Zoom audio problem

[pinnerite]

I have just logged on to a group test meeting set up by a colleague.

i can see him and he can see me but I neither of us can hear each other
although he says he has an indicator showing his sound is working.

Anyone with any experience of Android 9 and zoom?

[pinnerite]

This may just be a glitch.

Several people now searching for a solution.

[Arlen Holder]

On Fri, 20 Mar 2020 16:13:34 +0000, pinnerite wrote:

I could look up some settings for you on my Android 9 Moto G7.
<https://i.postimg.cc/SNtGhJ5X/zoom01.jpg>

However, today was only my _first_ experience with Zoom Cloud Meetings:
o ZOOM Cloud Meetings, by zoom.us
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=us.zoom.videomeetings>

Being in quarantine here in the Silicon Valley and tasked with suggesting a
video-tele-conference app for our monthly Great Books meeting which has met
at the local library for the past 60 years, I just moments ago had asked:
o What is a privacy-aware cross platform free personal
video-tele-conference app to host & join meetings
of about a dozen participants discussing Great Books?
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.mobile.android/DMZxUOMFb7M>

Three of the more "technical" members of our local Great Books group tested
Zoom this morning for the first time, where one person (on an iPad) had
audio issues (and a host of other issues, as nobody was younger than 75).

Zoom audio worked ok with those quick tests on the iPad on iOS 11 & Android
9 and Windows 10 Pro

Our problem was, as you've noted, one of the participants didn't have her
audio turned on, while the host also originally didn't have a desktop with
a microphone (but we switched the host to a laptop, so the host on the
desktop was just an "extra" participant).

On Android, there is an "Auto-Connect to Audio" slider, which on both
Android & iOS is off by default, but worse, it asks what appears to be a
confusing question to people.

Instead of yes/no or on/off, it has "Off/Use Internet" as the two options
which had confused one of the participants.

There is also a slider to "Always Mute My Microphone", which is off by
default.

There's also a "Safe Driving Mode" slider, which is on by default, which
requires an action of "swiping right" and then "tap to speak".

Completely separately, we discussed just yesterday a bunch of applications
which automagically _mute_ the microphone on Android!
<https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.mobile.android/mMTNgCE-3gM/4JtMmwD-AwAJ>

The point being, completely aside from Zoom, the mic can be disabled:
<https://i.postimg.cc/Dz8kBhD2/mute01.jpg>

In summary, there are a bunch of places the audio could be screwed up!
<https://i.postimg.cc/SNtGhJ5X/zoom01.jpg>
--
Usenet allows purposefully helpful adults to share solutions with others.

[pinnerite]

Thanks for that fantastic reply.

We have another test session set for 10:00 GMT on Sunday.

I do not have a microphone equipped headset so will probably not be able
earbuds.

I cannot install Zoom under Linux Mint, so I did so under a virtual
Windows-10. We'll know more on Sunday.

This is all for a group of elderly people here in the UK who normally
enjoy arguing current affairs with each other every Tuesday.

Fortunately most are willing to try things on their devices that but for
the lock down the would previously never have dreamed of.

Keep Safe.

[Adrian Caspersz]

i dunno with Android, but have been using zoom calls over the last few days.

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/204484835-My-Audio-is-Not-Working-on-iOS-or-Android

Look for the microphone being muted?

Also, do other apps record from the mic?

--
Adrian C

[VanguardLH]

On that note, my Android came with the "HD Audio Recorder" app that lets
me save audio notes. It might be one that LG, the phone maker, bundled
into my smartphone, so it might be named something different for a voice
recorder on your phone that was bundled by whomever is your phone maker.
There are lots of audio/voice recorder apps at the Play Store. That
would test if the mic is working (unmuted) or not.


To pinnerite ...

Check if the app settings for the Zoom app grant its access permissions
to the mic device. Also check if you installed any apps that control
the mic (there are lots of muting apps). The Zoom app itself may have a
muting function, like when you want to mention something aside with
someone nearby without letting the group hear what you and they said
(i.e., like the mute function for the phone app).

Don't use the Zoom app, but my guess is that voice is carried over a
data connection. I doubt the app would be eating up your cellular voice
quota, so it uses VOIP to do Voice Over IP using the data connection.
Do both ends of the group meeting have cellular data service, and they
haven't consumed their monthly quota? Zoom does support audio only
connects to a meeting (aka teleconferencing), but you mention seeing
each other (but not hearing each other).

How many signal strength bars do you have when trying to participate in
a conference? If signal is poor in your area, is there a wi-fi hotspot
to which you can connect (5Ghz would be better than 2.4GHz)?

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us

There is a section on self-help for "Audio Video, Sharing", and it
includes how to use the app to test the speaker and mic, and also how to
mute (and unmute).

You said someone setup the Zoom app for you. Are you and they using the
free service tier at Zoom, or are you and they subscribed to a pay plan?
If paying, support from Zoom should be included.

[Arlen Holder]

On Fri, 20 Mar 2020 18:54:11 -0000 (UTC), pinnerite wrote:

> Fortunately most are willing to try things on their devices that but for
> the lock down the would previously never have dreamed of.

Another option others may wish to know about, but which is only for the
technically astute, is the off-line recorder transcription of the Google
Recorder app we discussed in the past.

With that app, you can not only capture audio to a file, but you can
transcribe that audio offline to a file which can then be provided to
people who weren't at the meeting, with (or without) the audio, if
necessary.

o Offline speech-to-text recorder/transcription unofficial
Google Recorder APK port now available for many Android phones
<https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.mobile.android/_Amn35T16NA/dsNJ5KoUCAAJ>
--
Usenet is so much more valuable, and pleasant, when people share ideas.

[Arlen Holder]

On Fri, 20 Mar 2020 19:12:53 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

> Don't use the Zoom app, but my guess is that voice is carried over a
> data connection.

Ah! Thanks for that hint!

That's likely why the microphone option on Zoom doesn't say "yes/no" or
"on/off", but, instead, asks "Off/Internet"!

Thanks for explaining that!
<https://i.postimg.cc/SNtGhJ5X/zoom01.jpg>
--
Usenet is public potluck where sharing of useful ideas is purposeful.

[Arlen Holder]

On Fri, 20 Mar 2020 16:13:34 +0000, pinnerite wrote:

> Anyone with any experience of Android 9 and zoom?

I hadn't even heard of Zoom until yesterday, but today we ran a longer test
with more people on the three most important common consumer platforms:
o Windows 10
o Android
o iOS

Where I wrote up a report just now over here of the Zoom problems we faced:
<https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.mobile.android/DMZxUOMFb7M/I71wg81-BQAJ>

As pinnerite experienced, a _lot_ of people have problems with the audio,
where the question is confusing since they're asking about Internet audio
(either via the phone data connection or via WiFi), so they ask it in a
funny way.

On the iPad they ask for audio using the strange words to most people:
"To hear others please join audio"
"Call using Internet Audio"
"Cancel"
Whereas on Android, they ask in a different (strange to most) way:
"Please allow Zoom access permission."
"For the best meeting experience, Zoom may ask to access
to your microphone, camera, and storage" [sic]
"Got it"
Then...
"Allow Zoom to record audio?"

Where in _many_ cases, users reported they had to hit the mic button twice
(which I experienced myself once or twice, where I didn't catch why but I
think one is to enable and the other is to actually use it, but I have to
doublecheck).

Suffice to say turning on the audio is a bit confusing for some people.

However.... by far ...

The biggest worry I have with Zoom is that this 40-minute limit showed up:
<https://i.postimg.cc/sgWc9xmS/zoom02.jpg>
"A gift from Zoom. Running out of time?
We've removed the 40-minute time limit
on your group meeting."

Does anyone here have experience with this 40-minute default time limit?
<https://i.postimg.cc/8CBm9Yqz/zoom03.jpg>
"We are in a giving mood.
If you schedule now, we will remove the 40-minute time limit
on your next meeting, too."

Anyone know more about this 40-minute default time limit?
--
Adults working together to solve problems is what Usenet is all about.

[nospam]

In article <r55g0k$f0e$1...@news.mixmin.net>, Arlen Holder

<arlen.geo...@is.invalid> wrote:


> The biggest worry I have with Zoom is that this 40-minute limit showed up:
> <https://i.postimg.cc/sgWc9xmS/zoom02.jpg>
> "A gift from Zoom. Running out of time?
> We've removed the 40-minute time limit
> on your group meeting."

...

> Anyone know more about this 40-minute default time limit?

is you search engine not working??

not that it's needed, since it's explained on zoom's web site.

it's also obvious.

[Jeff Layman]

On 20/03/20 18:54, pinnerite wrote:

> I cannot install Zoom under Linux Mint, so I did so under a virtual
> Windows-10. We'll know more on Sunday.

Linux Mint installs Firefox automatically, and there is a Zoom add-on
for FF (just search for "Zoom for Firefox" in the add-ons manager). Or
just click on the "Zoom extension for browsers"entry here
<https://zoom.us/download#chrome_ext>

I haven't tried it so have no idea if it works or not.

--

Jeff