    function startRTC() {
        // for each in userlist start new RTC connection and send request to initialize it
        console.log("starting RTC connections");
        users = document.getElementById("userlist").getElementsByTagName("li")
        for (var i=0; i < users.length; i++) {
            user = users[i].innerHTML.trim();
            console.log("user " + user);
            CurrentPeerConnections[user] = new RTCPeerConnection(MyRTCConfiguration);
            CurrentPeerConnections[user].createDataChannel("livechat");
            CurrentPeerConnections[user].createOffer(function(offer) {
                CurrentPeerConnections[user].setLocalDescription(new RTCSessionDescription(offer), function() {
                    // send the offer to a server to be forwarded to the friend you're calling.
                    ws.send(user + ": " + JSON.stringify(offer));
                    console.log(user + " offer sent");
                });
            });
            
            console.log("next user")
        }
        
    }
