Wootalyzer's Pricing Post! - The price of today's woot item is saved here for future reference
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Ooma Telo VoIP Home Phone System
$139.99 + $5 Shipping
Condition: Refurbished

*DISCLAIMER* Wootalyzer! is in no way affiliated with Woot!, and this post may not always be here!

This'll sell out!! Still have mine, STILL LOVE MINE!!! Never, ever, ever will I go back to landline...

Previous Woot!

Review
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mtv4gvmhB9U&feature=related

I got one a few offerings ago. Is a great money savings.

I am still trying to get the fax to work with it. They say it should... since I don't send or receive them a lot it is not too much of an issue. However, if you do... if you can't get it to work... may be an issue for you.

Many answers to your Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) at the Ooma website: http://www.ooma.com/products/faqs

Questions include but not limited to:

Can I keep my current phone number?

Do you support 911 calls?

Is the Ooma system difficult to install and operate?

How much does Ooma cost?

Is there a maximum amount of minutes per month?

Check it out!!

It's 2012. Do people still use landlines? This seems like a waste of money (maybe that's why Woot keeps selling them? Nobody buys them?)

I have had one for 2 years and my monthly bill is $3.47 and the clarity is wonderful.

https://go.ooma.com/buy/?offer=TELO_REFURB_PROMO

Please for the love of Odin, Consider the Obihai110 instead of this money sink.

I don't know about the Ooma, but the Obi110 is awesome. Switched my landline number to a cell then ported that to Google Voice. Finally, i linked the Obi to my GV account. Now my phone is free and we have the number that we've had for ten years.

Oh, and the Obi is less than half the cost of the Ooma!

have it
<3 it
would buy it again.

I pay $3.47 pr month, plus calls to the UK which are cheap.

nice customer service, too.


<3 <3 it

Great Service & Product....utilized two lines for a couple years- mostly trouble free except when broadband cable network acts up...nice nice calling features- very robust, & clear connections

I really thought woot was gonna have a woot-off. Something about it being Friday the 13th or something...

If you haven't heard of the Obi100 by Obihai technology then you haven't been following the trends in VoIP. No fee's, one time price of $45 on Amazon, grab a FREE Google Voice number - voila, a truly free home phone.

I'm running mine now.

Send a unit overseas, call the per-determined number, voila - free int'l calls.

Google it or look on Amazon, then come back and thank me later

Purchased this Ooma during a recent Woot and we love it. Works great with voice and fax. The blacklist feature works excellent! Highly recommend this Woot deal!

scottskillman wrote:Please for the love of Odin, Consider the Obihai110 instead of this money sink.

I was just about to ask how that compared to the ooma. There's a small bit of a delay with the OBi110 isn't there?

I'm about to get rid of my land line and I'm comparing these two. Would you say you're happy with the OBi110?

We've had this for months. We pay less than $4 / month and have recommended this to four friends who each thank us often. This is a no-brainer, if you're considering it, buy it.

It's cool, and people will like you more.

Customer service replaced our unit at month 13 at no cost. Great company to deal with customer service wise.

So what's the difference between the new magic Jack, this and the ob100?

I've been using Skype on a Philips VoIP841 as my home phone for years now, but I picked this up last time it was on woot as it looks more affordable with better features. No complaints after my first week of use...

I for one don't mind having a vendor supported device... I know it's not the cheapest unit but you get what you pay for, generally.

I've had it for a few months now.

My number port from AT&T went very smooth and took about 3 days.


Pluses:
* Price . $13.47/mo including premier.
* Community (and your own) blacklist really cuts down on telemarketers

Minuses:
* Sometimes has voice quality issues
* Not as reliable as a traditional phone (but good enough for me)
* Doesn't work with faxes, dialup-modem (for me, works for some)
* Very sensitive to internet connection quality, especially "Jitter"


Overall, I'm happy with it. Main benefit to me are the blacklists. Telemarketers are almost gone.

Robert

todaresq wrote:I got one a few offerings ago. Is a great money savings.

I am still trying to get the fax to work with it. They say it should... since I don't send or receive them a lot it is not too much of an issue. However, if you do... if you can't get it to work... may be an issue for you.

I saw on their FAQ you have to dial *99, I am sure you've already seen it but just in case thought I'd mention - http://www.ooma.com/app/support/faxing-ooma

So, if you are going to use Google Voice why bother with this extra hardware? I use GV either directly from my computer, on the Samsung Galaxy Player I got on Woot! in Sept. Really don't get the need for this thing.

Bought this a couple woots ago but sounds hollow. Not great clarity. For the people that like theirs what phone works best?

Just bought one at full price for work...moved office locations and were able to keep our same number. Set up easy, works great. I wish this was up before. Would have loved to save sixty dollars. Saving sixty dollars a month using Premier.

calebmitchell wrote:It's 2012. Do people still use landlines? This seems like a waste of money (maybe that's why Woot keeps selling them? Nobody buys them?)

I've had one for seven months now and no complaints. I have three small children. For $3.50 a month, there's a phone on the wall that always works. Whether it's for babysitters with a dead cell phone or some other emergency the phone is just there. For me, it's worth it.

COsumer Reports recently gave Ooma it's top rating. I've had the older Hub for about a year and I agree. Quality-wise, it's the best I've heard, beating everything including my landline.

Here is Consumer Reports video review. The review is somewhat silly and superficial but I assume a lot of work happened in the background. You can see the survey in the review, which shows you what services Ooma beat.

Here is another YouTube review.

Here's a COnsumer Reports discussion forum about Ooma.

skwatch wrote:So, if you are going to use Google Voice why bother with this extra hardware? I use GV either directly from my computer, on the Samsung Galaxy Player I got on Woot! in Sept. Really don't get the need for this thing.

In my case I use the Obi110 with GV so my family can use the house phones like they always have. We often use the intercom feature of the phone system, multiple people on several handsets to talk to grandma, etc. it makes GV the background piece, not the centerpiece.

Telo users can now buy a dongle that allows it to operate through WiFi. That means you can now put the Telo anywhere there is an electrical outlet, far away from the router. In addition, the Telo becomes a hub to connect other network devices such as printers, computers, video games and Blu-Ray players.

=====

http://news.consumerreports.org/electronics/2011/09/ooma-announces-telo-air-wireless-adapter-for-untethered-calling.html

Ooma announces Telo Air wireless adapter for untethered calling
Sep 14, 2011 5:00 PM

Ooma, maker of the Ooma Telo, an alternative VoIP solution, today announced a new add-on device for the Telo: the Ooma Telo Air wireless adapter. It lets you move your Telo away from the modem or router and function wirelessly anywhere within range of your home network.

The Telo Wireless Adapter, $50, also turns your Telo into a wireless bridge—meaning you can connect your other Web devices wirelessly via the Telo.

When Consumer Reports tried out the Ooma Telo earlier this year, we said, "Performance was impressive in our informal tests." And in our user survey of phone services (available to subscribers), responders judged Ooma to be an outstanding value and option to help cut telecom bills.

Ooma also announced that its Bluetooth service, previously available only to its Premier subscribers, will be available to all Ooma Telo owners. With this service, you can integrate your mobile phone and Bluetooth headset with your home-phone network and pair up to 7 devices. The Bluetooth adapter is $29.99.

I bought one on Woot around 8 months ago. Absolutely love it. I've used probably 6 different VOIP providers - from Sunrocket to ViaTalk to Gizmo... Ooma has been by far the most reliable, most convenient (though not the cheapest) solution.

A lot of people complain that Ooma isn't really free because of the $4 or so a month in fees and taxes. While that's true, you can't blame Ooma because they don't get a dime. These fees go to various government agencies.

scottskillman wrote:Please for the love of Odin, Consider the Obihai110 instead of this money sink.

The obi (using google voice/talk) has no 911 service - an important consideration for many.

I love my ooma! I bought one of these back in July from Costco (I'm using their liberal return policy as a warranty in case ooma suddenly goes under.) after seeing it on woot! I didn't have a home phone, but I wanted to test it out to see if it was something I could suggest to my parents to save money and quit feeding the comcast machine. Well, I decided to keep mine because the voice quality is sooo much better than a cell phone. So I got one for my parents as well, set it up for them, and ported over their number. (Took a little over a week during the holidays.) Ever since, my mom has been telling everybody she knows about this "ooma phone device on the internet with the clear calls." I highly recommend ooma.

So.... the primary difference between Ooma and other VoIP products (like MagicJack or Vonage) is there are no recurring costs/fees (other than taxes) for the Ooma?

investr wrote:If you haven't heard of the Obi100 by Obihai technology then you haven't been following the trends in VoIP. No fee's, one time price of $45 on Amazon, grab a FREE Google Voice number - voila, a truly free home phone.

I'm running mine now.

Send a unit overseas, call the per-determined number, voila - free int'l calls.

Google it or look on Amazon, then come back and thank me later

I have concerns about routing my calls though Google. When a service is free, there's a good chance that the provider is data mining. Witness Gmail. While they're [probably] not analyzing your spoken words like they do in Gmail, they're probably looking at your calling patterns, destinations, caller location (identifiable through your IP address), etc.

As for actually using voice recognition to analyze contents, I don't think present wiretapping laws cover Google voice. That means that voice screening is a possibility.

I just saw these at Costco the other day. If Costco carries it, you know it's been vetted pretty well.

I am sick of feeding AT&T and Vonage for mostly Dot's Poetry Corner service. I don't even get black/white listing with either of them!

Does anyone know if Ooma will dual-ring to another line? And can you have more than one number on the Ooma?

What if you already have your Internet line connected to a wireless router?

OOMA TELO vs MAGIC JACK PLUS

From what I've heard (no pun intended), Magic Jack's voice quality is not as good as Ooma. Consumer Reports gave Ooma its coveted top rating, although admittedly, the new Magic Jack was not yet available.

Ooma is free for life. Magic Jack charges an annual fee of $19.95. The free first year that came with the original MagicJack is gone. Then again, Ooma does have $4 in monthly regulatory fees (which goes to the government, not Ooma). If MagicJack Plus has no additional fees to the $19.95, then MJ ends up cheaper.

AND ... Magic Jack is no more than a dongle. All functions require a computer or phone keypad. Ooma is a multifunction unit. For example, it has answering machine functions so you can check messages without lifting your phone. More importantly, you can screen calls through the unit's speaker. I don't think there's any way to screen calls with a MagicJack (unless you attach an answering machine. But that means deactivating voicemail. If you deactivate voicemail, you won't get email notification or voicemail archiving).

AND ... the Telo can now operate wirelessly through WiFi with an optional dongle. MagicJack needs to be plugged into your router or a computer. A bonus feature of this dongle is that your Telo then becomes a wireless hub for other other things. For example, you can plug a printer or computer into the Telo.

Oh, yeah... now I remember why I didn't buy this at Costco. It either said, or implied, that it had to be the first device (replacing your router) for your entire LAN! Does anyone know if that's truly the case, or is there a way to configure this to live happily on the LAN, behind a real router/gateway?

Also, I re-read the info, and sure enough, you can have another line (for what appears to be an extra, undisclosed, cost)

PS: will Ooma email voicemail to you?