# Video Conferencing Overview

Cloud Voice video conferencing lets you meet face to face with teammates or outside contacts anywhere in the world, so you can talk things through without leaving your browser.

## Meeting types

You can run meetings in two ways, depending on how much notice you have.

**Instant meeting**

Start a meeting right away, with no reservation needed. When something comes up unexpectedly, launch a meeting on the spot and invite people to join. See [Start an Instant Meeting](/pbx/web-client-user-guide/start-an-instant-meeting/).

**Scheduled meeting**

Set up a one-time meeting in advance and get invitations out ahead of the start time. See [Create a Meeting Link](/pbx/web-client-user-guide/create-a-meeting-link/) and [Invite Participants to Join a Scheduled Meeting](/pbx/web-client-user-guide/invite-participants-to-join-a-scheduled-meeting/).

## What you need

**Phone system**

Ask your administrator to confirm the phone system is configured as follows:

- Plan: Ultimate
- Web server protocol: HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure)
- Email server: an SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) server is configured, either the built-in Cloud Voice SMTP server or your own custom mail server.

:::note
These are system-wide settings that your administrator controls, not per-user options you can change yourself. If the video conferencing feature is missing or greyed out for everyone, these three prerequisites are the first thing to check.
:::

:::caution
The phone system must be served over HTTPS (a secure connection). Web browsers block access to the camera and microphone on plain, unsecured connections, so video conferencing will not work at all unless HTTPS is in place.
:::

:::note
The email server is what delivers meeting invitations. Without a working SMTP server, scheduled-meeting invitation emails cannot be sent.
:::

**Web browser**

Open the Cloud Voice App in one of these desktop browsers, at the version shown or newer:

- Google Chrome (64-bit): version 86 or later
- Microsoft Edge (64-bit): version 87 or later
- Opera: version 72 or later

:::note
Only the browsers above are listed as compatible. Other browsers (for example Safari or Firefox) are not on the supported list, so use one of the three above and keep it updated to avoid audio or video problems.
:::

## Limits

Keep these caps in mind when planning a meeting:

- Participants per meeting: up to 5
- Concurrent meetings on the phone system: up to 4
- Meeting length: up to 120 minutes

:::caution
These are hard caps, not suggestions. A sixth participant cannot join once five people are in the meeting, a fifth meeting cannot start until one of the four running meetings ends, and a meeting closes automatically once it reaches 120 minutes. Plan larger or longer sessions around these limits.
:::

## Data protection and encryption

Meeting data is encrypted end to end across the connection. Cloud Voice secures the full data path using industry-standard protocols such as Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), so your conversations stay private in transit.