Google Hangouts (Classic) vs. Highfive (discontinued)

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.

Incentivized

The free version I would absolutely recommend, we've had some great use out of it for the past few years. Presenting, sharing screen, the conference line and some other features are all free. If we did need more analytics and more features, perhaps making it easier for the potential customer to share screen, we might re-start the search and we'd potentially rate UberConference lower, but for the free version it's been great for us.

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

• I appreciate being able to select a local phone number: it adds credibility and convenience for in-market clients/prospects.
• I like being able to customize the hold music. One of our employees wrote and produced custom hold music for Anvil, which generates discussion and engagement as an ice-breaker.
• The screen sharing is easy-to-use and is far more reliable than in the past. Prospects and clients do not have to download any app to make it work properly.

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

• Can be very laggy - I have been part of screen share conferences where the connection keeps dropping.
• Call quality is not always the best.
• Limited functionality - this cannot be your all-in-one go-to conferencing solution because there are no video call capabilities.

Incentivized

UberConference is more expensive than some of its competitors and we have not found a real advantage to using UberConference over certain less-expensive applications. UberConference charges per month per organizer and those costs add up quickly, so we will be moving forward with a more budget-friendly option in the coming months.

Incentivized

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

Incentivized

The interface is intuitive and stupidly simple, no complicated sub-menus or configuration settings. Easy to create a meeting space and then have others join with a link or dial-in PIN on the free tier. On the paid tier it's even easier with PIN-less joining and automatic reminder calls to get participants to join.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

I haven't needed support for the most part, which is a positive for Highfive. It's intuitive and most features are straightforward to use. In the one instance that I did contact them, it took them longer then expected to respond, but they were able to answer my question once they did.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

Uberconference is by far more reliable and has a better quality of service than the other providers in this space. I have never had a dropped call with Uberconference (unlike Skype and Hangouts). I do think they need to do more marketing because fewer people know about them than others and sometimes people decline to use the service so we have to use one of the other platforms to connect.

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

• Our teams use this every day. It makes it easy to meet with clients and share a screen and display analytics.
• Some of my clients thought that they need to register first to be able to contact me. It's bad that they are not notified in any way that it's enough just to enter its names and that's it.

Incentivized