Video conferencing tools – a comparison
This article examines the origins and growth of video conferencing technology and compares the popular video conferencing tools that have gained in popularity during the recent lockdown. Disruptors (those that cause disruptions) both big and small are at play all the time. They impact individuals, families, businesses, cities, or nations at different times and different levels. While all disruptors have a downside, most of them also have ‘a silver lining in the dark cloud’, to be discovered by those with a positive frame of mind. Disruptors use fear or discomfort among people to challenge the status quo and force change.
Disruptor that created the need
After the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre, Manhattan, New York, wealthy businesspeople in the West who used to fly 1st or business class the frequently on the lucrative transatlantic air corridor from the US to Europe became fearful of flying. This resulted in a massive drop in profits for the airlines plying this route.
Instead, these business leaders started resorting to conferencing technologies to keep in touch with their branches, communicate face-to-face with their counterparts across the pond, and negotiate business deals while avoiding flying. This led to a growing demand for the nascent video conferencing technology, which up to that point was rare and expensive, and was the domain of a few wealthy companies or TV studios such as BBC, CNN, and Al Jazeera.
As a result, starting with VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) that provided free or cheap voice calls web-based video conferencing technologies grew rapidly during the past two decades.
Video conferencing for the masses
Skype was the pioneer who released the first video conferencing app for the masses in August 2003. Created by the Swede Niklas Zennström and the Dane Janus Friis, Skype used the internet for making phone calls bypassing the telecoms network that used to charge exorbitant prices for long-distance calls. With the ease of use and free calls, it became an overnight success, and ‘Skype’ became synonymous with free audio and video calling – just like ‘Google’ for searching on the internet.
However, Skype was bought by eBay in 2005 for $3.1bn, after a bidding war with Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google, when the founders left. Not being able to figure out how to adapt it to help their business, eBay sold Skype in 2009, to a consortium led by a Silicon Valley investment fund. Skype was still a market leader in video conferencing – one of the first to launch an iPhone app before Microsoft bought it for $8.5bn in 2011. Since then the international messages and phone calls that Skype had pioneered had moved elsewhere. Apple’s FaceTime had taken video calling on the iPhone. Microsoft made an ill-fated gamble on the success of its Windows Phone software, hampering Skype’s success on smartphones.
While Skype had been very much a product for consumers in its early days after various redesigns under Microsoft it seems to have lost its way. “What really helped Skype to take off, and what made it a runaway success, was its fundamental call quality and ease of use. I don’t think the subsequent corporate owners have been able to maintain that level of product and call quality.”, Says Eileen Burbidge who ran Skype’s London office during 2004.
Over the years, many rivals have moved into this space giving customers a wide choice.
Disruptor that mainstreamed the product
Whilst it was 9/11 that created the need for the internet-based video conferencing, it was corona pandemic lockdown mainstreamed it.
In 1953, the coronation of young Princess Elizabeth, following the untimely death of her father, King George Vi, helped the nascent British television to establish itself as the nation’s most popular media – replacing the newspapers and cinema.
In the same way, people cooped up indoors, desperate to find an easy and affordable way to keep in touch, work, shop, learn and entertain themselves, started flocking to the internet during the lockdown. Internet, ‘the technology that was developed to withstand a nuclear attack’, kept going unfaced providing people with a lifeline, while every other channel – transport or media started grinding to a halt, one by one.
Online shopping with home deliveries grew exponentially with people desperately trying to book a delivery slot. Virtual classrooms provided home learning. Online meetings and video conferencing allowed people to work from home. People’s attitudes toward remote chat tools have improved. Some people who had never used the internet before signing up for the first time. According to BT, there was a 35% to 60% increase in daytime weekday fixed broadband usage during the lockdown.
Six months ago, few technology companies could have guessed how valuable their video calling products would become, as the world adjusted to working and socializing remotely amid the coronavirus.
It looked as though COVID-19 was the big break the internet had been waiting for.
What contributed to this success?
Here are some of the factors that contributed to this massive demand for internet-based services and in particular for video conferencing during the pandemic:
| Need | How this was med |
| Overcome isolation, safe way to keep in touch | Audio and video calling apps that allowed people to see and talk to their near and dear ones from a distance without spreading the virus |
| Availability | High penetration of the internet in the UK available as cable or wireless connection |
| Affordability | Unmetered monthly flat fee meant; people could be online as long as they wanted without having to worry about massive phone bills |
| Reliability | With good internet and mobile phone coverage and a reliable power supply, the UK population is able to access the internet-based services day or night without interruption or loss of data. |
| Simplicity and ease of use | Laptops, tablets, and smartphones with audio, video, and touch screen access and a plethora of useful and simple to use apps, have made the internet an everyday tool for everyone |
| Mobility and freedom | Light and portable devices with phone and wi-fi connectivity have put communication and the internet within everyone’s reach from anywhere and on the go. |
| Digital currency | Being able to buy, sell and bank online assisted by digital currencies and credit/debit cards has brought the entire high street to your living room allowing your live, work, and play without leaving your seat. |
This led to the comment, that compared to the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918, corona pandemic 2020 was much more bearable and pleasurable thanks to the internet!
What are your choices?
There is no shortage of videoconferencing tools on the market, and the app you get to use may not be on this list.
‘Zoom has become the video calling app of the pandemic’
| App | Skype |
| Plus points | Skype is part IM tool and part real-time chat system. But its main appeal has always been that you can use it to make calls to any telephone worldwide for low per-minute fees.
It has become well integrated with almost all Microsoft products, from Windows to the Xbox since 2011. Therefore, you no longer need to install Since Skype software to join or host meetings. It is one of the easiest ways to get a videoconference going |
| Minus points | The once-indomitable video chat app has frittered away its captive audience by failing to make it easy to use on mobiles and pushing out unfocused redesigns and failing to market it as a tool for large group chats |
| Comments | The first app to break the monopoly of telecom companies and give free audio calls to the masses using the internet. Skype became synonymous with free internet calls, e.g. “I’ll Skype you.” Or “lets Skype”- (like Google has become for search)
Founded in 2003 by Niklas Zennström, Skype became the subject of a bidding war between Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, and eBay, which was won by the auction website eBay. In 2009, eBay sold Skype to a consortium including Silver Lake and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. In 2011 Microsoft bought it for $8.5bn. The rise of WhatsApp on international messages and phone calls and Apple’s FaceTime on video calling shows that technologies Skype had pioneered had moved on elsewhere. |
| App | Microsoft Teams |
| Plus points | Microsoft Teams is the successor to Skype for Business.
All business from top to bottom, Teams integrates with dozens of other tools, so workers can spend their entire day in the Teams interface. While the focus remains on text-based messaging and collaborative work, Teams also have video-conferencing built-in. You can host meetings with up to 250 people present and with no real-time limits. Support all popular operating systems such as iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux. Web-version Free. Extra features available to those with an Office 365 subscription |
| Minus points | Fundamentally a clone of Slack, but more complex and more Microsoft to the point where if you’re not immersed in Microsoft Office and Outlook, it’s probably not a good solution for you.
Setting up meetings with people outside your organization or workgroup is complicated. There are all kinds of storage limitations, though, which vary based on which version of Office you are using. |
| Comments | Built upon some of Skype’s technologies |
| App | Zoom |
| Plus points | success is largely down to simply being easy to use and working reliably.
Designed with business meetings in mind, tools like breakout rooms, private back-channel chatter, and screen sharing are all built-in. The £12/month plan gets you unlimited meetings, recording features, and more. with two additional plans running £16/month. Zoom has a small learning curve and most seem to master it quickly. Its most popular feature seems to be that, in general, it works pretty well, with few dropouts and a high-quality video that seamlessly shifts to show whoever’s speaking. Multiple users can even share their screens simultaneously, a unique feature to Zoom. You can use Zoom via an app or directly on the web. |
| Minus points | The free version allows up to 100 participants on a call, though meetings can last only 40 minutes before you get cut off and have to start over again.
Web users won’t get access to Zoom’s most beloved feature: virtual backgrounds. |
| Comments | Zoom, a previously little-known teleconferencing tool, saw its daily active users rise from around 10 million each day in December 2019 to 300 million in April 2020 with first-time installations of its mobile app rocketing 728 percent since 2 March, according to market research firm SensorTower.
Zoom has become the service of choice for everything from government meetings to virtual pub quizzes, growing from 10m to 200m daily users in three months. Given Skype’s head start, the rise of Zoom, feels like a missed opportunity for Skype, especially since Zoom’s success is largely down to simply being easy to use, and working reliably which were Skype’s hallmarks in its early days. |
| App | |
| Plus points | Free international calls, Platform agnostic, advanced security features. It has end-to-end encryption, a free text messaging
WhatsApp Web is a desktop version of the mobile app that operates within standard Mac or Windows browsers (except Internet Explorer). But it doesn’t offer all the services available in the mobile app. Everything you do on the web will sync and show up on the iPhone or Android app, so all of your chats get synced, but the web version offers no calling features. A business version lets companies access WhatsApp to interact with customers. application intended to be used on mobile devices. It is compatible with almost any operating system running in a smooth manner. Download WhatsApp Messenger owned by Facebook, which guarantees its high reliability. The chats come in the form of the text bubbles. Still, it is very easy to use. You can see the contacts applying the app currently and will be able to join them by touch only. It is possible to engage persons who are not in your contact list and those who have not WhatsApp installed on their devices. There is no geographical restriction if WhatsApp users have a Wi-Fi connection or a phone’s cellular. The internet-based international calling is free. You are allowed to send and receive messages with photos, videos, files, and more for free. There is no need for paid subscriptions. In addition, you can relax as to your data plan – it is not consumed when you make calls. There are various useful features here. It is possible to change your background, a status message, show your GPS location, and more. The app blocks the undesired contact in your list or can delete it if you please. You can sync your messages to a desktop. The app is very popular all over the world being available as a desktop version too. The software is safe and reliable. You can chat and send the messages being sure that the transferred information is well-protected and will remain confidential. It is carefully regulated, and the data you send are end-to-end encrypted, meaning that only two users can decode it – a sender and a recipient. |
| Minus points | There can be some troubles with group messages when privacy settings are applied. Forget about the video chats here |
| Comments |
| App | Google Hangouts Meet |
| Plus points | The enterprise version of Hangouts has now evolved into what is known as Google Meet.
Consumers can still access Hangouts (aka Hangouts Chat) through their phone or computer—or the web browser, and that’s arguably where Hangouts is at its best. Because it’s tightly integrated with Google services, you can launch a video chat directly from Gmail and embed meetings into calendars, all without ever leaving Chrome. It is handy for quick chats, but Hangouts’ chat room feature isn’t bad either. Non-paying users can invite 25 people to join a video call at once (a temporary boost from 10). Hangouts has no time limits, and like Skype, Hangouts also offers the ability to make voice calls to a standard phone. Businesses pay $6 to $25 for extra users, recording, and document-sharing features. |
| Minus points | |
| Comments | In an attempt to get back in on the act Google is its Google Meet video meeting service free. Previously only available to business-focused G Suite customers for $6 per month for a basic plan, Google Meet is currently gaining around three million new users each day and surpassed 100 million daily users at the end of April 2020.
For the first time, Meet users will be able to create and host meetings for up to 100 people (providing they have a Google account) for no charge, complete with live captions for speakers and screen sharing. Google’s decision to open up a tool previously geared towards businesses to general consumers is no mistake – it’s hoping its enormous userbase of Google accounts worldwide will make the switch from Zoom et al. |
| App | Apple FaceTime |
| Plus points | Tight integration with the iPhone and ease of use and reliability. If you’re on a voice call with someone, it takes just one tap to turn the call into a video chat.
You can create group chats up to 32-people. Calls have no time limits other than your iPhone’s battery life. |
| Minus points | Other operating systems such as Windows and Android not supported.
Designed for domestic use, there are no business features such as screen-sharing. This isn’t particularly convenient on a phone due to its small screen. |
| Comments | well-integrated and easy to use |
Given Skype’s head start and seeing Zoom’s rise to dominance, one cannot help but feel like a missed opportunity, especially since the Zoom’s success is largely down to simply being easy to use, and working reliably – Skype’s hallmarks in its early days.
