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Ability to Allow Host to Unmute Participants Without Sending Request to Unmute

lamottewebex
Level 1
Level 1

I was recently upgraded to Webex 40.10.4.2 and am unable as host to unmute participants directly.  It now sends a request instead.  It does not matter if I have selected to allow users to unmute themselves or not.  Is there a way around this?  Our hosts control our meetings and need to be able to unmute speakers at specified times in our meetings without the speaker having to approve the request to unmute.

2 Accepted Solutions

gautgupt
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

All, it is important to follow the audio privacy of Webex users and therefore we introduced the functionality in our October update where host/cohost cannot directly unmute any attendee. Host/cohost can only send the request to the attendee to unmute.

However, we do realize that there are scenarios where host will need more control of a meeting and a need to be able to unmute the attendees directly. We are planning to introduce a moderated mute mode which allow host/cohost to do so. This will still be controlled where host will need to select the moderated mute mode. Exact details and timeframes are being worked out. 

 

NOTE: The Community Manager has marked this response as the current solution so that other community members can easily view the BU's response. The solution will be updated when there is more information from the BU.

View solution in original post

Cole Callahan
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

Hi everyone,

In the recent What's New Blog, it mentioned an update relevant to this thread and the 41.2 update...

"Moderated Unmute Mode

Moderated unmute mode can be enabled for meeting cases where hosts and cohost can directly unmute participants. (As opposed to the standard privacy mode, where a participant will receive a request to unmute from the host or cohost.) This is particularly useful for cases like the classroom, where students may be too young to read the prompts, and the teacher needs more direct control over the students' unmute.

Administrators can enable moderated unmute mode on their site, giving hosts access to this option in the meeting scheduler and personal room preferences. Meeting participants will see a clear indicator in the meeting window for meetings in Moderated unmute mode."


You can read more here - https://help.webex.com/en-us/xcwws1/What-s-New-for-the-Latest-Channel-of-Webex-Meetings#Cisco_Reference.dita_67fd4abb-53a5-4ba0-a9fb-ef17afc4d01e



Response Signature


View solution in original post

94 Replies 94

Cole Callahan
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

Hi everyone,

 

Thank you all for contributing to this thread and sharing feedback on the issues you are experiencing. Your voices are being heard, so thank you to each and every one of you. Tagging @gautgupt to this thread to share a response.



Response Signature


eball
Level 1
Level 1

I work at a school and my teachers are not happy at all with this change!  Many of them relied on being able to unmute their students.  Could this change be reverted for education users?

Meetings_BBC
Level 1
Level 1

While I appreciate the privacy concerns surrounding the ability to mute/unmute, however, this is a real problem for our church use where we need to consistently help less tech savvy folks mute/unmute themselves.  

Please consider making this an option which can be disabled!

kun.xu
Level 1
Level 1

I am having the same issue. Some of our participants are joining through their phones, and I am finding myself unable to unmute them after I have muted them. How do I go back to the older version of the Webex app to avoid this issue?

karllewis
Level 1
Level 1

This is an unexpected and problematic change.  How can I go back to the older version of the Webex app to avoid this issue?

I'm following this feed.  I teach classes but it is adults and they are in our places of business.  It really delays things when I want to keep the conversation going and then wait for them to unmute.  I would like to know a way around this as well.  

 

Jen

CHS
Level 1
Level 1

I have the same issue and would like to hear from WebEx as to whether there is a way to undo this.  When you're running a group, it's very annoying.  Previously, I could mute everyone quickly if there was background noise and then allow the participant or me to individually (or collectively) unmute people.  Now I'm very hesitant to use this option as participants either have to notice they've been muted and undo it or they're getting multiple pop ups from me requesting that they unmute.  I wish I could go back to the old version.

me too...I like the old version too

 

Mike Brezicky
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

This will not likely be implemented as that would create a major privacy issue if I was allowed to just unmute anyone at will.



Response Signature


All online meeting providers allow the functionality of host to mute/unmute participants. Cisco Webex was no different until recently - many of us have purchased this product because of certain abilities within a meeting. We are all asking for the same functionality to return. 

When teaching a 5 year old, requesting them to unmute and then waiting for them to unmute takes such a long time. Doing this each time you ask a question to one of your 30 students can make a meeting feel very unproductive. Before this new feature was added our lessons were going great. It truly felt like I was teaching in my classroom with my students but now it feels very unnatural. Teachers of little ones need this feature to be modified so we can be in control of our classrooms again. 

That is not very helpful when dealing with seniors who are not tech savvy. Maybe you should have a business version and a version for others. Not being able to unmute participants makes using webex useless for us!

The state of NC has implemented Webex Meetings to run remote court hearings. The clerks are not happy with the change as it affects their ability to manage a court proceeding.

Hello Mike,

 

Thank you for your response. Is WebEx looking into changing this back at all? It has caused significant problems for those of us running rehabilitation groups with clients. Before the change, we were able to assist clients in their participation, now that clients must must click buttons to accept un-mute requests it has caused inefficiencies and frustration among participants.

 

Thank you for your time in looking into this matter,

Martha Scott

I have the same problem, this feature was great in managing large group of participants, where some elderly participants are not that well versed in interacting with Webex interface. 

I can understand Privacy concerns, one way to get around that would be using the following algorithm

If Host initiated Unmute then

   if participant self-muted then

      Send request to Participant to Unmute.

   else if participant was host-muted then

       Umute participant.

end if.

 

With all due respect, this is why Zoom is eating your lunch. You killed a feature that lots of people use, and now you're blowing off your user community's response to it, whereas Zoom is doing everything possible to enrich their platform and address customer concerns. Oh, and Zoom hosts can mute and unmute participants at will.

I think it's important to mention that your Webex Events and Webex Training tools offer this option, and as others have mentioned this feature was available prior to the Oct. updates. Additionally, other prominent videoconference tools offer this feature as well. My role in our district is Tech Integration and providing support for teachers and staff in that regard. Many of our teachers are asking for this option to be re-enabled to assist with remote classroom management. 

Also echoing the request to please change this function. This is a huge disability access issue within our organization as many of our meeting participants have physical disabilities that make it difficult for them to repeatedly mute and unmute themselves during a group.

This is a crock. 

 

This was one of the main reasons we chose Webex over other platforms.  We have a bunch of 80+ year old board members that are not fluent on the use of Webex or technology in general.  We had a board meeting today and it was beyond terrible and made us all look like morons.

 

Can you not add a disclaimer when joining the meeting that the host has the ability to mute/unmute your microphone?  If they do not want their mic unmuted by the host, then they can leave the meeting.  Have this be an option in the site settings to turn on or off.

 

 

Please take into consideration the needs of teachers are not the same as in the business world.

 

In these times the more I can run my virtual room as close to a classroom is vital.  Not being able to unmute students has greatly decreased my ability to call on students and engage more students.  Also, having to make a request disrupts the flow of learning.   Being able to unmute students is like calling on a raised hand in class.  

 

In relation to this, will we ever have the ability to turn a participants video on?  Again, teachers need different tools for students than those working in the business arena.

 

Engagement is key, we need all the tools you can give us.

 

Thank you

 

 

 

 

I agree with this user.  We have "littles" ages 5-and up who are unable to read what this message says.  Teachers need the ability to unmute a student.

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