When joining a virtual meeting, how close to the meeting time do you join?

If I'm running the meeting, 5 minutes. If it's large group meeting, 2 mins early. If it's 1:1, right on time.
- This is the way

I join when the meeting reminder pops up and I click "join", right on time. I don't like small talk, no point in being early.
- Plus it’s not like there’s anything happening in the first couple minutes. The more people who are in the meeting the more likely someone will be late anyway.
  
  I feel like people who join really early are basically saying "Tell me you have nothing to do without telling me you have nothing to do."
  
  I teach over teams. I plan bullshit for the first 5 - 10 minutes, because there will always be late people.

On time, even when presenting. Starting early makes other people feel obligated to join early, so I don't do it. No reason to extend the meeting longer than the listed time.

On the dot if I can.
- Same here.

Usually as soon as Teams notifies me of the first person starting the meeting.
How can you not always be the first when youre 5min early, wtf xD

Usually anywhere from 2 to 5min before because my stupid ass laptop has a 50% chance of just forgetting how audio devices work and I have to test them every time.

I join at exactly the designated time. If you wanted me there five minutes earlier, then schedule the meeting five minutes earlier. Don't jerk me around with some expectation that I'm going to do anything other than what you asked for. Also, most of the folks I work with tend to be booked with lots of back to back meetings; so, no one is showing up early anyway. We all show up at the designated time and anyone late can catch up when they show up.
The "early is on time" mentality makes some sense for physical meetings and appointments. For virtual meetings, it just demonstrates that the person has no understanding of how technology works.

One to two minutes late to most meetings. I don't have time or energy for the BS of "How are you" etc. Let's get down to business.
Caveat is that if it's with a VIP I'll be exactly on time.

I join at the exact time it starts. If I join earlier, I may get pulled into unnecessary small-talk platitudes that are like nails on a chalkboard to my depressed-as-shit self.

Five minutes earlier? God damn bro. That's coffee making time.

In real life meeting most of the value is in the informal side chats that you have just before or just after, in my experience. Unfortunately that basically doesn't happen in virtual meetings, so I join dead on time, or a minute or two in for larger ones.

1-5 minutes late

Depends on the context.
My meeting? Right on time.
Team meeting? On time.
A meeting I knew about, was on my calendar, and requires my expertise? Right on time, but a lower priority.
Something is broken and we're grouping up? Right on time.
A meeting on my calendar that I don't really need to be in? 2-3 minutes after, I'll finish what I'm currently engaged in or get to a stopping point.
A meeting I've been invited to with no additional context? 2-5 minutes late.
A meeting I was invited to with no communication/context that is before/after my normal working hours? If I remember and I'm bored.
A meeting I was inviting a to outside of my working hours and will start before I come online? Forget about it.
I work for a global corpo, so the last two happen quite a bit. Time is money friend.
- My god I need to emulate this. I'm doing it all wrong.

“A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to”

I join anywhere from a few minutes before to a few minutes after, and if I don't want to chit chat I hit the little "coffee break" status and stay on mute.
FWIW I do virtual meetings daily due to 100% remote work.

My first meeting working in a fully-remote job, I joined a Teams meeting with the whole team (~8 people) 5 minutes early. I wasn't the host, of course.
People were (invisibly) giving me the side eye.
I soon learned that starting the meeting makes a popup appear on everyone's screen saying that the meeting started...and also that a lot of people regularly have back-to-back meetings and can't leave early. (This was mid-pandemic, shortly before it became the norm to end meetings before the hour)
After that, I started joining all virtual meetings either second (by clicking the pop-up that someone else started it), or before XX:01 (or before 1 minute after the meeting time).
In-person, I'll still show up to the meeting room 5 minutes early, or 15 if it's a slow day. But do that too often and people think you're useless, lol
I like arriving early for small talk, instead of having the rushed small talk when the meeting is "supposed" to begin.

Join on time to virtual meetings. If you are hosting or setting up a room, then you can join a bit early. If it's a large meeting like a company or division wide one maybe even join a minute late.
Waiting around on an empty zoom is a massive waste of time.

My workweeks are 25 to 50% meetings, the vast majority online. I try to be exactly on time as much as possible, can't afford to be in advance, will notify if I will be more than 3 minutes late. I send a message to participants if they are not all here after a couple of minutes, not to put pressure, but I know it's easy to be concentrating on something and miss the meeting, it happens to me as well.

Exactly on point, because there's always people early or late. This way I neither have to start it nor be embarresed to be the last.
Also:
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to

As late as possible, if I'm actually needed, then I join a minute later to not have to pretend with bs small talk

I just join whenever someone else joins or about a minute or two before it starts. Or whenever, doesn't matter as long as I am not late. The main point for me is not being late, so that I respect other peoples time. If I am more than two minutes late, I apologize most of the time.
Small talk isn't that hard. Might feel a bit unnatural until you get used to having it. But is that tiny awkwardness an actual issue, or something you just should ideally get used to?
How are you doing? What's going on with x-project/your work? Looking forward to the weekend/had a good weekend? Watched any good shows lately? Have any pets?

1 min early, or right on time. Never late.

A minute or two before. Just enough time to ensure my setup is working.
If I'm hosting a presentation, I usually start 15 minutes early so people can connect while I'm semi-afk, with the first slide saying "Presentation will begin shortly. Pour yourself a coffee in the mean time."
Previous presentation I had multiple slides, three I think, each with an example of activities they could probably manage to do before starting.

Usually exactly on time, but if I'm doing something that requires concentration and there's a chance I might lose track of time I might join 5 min earlier so that I don't miss the meeting.
Aren't you always the first 5 min before? I know that the times I joined even a minute or two early I've always been the first.

If it’s a customer meeting I’ll join 30 seconds early. If it’s an all hands or has big wigs in it then I’ll join 10 seconds early. Smaller internal meetings I can be 10-300 seconds late.

If I'm hosting 5 minutes early. If I'm attending, 2 minutes early unless I'm the only one attending from my org, in which case exactly on time.

When I served in the military, my first supervisor taught me a valuable lesson: "15 minutes early, or you're late." I actually got in trouble with her if I was less than 15 minutes early to any meeting, appointment, or event.
Or even arriving to work. We worked in an IT field, so our office had a large row of server racks along one wall. Her desk sat facing the door, but next to the GPS server that kept accurate time for all our computers on the military base. It had a giant digital clock on the front of the server. Every day when I walked into work, she would look up at me, then turn and look at that clock. If I was even 10 seconds late (to the 15-minute rule), I got in trouble with her. I was never late to work though, because she ensured I was always there earlier than my official shift start time.
Being 15 minutes early to everything has changed my life. If I'm running behind, I have a quarter hour window to get myself back on track. If I arrive 15 minutes early, I have plenty of time to get myself set up and situated. Or just time to sit and clear out some other pending tasks while I wait for a thing to start (check phone notifications, clear out emails, etc.).
When it comes to virtual meetings, I like to join 15 minutes early, then mute myself and turn off my camera. Then I can sit at my computer and knock out some other tasks while I'm waiting for the meeting to start. That buffer gives me time to mentally switch into meeting mode while also giving me time to be productive beforehand. And no one is waiting for me to show up, so if the meeting is ever running late, it's never my fault.
- Next time you’re in a Teams meeting, take a screenshot of a colleague. Then set that as your own meeting background. Then join early, stay out of camera range, and watch the fun.
  
  We set up Teams during the pandemic (because Zoom was being a removed about the govt not paying to use their full suite). We already used a bunch of other Microsoft products, so it was easy to get a contract for Teams integration too. I don't remember Teams giving people a notification when you joined though, just the meeting host. But I've also been retired for nearly 3 years now, so I have no idea how Teams has changed recently.
  Your boss has no right to ask you to come earlier than your agreed time.
  In the military, they have every right.
  You see, when you join the military, you sign a contract for 4-6 years of service. The day that contract begins, you start your first shift and it doesn't technically end until your contract expires, several years later. You're on shift 24/7/365 until your contract is up. So your boss can demand you work any shift or come in at any time, day or night, and you just have to do it. Even if it's outside of your normally scheduled work hours.
  There are regulations that outline "regular passes," which is time off granted daily because you're human and can't literally work 24/7. A regular pass allows you to go home, eat, sleep, and be refreshed for the next day. I don't know if the federal regs have changed in the last handful of years, but the last time I looked them up, you couldn't work more than 17 hours straight before you were required to take a minimum 8 hours off to rest. Most shifts are typically 8-12 hours long, so hopefully you don't get stuck working a 17-hour shift anytime soon.
  The whole point of this is that military people need to be ready to respond to war, no matter when it strikes. You don't work a regular day shift, then argue about extra hours or overtime pay when shit hits the fan. You just grab your bugout bag and go. And yes, we don't get overtime pay because again - we're always on shift.
  We do get lots of time off, though. From the day you join, you start earning 2.5 days off for every month you serve, which adds up to 30 days off per year. You can carry over something like 60 days off every year too. It was pretty nice. In my early service days, I would save up a whole month of time off and then take it all at once to go hang out with my friends and family back home.

Whenever I remember there is a meeting on. Have to keep those damned outlook 15min reminders on screen or I will forget
- Sometimes people don't include the reminder in their outlook invite. They have no right to expect me to show up at all if they do that. At the very least, they need to apologize when they send me the stupid "Are you attending my meeting?" Slack message.
  I never cared about your meeting, Derek. No one cared about it. We only show up to meetings when Outlook tells us it's time. Our calendars are just endless strings of soul-sucking meetings no one wants to be on, and I will never check mine pre-emptively. I accept everything I'm invited to, Derek. Everything. We all do. Remember the fucking reminder, Derek.

Exact

I join exactly at start time, down to the second. Once everyone has been counted or noticed and the droning idiot starts presenting I bug right TF out. Nothing will happen that matters because its a freakin' meeting - if something important was going on it would be an email.

Zero minutes early to one minute late (for work ones). I hate the virtual meetings, and the software is robust enough I trust it. If it's something else where I have to use my phone (doctor appointment or similar) then more than 5 minutes ahead to make sure I have time to reach out if it isn't working.

I shut and lock my door ten minutes before a meeting. Hit the bathroom and then usually log in for a functions check, fix my blinds and pull up the relevant group chat that doesn't have the boss in it.
Organize my notes on my desk, get a coffee or water in front of me. Someone will always be later. I'll sometimes be the first. Let teams let them see that I'm starting it, whatever, everyone knows I'm getting my coffee.
Also, I like to give my colleague a fifteen minute heads up since he'll sometimes forget.

If it is at work, then as exactly as my Outlook displays that Calendar message. Everybody does that, and within less than 30 seconds all are there.
If it is just among friends, then 3-5 minutes earlier, because the tech is somewhat different each time, and I do not want to make people wait for me.

Three minutes before. No more. No less.

It depends.
I’m one of the few people still teaching on Zoom. Turns out it’s a good delivery method for some students at community colleges (like if you have young children at home, etc.)
If I’m teaching, I show up 15 minutes early.
If I’m just a participant, I show up pretty much right on time, then I quietly judge whoever is running the meeting because most calls are run poorly.

One on one meetings, right on time or when the other person joins if they are a couple minutrs early.
Small team meetings, right on time unless I am hosting and need to set up screen sharing.
Large meetings hosted by others, whenever the host starts it but I work on other stuff if they are a few minutes early.
In all cases I start muted and camera off and only unmute and turn the camera on if necessary.

Usually at least an hour early to get a good seat.

if im invited then right on time if I host then one minute early, maybe 2. usually. sometimes I have meetings that end 3mins to the next or go over which impact my ability to get to the meeting on time.

between on the dot and a few minutes afterwards depending on whos hosting. If i know they're gonna waste time jibber-jabbering at the start I give it a few minutes for that to play out. I don't care about what you did last weekend Janet.

Ha. Bold of you to assume I have some sort of control over these things.
If I join at all, i join whenever the stars align and it occurs to me as something needing to happen.
That being said, I usually intend to join just a couple minutes early.

Maybe ten seconds before of after the start time. Depends if I was working on something or forgot about it. If the meeting starts at 8am, then whenever I get to the office a few minutes after 8am (don’t schedule meetings first thing if you want me to be there when they start). If it was on one of my wfh days, that’d be different.

In teams you can see how many are already in.
If in hiding in try to be the first though, but not too early because people get a notification that the meeting has started. And might go on earlier than required

I like joining 5+ mins early so I can just sit in silence and work while waiting for the meeting to start rather than stressing about needing to lock at the clock (j have adhd and tend to hyperfocus). plus I dont mind a little small talk, but even so no one else on my team seems to want to smalltalk so even if someone else joins early it's pretty quiet

I’ve got so many meetings that I just join whenever it’s started by someone and go about my work until the meeting starts. If I’m not the target audience I’ll go off camera and listen if needed.

5 min early. If you're not 5 min early, you're late.
Honestly, usually it's 4-5 min early: I'll pop in and noodle about prepping whatever, documenting something or just staring out the window a sec to clear my head. I'm usually very satisfied I'm not late by normie standards because being on-time shows a modicum of respect to others. If it's a shit meeting, that's an exception. I have one where I'm noticeably barely-on-time, and everyone points it out.
I'd encourage meetings to lock at the start time if I could, so late joiners wait in the lobby until someone opens the door, and then we'll know whom to heckle.