8x8 Jitsi as a Service (JaaS) is an enterprise-ready video meeting platform that allows developers, organizations, and businesses to easily build and deploy video solutions. Jitsi’s powerful global platform helps you deliver secure, branded video experiences to your audience. The following FAQ provides details on how we deliver, secure, and support customizations for this service.

Where do you have data centers?

The JaaS integration incorporates the extensive functionality of the 8x8 Jitsi Platform that leverages the distributed Meetings infrastructure from datacenters around the world.
The data centers supporting are located as below:

AP-Northeast-1 (Tokyo, Japan)
AP-South-1 (Mumbai, India)
AP-Southeast-2 (Sydney, Australia)
EU-Central-1 (Frankfurt, Germany)
EU-West-2 (London, U.K.)
SA-East-1 (São Paulo, Brazil)
US-East-1 (Ashburn, VA, U.S.)
US-West-2 (Phoenix, OR, U.S.)

What codecs are supported by JaaS? [codecs / network]

By default we use opus and vp8; we may switch to other codecs like vp9, when the conditions are optimal.

Do I need to configure a TURN server if using JaaS Pro? [network]

No. We handle that for you, which is one of the advantages of using JaaS vs. your own build.

Is there an API available to retrieve dial-in numbers and PIN codes? [dial-in / numbers / sip / pstn]

JaaS provides the APIs to retrieve PIN codes and DIDs. Please see the dial-in documentation for more information.

For the Meeting ID - HTTP GET
https://api-vo.jitsi.net/vmms-conference-mapper/v1/access?conference=
YOUR_MEETING_NAME@conference.YOUR_VPAAS_MAGIC_COOKIE.8x8.vc 

 



 



Response:  
{"message":"Successfully retrieved conference mapping","id":"YOUR_MEETING_ID”,
”conference":"YOUR_MEETING_NAME@conference.YOUR_VPAAS_MAGIC_COOKIE.8x8.vc",
"url":"YOUR_VPAAS_MAGIC_COOKIE/YOUR_MEETING_NAME",
"fqn":"YOUR_VPAAS_MAGIC_COOKIE/YOUR_MEETING_NAME","name":"YOUR_MEETING_NAME",
"tenant":"YOUR_VPAAS_MAGIC_COOKIE","hasPasscode":false}            
  
For the DIDs List - HTTP GET  
YOUR_CONFERENCE_URL

How does 8x8 decide which data center to route a call through? [cluster / servers / location / routing]

JaaS selects the closest location to the first person entering or creating the meeting room; everyone else will just join that room.

How does JaaS perform in terms of security compliance? [security / HIPAA]

8x8, including JaaS, has received third-party validation of its HIPAA compliance and offers business associate agreements (BAAs). Learn more about 8x8 security.

Is JaaS GDPR compliant?

Yes. JaaS is GDPR compliant.

How does JaaS identify our Monthly Active Users (MAUs)? [billing / accounting / MAU]

Each MAU represents a participant who has attended at least one meeting with at least another participant during your monthly billing cycle. To identify a MAU, JaaS installs an identifier on the local storage of a user's meeting device (e.g., laptop, tablet, phone).

For example, if you invite three persons to join the meeting, then this will add three MAUs as usage data to your account if each participant joins from a single device. However, if someone joins from a laptop, as well as a phone, then the usage recorded will increase to four MAUs, since we're counting both devices for that same user. In this example, you can have up to nine MAUs recorded for three users if they join from multiple devices.

We provide an overview of the current usage for your account on the "Activity" page of your JaaS Console, so you can check the live status of your usage. To learn more, see the JaaS Console documentation.

Does JaaS allow us to record our video calls? Is it free, or does it cost extra?

Yes. JaaS allows video call recording at an extra cost of $0.01 per min. Learn more about pricing.

What currencies does JaaS support for billing?

Currently, the JaaS billing platform only supports United States Dollars (USD).

What payment methods are available?

Currently, the JaaS billing platform only supports payment via credit card.

If we don't use all of our allocated users in one month, do we carry our unused amount over to the next month?

No. There is no balance to carry forward. Customers pay for access to the JaaS service regardless of the number of allocated MAUs used during a month.

What happens if we go over the user count included in my plan?

You will be charged the overage rate of $0.99 per MAU. We recommend that you monitor your usage in the “Activity” page in your JaaS Console and upgrade to a higher plan before you exceed your MAU allocation.

If I upgrade to a higher plan, does the change take effect immediately? What would be the result of the upgrade?

Upgrading your plan takes effect immediately; once you get the upgrade confirmation, your account will have moved to the new plan.

All JaaS plans are precomits, meaning that you pay the cost for the subscription upfront. Any additional charges or corrections will appear on your next invoice along with charges for the next month's subscription.

After upgrading, you will not be billed immediately, but charges will be applied on your next billing date. The billing period starts on a fix date each month. For example, let’s say that you created your account on March 8th, then your billing period is from March 8th to April 8th (at which time the next invoice is generated). Upgrading does not change the account billing cycle.

Important note: any overage recorded before the upgrade will not be waived; in this case, you will be billed for any existing extra MAU consumed.

If you upgrade in the middle of your billing cycle, the cost of the new subscription plan will be prorated.

Example Scenario:
Customer is on a JaaS Basic plan with an allocation of 300 MAU/month and a billing cycle of March 8th - April 8th.
Customer is billed $99 on March 8th.
Customer consumes 500 MAU in the first half of the billing cycle. The extra 200 MAU incurs an overage charge of $198 (200 x $0.99).
Customer upgrades to the JaaS Standard plan in the middle of their billing cycle. No invoice is issued on upgrade day.
Customer consumes a total of 1600 MAU during the entire billing cycle (which consists of 200 overage + 1400 from the old and new plan allocation).
On April 8th, the new billing cycle begins and an invoice is issued with the following:

The prorated cost of the upgraded Standard package during the previous cycle: 15 days = $249.50
The proration of the initial Basic package 15 days = -$49.50 (to be deducted from the total)
The cost of the MAU overage before the upgrade = $198
The cost of the Standard plan for the next cycle (April 8th - May 8th) = $499

What happens if I downgrade my plan?

When downgrading, your current plan will be valid until the end of your billing cycle, and the new downgraded plan will take effect on the first day of your next billing cycle.

Can we set up a test to try the JaaS server? How will the rollout work?

Yes. A 25 MAU package is free of charge. Once you successfully embed JaaS, you can simply upgrade to a higher plan without any technical changes required.

Can I see our MAU count for the month in the dashboard?

Yes. You can see your MAU count in the JaaS Console.

What is the maximum number of participants in one meeting?

JaaS allows a maximum of 500 participants per meeting. But if you want more, you can always opt for streaming your meeting to achieve an unlimited number of viewers.

Maximum concurrent meetings?

There is no limit to the number of concurrent meetings.

How can we technically identify a user who doesn’t have a sign-in form?

JaaS stores an identifier on the device's local storage, and this will remain in effect as long as the user uses the same browser and same device and doesn't clear their local cache data. This works similarly for mobile devices; an identifier remains across updates and gets removed if the user deletes the app.

Can we avoid duplicate users (e.g. if they join on both mobile and web)?

Since JaaS does not store any user data, we only have knowledge of the participant’s identity when an identifier is stored on the user’s local device. As such, we cannot identify and mark as duplicate users.

What type of plans does JaaS offer?

See the pricing table to review the current plan selection. If existing plans do not meet your team’s needs, please contact sales.

Does JaaS support real-time transcription? [transcription]

Yes. JaaS can send the audio captured from all participants in the room to an external speech-to-text service. Currently, only the Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API is supported. This service is charged separately.

Does JaaS support a Waiting Lobby? [lobby / knocking / participant access control]

Yes. Participants will be on hold before joining a meeting, and moderators will be able to select and approve who can participate in the meeting. For details on how to enable lobby rooms for meetings, please refer to the lobby config documentation or use the SETTINGS_PROVISIONING webhook.

How can I set a user as moderator for a meeting?

You can specify a user’s moderator permissions in the JWT of the user. The following is a synopsis, but see the JWT documentation for more information.

Moderator:

If the user is the moderator, set to “true.”
If this value is missing or is set to “false,” the user will not have moderator permissions.

Features: Give permissions to individual users for accessing specific features.

The key represents the permission name. The value can be either “true” or “false.”
Supported keys: livestreaming, recording, transcription, outbound-call and sip-outbound-call.

Does JaaS support remote screen access control? [remote control / remote access control]

Remote access control is possible, but browsers do not support it, so it is not offered out of the box. You can create a desktop app for it or use the electron based app that we provide (note that it has to be reconfigured to use JaaS instead of meet.jit.si).

How does recording meetings work? [recording / meeting recording]

Recording can only be initiated by the moderator (with recording permissions set in the JWT for more details. Cloud recordings are available for 24 hours and can be retrieved via a link available in the UI and/or delivered via a Webhook event (retention period is 24 hours). See the Payload structure documentation for more details. Alternatively users can select Dropbox recording if enabled.

Does JaaS support any other streaming service apart from YouTube? [streaming / live / webinar / RTMP]

Yes. In addition to YouTube, you can define a custom RTMP streaming server. Learn more about setting up a custom RTMP streaming server.

Is Jitsi Browser Agnostic? [browser]

JaaS performance is best using Chrome (or Firefox), however we are compliant with any modern browser that supports WebRTC. See a list of supported browsers.

Can we use the mobile browser instead of the SDKs? [browsers]

Yes, but we recommend to use the preferred chrome based browsers as the experience might be suboptimal in non-chrome based browsers like iOS Safari.

Does JaaS offer Android or iOS Mobile SDKs? [android / iOS / mobile / SDKs]

Yes. The same SDKs for meet.jit.si can be used. See the Mobile SDK documentation on how to change them to run on JaaS.

How can we change the JaaS front-end and conference interface? [customization / front-end / interface]

The iFrame API allows you to override the settings that are defined by interface_config.js and config.js. It also allows you to add jitsi actions to external buttons or processes (e.g. add a custom mute/unmute or chat button).

Use the lib-jitsi-meet API for deeper, lower-level integrations — especially for clients coming from open-source. Please note: we do not recommend this option, unless you have tried the IFrame and is not suitable for you. It is harder to maintain in the longer term since it is more exposed to potential changes on lib-jitsi-meet.js hosted by JaaS.

Is it possible to change the name of the meeting room inside the conference? [customisation / front-end / interface / name / subject]

Yes. The meeting room is called “subject” in the jitsi world, and you can remove the subject by manipulating the information you send to jitsi using the API and configOverwrite. All you have to do to hide it is to provide a blank space for the subject:

api = new JitsiMeetExternalAPI(domain, {..., configOverwrite: {...,
subject: ' ', ...}, ...})

See the documentation for more information.

You can also force it through the config.js.

Is it possible to remove the timer for the meeting? [customisation / front-end / interface / timer / clock]

Yes. You can force it through the config.js. You’ll find there the following setting:

hideConferenceTimer: true

What is the camera resolution used by a JaaS user? [customisation / front-end / interface / camera / video / stream]

The default camera resolution is 720p and JaaS users can increase it to up to 1080p. This default can be set using the iFrame API, or you can force the change on config.js. Learn more about config.js customisation.

Can I change the number of thumbnails on the grid by default? [customisation / front-end / interface / thumbnails / tiles / grid]

To force the number of tiles showing up, you can change the number of columns available through interface_config.js. By default, the number goes up to 5x5 but it can secretly be forced to go up to 7x5.

Do I need to wait for a moderator? I see a dialog that tells me the conference has not started because no moderators have arrived yet.

If you are seeing this message, you are most likely trying to create a meeting outside your AppId. Please make sure you prefix your room names with the AppId available in your JaaS console account. You can find your AppId in the API keys section of the JaaS console.