Best free video conference platform?

[NTorch]

I had been hosting a weekly shiur via zoom ever since COVID and using my free zoom account. As of the second week in July, Zoom now requires a ten minute sitout before restarting a teleconference whereas we all used to log out and log back in at the end of the free 40 minutes.

This has not impacted my shiur yet as it was on hiatus from 17 Tammuz until Elul.

I have MSTeams available through work, but am reluctant to use it because many of the attendees in my shiur dont have it.

I have been looking at gomeet.com but don't know the quality.

Any suggestions for a free platform for videoconferencing shiurim that are about an hour in length? Must allow for screensharing.

Thanks!

[aygart]

Google meet?

[dovy2]

Whatsapp group call works surprisingly well

[Saulius]

I had been hosting a weekly shiur via zoom ever since COVID and using my free zoom account. As of the second week in July, Zoom now requires a ten minute sitout before restarting a teleconference whereas we all used to log out and log back in at the end of the free 40 minutes.

This has not impacted my shiur yet as it was on hiatus from 17 Tammuz until Elul.

I have MSTeams available through work, but am reluctant to use it because many of the attendees in my shiur dont have it.

I have been looking at gomeet.com but don't know the quality.

Any suggestions for a free platform for videoconferencing shiurim that are about an hour in length? Must allow for screensharing.

Thanks!

Self-host on a cloud server - https://Jitsi.org

[~King Lake~]

Google meet?

Google meet is amazing!
It also has the benefit of not having to install anything on your device

[Alexsei]

Self-host on a cloud server - https://Jitsi.org

I was going to suggest that but he said "free"...

[lcm]

I was going to suggest that but he said "free"...

They have the demo mode that you can use for free.
Up to 4 people for free there is brave talk.
Then there is also WhatsApp calls, you can do link to a call and they are rolling out screen sharing, some have access to it already

[Saulius]

They have the demo mode that you can use for free.
Up to 4 people for free there is brave talk.
Then there is also WhatsApp calls, you can do link to a call and they are rolling out screen sharing, some have access to it already

Might as well use Sangoma Meet, which is also free but limited to 5.

[lcm]

Another option is to find someone that has a paid zoom account, and have them give a recurring meeting link.
They don't have to give you the login credentials, as long as they enable join meeting anytime for that zoom room, and enable the host pin feature, which let's you become host by clicking claim host and using the pin.

[S209]

Details? Are we invited?

[JMHO]

Shorten the Shiur to 40 minutes

[YitzyS]

Shorten the Shiur to 40 minutes

I think this should be the official chart.


If it's _____ then it is a _____

Between 0 seconds and 2 minutes - voicenote
Between 2 minutes and 10 minutes - dose of inspiration
Between 10 minutes and 40 minutes - shiur
Between 40 minutes and 2 hours - podcast
More than 2 hours - I don't know but I don't want to know

[YitzyS]

I think this should be the official chart.


If it's _____ then it is a _____

Between 0 seconds and 2 minutes - voicenote
Between 2 minutes and 10 minutes - dose of inspiration
Between 10 minutes and 40 minutes - shiur
Between 40 minutes and 2 hours - podcast
More than 2 hours - I don't know but I don't want to know

BTW, this is useful. If you are going to leave a 10 minute voicenote on a chat, start it off by saying that it's a podcast. People will hate you less for it.

[ExGingi]

BTW, this is useful. If you are going to leave a 10 minute voicenote on a chat, start it off by saying that it's a podcast. People will hate you less for it.

Voicenotes of any length should be banned.

[NTorch]

Shorten the Shiur to 40 minutes

The shiur that I host is an authorized re-broadcast of Rabbi Frand's Thursday night shiur via TCN from Baltimore. Our shul pays the TCN licensing fee and I then send my zoom link to those members who want to attend the shiur via zoom. I used to use my personal zoom account and we would all log out and then log back in when the halacha portion ended (usually around the 35 minute mark of the shiur).

I have no ability to shorten the shiur (nor would I want to).

[YitzyS]

(nor would I want to).

+100. Rabbi Frand is unbelievable. He has the incredible combination of being a tremendous talmid chochom AND an incredible orator. There are many great speakers, but many are just regular people who possess a talent. Few are such wellsprings of Torah and hashkafah like Rabbi Frand.

[yuneeq]

The shiur that I host is an authorized re-broadcast of Rabbi Frand's Thursday night shiur via TCN from Baltimore. Our shul pays the TCN licensing fee and I then send my zoom link to those members who want to attend the shiur via zoom. I used to use my personal zoom account and we would all log out and then log back in when the halacha portion ended (usually around the 35 minute mark of the shiur).

I have no ability to shorten the shiur (nor would I want to).

I also used to have an aversion to paying for software. But nowadays, if I’m getting the value out of it and using it commercially, I wouldn’t make myself crazy to find a weak alternative option. For $3/shiur it shouldn’t be hard to find a sponsor just like the TCN licensing. You will probably reach the largest audience through zoom. Even when the 40 minute option allowed everyone to log back in it made no sense to jump through hoops to save a few dollars.

Also, once you’re signed up if you click to cancel they give you a discounted rate of $90 for the year.

ETA: I’d gladly sponsor the first month