From our experience using the product and from taking a look around the Internet they have very good reviews. Their customer service is often praised by a wildly loyal customer base almost cult-ish and they are at the forefront of developing the newest technologies in the VoIP Industries Advanced Voice Redundancy, Wire-speed QoS, SureFax that help to greatly enhance voice quality and the ability to fax over VoIP.
If you have nearly any other home phone service then yes it will save you money. How much you might ask? Well that also depends on how much you are currently paying. However we can say that Ooma certainly looks like a winner and usually if something looks like a winner then it is a winner.
You can of course always consider it buy purchasing the device via the day trial the company offers. You also connect whatever phone you would use for the line, be it a corded or cordless phone. Basically, anything you were already using would suffice. If you want to keep your existing number, you can try porting it over to your Ooma service.
You get a temporary number assigned to the Telo unit until the port completes. If you want a brand new number, or even one in a different area code, you can certainly do that.
Ooma does let you calculate how much you would save by going with its free Basic service. For example, there are government fees and taxes you need to pay legally for service. The Basic service tier gets you free Canada-wide calling, among other staples, like caller ID and call waiting. Say you ship a Telo out to friend or family member in the U.
When you log into your account in a web browser, you can see a list of every incoming and outgoing call. You can also use the website to listen to voicemail, and change whatever preferences are available. As for service, Ooma will forward your address to emergency response dispatchers when you call from your home phone. Your account information also has a section to receive a text or email whenever anyone calls from it. It includes free calling to the U. You can also set voicemail to go to your email address, so you can listen to it there.
You can block any caller, or choose custom ringtones for specific contacts. There are more features beyond that, but you get the gist. Ooma provides a day free trial to try out the package before you have to pay. If you do sign up and pay for a full year, the company will either waive your number porting fee or give you the Ooma Smart Security Starter Pack free.
For countries outside North America, you have two options. You can play a la carte per minute, or go with a bucket of unlimited minutes you can use per month.
Both those plans have no minutes restrictions for supported countries. The app deserves a separate section because it applies to both Basic and Premier. Sound like a good deal? It may be -- if the numbers add up for you.
Here's how to tally them. The package includes an Ooma Hub, which connects to your broadband router or cable modem and acts as the telephone base station; and the Ooma Scout, which allows you to add another phone anywhere in the house where there's a telephone jack and a power outlet. The hub includes a built-in answering machine you can also listen to your messages by logging into Ooma's Web site and buttons for two phone lines. The Scout also has answering machine controls that access your voice mail on Ooma's Web site.
To use Ooma you will need broadband Internet service. If you already have broadband there's no incremental cost to add a voice over IP service like Ooma, which rides on top of it. If you don't have broadband, however, you'll need to add that as a monthly cost of using the service.
When you buy the Ooma package and register online, Ooma gives you a local telephone number at no charge. But if you want to use your existing number instead, there's a one-time fee for "porting" it over -- unless you move to Ooma Premier.
The basic Ooma service includes an embedded answering machine in the Ooma Hub and Scout devices that connect to and play messages from your online voice mail account also Web accessible. It also includes a few bells and whistles, such as caller ID and call waiting.
It supports one telephone number. Ooma Premier includes features such as 3-way conferencing, message screening, multi-ring capability i. If you want more than one telephone number you'll need to pay the monthly subscription fee for Ooma Premier. Users of Ooma Premier can have up to 10 telephone numbers, each of which can be configured by purchasing Ooma Scouts to ring on a different telephone in the house.
Need more than two telephone numbers? Ooma's Scout is a clever device that allows you to add telephone extensions to your Ooma service using your existing household telephone wiring.
The Ooma hub plugs into a wall jack in one room. Ron, you can prioritize the Ooma device. Instructions are in the manual. We run 2 phones, 2 laptops, and a streaming video device off of our internet, and rarely have a problem.
It will waste a tremendous amount of your time in troubleshooting inevitable problems. Two questions for you. Is the Core and the Hub both the same in that neither have to pay any of the recurring monthly service fees?
Also, if you opt to use the free phone number they provide you with can you later port over your home phone number? No recurring monthly fees with either device. The Ooma Telo installation was almost flawless. The system has worked beautifully ever since. Porting was completed on time for two phone numbers. I am now using Ooma full time and liking it. I have the Telo connected to a small PBX system.
The Ooma appears to the PBX as a regular telephone line. Other than the dial tone you would not know that line was any different from my other lines. I have sent faxes with Ooma, which most home VoIP devices cannot handle reliably.
The one flaw? The quick set-up instruction sheet did not mention that the Telo has to be activated provisioned through the Ooma Website. Since their servers do not recognize the new Ooma Telo the large logo flashes red instead of being a steady white.
Once the Telo was activated and rebooted it began working. This was one of those rare times when Best Buy actually had the best price in town. The Telo has a one year warranty. After that it is up to you to fix or replace it. I recommend that anyone purchasing an Ooma install it on a UPS that includes surge suppression for the Ethernet cable. This will reduce or eliminate surges and spikes and it will keep lightning out of the electronics. If your Internet comes to you through a TV cable that line should also go through a surge suppressor.
I have seen some major damage occur when a TV cable took a hit. In one case two computers were active at the time. Both lost their motherboards when the NIC was hit. The switch lost those two ports plus a cascaded switch.
The cable modem had no lights and it smelled funny. Hi Bob, can you explain how you hooked up your Ooma to a pbx system? They have an extended two year coverage program. Seems to work great. One issue… When I hooked up my ethernet cable my network address seemed to change so I am having a little issue with communicating on my home network. The Internet works fine but when I try to access the server that is hard wired in my office and open a comm.
Any Help out there? Thanks JG. Does anyone know if it will work for that? The Pulse system uses cellar towers. As explained to me it is something like a cell phone tower.
That way I could get rid of my landline and use which works with my internet. The alarm system does not need internet. I was told that the alarm system is safer this way. I am just waiting on my number to be ported over.
My alarm system is now more high tech. I can control my system through my smart phone. It takes a leap of faith to shell out 2 or 3 hundred to get started. But if you have the guts to do it…you will be rewarded maybe not for people who move alot and have to constantly change their phone number. When you move you don,t have to change your number you can use the same one,,,All you have to change is your address for to be able to locate you,,,,.
Nervously bought a Ooma from Costco,why, great return policy. Working fine. Instructions could be more detailed. Realized I needed two lines, one voice, one fax. Just purchased a Telo from Frys. Kinda tricky to activate, but works fine. Now ave 2 lines including dedicated fax, which works fine so far.
I now need a small PBX to call external extensions outside lines, cell, pots, whatever. Does anyone have a suggestion? By the way, have 3 magic jacks for when I travel. Works good, but not for business. Their voice mail includes their advertisement to callers, who will know that you are a cheapo,or rather, budget conscious.
No free lunch here. What is the bandwidth required up and down for Ooma? And a stupid question — the connections to the router and the phone — both phone wire-type connections?? Thank you. If you are dropping your land line and you have a cell phone that works; why would you get an ooma? I am having a hard time justifying my land line we hardly ever use it, so why replace it with anything?
Is there an advantage to the land line that I am not thinking of? Pat — There are several benefits that I have found. Great for families where not everyone has their own cell phone, especially with teenagers. Hope that helps! Thank you Ianthony. Issues I had taken for granted and had not thought of. I will factor those into our decision. Woke up today… Ooma system not working. Any ideas? Did they go out of business overnight? Need my phone line back up guys!!
Yikes, that is how I got here, looking for the same answer.. Apparently not, and is it gone for good? I just got mine a few months ago and I love it, sure hope this is temporary.
Just found this link, it says it is confirmed that Ooma is NOT going out of business, but the problem is nationwide, with service returning slowly to those in California.
Actually, correction. I thought these postings were a day old. Their website is still down, though. My wife and I both have cell phones with free long distance in the US. Why would anyone want to add an additional house phone, even if it is an Ooomba? Initially, I had a problem with QOS but that was basically an issue with Ooma and my router trying to control the same thing. Bascially that is an issue of who gets to play first but turning this off in the router and letting Ooma control it worked fine.
I had the premium service for a month for free and there was an option of giving Ooma a cell phone that would be used if Ooma was down. Back to the basics and that is all I need. One other feature I enjoy is that you have your Ooma dashboard that records all your calls. Within this, there is a feature, even for basic, that allows you to block calls with just a click. This has allowed me to remove most of the annoying ones much simpler than anything else I have had. That is not Ooma money — that is government money.
It is now free as long as they live so I have nothing to lose. After that, no one can tell I even changed except me and my pocketbook. I LOVE that feature. Super easy plug and play and I also like the call screening feature. Switched from Vonage and I always had to wait for the caller to leave the message to see who it was outside of the caller ID or what they were saying.
Now I can listen and see if its anyone I want to talk to before going to the phone. Will the sound quality and computer speed be okay if 3 people are on computers and one is on the phone? You cannot eliminate your cellphone bills entirely unless you eliminate your cellphones. You can however, if you have a smartphone, like the iPhone and maybe Droid, I am not sure if that app is available yet but is coming if not, get the ooma app and use your Ooma account to make calls on your cellphone without using cell minutes.
You can also use Google Voice with Ooma and your cell to reduce the minutes you pay for to your cellphone company. I have computers running all the time and it does not interfere with the voice quality at all. You plug it into your cable modem and wireless router. I rarely use my phone so would like to switch to OOma. Just one question. I like my answering machine a lot. Can I use it with Ooma? Yes you can connect an answering machine, standard phone, cordless phone or all together with a standard telephone splitter.
If you have physically disconnected your old home phone line from the external world at the junction box you can connect ooma to the house phone wiring and can plug phones or answering machine, FAX, etc. The instructions that came with the original ooma were not at all clear on this hook-up, but it is really very straightforward.
Have had mine for over two years. After an initial configuration issue it was a refurbed unit and a new ID had not been installed correctly at the factory — fixed on-line , it has worked flawlessly. Call quality is great, only Skype is better I use that for international calls. With the fresh phone number from ooma, never get any junk calls. Thankfully I am grandfathered into the original agreement, so no fees or taxes whatsoever. However, I have not activated it.
I was told that the number I wanted I could not get so I was stuck staying with Vonage. I needed a canadian number and they were still working on getting that aspect set up. What I am not clear on is the following:. Can I activate this older OOMA and benefit from the grandfathered benefits of no lifetime taxes, etc? OOMA will force all new users with this old equipment to comply with Telo rules. Would like to get Ooma also. My cable modem and router are setup in the ground floor.
The phones will be used in first floor. Would anyone know if the Ooma box will still work well when connected to a long ethernet cable running from the router downstairs , to upstairs room or does the Ooma absolutely have to be next to the router?
We do not want the wireless option for the Ooma. We have several computers upstairs wired that way and it works great, just wondered if the Ooma would work on a long ethernet cable. Thanks for any advise. You do have to connect Ooma to the router, but the easiest thing to do which is what we did , is to buy a 2 or 3-set cordless phone.
Hook the main base to the Ooma device, then plug in the secondary base s on the first floor. The main base will just sit there and never be used. The phone s will be used on the first floor, and can be recharged as needed using the secondary base.
Thanks Eric, sounds like a good option. I suppose the wireless signal from the main phone downstairs would give a good enough signal to the upstairs phones without too much loss of quality? We have loved OOMA for 4 years now, and in that time they only had one major disruption which had them down for a couple of days.
We use a wireless phone too with wireless extensions… they work great. Sounds like the wireless setup suggesterd by Eric is the way to go though. Looking to get rid of land line which includes a special ring fax number that comes in on the same line as the house phone. Can this number also be ported to ooma providing I pay the fee? So I am not sure how reliable incoming faxes would be.
You might need to ask this question directly to Ooma unless someone else can answer it. Voice mail is not a problem and comes standard.
You can access the voicemail directly from your Ooma phone, or remotely from any other phone by setting up a password. The computer does not need to be on, in fact now you can use ooma wirelessly with their wifi adapter and put in anywhere you can get wireless in your home, no need to plug it into anything but the wall and phone.
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