Entered CNET Catalog: 04/23/2002
SKU: CNETWEBEX
Manufacturer: webex
CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 05/26/2005
This system is nearly foolproof, with one caveat: Each data packet begins and ends its journey via each meeting participant's ISP. So if your ISP or any attendee's ISP is experiencing severe congestion, session performance, particularly bandwidth-hogging video and audio, can suffer. In our tests, we found session speed to be quite good, with fraction-of-a-second delays when we controlled programs remotely.
Once you purchase seats at the WebEx table, you can set up your company's meeting center in one of two ways. You can purchase the WebEx Express package, which lets you set up a generic center yourself. If you'd prefer a customized look and functionality--say, one with your company logo, links to your Web site, or customized applications--WebEx will build one for you, but for a fee, anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000, depending on the complexity of the project. Ouch!
 WebEx's scheduler steps you through the process of setting up a meeting. Participants receive an e-mail invitation before the session begins. |
Meeting Center provides several ways to schedule and initiate a conference. One option is to log on to your company's Web site and complete a multistep scheduling process: setting a meeting's start and stop times, inviting participants, and selecting whether the meeting is a one-time or a recurring event. By downloading additional plug-ins, you can initial and schedule meetings, as well as share files and applications, from within Microsoft Office and Outlook.
The WebEx Meeting Manager interface is divided into three portions. The largest chunk, roughly two-thirds of the screen, is a blank window used for displaying documents, presentations, and the WebEx whiteboard. Drop-down menus provide fast access to meeting settings, such as the ability to change participants' privileges and allow them to annotate documents. A smaller box in the upper-right corner lists the names of meeting participants, and a similar box below it is used for online chat or note taking.
The Meeting Manager is nicely laid out, but don't expect to master it immediately. We stumbled in our initial attempts to share applications and change the video settings. You'll need at least an hour's worth of practice before conducting WebEx meetings with clients. Also, note that the application sharing interface is somewhat clunky. In our tests, the cursor often vanished off the screen, making it difficult to highlight text or write in the margins of a Microsoft Word document. WebEx Meeting Center offers a robust assortment of conferencing tools, including application- and document-sharing functions, VoIP telephony--a.k.a. Internet calling--that transmits audio over your Net connection, and multipoint video that lets you view up to four thumbnail Web camera images at once. It's no bargain, however, with prices starting at $75 per port, per month for unlimited use. (A port is like a seat at the conference table.) A 20-person company could share five ports, for instance, and have five people meeting via WebEx at one time, including any outside attendees.
Meeting Center's new video tools are designed to be plug-and-play. If you have a Web camera connected to your USB port, for instance, WebEx automatically activates the camera and displays your thumbnail image in the upper-right corner (you must click the Video tab to see it). We couldn't figure out how to turn on multipoint video, which allows you to view up to four video images of meeting participants at once. But it turns out, our test site's functionality is different from a normal WebEx setup, which wouldn't ask you to make this decision. A simple call to WebEx tech support solved the problem--we simply needed to select Multi-point from the Meeting Options menu.
Presentations and shared documents are the heart of most business meetings, and WebEx delivers plenty of ways to display this information. As the host of a meeting, you can run conventional PowerPoint slide shows in a Meeting Center window or load a file--an Excel spreadsheet, for instance--and allow the other participants to either annotate comments or edit the original file. The whiteboard space is handy for jotting notes and pictures and works much like a traditional office whiteboard, only without the awful ink smell. Again, however, you'll need to spend some time with these tools; practice is crucial before you impose a WebEx session on a new client.
Verbal communication, of course, is essential, too. If WebEx's VoIP audio option isn't up your alley or if you simply don't have a headset to attach to your PC, each participant can use a landline phone to chat, toll-free, via conference call (WebEx supplies the phone number, which appears onscreen before the session starts, or it can work with your in-house conferencing provider). We like the fact that WebEx supplies the conference number, which greatly simplifies the chore of setting up the audio portion of the meeting.
 WebEx Meeting Center's annotation tool lets you or a meeting attendee mark up a Word document. The cursor frequently disappeared onscreen in our tests, unfortunately. |
The online support tools are very good. You'll find a comprehensive user guide with an interface very similar to that of a Windows help file, as well as FAQs with setup and usage advice. E-mail support is available as well.
 WebEx provides comprehensive online support for WebEx Meeting Center, including a user guide that mimics the familiar interface of a Windows help file. |
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78
User Rating: 
1/10
worst company i have ever dealt with
Pros: the actual technology works fairly well
Cons: biggest nightmare of a company to deal with
User Rating: 1/10
webex sucks
Pros: As far as i'm concerned, None!
Cons: Many problems with webex. unreliable and uninformative
User Rating: 1/10
Use at your own peril
Pros: With enough time to train and figure out all the quirks of the system, there are some nice features. One needs to be a superuser to be effective.
Cons: You need to be a regular user of the software to avoid issues. I have had a subscription for more than a year. I AM TIRED OF BEING EMBARRASSED BY THIS PRODUCT IN MEETINGS!!! It is not intuitive for the host or guests and FAILS to deliver.
User Rating: 
2/10
This is the biggest rip off service available.
Pros: So for there is no PRO. Everything I experienced with them has been an insult. Plus they're just like DELL and everyone except sales is in INDIA. Support them and you aren't supporting America. I wish for them go bankrupt.
Cons: Don't EVER use this service. They charged me $115 for a half hour meeting with no recourse to transfer into any better plans. They hate you and just want you money. Everything they offer can be done for free with any PC!
User Rating: 1/10
STAY AWAY - DO NOT SIGN A CONTRACT
Pros: Nothing whatsoever.
Cons: Expensive, contract fine print, customer service
WebEx sucks. The meeting manager that has to be downloaded by each new user often put back the start of meetings by 10 minutes as people had problems sometimes which meant that those who were waiting got upset. They did an upgrade or something that did something to my user account on my computer and I wasn't ever able to do a WebEx again with that user id. Support wasn't able to fix it but instead blamed Apple.
The contract auto renewed without me knowing and when I called to cancel they wanted to charge me for the entire year or 'buy it out' at a reduced rate. The charges if you go over a certain number of users spiral out of control.
I could go on and on but seriously it's not worth it. Sign a contract with these guys if you want but I am pretty sure you're going to be upset eventually. The alternative we have found is significantly better. There are only two or three main alternatives so it's pretty easy to find one that suits you.
I really have no idea why anybody uses WebEx other than they have the biggest name.
Updated on Jan 27, 2009It occurred to me that the CNET review was probably using WebEx once or twice. Try using it 2 - 3 times a day, 5 days a week, with conferences for 5-20 people where your business depends on having a good online demonstration and then give your opinion. When I used it for the trial for one meeting it went okay. It was when we ramped up and started having more users and more meetings increasing the chances of something going wrong and it usually did.
User Rating: 1/10
The Ex in WebEx should tell you something
Pros: Well, the promotion looked good.
Cons: Crashed meetings, promised performance failed, too difficult to join meetings, deceptive business practices.
Customer service reps do not deliver. We frequently were given conflicting answers to our questions about available features.
We asked to cancel in April. Auto-renewed August. Finally canceled December. Bill for those months: $1500. No. of successful meetings: 0.
User Rating: 1/10
Poor Customer Service and Tools - No Contracts
Pros: When they wanted to sell the contract to me there were attentive.
Cons: Once you sign a contract you are not allowed to ask for better service, the system is slow compared to GoToMeeting, it has less features and it is 2 times more expensive. I called to complain and explained I lost clients, they did not care
Until they do not fix these issues and provide better options, I suggest GoToMeeting. They trial is for 30 days, free Phone Conference call number, free voip and unlimited number of users and meetings
User Rating: 2/10
WebEx is a TOTAL RIP-OFF! Don't Sign up for their trial
Pros: None that I can think of. Their system didn't work very well, and then, even after we canceled, they kept billing us. DON'T GIVE THEM YOUR CREDIT CARD NUMBER!!!
Cons: We tried the service, and canceled after the first usage (because it was so bad). We thought everything was fine, and then we find out that they charged us $49 every month even though we canceled!!
In our case, we signed up for their free trial, but the system didn't work well, so we canceled after the first day. I never heard from them again. No emails, no bills in the mail, nothing. Then our accountant was doing a review of the credit card statements several months later, and she found their charge. We went back and looked at the statements and found that they didn't charge us for the first month. But about 45 days after we had cancelled, they started charging us.
We called and they said that we had never cancelled the account (which we did). Their free trial was only for 15 days, but they didn't start charging our card until almost 2 months later.
I think that they must do this on purpose. I think they figure that most businesses don't monitor their accounts as closely, so they can just start charging peoples cards and they won't notice. I would argue that this is criminal behaviour.
Finally after arguing with them over the course of several days, they said they would credit us back for 2 months, but not for the 5 months that they charged us for. I argued that we had never used their service even once. I also pointed out that they were secretly charging our card, and not sending any kind of email or invoice to let us know. Basically, they were ripping us off.
So, do yourself a favor and be very cautious with this company.
User Rating: 1/10
Do NOT sign a contract with these people!
Pros: Product didn't work most of the time, they would not let us out of the deal for 4 months then finally said all was fine and we were done after proving our case. 6 months later we get a call from a collections agency that we owe thousands.
Cons: There are no pros so I used both to tell you the cons - they are cons. They never communicated with us for 6+ months then we get a phone call out of the blue. We are reporting them to the State for their practices.
Horrible company and the product is even worse - run away - do NOT get caught in their contract or you will pay. That they will make sure of - no matter how lousy their service.
User Rating: 1/10
Save your system - avoid webex
Pros: Nothing pro about it.
Cons: Everything con.
Webex caused grief in IE 7, and Outlook. Webex will not offer removal support.
We are still working to get rid of all webex hooks - nearly impossible - considering everything it hooks into.
SUMMARY: Pay attention to the other CON reviews and stay clear of Webex.
User Rating: 1/10
Webex is awful
Pros: I can't think of any
Cons: Way overpriced and difficult to use.
Clunkiest software imaginable and no effort to improve it. Took me an hour to refresh my memory how to use it each time I needed it. Completely useless.
User Rating: 2/10
I prefer Infinite Conferencing. No contracts, software downloads, minimums. Awesome support!
Pros: popular name
Cons: software downloads, expensive.
User Rating: 
10/10
The Best...!
Pros: 100% Web-based, secure, fast
Cons: Recording..
User Rating: 1/10
DO NOT SIGN A CONTRACT
Pros: Absolutely NONE
Cons: Horrible horrible customer service and product
Their product rarely works and good luck trying to get tech support to figure anything out.
Take me advice - STAY AWAY FROM WEBEX !!!!!
User Rating: 1/10
BUYER BEWARE!
Pros: Nothing good
Cons: Everything horrible
User Rating: 
3/10
PictureTalk is a better option
Pros: Many features
Cons: Price is too expensive; support has deteriorated in the last year; many problems during sessions.
User Rating: 1/10
Webex is a ripoff
Pros: None that I can think of
Cons: Expensive, very buggy, poor technical support, and terrible customer service.
We're now using Glance, and while it is not perfect, it's better than Webex, and it's free.
User Rating: 
4/10
Webex Service
Pros: SSL, Integrated Audio/Video, Polling
Cons: Slow, Overpriced, Contracts are a scam
and have also used other products.
Goto meeting is a much better
product and excellent customer service.
User Rating: 1/10
What a scam!
Pros: There are no pros to working with Webex
Cons: hard to decipher bills, contract and unfriendly customer service
The problem is their contracts are immpossible to understand, as are their bills, and when you want to cancel it is very hard. I cancelled two months ago and have been billed nearly 2k since (for nothing!)
In addition, when I was using them I'd call for help and they were rude and they also charged me in addition to the contracted rates for help.
Whatever you do, do not use Webex. Save yourself the money and headache.
Whatever you do -- Please do not fill out a credit card authorization form. If you're dumb enough to sign a Webex contract, do NOT fill out a credit card authorization from as they will bill you for mystery charges and continue billing you even after you think your account was cancelled.
User Rating: 2/10
Lousy Lousy ~ Does NOT work and charged me anyway!
Pros: it makes some things possible though difficult
Cons: terrible interface, misleading info, and simply did not work.
I would NOT recommend. They used to be good. Oh well.
User Rating: 2/10
Rotten customer relations skills
Pros: Great marketing campaigns
Cons: Inflexible account reps and lots of excuses when the service doesn't work as advertised
User Rating: 2/10
Watch out for the contract!! Don't use them for audio.
Pros: It works, most of the time
Cons: If you're not happy...you'll never get our of your contract
The controls are not easy to use and are unforgiving.
First of all, do not use WebEx for your audio conferencing. Find another vendor that will be cheaper and easier to use.
Secondly, reconsider the contract. Look very closely at the fine print to see what you're getting yourself into. We found that we could not break the contract and no one at WebEx was willing to work with us.
Microsoft LiveMeeting does not have these ridiculous contract clauses.
User Rating: 4/10
Oracle Web Conferencing is way better.
Pros: Standard features expected from today's conferencing tools.
Cons: Extremely expensive, especially for large meetings.
User Rating: 3/10
Buyer Beware
Pros: You can explore the full version for free
Cons: No PDF support, Deceptive Business Practices
From an administrator standpoint - BUYER BEWARE! Their Administrator functions encourage feature use outside your specified contract (which makes you liable for some serious additional, unforeseen expenses - in reading their annual report, you'll find that these charges comprise a significant revenue stream for them). Their most egregious business practice, however, is hiding very important information, such as automatic annual renewals in linked documents, rather than in the agreements they ask customers to sign. Neither their sales people nor their customer service people disclose their cancellation clause - if you didn't take the time to read their 4-point type linked agreement, you're seriously screwed.
So if you must use WebEx, be aware that nearly every reseller of their service offers it at a better price than they do directly - if you must subscribe, ensure your administrator is fully aware of all the extra costs associated with the service - a major, major headache if there ever was one.
User Rating: 
9/10
Webex works the Best, Secure and Market Leader
Pros: SSL 443, Outlook Integration, Recording,
Cons: Best Value
User Rating: 9/10
WebEx saved the day for my Company
Pros: No firewall restrictions, easy to invite others, record my presentations, security.
Cons: The same pop-up comes on after every meeting is over, no way to avoid it.
Out of the clear, or more accurate, on a banner in front of the Starbucks, I see a WebEx ad, with a lady with her face painted in blue and green.
I went to their website, and chose to do a Pay Per Use meeting. At 4:55 PM, everyone was in the meeting, and in 25 minutes the proposal was corrected and approved.
Next day, I called WebEx and got a service contract. Something simple, but extremely useful. Even my sales manager can use it!
User Rating: 
8/10
very clean
Pros: easy to use
Cons: Q&A feature
User Rating: 
7/10
WebEx good but Centra 7 is better
Pros: Great collaborative tool for document development
Cons: Bandwidth-blockages; pre-meeting software updates
User Rating: 4/10
OK service, but VERY overpriced and confusing!
Pros: Offered a lot of useful functions...
Cons: ...but those functions didn't always work right. Their service requires multiple downloads too, which creates problems with our customers. Their interface is very confusing. Prices are CRAZY!!
User Rating: 
5/10
I like Webex - But it is expensive to use.
Pros: Webex is a really good web conferencing solution. I used it a lot of times for my sales trainings. But I think it is an expensive service. My friend recommended me a new product, called GoToMeeting. I wanted to try it due to the flat free pricing option.
Cons:
User Rating: 9/10
Best value we found
Pros: We tried webconference.com and several other web conference services and had too many technical problems that caused pain on some inportant meetings. WebEx has always worked and the reliability is excellent. The price is higher, but we found a webex par
Cons:
User Rating: 2/10
Good concept, bad product.
Pros: The case for web conferencing is compelling: less travel and operational expenses. More communications (and better communications) in less time.
Cons: WebEx is so much more expensive than the competition: Centra, CyberGrad, Interwise.
User Rating: 2/10
Overpriced for what you get
Pros: WebEx is good and although difficult to learn, once you go thru 2 or 3 trainings, we were able to use it effectively.
Cons: However, WebEx definately has one of the best sales people you will ever meet. The problem is that they made us believe that WebEx offered what no other vendor could offer. I found out that there are other alternatives that are much cheaper and offer the
User Rating: 7/10
"The" Online Meeting App
Pros: The many multi-media features and it's easy to use management tools. I use WebEx for both local and global meeting and training sessions. After being a participant twice I was organised with my own account and I was off - I don't undertstand the hours of
Cons: Passing the microphone amongst participants is perhaps not that intuitive.
User Rating: 8/10
Quite simple to use, effective conferencing tool
Pros: Easy, fast, effective
Cons: Pricing policies seem to vary, so you may pay more than they would normally charge.
User Rating: 4/10
Too Expensive! Not Worth It!
Pros: The online meetings are great for sales presentations.
Cons: Rip Off! My small business just cannot afford the WebEx fees. So, I looked around and found that GoSolo.com sells almost the SAME thing for so much less! Good Bye WebEx! Never again!
User Rating: 2/10
I was not impressed...
Pros: WebEx seems to have the best sales team out of all service providers we considered. They were very knowledgable and they also knew their product and the competition very well.
Cons: Unfortunately, after receiving their quote, we decided to try other vendors before committing ourselves to such large capital investment. To our surprise, the so called "second-class" vendors were just as reliable and in some cases easier to use and offer
User Rating: 9/10
Best and keeping up to be the best
Pros: We are startup software company and we found hard to reach the market across the country till we started using webex. Now international boundry is not the limit. We have clients as far as Taiwan, Malysia and far east. Thanks to Webex for its great feature
Cons: In past stability has been a issue but over time it has has reduced.
User Rating: 3/10
Webex should be called Crashex...
Pros: Prior to our first WebEx experience, I came to CNET Reviews to check out the editor and users' opinions. At first glance, it seemed to me that WebEx had the best product, so I coordinated our first WebEx conference and invited several of our top customers
Cons: However, five minutes into our presentation WebEx crashed and made us look like total idiots. After re-scheduling and calling tech support, we were assured by WebEx that the problem would not occur. Needless to say, the same occurred time after time on
User Rating: 4/10
WebEx is a dissapointment...
Pros: WebEx pioneered collaboration and for the last 3 years my team has been using it to meet remotely and become more productive.
Cons: However, I must say that although WebEx has always had reliability issues, in the last year the service has become nothing but a dissapointment. We used to average 8 out of 10 successful meetings. Now, it's only 2 out of 10. Tech support is not helpful
User Rating: 4/10
Too Expensive for its Value
Pros: We are glad our 2-year contract with WebEx recently expired. At the time of signing, WebEx was the best conferencing provider with the best value and service.
Cons: However, WebConference.com now offers more features than WebEx and it does not require a contract. After putting WebConference.com to the test for the last 3 months, we made the decission not to renew our WebEx contract. When the WebEx salesperson heard a
User Rating: 4/10
Good Product but VERY EXPENSIVE
Pros: WebEx is an excellent product for a Fortune 500 company. It is very reliable and offers a good set of nice features.
Cons: However, it is VERY EXPENSIVE. If your company cares about price, I would recommend WebConference.com. WebConference.com has all of the WebEx features plus it shines on multi-party video conferencing and in my experience a faster application sharing. We
User Rating: 2/10
Too complex & expensive. I prefer Glance.
Pros: Lots and lots of features, but I really don't use them.
Cons: All I need is a simple way to show my screen for doing web demos & customer training. I heard about Glance, a one-click screen sharing service. Guests connect instantly, since they don't have to download or install any software. 20 minutes of WebEx
User Rating: 2/10
plug in pain to load
Pros: good feature set; fairly intuitive
Cons: plug in made presenting to clients/potential clients difficult. meeting dynamics a problem with remote meetings.
User Rating: 10/10
Can't go wrong with Webex
Pros: I don't understand the bad reviews that this "former Webex employee" person has written. He/She must be bitter about something, seeing that he/she is a "EX-EMPLOYEE". This is one of the best tools that I have used. It makes supporting customers and giving
Cons:
User Rating: 10/10
Best solution we've tried
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 9/10
Simple, Secure & supports Macs!
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 3/10
Why can't they stay up
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 1/10
Slow performance, frequent crashes
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 10/10
You WILL not find better!!
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 9/10
Closed the deal over the Web
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 8/10
Works Fantastic
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 10/10
This is the only service that works on my Mac
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 10/10
Scalabity/Security
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 10/10
Proven Leader
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 7/10
Worked well on Mac OS 9.1 for me
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 4/10
How could Ru-Paul be so wrong about Webex?
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 10/10
The web-conferencing tool on the market!
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 8/10
Mac Client is phenomenal
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 10/10
Fantastic!!!!!
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 10/10
Awesome, awesome, awesome.......
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 10/10
WebEx Rocks!
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 8/10
The Best Available
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 9/10
Intuitive and very flexible for presenter
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 9/10
Amazing Product, Truly Best of Class
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 1/10
From a former employee - it sucks
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 7/10
Good Collaboration Tool
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 10/10
Terrific for prospecting sales and closing faster.
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 8/10
The best of an infant technology
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 7/10
Subscription service packs a whallop!
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 10/10
Simple, powerful, effective online conference application
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 4/10
Two's company, three's a crowd
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 1/10
Peer-to-Peer Web Conferencing is Faulty
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 3/10
Lacks security, stability and scalability.
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 
6/10
Genesys - Same Features, 97% less expensive
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 8/10
fairly powerful easy learning curve.
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 10/10
Top Notch
Pros:
Cons:
User Rating: 8/10
Use with clients. Very interesting.
Pros:
Cons:
