Article written by Frederic Lardinois.
Shortly after Google launched Hangouts, it also started allowing you to add participants by dialing their phone numbers right from Hangouts. Even today, though, you can’t dial into a Hangout. Thanks to TC Disrupt alum UberConference, though, you can now do just that. The company is launching its integration with Google+ Hangouts today.
Once you have installed the UberConference app in Hangouts, people can join your call via phone with the help of a dedicated number. While Google restricts your calls to 10 participants in the video chat, UberConference allows you to add up to 100 people by phone (for users on paid plans). You can also record all of your calls.
If you don’t have an UberConference account yet, the app will automatically create one for you on the fly. After that, you allow Hangouts to dial into the UberConference number for your call and as others join, their icons will appear in the sidebar. Users can, of course, also add more Google+ users over video chat to their conversations. The Hangout organizer’s UberConference number will always remain the same and can be used for future Hangouts as well.
“Not having a laptop on hand is no longer a limitation of joining a Hangout,” said Craig Walker, UberConference CEO and co-founder in the announcement today [Feb 6, 2014]. “We’ve created an entirely new way for people to hold audio conference calls, and Hangouts has done the same for video. The two integrated together deliver a groundbreaking conferencing experience you can’t find anywhere else.”
UberConference’s app is now available here.
