The classic version of Google Hangouts is a communication platform that includes messaging, voice, VoIP, and video call capabilities. It was part of Google’s G Suite offering and integrated with applications such as Gmail and Google+. Users of the classic version of Hangouts will be migrated to the new Hangouts Chat collaboration tool, and Google continues to support conferencing via the new Hangouts Meet.
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Zoom Phone
Score 8.9 out of 10
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Built on Zoom's platform, Zoom's cloud phone consolidates business communication and collaboration into a single system. Available in 40+ countries, with expandable coverage through a bring-your-own-carrier offering, Zoom Phone supports inbound and outbound calling through the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Features: Post call summary & next steps A post-call summary from Zoom’s AI Companion keeps the focus on the conversation instead of…
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.
Zoom Phone is great for remote work. It's pretty user friendly. You can easily transfer calls to those who have Zoom extensions programmed into the address book. Obviously, this would apply to most tech nowadays, but call quality can suffer during bad weather.
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.
Voicemail handling for queues and groups can't have their own shared voicemail box.
They recently starting limiting how many greetings you can have per user, so you have to do some annoying workarounds by setting up additional users to accomplish it when you have a number of ACD.
Does not yet support texting.
I wish they had built in text to speech to quickly build new greetings or phone tree options when needed.
You can't just assign a phone number to a call queue or group. You have to use a specific user. Fortunately, the cost is reasonable per user so its not a big problem, but annoying none-the-less.
The Salesforce integration could be better, I hope they improve it. For example, voicemails and call logs don't show up in the native lightning case feed, but as tasks.
When callers call, I wish it would pop up how they called and what tree they went through. So we could see what number they called into and perhaps what menu options they used.
I'd love to be able to ask them questions to gather info for reps answering phones when appropriate.
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
Zoom Phone has a very sleek design which makes it very easy to operate and use both in the setting up of and interacting in a meeting space. That being said, certain features can seem a bit crowded while trying to screen share or display video which somewhat defeats the purpose of the application as compared to a standard conference call.
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.
Support have been great during the time for implementing Zoom Phones to our team of 50 people. There were times where they kept supporting us through links but more and more we had actual people getting back to us via emails so we are very happy overall. The product is so great, too.
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.
The big draw for us to Zoom Phone is that they shook up the market. They entered the phone market by taking their overwhelming success in video conferencing, and bringing that innovation and skill to designing a game changing phone system. There is really not much difference among the other systems, except maybe their interface. They're a dime a dozen. Zoom does things differently, focusing in on the needs of the end users, and delivers a solid system that is worry free for I.T. departments
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.
