davelalande wrote:how do I check if they have numbers in my local area?

Yea... that was a problem for me. I managed to match the area code and found a fringe local exchange that the main telco included as "toll free"... but I didn't know that limitation existed prior to purchase. The only drawback I've had is when I call to report a cabletv outage, the automated phone service tells me that they don't serve my area, and I have to manually enter my phone number to get assistance.

FWIW, if you have an existing POTS landline that you are abandoning, you can port that number over.

woottoady wrote:I have weak cell coverage at home, so Ooma means no dropped calls. I also prefer "traditional" wireless handsets in most of my rooms, so I don't have to hunt down my cell, or carry it around when I'm at home. It works too w/Google Voice, and I'm able to fax as well (though I know many users have fax probs w/Ooma. In my case Ooma means convenience.

If you're the only one in your household, and you have unlimited minutes, don't experience dropped calls, and aren't worried about radiating your brain cells, then Ooma probably isn't for you.

In my case, I'm using a prepaid plan for my cell, and don't like giving out my cell number because of that.

Adding Ooma in with my Google Voice account will mean I can give family/friends/clients my GV number and pick it up (or not pick it up) wherever it is convenient (cell if not home and I need to answer, normal phone through Ooma if I'm home, etc.).

So if I purchase this, my alarm system will still ring to my local 911 office? I will just have to let the 911 office know my new phone #??

todaresq wrote:I will be getting this... 25 a month for "lifeline" service through Verizon is insane. So will help a lot.

For today's write up... saying it is so 1996... not at all.

I was a 911 dispatcher for 10 years... as well as a firefighter for the last 18... and EMT for the last 15.

In any case... a "landline" is definitely needed for everyone. VoIP is close enough, as you can still dial 911 from home, not say a word, and the responders will still know where you are... as long as you remember to keep your address updated with the phone company.

I still remember a report about a person calling 911 on a military base in Europe... it was answered by the 911 call center in Ohio where they used to live. Why? They did not change their location info with Vonage.

So... move forward with technology... grab the latest iPhone... ditch the telco if you must, but at least retain home phone service with E911 access.

jessdavisva wrote:Will this work with my local ADT alarm system?

Check out this thread on the Ooma forum...
http://goo.gl/VNHBX

Ooma is an ok service but I prefer Callcentric. As do most other consumers on Dslreports http://www.dslreports.com/gbu


I've had VoIP since 2003 and have never considered moving back. All of my phones work with it and I have all the features offered from POTS and more at no extra charge.

I've had to contact customer service only 2 times since I've had callcentric and both times they had me up and running in no time. They are cheaper to set up than Ooma and are a larger company and so I would expect them to be around much longer.


The best part is that callcentric is a BYOD provider. You are not locked to one expensive proprietary ATA like you would be with Ooma. If you can get to the device's setup screen, then you can use just about any device with callcentric and they have a setup guide to help you do that...

j0hnlind wrote:You should not buy this. On the other side of the coin, I am completely happy with Ooma, so will not be buying magicjack. With something like this, there can be two right answers.

Ooma's only cost is the up-front cost of the machine, which has a payback normally less than a year, after which you're saving money, even over magic jack.

starmanbackwards wrote:I gotta ask the question since i dont believe anyone else has asked it.

WHY WHY WHY get this or any other telephone service if we already have a cellular phone that gives free national calls? we have ATT cells and unlimited minutes plus TONS of rollover minutes

Do you get a lot of unsolicited calls to your cellphone, as I assume you give it out as you would a land line number?

Got this from Woot last time and love it!

wjb3 wrote:Ooma's only cost is the up-front cost of the machine, which has a payback normally less than a year, after which you're saving money, even over magic jack.

Ongoing fees for Ooma depend on your location. My yearly cost for it would be $40ish.

or you can switch your security monitoring to a service like nextalarm.com - they give you a separate VOIP adapter. I originally had ADT and there was no problem switching.

gsbuck wrote:It sounds great not having to pay for a landline, BUT, I've discovered our home security system has to have a landline in order to call for help if needed. The system could be converted to call on cell, but it costs quite a lot to make the change.

Bought it after leaving copper phoneco($25/mo) and CablePhone($50/mo) ..... What a relief. I opted for the Premier Svc and discovered I could "Blacklist" callers that were polling, selling, begging for donations, or scammers.... all they get is a continous ring-no voicemail, I dont see them ever again. I do suggest the OOMA handset too... it sounds better that all the wireless phones I tried put together.
Free LongDistance, and Local calls and a penny/min to Canada friends
YAY Ooma!

Will have to wait till Monday and buy a new one to check if they have my area code. :|

this is on here at least once a week

davelalande wrote:Will have to wait till Monday and buy a new one to check if they have my area code. :|

https://go.ooma.com/phone_numbers

Check away.

I bought one the last time around. The voice quality is very crisp. My mother commented on it the first time I used it to call her. 1.) She was shocked I called and 2.) the line wasn't crackly like usual.

My number ported from ATT in just a few days. Cancelled home phone and DSL. I run this over Clear 4G. No issues.

I love getting emailed about calls during the day while I am at work. I paid for a year of premier as it wasn't a bunch more than just paying for the number port. I make use of the personal blacklist and I don't get any calls from alumni associations anymore.

A lot of the features I like you can duplicate with google voice but I really wanted to retain my phone service. At least that's what my wife told me that I wanted.

*edit*
We changed our house alarm to a radio notification system. The alarm is on battery backup and functions completely wirelessly. This ate $15/month of my ooma savings but in the end I get a more secure house, better phone quality and still save $$.
*edit*

TL:DR - I like it and would buy again.

starmanbackwards wrote:I gotta ask the question since i dont believe anyone else has asked it.

WHY WHY WHY get this or any other telephone service if we already have a cellular phone that gives free national calls? we have ATT cells and unlimited minutes plus TONS of rollover minutes

Easy answer, in new homes, they readily used metal studs instead of wood. Signal strength varies throughout a home. We never had a problem in our old home but our current, even with different providers, does not give us enough signal strength throughout.

Hello there.. I just ordered this ooma. Was wondering if the refub model comes with any of the options/freebies that the new models come with. Like 'free porting'..or 'free handset' or the 60 day free trial of the Premier service. Might be a better value to get this new with the choice of the extra free stuff as shown on Ooma website. Too late for me as I ordered this already. Guess I should have asked Woot first. Great deal anyway!!

I have 2 residences, one in PA and one in FL.

When I go to FL for the winter can I take this OOMA and use it with my internet connection there??

If so, this would be great as I'd have my same number and phone service in both homes.

jhildreth wrote:I have never posted in this forum but must share my frustration with this product. We switched from Vonage to Ooma because of the low monthly price. Yes, we saved a lot of money but have suffered because of the terrible quailty and service of Ooma. No problems when we had Vonage but Ooma's calls get dropped and sound is scratchy. Have tried all of their tweeks from their website but nothing has improved.

We had nothing BUT problems with Vonage, and their USELESS "customer service." We now get our phone service (VOIP) from our cable company, bundled with our internet, and have had ZERO problems.

Everybody is kidding right? I have been using a Magic Jack for two years. No I did not get to keep my old number. So what! I was hesitant at first too. But like an email address that has been compromised it is easy today to update all the companies I do biz with and my important friends and family (Note that important qualifier? Not all friends and family made the cut. LOL!)

I had to leave my computer on all the time and still do but they now have a new one, Magic Jack Plus, that plugs directly into the router so I will have the option to turn the computer off if I choose to get it. My wireless four handset Panasonic phone system just plugs in and works great! I have only 10 MBS cable Internet so never have had any issues, it just works great! I bought five years of service for 69 bucks with free long distance all over the N.American Continent, and can take it with me to other countrieds when I travel and make and take calls from my hotel room as if I were home.

Those are still 39.99! And 19.95 a year.

Best of all, those annoying calls from sales people at 5 PM that I got two times a week on average stopped completely. NO sales calls since changing numbers.

I did have my computer fry and when it went it took out my magic jack with it. I bought another for 20 bucks free shipping and it paired up immediately when I entered the phone number and user name etc.

I have no issues with online live chats for customer service, and they are much better than the ones I get for my computers. Se in chat there are no bad accents in the way. And I normally get a rep in under 30 seconds so it is faster.

There is really not much to go wrong. I read of people that have had issues and am amazed. Some truing to do it on dial up or with sattelite Internet with that long latency. Of course it won't work there.

And it won't run so well on a 15 year old computer running win 98 and 256MB of Ram either.

We spend more on one dinner out and two drinks than our phone and service cost us fior 5 years!

Must chime in here....been on Ooma for years now, on their older product, Hub. It's worked flawlessly, voice is great quality, price is awesome.

Just wooted on this one to either gift or upgrade our Hub and gift that.

I've had the OOMA system for about 2 years now. But I have the original system with the Hub and Scout addon. The system works great for me. I paid for the premier service (costs me $99/year) which gives me a 2nd ph #, and the ability to have calls transferred to my cell phone if the system goes down (don't know if this is standard service or part of the premier option) and other options. Although I don't need to fax very often, there are occasions where a fax is the best way to transfer paperwork. I did have some problems faxing at first, but that seems to have been pretty much resolved. Per OOMA's instructions I enter *99 plus another character( such as a space or -) before the number I am calling and the fax usually goes through. I also set my HP Photosmart AIO printer to a fax speed less than its fastest which seems to help, and doesn't add any significant time to the transmission. If anyone is having difficulty sending faxes I suggest making a call to their tech support group who generally can solve your problem.

klandon61 wrote:Just my two cents on Magicjack, which we have used for almost three years now. We run it on a thin client and have had no voice quality issues for a long time now. Voice mail is included and is also sent to your email address. The new magicjack does not even need to be connected to a computer; it is more expensive, but far less than Ooma.

I assume once you factor in the cost of that thin client and the monthly fee you would be over the total cost of the Ooma. From my understanding the Ooma is basically a service like MagicJack with a thin client included, meaning you don't have to leave a PC with the MagicJack installed on all the time to send/receive calls.

textunclear wrote:So this is worth owning? I have a Magic Jack and am not a fan of the phone quality. I have a 30Mbps connection and am disappointed so I never use it. My other fear is after buying it the company will go belly up the next month. That's always been my luck.

I have a magic jack and was tired of having trouble with the connection. So as I wanted to keep that phone number because we have a daycare, I just have magic jack forward all my calls to my chosen phone number for the ooma and have not had any problems since. I pay 3.47 a month now because i didn't need the premier service. Sound quality is great.

jhildreth wrote:I have never posted in this forum but must share my frustration with this product. We switched from Vonage to Ooma because of the low monthly price. Yes, we saved a lot of money but have suffered because of the terrible quality and service of Ooma. No problems when we had Vonage but Ooma's calls get dropped and sound is scratchy. Have tried all of their tweeks from their website but nothing has improved.

Strange because my relatives and I who all use Ooma have had zero problems with voice quality, use Ooma to fax (send & receive) and are very happy users of this product.

rjrigo wrote:I have a magic jack and was tired of having trouble with the connection. So as I wanted to keep that phone number because we have a daycare, I just have magic jack forward all my calls to my chosen phone number for the ooma and have not had any problems since. I pay 3.47 a month now because i didn't need the premier service. Sound quality is great.

Running a 200 watt PC (to use MagicJack) 24/7/365 = 1752 kilowatt hours of electricity per year. At $0.10/kWh (many pay much more) that works out to $175.20 per year just in electricity.

The Ooma telo draws 7 watts: 7 x24/365 = 61.32 kWh per year, or $61.32. So, if you're running a desktop PC for your MJ, you're spending at least $113.88 more in electricity alone (assuming 10cents/kWh).

For those of you who need fax service, I highly recommend RapidFax. $10 a month and you can send and receive from any computer. Incoming faxes go into your email box. I used it for 2 years at my business before my cable company offered me a stupid deal on a landline that I needed for my security system.

ETA: plus, you don't have to print anything if you don't need a hard copy. Really nice if you get a bunch of spamfax.

starmanbackwards wrote:I gotta ask the question since i dont believe anyone else has asked it.

WHY WHY WHY get this or any other telephone service if we already have a cellular phone that gives free national calls? we have ATT cells and unlimited minutes plus TONS of rollover minutes

I have a cordless phone in each of 5 rooms so I don't have to carry my cell phone around with me at home. I just leave it in the car.

E-911 knows where I am and if I call 911, Ooma sends a text or email to whoever I want to know I'm on my way to the hospital, standing in the driveway with a garden hose, or chasing bad guys.

I haven't gotten a telemarketer call for months.

If I'm out, Ooma rings my cell phone, too, and emails me my messages.

I have internet, Ooma (older Hub model), and my Roku all on a 3.0 Mb naked DSL line for $30/mo and I've never had a problem (into year 3).

I heat my house by burning all the junk mail Comcast sends me.

j0hnlind wrote:No, you have to plug this into either a router or a modem. It cannot pick up a wireless signal.

They actually just recently announced a wireless adapter for the Ooma Telo unit.


http://www.ooma.com/app/support/ooma-telo-wireless-adapter-faq

GoSolar wrote:Running a 200 watt PC (to use MagicJack) 24/7/365 = 1752 kilowatt hours of electricity per year. At $0.10/kWh (many pay much more) that works out to $175.20 per year just in electricity.

The Ooma telo draws 7 watts: 7 x24/365 = 61.32 kWh per year, or $61.32. So, if you're running a desktop PC for your MJ, you're spending at least $113.88 more in electricity alone (assuming 10cents/kWh).

You're missing on the math on a few levels. First the telo at 7 watts would be about $6.13 in electricity, as it's 61 kilowatts at 10 cents, not $1 a kilowatt. Also a computer on 24/7 that's not in use only draws about 20-30 watts of power in a power saving mode so the expenses are exagerated. One of the nice things about not being tied to a computer is that you don't have to worry about it crashing and ruining your current call.

GoSolar wrote:Running a 200 watt PC (to use MagicJack) 24/7/365 = 1752 kilowatt hours of electricity per year. At $0.10/kWh (many pay much more) that works out to $175.20 per year just in electricity.

The Ooma telo draws 7 watts: 7 x24/365 = 61.32 kWh per year, or $61.32. So, if you're running a desktop PC for your MJ, you're spending at least $113.88 more in electricity alone (assuming 10cents/kWh).

Actually you are overestimating the cost here even on the PC usage, but let's just stick to the part that is mathematically incorrect because of wrong decimal placement.


The PC would be using 175.20 indeed... but The Telo would not be using $61.32 Clearly it wouldn't be since 7 is less than 5% of 200. Anyhow... the Telo will be using $6.13 per year.


A laptop (with the screen off) running nothing but the basics and Magicjack will consume about 60 watts. (I have tested this with a Kill-A-Watt)so I don't think a nettop or thin client device would consume much more than that, especially those that are made to be low powered thin media devices for use in the living room.

craigthom wrote:Obihai has no official relationship with Google. There's no guarantee that Google Voice is going to stay the same and always work with the Obi.

It probably will, but you never know.

Here is a list of SIP providers that work with Obihai 110:"Please Choose Your Service Provider:

Broadvoice
Callcentric
Engin
Future Nine
Google Voice
InPhonex
Sipgate
Vitelity
VoicePulse
voip.ms

Generic Service Provider"

I am thinking "Google voice" is not going under, but even if it did, sure.y one of these others will survive.

dcrepeau wrote:Would this work with a Wireless Internet connection?

It should. I have internet service from Time Warner Cable and have it set up for my laptop to access the internet wirelessly. I also have Ooma connected and it works fine.

I've had Ooma for two years and have had no problems plus the best part is it has more than paid for itself.

I have had an Ooma Telo for about 9 months now. I purchased it here on Woot as a refurb. There was no fee to transfer ownership as it had been factory reset and was essentially the same as new.

We went ahead and got a new number that was available for our area code to keep a local number for friends and family. There was no fee to port our existing number and we have gotten rid of all the annoying sales calls. So, for $3.50 a month we have been totally happy and had very few issues.

The minor issues: If the cable provided internet service goes down I have to unplug and reset the cable modem and the Telo to get the VOIP working again. This has happened 2-3 times in the 9 months or so we have had the unit so no big deal. Once in a great while, maybe 3-4 times so far, a call will go to the Ooma voice mail instead of coming through to the attached cordless phone answering system, again no biggie deal.

The one thing that took some research and configuration was being able to access our security cameras from outside our house. Since the Telo sits between the cable modem and the WAP/Router it essentially acts as a first tier router, passing the signal through to the WAP/Router. So I had to create port forwarding on the Telo to pass the TCP and UDP packets for the correct port number to Router. You would have to do this for any device you wanted to connect to from outside your network.

Just a heads up in case anybody else runs into this. Still a highly recommended way to get inexpensive phone service.

I bought one of these about a year ago. I also bought about 4 other VOIP setups to do a test. This was probably second best. However, it is such a good deal this the way to go.

I like it enough that I bought a 2nd one on Woot 6 months later and now have it running on the same network.

There is a also a cool feature where you get a free 2nd number that you can't call out on but people can call you on. This allows you to have a number (on the same line) from another area code so people can call you locally - or you can look like you are in another place - good for a business.

Anyway - these have worked well for me.

Beware. It's not exactly risk-free to try.

I bought one of these in the last Woot special. I found the quality poor compared to my landline, and called to cancel within the 30 days. Unfortunately, the next person would have to pay the $80 reactivation fee! So unlike most Woot items, you can't just recoup your costs by reselling on Ebay.

You can't even just put it away in a closet to try again in some future date because there is no way to suspend your account either - pay the $3.50/mo or cancel and pay the $80 later to reactivate.

For this one, unless you know you're going to be happy with VOIP quality, maybe better off paying full price so you can return it without loss if you don't like it.

Joy007 wrote:It should. I have internet service from Time Warner Cable and have it set up for my laptop to access the internet wirelessly. I also have Ooma connected and it works fine.

I've had Ooma for two years and have had no problems plus the best part is it has more than paid for itself.

You need to add the wireless internet adapter which costs about $50. You can just plug the Telo into a wireless router, but you still need to connect a cable.

I love my Ooma! Even I, a technically challenged Asian female, could install this and be able to make phone calls in 5 mins.!! AND I got to keep my old phone # for $40. Say goodbye to phone bills!!

This is by far the worst phone I've ever had. The annoying dial tone. The 1 minute it takes to connect a call. The delay, echo and cut outs in sound. 1/2 the time calls to me don't even come through. I have very reliable high speed internet, so it's not that at all.

The "Transfer Fee" some are referring to, is for purchasing a privately owned, in service unit. For some reason, let's say a family member, wishes to sell you his Ooma unit for $25 dollars. You can have him transfer the unit to you. And there must be no break in service.

I don't know if "his" phone number stays with the unit but your upfront cost would be smaller.