- Nov 20, 2009
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I have been suspecting something dark and seedy in how the Cisco Webex is setup in my wife's place of employment. She is employed by the University System of Georgia and is faculty at Georgia State University. This means not only is her place of employment treated as government (USG) but also academic (GSU.edu).
During the last two weeks I have been helping her on a variety of things as the institution moves from the congregated form of instruction to online instruction. During the Webex testing my wife would send me an invite at a throwaway Gmail account and while booted into my Linux play box I would join the Webex conference. The only Call-In option is a Long Distance number. Now the wife, her students, the institutions staff and administration are all in the state of Georgia, but to Call-In every freaking one of them dials a Long Distance Toll number for telephone audio. Also, the form of Webex installed doesn't provide Webex system Call-Me option, where Webex will call you at a number you provide. This is something my own employer offers and I use everyday.
Initially, I thought that maybe the problem was just in the way my wife's Webex account is setup. So, we went investigating and discovered Webex meeting invites she has received over the years for school-only related events reflected the only telephone option was a Call-In Long Distance Toll call. Made no difference everyone was in the same city, they were all going to be placing long distances calls. Worse yet, no one on my wife's level within the institution or on the government level seems to care. It is--being cynical here--almost as if there is some arrangement taking place between the LD operators and Webex and USG/GSU and money is exchanging hands for making all of those unnecessary long distance calls when they should have been local numbers.
So, for those of you using Webex what are the Call-In option setup like for you? Is the Call-In number local, or toll/LD? Does your employer pay Cisco for a level of Webex that includes a Call-Me option?
During the last two weeks I have been helping her on a variety of things as the institution moves from the congregated form of instruction to online instruction. During the Webex testing my wife would send me an invite at a throwaway Gmail account and while booted into my Linux play box I would join the Webex conference. The only Call-In option is a Long Distance number. Now the wife, her students, the institutions staff and administration are all in the state of Georgia, but to Call-In every freaking one of them dials a Long Distance Toll number for telephone audio. Also, the form of Webex installed doesn't provide Webex system Call-Me option, where Webex will call you at a number you provide. This is something my own employer offers and I use everyday.
Initially, I thought that maybe the problem was just in the way my wife's Webex account is setup. So, we went investigating and discovered Webex meeting invites she has received over the years for school-only related events reflected the only telephone option was a Call-In Long Distance Toll call. Made no difference everyone was in the same city, they were all going to be placing long distances calls. Worse yet, no one on my wife's level within the institution or on the government level seems to care. It is--being cynical here--almost as if there is some arrangement taking place between the LD operators and Webex and USG/GSU and money is exchanging hands for making all of those unnecessary long distance calls when they should have been local numbers.
So, for those of you using Webex what are the Call-In option setup like for you? Is the Call-In number local, or toll/LD? Does your employer pay Cisco for a level of Webex that includes a Call-Me option?
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