Conferencing - Zoom

Owned by Jia Wen Li, created
Last updated: Mar 23, 2023 by Rohan Raghavan
2 min read

About this service

Zoom provides videotelephony and online chat services through a cloud-based peer-to-peer software platform and is used for teleconferencing, telecommuting, distance education, and social interactions. Zoom offers two types of virtual room services:

  • Meetings - designed to be a collaborative event with all participants being able to screen share, turn on their video and audio, and see who else is in attendance.

  • Webinars - designed so that the host and any designated panelists can share their video, audio and screen. Webinars allow view-only attendees. They have the ability to interact via Q&A, Chat, and answering polling questions. The host can also unmute the attendees.

View Zoom's Meeting and webinar comparison chart.

Licensing information

For employees and graduate students

The University's license includes Pro/Educational features that will be assigned to Faculty, staff, and graduate students. These include:

  • 300 seat meeting room capacity (default size)

  • Unlimited meeting times

  • Larger meeting sizes by request

  • Webinars by request (various sizes)

  • Cloud storage for recordings

For undergraduate students

The undergrad student Basic license includes 100 seats, a 40-minute per meeting time allowance, and local storage for recordings.

Creating and accessing Zoom accounts

If you do not have an existing Zoom account: Faculty, staff, and students can create an account by going to https://uwaterloo.zoom.us, clicking Sign In, and logging in with their username@uwaterloo.ca credentials. 

If you have an existing Zoom account:  Migrate your account to the campus-wide license using the steps below. 

  1. If your Zoom account username is not username@uwaterloo.ca, update your username.

  2. Go to https://uwaterloo.zoom.us and click Sign In. Enter your username@uwaterloo.ca login credentials. The first time you log in, you will be asked to migrate your existing account. Follow the prompts to migrate your account. 

  3. If you have a paid Zoom account, Zoom will update your account balance and you can request a refund by calling Zoom Support: +1-888-799-9666 ext. 2.

Important: 

  1. The ability to log in with Zoom credentials will be disabled at a later date and users will be required to log in using their University of Waterloo credentials. 

  2. To optimize the reimbursement of your remaining account balance, it is recommended that you create or migrate your Zoom account as soon as possible. 

  3. If you have an upcoming Zoom event, you can create or migrate your Zoom account at your convenience after the event date.

Who can use this service

Students, Instructors, Staff

Support for this service

Additional service resources

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