JULY 2020 • TECH ADVISOR 77some school districts and New York City have banned
the use of Zoomforonlinelearningduringthe
coronavirusschoolclosures.Zoomhasresponded
in part by enabling its Waiting Room feature, which
allowsthehosttocontrolwhena participantjoins
themeeting,forallfreeaccounts,andbyadding
morepassword protocols
Another recent report highlighted features
and settings that could be used by employers to
compromise employee privacy, such as meeting
recordingsandtranscriptsanda built-inattendee
attentiontracker.Italsopointedoutthatthecagey
semantics in the company’s privacy policy are
hardly reassuring.
To be fair, many Tech Advisor writers and editors
have usedZoomforvideoconferencingwithout
incident.Butaswithanyapporplatform,youshould
makesureyouunderstandandarecomfortable with its
featuresandpoliciesbeforeyouuseit.
Pricing
Skype is free touseforanySkype-to-Skype
communications.Thatincludesvideoconferencing,
chat,andvoicecallsovertheInternet.Ifyouwantto
call someone’scellphoneorlandline,you’llneedto
purchaseeitherSkypeCreditorasubscription.Credit
isofferedinaminute-basedtier:£5getsyouupto
165 minutes,£10upto 330 minutesand£25upto
830 minutes.Monthlysubscriptionsprovideunlimited
minutesandarebasedonthegeographicregionyou
wanttocall.AUK-onlyplancosts£6permonthanda
Worldplanis£12amonth.