Likelihood to Recommend Had I completed this review a couple years ago, I would have given a rating of 9 or 10 as Hangouts (Classic) is an excellent product. However, now that
Google Chat has succeeded Hangouts, I would not recommend that any new users begin using it where other more modern options are available. Android users who want an internet based instant messaging that also supports calling and video calling could benefit from using Hangouts (Classic) as
Google Chat requires the user to also have
Google Meet installed to make video calls and there is no voice only calling option.
Read full review GoToConnect is a powerful platform for correspondence. The user interface is straightforward, and installing the majority of clients only requires a small amount of preparation. GoTo Connect is an excellent choice for us because it's a reasonably priced solution that has all the necessary advanced capabilities that our company needs. GoTo Connect's high-quality calls and recording feature make it an excellent choice for offering customer care over the phone.
Read full review Pros Google Hangouts (Classic) is embedded within Gmail's scheduler, so setting up the link is as quick as a click of the button. It's a one-step process. Google Hangouts (Classic) is user-friendly and [has] features to share screens easily. Google Hangouts (Classic) is much easier to use than its competitors. Google Hangouts (Classic) have [a] good connection time and there are few glitches. Read full review GoTo Connect is a much more cost-effective solution rather than separate phone lines and video conferencing tools. I conduct daily team meetings and project brainstorming sessions using video conferencing using GoTo Connect. It integrates smoothly with our regularly used tools like Google Drive and has become very easy to share the documents we use. Read full review Cons I would like to see improved video support, so that saved videos can be sent back and forth via Hangouts more easily, without having to start a separate meet chat More pronounced notifications of messages would be helpful; pop up notifications are good, but once there is one, additional messages do not pop up Custom muting times would be great, so that if I am in a 90 minute Zoom meeting, I can set it for that time; right now, it is 1 hour or 2 hours. Easy to forget. Read full review I would like flexibility on billing - now set as auto-pay only on company credit card. We would like to pay by check or ACH. Better integration of GoTo Meeting, which we also use (and like) Better broad-plan pricing (like 'bundling') when we use multiple platforms as we do - and simplified billing Read full review Likelihood to Renew They are knocking it out of the park on all fronts. I love the service and support I am receiving and have no complaints. If they raised their prices substantially I would reconsider but I don't think that will happen anytime soon. They would have to mess up something consistently moving forward to make me want to move
Read full review Usability The tool is almost self-implemented. It is likely to be available in every pc or mobile device a user or potential user might have, and all you need to do is adding the company's account and you are done. Once you are setted up, you have almost all actual communication methods available in one tool
Read full review Overall, it's a decent product for the price. It has the basic features our company needed when it was brand new and was not overly difficult to set up. As we've grown, it's become increasingly difficult to build out the features we want to implement within the PBX, and customer support can be less than helpful. Many of the more advanced features (dial plans, queues, etc.) take a lot of research to understand how to implement. Some of the features we paid for weren't even available when we were attempting to set them up.
Read full review Reliability and Availability We have rarely experienced any technical issues with GoTo Connect. Our phones virtually never go down which make us reliable to our clientele and available at all times.
Read full review Performance There is no lag in phone calls. There is no background noise or static/fuzz. Calls are crystal clear. With other dialers and phone systems, I have experienced delays between dialogue or delays with the caller picking up the phone and then being able to hear you. We do not experience this with Go To Connect.
Read full review Support Rating Google Hangouts works great and does not require a lot of work to troubleshoot. Everything is simple and easy to use. Google provides all of the tools that one requires to utilize Google Hangouts and any information can be found in the built-in help tools. There is also a forum for users to report issues and typically, Google responds well and will try to work out any issues.
Read full review Support used to be great when it was Jive support out of Utah. Now that they've offshored support it can be difficult to get a response. Our most common issues are least cost routing, and we run into support pushing back in stead of just figuring out which upstream carrier is having an issue like they used to. We often have to get our account manager involved, who is pretty strong.
Read full review Implementation Rating The implementation of GoTo Connect was easy from the day of the kick-off call where a short brief was given about the company, a discussion around the project timelines, and the data dependencies on us to set up the platform. The updates around the project during the implementation and the hand holding after go-live is really appreciated
Read full review Alternatives Considered Google is the white cotton socks of the conferencing world. It’s a great ad-hoc tool, but not too much more. If you are not looking to spend money or operate completely on WiFi (without data charges), it’s a great free option as well. The benefit of being free and open is also the liability. It doesn’t have a great integration story with other corporate tools, but [it doesn’t have to] if you aren’t looking for that. All in all, it’s as helpful and ubiquitous as a public payphone…without the pay…and with a video capability.
Chris Carpenter Danaher Business System Leader (DBSL), Awesomizer, Fixer, Maker, Collaboration Enabler
Read full review Teams seems more advanced and suited to bigger audiences, GoTo Connect seems like its a more basic version suited to smaller audiences. If you are looking to get started with an easy to use and full functioning meeting system with good audio visual then this is a great place to get started. Teams has the edge with more people comfortable on how to use this and some more in depth features
Read full review Scalability Its not readily apparent to me, other than cost, where you would run into any issues with larger scale deployments. When we went live on the product, the Jive team was always willing to do mass updates for us on our extensions, users, etc. in the system, so we didn't have to do too much manual one-by-one updates.
Read full review Return on Investment I believe it was part of the google suite that was purchased. It was worth the cost as it was cheaper. I believe it is now free, but also becoming deprecated. It is much better to use Teams, Discord, Telegram, etc. Google does not provide enough support or features to make using hangouts worth it these days. Read full review This product definietly cost the company more but for ease of use and hosting team webinars made the ROI worth it As a leader, I was able to confirm each of my AMs were doing what they were supposed to be doing with their clients with easy analytics We were able to view attendee analytics and send messages for re-engagement Read full review ScreenShots