Ooma Internet phone appliance

www.ooma.com

Anyone have one of these & can share opinion? I like having a home phone and this thing although pricey at $199 (Best Buy) seems like it'll be a 6-8 mo return on investment and then a $3-$4 per mo bill after that for 911 and tax.

I'm preparing for my rebellion against Comcast and my now $200 per mo phone/cable/internet/DVR/HBO monthly bill. Just bought the Roku 2 HD and I'm liking this as well. More options over what my DVD player had for streaming.

I have the Ooma Telo and two handsets (picked up one, and got one for free when getting the telo). With what little I'm spending per month, compared with what Verizon was charging me for the phone service, it's a no-brainer IMO. I had a discounted phone service for some time (after renewing the agreement for everything) but then it jumped to ~$45/month... NFW, especially when I can spend ~$3/month with the Ooma devices. Plus, I can get their BlueTooth dongle for the Telo and use my mobile phone with it (or that earpiece).

Since I was getting telemarketer calls on my old home number, plus calls for other people (I've had the number for over a decade now) I decided to NOT port the old number over, but to just get a new one. I was able to pick one on the same area code range, that's easy to remember.

I've had the device online for over a year now and don't think I'll ever go back to the old method. The only 'downside' item with it is if you lose internet or power, your phone is dead. But since so many people have a cell phone these days, that's not really an issue.

I would also advise checking online stores/vendors, not just best buy (or Worst Buy as I tend to call them)... Although $199 for the Telo seems to be the going rate.

BTW, with what I'm not spending on the phone service, I increased my internet connection speed. I'm still paying less per month with a 35Mbps/35Mbps (up/down) connection with the TV service with movie channels added (didn't have them before)...

Cool, thanks for the info. Why would I want to buy their handsets though? My immediate thought was just keep using my existing setup. Although I will admit I barely read the marketing of what using their handset gives me.

I'm not porting my existing # either. Only have had it for 2 years when I moved up here. I was actually contemplating starting to sharing my google voice # and point it to the ooma #. Never know what state I may want to live in next.

From what I've read, there's no need to point the google number to the Ooma device for that. The Ooma number will work no matter where you move to without modification (you might want to enter your new address so that any 911 calls go to the correct place)... That's one of the selling points of the Ooma setup. You're in one state now, you move to another state (across the country even), connect the device up to the internet, and you'll be getting calls and such right away.

I like having the handsets since they have full integration with the Telo. I imported my address book from Outlook into the Telo and didn't need to manually enter the entries. When you buy the Telo, you get a coupon (online when you register if I recall correctly) that lets you get a handset for FREE. Kind of puts the initial cost in perspective.

I have my Telo connected to my router (Linksys) with the Linksys entry for the VoIP going to the Telo... I like this better than having the Telo as the first device going to the internet. Since I'm in IT, I also have my router acting JUST as a gateway (and forwards port/port ranges to static IPs). I have an AD DC (2008 R2) as a VM (ESXi) doing all the DNS/DHCP duties for me. With the TechNet subscription, this ends up being a really cheap configuration. So, any device that wants to do any DNS/DHCP duties quickly has that disabled IF it's got any of my other systems connected to it (other than the stupid router for the DVR box).. Basically, you don't HAVE to do the settings like they want you to, and get it to work properly.

Depending on how good the power is in your area, I'd advise getting a decent UPS for at least the router and Ooma device. The power conditioning function alone is worth it iMO... Once I went with those, I noticed my systems were MUCH more stable...

I've had Vonage since February and have been very pleased with it. I think the technology is pretty similar. I just disconnected the house phone network line in the NID box, and plugged the vonage box into a phone jack, with then energizes the whole house's phone network to the vonage box. The only downside is that it's dependent on a broadband connection, but I'm saving $30-40 per month compared to what verizon was charging me for the same service.

Do you make international calls? If not, I see no point in a home phone in this day and age. I've been cell phone only since moving out of my parents house about 10 years ago.

IrregularPulse said:

Do you make international calls? If not, I see no point in a home phone in this day and age. I've been cell phone only since moving out of my parents house about 10 years ago.

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I do enough work conference calls from home where the quality of the cell is just too substandard and I'd have to bump up my minutes. International calls I do as well but I pay for Google Voice minutes for those when needed.

Plus, I like an alternate # to share with those certain people/businesses that I don't want calling my cell.

Anyway, I am leaning more towards Ooma over Vonage since they still charge $24.99 per mo unlimited calls Whereas purchasing the Ooma and the ROI goes positive after 8 mo of paying the monthly $25.

I have had Ooma fro 2 years now and I love it. I think the voice quality is as good or better than a traditional land line. Of course you do loose telephone if your internet goes out but it has not been an issue for me. I have estimated I have saved over $500 in the two years and have not had to give up a home telephone line. Win win!

I work for the company that supplies service to Ooma and Vonage, essentially we are Ooma and Vonage. To be honest I wouldn't trust either of them as far as I could throw them, service wise. Price wise, you might not be able to beat it. But knowing what I know, I wouldn't touch them.

HIM_Tattoos said:

I work for the company that supplies service to Ooma and Vonage, essentially we are Ooma and Vonage. To be honest I wouldn't trust either of them as far as I could throw them, service wise. Price wise, you might not be able to beat it. But knowing what I know, I wouldn't touch them.

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Since you're giving no instances of WHAT you're talking about, it sounds like you're speaking from an orifice other than your mouth... I've had the Ooma setup for well over a year now without any issues. It's not my ONLY phone service (I have a cell too) but it more than does what I want/need it to.

IMO, your comment is akin to someone bad mouthing a hospital, but they only work for a supplier of some products the hospital uses.

BTW, until the ISP's start offering phone plans, that have the same features, at even close to the same price, you're comments will be dismissed by the vast majority. Unless you can provide hard facts supporting your comments at the very least. Not talking about sourced by you either, but an independent, third party.

I'm honestly a bit confused on what form of validity you want from me. I work for the third largest clec in the country. If you wanna give me your number I can prove my position with the company I work for as we handle the entire east coast and Midwest for both companies. I can name names due to the agreement I signed with the company I work for. I talk to customers from both companies daily and know the company I work for very well after the last five years. Always remember that the Internet is a place that that people are allowed to voice their opinions, if you don't like, I understand, but there's no reason to try and come someone like that. I voiced an opinion on the company I work for which supplies to service to a company that resells that same service.

I've had the original Ooma hub for about 2.5 years now and I love it. I took it with me when I moved to Australia 2 years ago and now I have free unlimited calling to all my friends/family back in the U.S. Now if I could only get them to remember the time difference...

Well I don't trust any telco be it VoIP or POTS so unless they're affiliated with Wikileaks all I care about is if the quality is good and it saves me cash.

I still don't get the Ooma business model for revenue though. I guess that's why they started up with the $10 per mo premium service that I don't think I want.

But I'm sold in getting one of these. I'm probably going to be moving at least another 1-2 times over the next couple of years & maybe over to Europe for a year so having a plug it in and go works for me. Thanks for the feedback.

Just received it today and I'm good to go. Still not sure if I want to pay the extra $10 for the premier. Looks like I get to give it a test drive for 60 days though. E911 + tax = $3.47 a mo.

And adjusting Comcast from triple play at $202 to double play with same internet speed, channels (cancel HBO), dvr, modem lease is $107 + tax. Haven't done it yet but that's a little over 2 mo before I go positive.

DesertBrew said:

Just received it today and I'm good to go. Still not sure if I want to pay the extra $10 for the premier. Looks like I get to give it a test drive for 60 days though. E911 + tax = $3.47 a mo.

And adjusting Comcast from triple play at $202 to double play with same internet speed, channels (cancel HBO), dvr, modem lease is $107 + tax. Haven't done it yet but that's a little over 2 mo before I go positive.

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I purchased my modem that I use for Comcast from Amazon for $65. I figured it would pay for itself in less than a year, rather than leasing it from Comcast.

Sounds interesting thus far in the posts. I had AT&T CallVantage a few years ago and that was fantastic, but they didn't have 911 in my area, so I had to discontinue the service.

What are we talking about for initial setup, in terms of cost, setup (on my part), additional equipment, etc?

avidhomebrewer said:

Sounds interesting thus far in the posts. I had AT&T CallVantage a few years ago and that was fantastic, but they didn't have 911 in my area, so I had to discontinue the service.

What are we talking about for initial setup, in terms of cost, setup (on my part), additional equipment, etc?

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$199 from Amazon. No tax or shipping. You do have to have a quick internet connection. I was on the Comcast 16mb (burst to 20). Yesterday I adjusted all of my Comcast options and am now at 12mb (up to 16mb) and see & hear no performance issues. Figured I'd give it a try and if not good enough pay the extra $10 to get back to previous speed. Setup is a 10 min process. No added equip needed. Use your own phone or buy theirs for extra goodies which I may do but not just yet. Took longer to unravel the rats nest of cables I got but I have a lot of "IP appliance stuff" hooked in.

TheBroonery said:

I purchased my modem that I use for Comcast from Amazon for $65. I figured it would pay for itself in less than a year, rather than leasing it from Comcast.

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I'll look into this then too, thanks.

I did a few weeks of Ooma earlier this summer, but dropped it when I heard about Obi. Pay $40 or $50 for the little device and Google Voice becomes your free phone provider (although they may start charging at some point, I can't imagine it would be very much). US and Canada calls are free, a major draw for us since my wife calls Canada frequently.