Business

Lining up quality group-video calls

Looking for a free way to conduct high-quality video calls with as many as 15 people?

Zoom.us is an app for PCs, Macs, iPads and iPhones that lets users video chat, have private text chats during a multiparty call, and, from computers, share screenshots and files.

To start a call, just go to zoom.us and click on “Start Video Meeting.” You’ll be prompted to download the app and asked to log in via Google or Facebook.

You can invite other people to join the call by clicking on an icon in the menu bar. You can e-mail an invitation directly from the app or copy the invitation link into an e-mail, instant message or text message. You can even make an old-fashioned, video-free phone call to someone you want to invite and tell them to go to join.zoom.us and enter the Video Call ID. You can also invite Google chat contacts and Facebook friends or groups directly from the app.

To join a call, you can click on the invitation link or enter the Video Call ID supplied. Or, if you’re online with zoom.us, you will receive a video call; you can click on a button to accept.

Once you’re on the call, Zoom’s dynamic voice recognition places the video of the person speaking in the center of the screen. You can chat privately with other video callers by clicking on the “chat” icon in the menu bar. Callers on computers can share open windows or their entire desktop with other participants.

Zoom.us works over wired and wireless Internet, and 3G and 4G/LTE connections. The service also works in any country.