I wonder if you could get more reliable performance by planning a more centralized location. My book club uses the main jitsi site and it works well all things considered, but it's not perfect by any means. We've got people in several US and EU time zones showing up with varying internet connection qualities, so it's a difficult case.

But hey, it's free. And it hits the most important consideration: it could not be easier to use. That's pretty critical since my club mates don't have much capacity for troubleshooting.