What’s Cooking in our Remote Kitchens? The 3CX Road Map

[N_G]

For sure I don't have any experience with Zoom but fact is, Zoom is one of the 3 leaders on this market , lots of people use it over the world.(44 million users, increased 12 million users in a week)

I am certainly not claiming Zoom is not successful. I am saying what is the reason 3CX users would pay extra for Zoom whilst having free webmeeting.

Our team tried out Zoom, yes it has some good points, but quite frankly so does Webmeeting....

 

[N_G]

@Nick Galea ,

Thank you for your feedback. Here my answers:

Click2Meet is: https://xxxx.3cx.net/join/suren doesn't work in any android mobile browsers, it doesnt even load,

> You are right, this is something we are addressing. We hope to have an update within about a month or so that allows you to connect from Android without needing to install the app. That said, the app is free and very easy to use.

plus 3cx app i dont know whether it supports webmeeting but without a 3cx account , you cant do anything. but with zoom meeting link, zoom app works, so 3cx app also needs to work just with Click2Meet link alone.

> The 3CX webmeeting Android App does not require a 3CX account. You can join a meeting without an account. Only to organize meetings you need to be on 3CX.

plus you can open zoom app and join a meeting by typing the meeting ID (like mobile number) , and it remembers the ID in list, so later you can reconnect for recurring meetings.

> Recurring meetings - yes, interesting that @accentlogic also mentioned this. OK, in actual fact this is not hard to do, we are going to look into it.

 

[AWS2P]

You mentioned up top you sell a lot of Zoom and that its much easier to use than 3CX. Yet now you say you dont have experience with Zoom?

Hello Nick, I think you are confusing the response of the Platinum partners with mine, I have never used or sold Zoom, I reacted to the response from the 2 platinum partners indicating that they had customers who prefer Zoom.

My previous post was a simple analysis from an IT reporter.

 

[complex1]

If you care about your privacy, don't use Zoom ... use Webmeeting instead.
https://www.consumerreports.org/video-conferencing-services/zoom-teleconferencing-privacy-concerns/
https://protonmail.com/blog/zoom-privacy-issues/

 

[craigreilly]

@Nick Galea I tend to do ok with 3cx Webmeeting - but I think a lot of it is brand recognition - and getting management to prohibit use of other products. Without their backing, and continuous expense approval of other products, it's a losing battle.
The only thing that could be better is the Audio options. I almost always use Internet Audio - but a lot of people prefer solid audio using "phone lines" even though it might still be internet based. If it prompted "how would you like audio to connect - Internet or Telephone?" - then I might get some traction.

Oh and the ability to blur the background... or change it.

 

[alexdb]

There are some simple ease-of use settings that we need the ability to control in 3CX.

So far they are:
- ability to set audio defaults in WebMeeting (default 16kbps is bad and needs to be changed every meeting)
- Ability to change a scheduled meeting without having to delete and re-create
- When meetings are cancelled or moved, there should be a calendar invite sent out to reflect the changes (delete/move). Currently, everyone needs to delete their own calendar entry manually.

We have had to switch to an alternative for some clients (very big mining companies) who have strict browser control and don't have the required version of chrome.

 

[N_G]

Hello Nick, I think you are confusing the response of the Platinum partners with mine, I have never used or sold Zoom, I reacted to the response from the 2 platinum partners indicating that they had customers who prefer Zoom.

OK my apologies then

 

[N_G]

So far they are:
- ability to set audio defaults in WebMeeting
- Ability to change a scheduled meeting without having to delete and re-create
- When meetings are cancelled or moved, there should be a calendar invite sent out to reflect the changes (delete/move). Currently, everyone needs to delete their own calendar entry manually.

We have had to switch to an alternative for some clients (very big mining companies) who have strict browser control and don't have the required version of chrome.

Thank you for your feedback. Makes sense - scheduled meeting, audio defaults and calendar update makes sense.....

Re not having Chrome - for those customers they indeed need to use another solution. This is a WebRTC based solution and an up to date browser is simply required, no way around it....

 

[alexdb]

Thanks Nick,

One thing I forgot to add to that list:

When sending out a webmeeting to internal participants, they are not provided with the dial-in number or conference ID. There does not seem to be a way to customise the email that is sent out? The email to external participants seems to work fine

 

[chrisdixon2]

Just to add a +1 to improving WebMeeting, Zoom (from a user point of view and not a security point of view) is a much more polished product. We find that:

• Zoom performs better on low spec hardware (chrome often uses a lot of CPU when in a large webmeeting, zoom does not)
• Zoom copes better with poor quality microphones and eliminating feedback
• Zoom copes better with poor quality or variable internet connections
• Zoom is easier to use (cleaner easier interface, don't have to manually set quality settings)
• Doesn't suffer the mic drop outs our users report with 3CX
• Has better sound and picture quality overall

That said I try to get people not to use it as I don't trust their security or privacy!

 

[bumblebeey]

when will be release stable Update 5? blog post says end of month ? so today or tomorrow ?

 

[N_G]

In response to @chrisdixon2:

I think in 3CX Webmeeting defense we are now serving hundreds of thousands of users daily and getting good feedback. We are an open standards solution based on Googles WebRTC architecture which has many advantages, not in the least pricing, security and flexibility. Of course it is not perfect. Hereby our feedback to the points raised:

• Zoom performs better on low spec hardware

Yes - but this is only really noticeable on very old hardware. And still its workable in our view. WebRTC/Webmeeting is based on VP8 which simply requires more processing power.

• Zoom copes better with poor quality microphones and eliminating feedback

We are going to upgrade our infrastructure to have a default audio quality of 64kpbs instead of 16. I think you will hear a difference. In terms of the hardware we use the exact same drivers Zoom does.

• Zoom copes better with poor quality or variable internet connections

We have made huge improvements in the past year in this area and upgraded our network in the past few weeks.

• Zoom is easier to use (cleaner easier interface, don't have to manually set quality settings)

Zoom has a nice interface but i believe the difference is not huge. We are launching a new interface in the coming month.

• Doesn't suffer the mic drop outs our users report with 3CX

We are indeed dependent on Googles WebRTC implementation here but its being improved all the time. Our data shows these drop outs are very very sporadic, less than 0,5% ?

• Has better sound and picture quality overall

We are increasing the default audio quality which i believe will make a big difference

 

[florink]

Here's another reason why using Zoom at the current time might not be a good idea: https://thehackernews.com/2020/03/zoom-video-coronavirus.html

I never liked the fact that you need to install a software to use. This alone makes 3CX webmeeting far easier to use. You literally just click on a link. Yes I know that there might be limitations regarding specific browsers and mobile phones but for most people that works. It's not perfect but it continuously evolves. I only had problem with the webmeeting platform like once. The greenscreen/custom background feature of Zoom is the only thing I wish 3CX had.

 

[N_G]

Thank you for the heads up @florink

Couple of changes we are planning to webmeeting

In the coming days:
1. New join dialog which allows for quick pre test of audio and video settings. Quick selection of different microphone
2. Default audio rates to be upped from 16 to 64k
3. Clear redirect message/page to iOS or Android app when user visits the link from a mobile browser

Further down the line
1. Improved interface which will also work on mobile browser. This eliminates the need for the android app. (iOS app remains required because of iOS limitation/apple policy)
2. Ability to schedule recurring meetings.

In conclusion don't forget 3CX Webmeeting unbeatable price/performance, as well as its ability to be used from any open standards browser! It truly is video conferencing for everybody. In these testing economical times, maybe a company doesnt want to spend $1K a month (if you have say 30-40 staff) on a conferencing solution.

 

[Cascada]

@Nick Galea A must features for 3cx webmeeting is the ability to transfer audio from power point presentations or pre-recorded video presentations over the meeting audience. Let me explain this with two scenarios.
- For business: Under the current conditions (covid-19) a lot of the companies we serve with 3cx are asking us how to provide audio from their pre-recorded videos to the webmeeting participants. Mostly because they are doing multiple huddles with small groups of employees and they don't want to repeat the same thing over-and-over, so they want to pre-record it.
For education: We have schools that are using 3cx webmeeting for their classes. Must of the teachers want to share their screens with pre-recorded lessons (recorded on the teacher's laptop or pull it from the cloud @ https://www.teachertube.com); they are facing the same issue, the students can see the video, but no audio.
I've seen this request floating around on the 3cx forum since 2018, but now, under the current conditions, it is imperative to have it.

 

[Severin Meyer]

What I am really missing in Webmeeting is the possibility to share some files. (Perhaps I have overlooked something)
Just a shared file bucket where the the host or the participants can up/download some small files.
eg. when discussing a drawing, I can show it as a pdf, but currently it's not possible to make the original file available via webmeeting, even downloading the pdf seems not to be available.

This file bucket should be limited to an individual webmeeting and could be deleted after the webmeeting is over (or after a grace period).
At the end of a webmeeting a link to the file bucket could be sent to the participants.

 

[bwitzig]

What I am really missing in Webmeeting is the possibility to share some files. (Perhaps I have overlooked something)
Just a shared file bucket where the the host or the participants can up/download some small files.
eg. when discussing a drawing, I can show it as a pdf, but currently it's not possible to make the original file available via webmeeting, even downloading the pdf seems not to be available.

This file bucket should be limited to an individual webmeeting and could be deleted after the webmeeting is over (or after a grace period).
At the end of a webmeeting a link to the file bucket could be sent to the participants.

currently it is possible to share files. as confusing as it is, using the "attachment clip" is only used to show pdf files.

in the meeting chat beside the "raise hand" icon, is an option to upload files.

 

[bwitzig]

Thank you for the heads up @florink

Couple of changes we are planning to webmeeting

In the coming days:
1. New join dialog which allows for quick pre test of audio and video settings. Quick selection of different microphone
2. Default audio rates to be upped from 16 to 64k
3. Clear redirect message/page to iOS or Android app when user visits the link from a mobile browser

Further down the line
1. Improved interface which will also work on mobile browser. This eliminates the need for the android app. (iOS app remains required because of iOS limitation/apple policy)
2. Ability to schedule recurring meetings.

In conclusion don't forget 3CX Webmeeting unbeatable price/performance, as well as its ability to be used from any open standards browser! It truly is video conferencing for everybody. In these testing economical times, maybe a company doesnt want to spend $1K a month (if you have say 30-40 staff) on a conferencing solution.

I agree with Nick, at the end of the day, 3CX is a much more economical solution for webmeetings, yes it has it's quirks, but with the amount of work they have done in the past couple weeks, as well as the continued commitment, I think we will get to a place where 3cxwebmeeting will be close, if not matching the competition when it comes to features.

if anything webRTC is the future of webmeetings, no app, just a browser required to join.

I can say in our environment, if we could get the ability to reschedule meetings, that would be a significant win for us. as that would bring us that much closer.

 

[MannyL]

@Nick Galea Thanks for looking in on this

Zoom functionality missing in 3CX webmeeting:

• Ability to lock the meeting so no one else can join.
• Ability to mass enable/disable audio/video/chat for rest of participants
• When sending email out thru 3CX direct, include the open link in conference details so it can be shared if needed without going into the meeting to get it
• ClicktoMeet doesn't seem to work, constantly get "meeting hasn't started yet, retry later"

 

[alexdb]

Another quirk of 3CX I found today:

After a create a scheduled video meeting, I can only delete participants from within the Web meeting itself. However, If I want to add more participants, I need to go into the 3CX web client so I can use the directory lookup. Otherwise I have to manually type the email (for internal users).