Meet Node

1. Simple Usage

The Private Cyberspace Meeting Application (PC Meeting) is bundled into all Private Cyberspaces, accessible with just a few clicks on your Personal Console.

NO software installation required, no polluting your device.
NO sign-up to any service, no exposing your identity.
NO advertisement, no interrupting your concentration.
NO computer required, call in from phone when driving or walking.
NO spying concern, create and delete server with Disposable Node.
NO forgetting of the content of meeting, everything recorded on your Infinite Disk.

PLUS more than 40 unique advantages that only your owm private cyberspace can deliver!

1.1. Devices Supported

Just use your web browsers (latest Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari).

Share Audio, Share Video, Share File, View Screen
Windows,   macOS,   Android,   iOS (Safari only)

Share Screen
Windows,   macOS

If you do NOT have a web browser, you cannot see the meeting but you CAN still join the meeting using voice with a normal phone (see the Voice Call section below).

1.2. Joining of Meetings

You do NOT need to sign-up to any service NOR install any app.

You just need a web browser link from the creator of the meeting.

BBB_login

There is NO need to Sign In (that is for the meeting creator), to attend the meeting, you just need to Type In you name and click Join.

It will ask for permission to access you microphone and camera, the first time you use it,

1.3. Camera Selection

If your device have multiple cameras you will need to select which camera to use.

Major features of the Camera Selection screen are described by the 3 purple word pointers in diagram below. Click diagram to enlarge.

meetcamera1

1.4. Meeting Controls

Major features of the Meeting screen are described by the 13 purple word pointers in diagram below. Click diagram to enlarge.

cameracontrol1

2. Screen Sharing

You need to be assigned moderator permission before you can share your screen.

There are 3 different ways of sharing your computer screen

  1. Your Entire Screen   (not recommended)
  2. One Window on your screen
  3. One Tab within your browser

Please refer to the 3 purple word pointers in each of the diagrams below for operting instructions.

2.1. Entire Screen

ShareScreen

2.2. One Window

ShareWindow1

2.3. One Tab

ShareTab

3. Extra Communicaton Channels

3.1. File Presentation

Upload the files you want to use in your presentation.
You can then pick from an uploaded file list, the file you need to display at any time during the presentation.

Presentation_Web-Meeting

Applications Supported File Formats
Preferred .pdf
Text .doc     .docx     .rft        .odt       .txt
Spreadsheet .xls       .xlsx       .ods
Presentation .ppt     .pptx     .odp     .odc
Image .jpg     .png       .odi      .odg

Major features of the File Presentation screen are described by the 11 purple word pointers in diagram below. Click diagram to enlarge.

MeetPresent

You can click on the Page Advance buttons to move between pages of the file. Viewers can click Full Screen button to view the presentation in full screen.

3.2. Text Chat

Text chat is available for expressing yourself in writing. The transcript can be saved at the end of the meeting.

Please refer to the 13 purple word pointers in diagram below. Click diagram to enlarge.

meetpanel1

3.3. Voice Call

If you do NOT have a computer with you (e.g. you are driving or walking)
If you CANNOT get your computer to work (e.g. your microphone is faulty)

You can STILL join the meeting from anywhere in the world using a normal phone by ringing the Alias Phone Number e.g.

+61 2 8205 0000

and entering the Conference PIN given to you by the meeting organiser.

You can then listen to the meeting and contribute as needed through your phone.

Cloud Platform Competitors

Private Cyberspace Meeting Application (PC Meeting) provides a substantially more private and lower cost alternative than traditional video conferencing services like Zoom, Microsoft Teams etc.

Based on leading open source video conferencing software (BigBlueButton), it has numerous advantages over Cloud Platforms, from security (e.g. dynamic alias) to reliability (e.g. infinite disk).

Comparison of Private Cyberspace Meeting Application with Zoom Basic (free service) and Zoom Pro (paid service) on 2023-05-02:

Features Zoom Basic Zoom Pro Private Cyberspace
Monthly Charge AU $0 AU $22.39 AU $0
Longest Group Meeting 40 minutes 30 hours Unlimited
Meeting Recording No phone nor browser 5 Gbyte Unlimited
Dial-In Phone Number No Separate Charge Free

The beauty with having your own Private Cyberspace is that you can leverage its resources like encrypted storage, Public Phone Number (AU$0.49 per month) etc. across multiple applications.

The same public phone number that is used to filter scammer phones calls in your Dynamic Alias application can also be used as a Dial-In Phone Number for your Meeting application.

We believe even at this early stage of development, the Meeting Application can already satisfy "most" of your use cases and transform the global video conferencing market, which exceeded USD 7 billion in 2022.

1. BigBlueButton

The BigBlueButton software is used in this implementation of the Meeting Application.

Version

Minimum Supported Version: 2.6.5
2023-04-29

Security

BigBlueButton supports client to server encryption but not end-to-end encryption. Support for end-to-end encryption is very difficult since some functions e.g. recording and playback required access to the actual data.

Vulnerabilities are listed here:

Dynamic Alias is used to add an extra layer of security in front of BigBlueButton's security.

Notes

When the connection to the server is interrupted, e.g: the LAN cable gets unplugged, the WiFi connection gets dropped, the internet is down etc, the browser will need to be closed and reopened when the connection is restored.

Failure to close and reopen the browser will cause the audio to stop working, although the video would still work.

2. Value-Added

Community Phone Number

Besides the Alias's Public Phone Number, the Alias's Community Phone Number (+8839) can also be used to connect to the meeting.

Abundant Storage

Infinite Disk provides abundant storage, so you can record EVERY meeting and delete them at will (say after say 7 days when you are sure you no longer need them).

Meeting Competitors

  1. Zoom
  2. Microsoft Teams

Zoom

Zoom Meeting Features Basic Pro Business Business Plus
Participant capacity 100 100 300 300
*License count 1 1-9 10-99 10-99
Technical support Help Centre Ticket, live chat, & phone Ticket, live chat, & phone Ticket, live chat, & phone
Billing cycle and terms Free Monthly or annual Monthly or annual Monthly or annual
Unlimited meetings Yes Yes Yes Yes
Meeting duration 40 mins 30 hours 30 hours 30 hours
Recording Local Local & 5 GB cloud (per license) Local & 5 GB cloud (per license) Local & 10 GB cloud (per license)
Telephone dial-in - **Toll-based **Toll-based **Toll-based
Monthly Free AU$22.39/user AU$27.99/user AU$34.75/user

*Licence Count: you can have unlimited basic users in an account, but each plan has specific limits on how many users can be assigned meeting licences. The maximum number of participants is based on the plan and the number of licences.

Example: a Pro account with 2 licenses allows two different users (use two different email addresses) to have a separate meeting (can also be at the same time) with up to 100 participants for each meeting. This will make the account management easier since the billing will still be on one account and the administrator can easily assign the license(s) to any email address(es) within the organisation.

**All paid plans come with local toll numbers, but Audio Plan allows you to add Call Out, global Toll-free and local dial-in for premium countries.

Toll-free Rates depending on the telephone plan:

  1. PAYG: AU$0.1815/min per participant
  2. Monthly: AU$100/starting commitment (audio conferencing add-on), and is billed based on the per call per country. The rate for AU mobile and landline is of AU$0.1171/min per participant. If the A$100.00/month commitment for calls is exceeded, A$0.1171/min per participant will be charged.

Local Recordings
Local recordings are listed only for meetings that were recorded while using a supported version of the client. Verify that your client has been upgraded to a supported version before you start the meeting. The supported versions are:

  • Windows: Version 4.0.25513.0228 or later
  • Mac: Version 4.0.25513.0228 or later

If stored locally, the recorded file that has audio and video will be converted to .mp4 and the chat will be saved as chat.txt when the meeting ends. The location of the files are:

  • On Windows: C:\Users[Username]\Documents\Zoom
  • On Mac: /Users/[Username]/Documents/Zoom

Microsoft Team

Microsoft Team Features Free Essentials 365 Personal 365 Family 365 Business Basic 365 Business Standard
Usage 1 person Min 1 1 person 1-6 people Min 1 Min 1
Maximum number of users 100 300 300 300 300 300
Maximum group meeting duration 60 mins 30 hours 30 hours 30 hours 30 hours 30 hours
Maximum one-on-one meeting duration 30 hours 30 hours 30 hours 30 hours 30 hours 30 hours
Meeting recordings and transcripts No No No No Yes Yes
File storage 5GB 10GB 1TB Up to 6TB (1TB/person) 1TB 1TB
Technical Support - Phone and Web Phone and Web Phone and Web Phone and Web Phone and Web
Monthly Free AU$5.50/user AU$11.00 AU$14.00 AU$8.20/user AU$17.20/user

Telephone dial-in requires an add-on called Microsoft Teams Phone Standard for AU$11.00/user per month (EX-GST) or Microsoft 365 E5 for AU$78.30/user per month (EX-GST).

PAYG Rates

Origin Originating Number Type Connection charge Rate/min Prefix
Australia - Geographic Wireline AU$0.00 4.1¢ 612,613,617,618
Australia - Mobile Wireless AU$0.00 4.1¢ 611,6110,6111,6112,6114,6115,6116,6117,6118,61198,614
Australia - Shared Cost - 1300 prefix Premium AU$0.00 4.1¢ 611300
Australia - Special Service - 13 prefix Premium AU$0.00 4.1¢ 6113
Australia - Toll Free Premium AU$0.00 4.1¢ 611800

Subscription Rates

Origin Originating Number Type Connection charge Rate/min Prefix
Australia - Toll Free Wireline AU$0.00 611800
Australia - Toll Free Wireless AU$0.00 611800
Australia - Toll Free Premium AU$0.00 611800