing?

I belong to a choir also, we are taught new songs line by line then all sing together but all muted!! we can all see each other but only hear yourself! Just like singing on your own so don't enjoy it! It is via zoom!.......used to be a weekly meeting until lockdown in march!

I take part in several Zoom sessions.

For music groups, the person leading the tune/song is the only one with their sound on; everyone else is muted and plays or sings along. Works really well with no worry about wrong notes!

Tried to download it onto my Kindle Fire, but doesn't seem to work.

I would not survive the lockdown without Zoom! I’ve been using it for my NWR group and WI since March, I tend to have at least one session booked each day. I have a paid account as I’m President of the WI and claim the costs back. We enjoy going into small groups in the Breakout rooms and screen sharing to show presentations or quiz rounds. I also have card making session twice a month with a group of ladies who used to meet in a private room at a garden centre. The lady who runs the courses posts out a pack of the materials we need, we provide glue, paints, crayons etc and she demos each card using a separate camera.

It’s very versatile for large groups ( you can avoid the loud person dominating the screen by selecting gallery view rather than speaker view) but we tend to use video calls on WhatsApp or Messenger for smaller family groups.

I belong to an organisation that has all its meetings on Zoom.Really easy to use.I installed and learnt to use it ,without having to ask my son for any help.So it must be simple.

One of our daughters organised a Teams meeting for us, her and her partner and our family in India. Yesterday.
I don't know if that's the same as Zoom.
It went really well - haven't seen the India family for years and was quite shocked at how our son has aged. He has struggled with mental health issues for years. Now 57.
DiL and rest of family look quite good - they have a hard life out there.
I suppose they think we have aged too.

My husband has used it several times for meetings. Also we were able to follow the Sycamore Course put on by our church which seemed to work quite well. Two of our friends are also using it a lot.
A good source of communication during these present times.