Upwork-Zoom test call?

[kelly_e]

Hi Upwork,

Is there a way to make a "test call" previous to the start of an Upwork-Zoom meeting? Currently I head over to Zoom-Zoom and make a test call to make sure everything's okay on my end... which it is, supposedly... yet when using Zoom on UW I have a client who can't hear me and thinks it's me. Maybe it is, how do I know? Maybe somehow UW-Zoom isn't behving the same, so I'd really like to be able to test a few minutes before a call. Wouldn't mind if my client could, too.  😉  Is there a way of doing that, that I'm not finding?

Thanks...

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Kelly,

While there isn't a way to test audio before initiating a call via Zoom integration in Messages, you will have an option to test it right after initiating the call. The pop up will look like this and clicking the "Test Speaker and Microphone" link on it will allow you to check if the audio works. 

[kelly_e]

Of course, if the call is already going on, I know if I can be heard. Because they're telling me. When you're trying to get a job or to further a job, not knowing whether it will work until everyone's yelling "I see your mouth moving but can't hear you, is it you or me?!!" is... bad. Makes me look unprofessional. (Which is of course why I let the other party carry on assuming it was my fault even if I suspect it wasn't... correcting a client is not worth it.)

Also, that's only testing the audio, not the vid.

If Zoom itself can let us make test calls (audio in and out +vid) *before* winding up losing a job because we look like tech-bumblers, why can't UW's integration of Zoom?

If I'm the first person bringing this up, I'm really surprised.

[kochubei_valeria]

Kelly,

You can still test your video/audio in Zoom as you usually would. When the call is initiated via the integration in Upwork Messages, it still takes place inside Zoom. If the test call functionality in Zoom shows that everything is working fine, then it's going to work the same for calls initiated from Upwork.

[kelly_e]

Well then, if nothing at all can happen in between Zoom and UW-Zoom, I know it was my client and not me.

Still, it's a pain that the function isn't right here in UW—how many people who are actual bumbling tech-neophytes would know to go over to Zoom to check things out in advance of a call and then come back? It would be significantly less friction if advance test-calls were here on site. But *I* know to do it, and it's something I already do, so I guess that's an answer of one...