Item: Whereby
Rating: 10
Author: Alvin Landicho

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Whereby (formerly Appear.in) has been used as a quick video call connection to our team members in other office locations. The user experience is quick and simple. Simply double-click a desktop shortcut to the unique room URL. It is used for all team meetings, several times a day. No logging in, no forgotten passwords, or extra steps required. Simple!

Pros and Cons

Simple to connect
User friendly

Audio quality is not great (compared to our dedicated VOIP lines)
Video quality is great in a small room (4 locations--point-to-point) but degrades in larger rooms. We are based in Australia, and I believe the server is in Europe.

Return on Investment

The pricing is very fair and cost-effective.
Excellent ROI

Alternatives Considered

Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business (formerly Lync)

When compared to the other VC platforms, we found Whereby the easiest to use for users and invitees. The only install from a recipient's point-of-view is a Chrome extension. Zoom requires a download and an account to sign into. Microsoft Teams is only for other members on the same domain and requires an app to install and sign into--same for Skype.

Support Rating

Never had to contact support, so we cannot give a rating for their overall support. When we noticed the audio was not always great quality, we simply educated our users to mute the mic and use the in-room conference phone which is connected via a dedicated VOIP link and had much better voice quality. The video performance varied by locations network speed and found it got much worse when the room size increased to over 4 connections.

Key Insights

Do you think Whereby delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Whereby's feature set?

Yes

Did Whereby live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Whereby go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Whereby again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype

Likelihood to Recommend

Whereby is suited to simple, one-click connection to a shared video room, ideally at a set time (i.e. regular meetings). You can set up a desktop shortcut so it's really easy for a user to join and does not require logging in and setting up, etc. Not suited to private meetings that require a different unique link every time.

Simple, one-click access to an always on video meeting room.

Overall Satisfaction with Whereby