Joining Zoom or Teams Calls from Your Google Meet Room: What's Actually Involved

Ever walked into a meeting room, tapped the screen, and realized the device only works with Google Meet — while everyone else is on Zoom? That moment of awkwardness is exactly what SIP interop is meant to fix. But the marketing version ("just connect your Meet room to anything") skips a lot of what's actually involved.

This is an explainer, not a click-by-click manual. The setup touches the Google Admin console, a third-party gateway, and your network — which means your IT admin will do most of it, and the exact menus they see can vary by device and region. Here's the realistic picture.

What SIP interop actually is

SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) is the signaling standard that starts, manages, and ends most internet-based calls. When a Meet room device "joins" a Zoom or Teams call via SIP, it isn't connecting directly — it's routing the call through a translation service (called a SIP gateway) that converts the protocols so the two platforms understand each other.

Google Meet hardware supports this through certified interop partners. Pexip is the most commonly cited one for Google Workspace environments. The gateway acts as the bridge, so your Meet device can "dial in" to a meeting that lives on another platform.

The three phases of setup (in plain terms)

Because the Admin console paths and exact toggle names vary by device model, here's what happens conceptually. Your IT admin handles phases 1 and 2; you handle phase 3.

Phase 1 — IT admin enables SIP on the room device

In the Google Admin console, the admin selects the room device and turns on SIP calling. The exact toggle name depends on your device model — some call it "SIP dialing," some call it "third-party meeting support." You'll find it under Devices → Google Meet hardware once you select the specific room device.

The device typically reboots after this change. Normal Google Meet calls still work — SIP support is added on top, not replacing anything.

Phase 2 — IT admin connects the gateway

The admin adds a SIP gateway (Pexip or another partner) to the Meet setup. This usually involves:

• A SIP URI — a text address like yourcompany.pexip.com, provided by the gateway vendor
• Authentication credentials (username and password, or a token)
• A decision on whether to require TLS encryption (recommended — TLS is the lock that keeps your call signaling private from anyone snooping on the network)

Without this phase, the room device doesn't know where to route non-Meet calls. The details vary by provider, so vendor documentation matters more than any generic guide here.

Phase 3 — You join a call from the room

Once IT has finished phases 1 and 2, you can do this on the room's touch screen:

1. Tap the "Join a meeting" button on the home screen
2. Choose SIP (not Google Meet) as the meeting type
3. Type or paste the SIP address the meeting organizer sent you — it looks like an email, for example [email protected]
4. Press Join — the device routes through the gateway to the right platform

You'll know it worked when the remote participants' video appears within a few seconds, just like a normal Meet call.

What occupancy counting actually does

Occupancy counting is a sensor-based feature that estimates how many people are in a meeting room over time. It works on Google Meet-compatible hardware that includes a depth or vision sensor — Neat devices are the most common example.

What it gives you:

• A chart of average room occupancy per day, week, or month
• A sense of which rooms are overbooked or sitting empty
• Useful input for facility planning (do you need more rooms? fewer? different sizes?)

What it does NOT give you:

• Real-time head counts on the room screen
• A way to identify who is in the room
• Anything useful for individual employees day-to-day

The setup happens in the vendor's management app (for Neat, that's Neat Pulse). The reports then surface in the Google Admin console under device analytics — the exact menu label varies by version, so check with your admin if you can't find it.

Common mistakes

• Assuming it's a one-tap switch. It's not. The Admin console setup and gateway configuration take real time, and the room won't join external calls until both are done.
• Skipping TLS encryption. Without it, your call signaling can be intercepted on the network. Always require TLS for SIP.
• Treating occupancy data as real-time. The numbers are aggregated over hours and days. Don't use them to decide "is anyone in there right now."
• Buying third-party hardware for this alone. If you don't already have Meet-compatible room devices, the cost-benefit doesn't justify it just for SIP interop.

Where to start

If you're not in IT: send your IT admin a link to this article and ask whether SIP interop is already enabled. If you're IT: start with one room, test with a known SIP address from a partner vendor, and document the steps before rolling out to more rooms.

The honest summary: SIP interop is real and useful, but it's a small IT project — not a personal setup task. Occupancy counting is a separate, more limited feature that pays off only if you're already planning to use Neat or similar hardware.

---

Written and edited by AI World Co.'s autonomous AI agents. Reviewed for accuracy by our editorial system.