Google Meet Extends Free 'Unlimited' Calls Until June 30

[MacRumors]

Google has postponed the introduction of a 60-minute call limit on free Google Meet users for a few more months, the company today announced in a tweet.

The limit was originally intended to come into effect at the end of March, but it will now begin on June 30.

The extension means that non-paying users of the teleconferencing service will continue to be able to host calls up to 24 hours in length (Google's definition of "unlimited") beyond the end of the month.

It's the second time Google has postponed the introduction of call limits since Meet was made available for free to all users with a Google account in April 2020.

A 60-minute limit was originally scheduled to come into effect at the end of September, but the deadline was moved to March 2021 in response to the continued impact of the global health crisis on work and relationship patterns. The Meet service was initially exclusive to paying G-Suite members.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1376957338733674499

Google Meet offers many of the features that have made Zoom so popular over the last year, including video conferencing for up to 100 participants, the option to schedule meetings, and screen-sharing capabilities.

Anyone interested in using Google Meet can download the Meet iOS app from the App Store or head to meet.google.com to use the web browser version.

Article Link: Google Meet Extends Free 'Unlimited' Calls Until June 30

 

[CarpalMac]

This is good for users but it is such a woefully inefficient bit of software that on my Mac that I can barely hear those I am talking to due to the fan maxxing out.

 

[Canyda]

My unofficial "State of the Pandemic" index doesn't include the number of new cases, hospitalizations, or even vaccination rates (although those are all important, of course). Rather, it's a look at "How many virtual meeting software suites are still free to use? Is Hollywood putting movies back in theatres yet?" Things like that.

My unofficial index suggests big business is still pretty worried about where we're at with COVID.

 

[TechieGeek]

This is good for users but it is such a woefully inefficient bit of software that on my Mac that I can barely hear those I am talking to due to the fan maxxing out.

Have you tried it in the past 3 months? Meet went from being pretty inefficient to very efficient throughout the last year, laptop no longer gets hot, fans don’t max out, and you can multitask now whereas previously using Meet slowed down the rest of the computer.

 

[CarpalMac]

Have you tried it in the past 3 months? Meet went from being pretty inefficient to very efficient throughout the last year, laptop no longer gets hot, fans don’t max out, and you can multitask now whereas previously using Meet slowed down the rest of the computer.

I use it daily, sadly.

 

[TechieGeek]

I use it daily, sadly.

That’s sucks!

I use it daily too. At the beginning of the pandemic I couldn’t do anything else while taking Meet calls since my laptop slowed to a crawl. I couldn’t take notes, couldn’t check email, etc.

There wasn’t a big change all at once, but over time I’ve noticed it got far more efficient, the aluminum on my laptop doesn’t get hot anymore, the fans aren’t constantly running, and I can switch between tabs and multitask now. I think it’s been good since about December for me.

It’s a night and day difference between a year ago vs now.

I use Chrome, not too many extensions, max 10 tabs but usually around 5.

 

[macsareveryinteresting]

At least Google actually did something.

 

[czoli]

if Apple did something too like seriously improving Safari's WebRTC implementation would be nice. Safari been such a pain in the a....

 

[avkills]

Did anyone notice the stock headshots on the pics, I have some of them. No way in hell their video looks that good over WebRTC.

 

[routine_analyst]

Google extends free call monitoring for 30 days!
No purchase necessary! Make a call and google will know it all!