If you have any type of plug in phone, it will stop working if the power goes out. I plug my dsl modem, Ooma and phones into a ups to keep that from happening.

Strongly recommend. Bought last time and 100% satisfied. In fact, yesterday I opted for the annual premium service for $119.99 which includes a free Handset ($49 street price.)

I have 2 lines, each with its own voicemail. Dumping the land line was long overdue and I'm very happy I did so.

I had some customer support issues and got a reply overnight. I submitted my issue online at night and the next morning when I woke up I had the answers.

With the Premium service, you also get 250 free minutes using ooma Mobile on iPhone or (starting next week) on Android phones.

I have FIOS fiber optic internet and have had none of the quality issues some have discussed.

RobertBruce wrote:Don't forget: In emergencies these won't work when the power is out. We've had several massive fires in town. Power was out, cell phone towers destroyed. Old fashion corded phone? worked just fine because they get power from their copper line....

I have my hub, cordless phone and my cable modem hooked up to a UPS unit and it works just fine when the power is out.

kcmark wrote:Anyone know if you can port a Magicjack number over to the Ooma?

From what I understand, MagicJack doesn't allow porting away. Not Ooma's fault, but MagicJack's.

Re-Edit: MJ does allow ports out now: http://www.magicjacksupport.com/magicjack65676.html

MWPollard wrote:The US State Department uses them. That is a step toward company stability.

So a company that's been in the red is relied upon by a government with a $14 trillion debt.

Smell that? It's irony.

RobertBruce wrote:Don't forget: In emergencies these won't work when the power is out. We've had several massive fires in town. Power was out, cell phone towers destroyed. Old fashion corded phone? worked just fine because they get power from their copper line....

Several massive fires? Geez where do you live? Buy a UPS (battery backup for your computer) or something. Better yet move to a more fire-less community.

userzer0 wrote:Can you send/receive fax?

YES, you can send and receive faxes without any additional equipment. Has worked flawlessly for me since the last time woot offered this product.

Does anyone know how the basic (free) service works with a Google Voice number? Can you disable the Ooma voicemail so that the Goole Voice voicemail will answer?

FOR THOSE WANTING TO PORT A NUMBER!! DONT
Wait what? Why not? Get a google voice number and never worry about changing your number again.

If you have a gmail account it is nothing to sign up for google voice which would then forward your calls to whatever number(s) you tell it too. Sounds awesome right? Thats because it is!

kcmark wrote:Anyone know if you can port a Magicjack number over to the Ooma? Wife won't be happy if we have to change our phone number AGAIN although we'd both be glad to eliminate Magicjack's the-PC-must-be-on-to-receive-calls requirement. That being said, MJ just works, it's cheaper and voicemails automatically get emailed to both my wife and I (at no charge). Instead of MJ's $20year, this would cost roughly $41/year but it would also include some minimal energy cost savings (our desktop PC is on most of the time anyway). The Ooma would also allow anyone to play games, watch Netflix or anything else on the MJ-connected desktop. Right now if you try to watch Netflix during a MJ call you'll occasionally get voice breakup on one or both ends of the call. However, this might simply be due to the fact that we're running the MJ on a P4 2.66ghz machine with 1gb RAM rather than a multi-core processor with more RAM.

It's your internet connection speed, not your computer most likely that's causing the issues. VoIP takes up a lot of bandwidth along with the Netflix running.

nycesq wrote:Does anyone know how the basic (free) service works with a Google Voice number? Can you disable the Ooma voicemail so that the Goole Voice voicemail will answer?

I have my GV number forward to Ooma.

I have my Ooma voicemail set to answer after 26 seconds so the GV will pick up first, but direct calls will still get a voicemail option.

But to have your Ooma number forward to GV and then have the calls re-forward back to your Ooma phone requires Premier.

RobertBruce wrote:Don't forget: In emergencies these won't work when the power is out. We've had several massive fires in town. Power was out, cell phone towers destroyed. Old fashion corded phone? worked just fine because they get power from their copper line....

Wow, if anyone reading this has had several massive fires in their town, maybe you should keep your $240/yr landline.

For everyone else outside that nasty fire-zone, Ooma is a great money saver!

I purchased this last time it was on woot. I also signed up for the premier package and the international bundle. By prepaying for premier I got my number moved for free. I had no issues with moving my number, things went smoothly. Right now I pay $15/month and that covers all my local/long distance/international calls. This is A LOT less than I was paying with my phone company previously. For me, it was the international calling plans that really sold it and make the most difference. Other things I like are:

• caller ID + names (part of premier)
  
• black listing numbers
  
• calls logs online
  
• backup number
  

1. Sound quality is not as good as a land line but it is perfectly adequate. The first few seconds of a call I usually notice the reduced clarity, but the feeling goes away after that. I've never had a problem understand the person at the other end.
   
2. Despite having a prepaid international account there were 2 times in the last month that I tried to make calls and it told me I was out of minutes even though I wasn't. I contacted Ooma support by email, they responded within 24 hours and wanted the time and date of the incidents, since the the problem did not repeat, I just let it go. It has not happened since, but it's only been 2 weeks, so who knows.
   
3. For the first 2 months of ownership the line was rock solid. I got a dial tone each time I picked up the phone. On the third month things started to go south. Every 2-3 days I'd not get a dial tone when picking up the phone. The Ooma box showed no external signs of a problem, everything glowed a nice blue. Power cycling the box fixed it, but I don't know if I missed any calls during that time. To remedy the situation I've changed my setup. Instead of hanging the Ooma box off one of my router's ports, I now put it between the cable modem and the router, as recommended by Ooma in their doc. Since then I have not had a recurrence, but it's only been 5 days, so it's too soon to say that this solved the problem for good.
   

haveabigjohnson wrote:It's your internet connection speed, not your computer most likely that's causing the issues. VoIP takes up a lot of bandwidth along with the Netflix running.

VoIP can also be processor-intensive, since all the analog-digital processing is probably being done by the computer. If the computer is slow or is doing a lot, you will have poor sound even if your connection is good.

Reviewers with both say that Ooma Hub has much better sound than MagicJack, and Ooma Telo has improved the sound over Hub.

redbarchetta wrote:If you have any type of plug in phone, it will stop working if the power goes out. I plug my dsl modem, Ooma and phones into a ups to keep that from happening.

My power goes out at least a dozen times every year and my land-line corded phone ALWAYS works in this situation. It is the only reason we keep the relic. When the power is out for several days and our cell phones cannot be recharged, we are mighty glad we have the old dinosaur.

RobertBruce wrote:Don't forget: In emergencies these won't work when the power is out. We've had several massive fires in town. Power was out, cell phone towers destroyed. Old fashion corded phone? worked just fine because they get power from their copper line....

not true, they do require electricity but if you have a battery backup (UPS) it will work. just make sure your ooma and modem are on battery backup power, (as well as your phone base). But its rare to find someone without a cordless phone so if the power goes out so does their phone. and of course who doesn't have at least one cell phone

phacopida wrote:My power goes out at least a dozen times every year and my land-line corded phone ALWAYS works in this situation. It is the only reason we keep the relic. When the power is out for several days and the cell phone cannot be recharged, we are mighty glad we have the old dinosaur.

You can pair a "lifeline" phone service with Ooma for if the power goes out. If the Internet or power goes out, Ooma fails over to the landline (and for 911 calls).

I have my Ooma Hub, router, and cordless phone base all on a UPS. This covers all situations but when my Internet service goes out.

I understand that most telcos offer a bare service for about $7/month that has additional fees if the line is actually used (even local calls have per-minute rates), but which serves perfectly well as an emergency backup.

(Seems Woot caches signature images. I updated my image several days ago to reflect new Woots, but the image below doesn't show them yet.)

davemeigs5 wrote:most times, check their web site

If one is available. It gave me a choice of three numbers to choose from.

MWPollard wrote:They will connect to e911, which gets answered nationally and the call info is then routed to local 911. In most areas, the result is the same, just with a different regional accent. If you are concerned, you can get a "lifeline" service from your telco, and the Ooma will automatically use the local line for 911 calls.

I was a 911 dispatcher for a decade... the calls are never answered nationally for Ooma or any other VOIPs... they base what 911 center to route the call to based on the address you use when registering it. There is no national 911 clearing house (call routing center). Rhode Island does have a statewide center, but they are a pretty small state, so it makes sense.

The closest you can get to a different entity answering a 911 call and transferring the caller elsewhere is in the very few locales that don't have 911 service yet... in those cases, a telephone company operator answers and then transfers you to the nearest large PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point). There is only maybe 1% of the nations population in that situation now.

It is important for anyone using any VOIP service to change the address to where your service is currently being used. For example, there was a 911 call for a domestic incident occurring at a residence on a military base in Europe somewhere... the dispatch center receiving the call was in Ohio. Why? Because the couple moved to a military base overseas, kept their phone service the same but did not change their address in the VOIPs 911 registry, so it remained their old location.

Also, the only difference between 911 and E911 is that Enhanced911 sends caller info along with the call to dispatchers... that is it.

Another nice feature I use: I set it up to ring both my cell phone and ooma (Business) phone simultaneously. That way, if I'm not in my home office I can pick it up on my mobile.

It's a bit disconcerting when I'm sitting at my desk and both my cell and desk phone ring at the same time, but it's well worth it to give out ONE business number and have it reach me wherever I am.

My second number (Personal Number with Premium service) is the home phone number ported to ooma. Different ringtones identifies which line the call is coming in on: home or business.

Sweet!

MWPollard wrote:
I understand that most telcos offer a bare service for about $7/month that has additional fees if the line is actually used (even local calls have per-minute rates), but which serves perfectly well as an emergency backup.

It is $15.80 in my area of upstate NY... I was just looking to rid myself of TWC Phone Service and go back to Verizon... since I have a cell, don't need a lot of home phone service.

prosperouscheat wrote:I have the Hub not the Telo so I can't comment on the hardware.

I am happy with the service though. The call quality is good and the voicemail works well. I don't have Premier and have never felt like I needed it.

Note that if you have basic Ooma and make a standard rate call, e.g. to family in the UK, there is a connection charge of 3.9 cents. Those really added up for me after a while so I signed up for one of their 1000 mins/month plans which includes all the countries I need to call and the connection fee is waived.
See this link for their international rates.

If you have another phone here (say a mobile), consider having a Ooma installed with your family in UK. Then, you talk for free! I live in US, my fiance lives in UK. I got a Ooma Hub installed in UK and there has been no looking back ever since.

nycesq wrote:Does anyone know how the basic (free) service works with a Google Voice number? Can you disable the Ooma voicemail so that the Goole Voice voicemail will answer?

Can't say for sure about the free service, but the paid service works magnificently with Google Voice. They setup an additional line that works directly with Google Voice and even displays your Google Voice Number as your Caller ID on outbound calls.

Tinypackages wrote:-snip-
I switched to Net Talk. And have never been so happy. Even fax with it all the time and does not use your computer.
http://nettalk.com/
$69.95 Includes DUO (net talk device) and first year of service. After the 1st yr its only $29.95 a year!
-snip-

NetTalk service looks very good on paper, but I've heard of widespread hardware problems with them. At least at that time, the hardware wasn't made nearly as well as Ooma equipment. The ability to work either connected to a computer or standalone is nice (use the computer's wifi when that's your only connection option, and maybe with a soft client), but I want it to keep working long-term.

Got one of these off Woot around 6-7 months ago and love it. Never had a problem and calls are nice and clear (might need to tweak your router). The online dashboard make it easy to set everything up. $119 a year with all the premium features kicks the crap out of my local telco.

MWPollard wrote:I have my GV number forward to Ooma.

I have my Ooma voicemail set to answer after 26 seconds so the GV will pick up first, but direct calls will still get a voicemail option.

But to have your Ooma number forward to GV and then have the calls re-forward back to your Ooma phone requires Premier.

Thanks. I would actually just be having my GV number ring my cell and the Ooma so that if I am home I don't need to worry about the crappy signal my cell gets. I rally just need a reliable phone and not a new number.

Wow personally I do not like this. On the ooma site they limit the mins you can use in a month
"a limit of 5000 minutes per month" AND if you live in a non-residential or use it for business you have to pay $39.99 a month!

I will keep my Net Talk thank you!
www.nettalk.com

prosperouscheat wrote:I have my hub, cordless phone and my cable modem hooked up to a UPS unit and it works just fine when the power is out.

Yep...same here. Works great during an outage.

anyone with experience installing the Ooma Telo on a network with a Synology NAS and-or Netgear WNDR3700 wireless router -- any issues? thanks.

It's not clear from the description (or did I miss it), but don't these kind of systems work with only one phone? Or is there a way to make it work for all phones in your house? (Is the signal somehow backfed into the whole house?)

I've not read through all the comments to see if this was addressed, but it's not listed as one of the discussion highlights at the top of the I need a lift!, and I suspect it would be a question for some less familiar with these kind of systems.

MWPollard wrote:NetTalk service looks very good on paper, but I've heard of widespread hardware problems with them. At least at that time, the hardware wasn't made nearly as well as Ooma equipment. The ability to work either connected to a computer or standalone is nice (use the computer's wifi when that's your only connection option, and maybe with a soft client), but I want it to keep working long-term.

The Net Talk is much better then the Ooma. And its SMALLER you can take it any where and use it anywhere in the USA. Say I visit my son in NY but want to make called to Calif. If he does not have a VOIP I just plug my Net Talk in and poof. MUCH smaller makes it easy to take along.

Need support with ooma? You have to eMail them! And that may take time. However with Net talk they have 24hr 7day week VOICE CALL them. They have a phone number not a email for support. ACTUAL people you talk to! :-)

Tinypackages wrote:Wow personally I do not like this. On the ooma site they limit the mins you can use in a month
"a limit of 5000 minutes per month" AND if you live in a non-residential or use it for business you have to pay $39.99 a month!

I will keep my Net Talk thank you!
www.nettalk.com

They do not closely monitor the minutes you use. They also don't care where you are located or what your topic of discussion may happen to be. They just don't want somebody getting personal, that is, low-cost, service and using it for business, that is, using the phone all day every day for work.

Besides, that's 83 1/3 hours a month. If you spend 83 HOURS a month on the phone, you really need to get a life.

Best telco move I have made. Call quality is great, after it was calibrated for my connection speed.
I am paying for the premium features because they work really well.
Costco had the best deal.
Bluetooth works better than expected.
I am reccomeding it to all my family and friends.

kcmark wrote:Anyone know if you can port a Magicjack number over to the Ooma? Wife won't be happy if we have to change our phone number AGAIN although we'd both be glad to eliminate Magicjack's the-PC-must-be-on-to-receive-calls requirement. That being said, MJ just works, it's cheaper and voicemails automatically get emailed to both my wife and I (at no charge). Instead of MJ's $20year, this would cost roughly $41/year but it would also include some minimal energy cost savings (our desktop PC is on most of the time anyway). The Ooma would also allow anyone to play games, watch Netflix or anything else on the MJ-connected desktop. Right now if you try to watch Netflix during a MJ call you'll occasionally get voice breakup on one or both ends of the call. However, this might simply be due to the fact that we're running the MJ on a P4 2.66ghz machine with 1gb RAM rather than a multi-core processor with more RAM.

You most likely need to tweak your router settings (assuming you have one). The newer routers have VOIP specific setup sections otherwise you just might need to tweak your priority and port settings. VOIP is not a perfect thing anyways.

MWPollard wrote:NetTalk service looks very good on paper, but I've heard of widespread hardware problems with them. At least at that time, the hardware wasn't made nearly as well as Ooma equipment. The ability to work either connected to a computer or standalone is nice (use the computer's wifi when that's your only connection option, and maybe with a soft client), but I want it to keep working long-term.

Not sure if I understand your comment "The ability to work either connected to a computer or standalone is nice"

Check out the "netTALK DUO vs competition"
at : http://nettalk.com/competition

Tinypackages wrote:Need support with ooma? You have to eMail them! And that may take time. However with Net talk they have 24hr 7day week VOICE CALL them. They have a phone number not a email for support. ACTUAL people you talk to! :-)

Ooma (http://ooma.custhelp.com):
Need assistance? Call our Customer Service team at 1-888-711-6662 Monday - Friday 7am-7pm PST, Saturday-Sunday 8am-5pm PST.

NetTalk (http://www.nettalk.com/contact):
Technical Support: 1-866-967-1063
(Mon-Fri 9:00am - 5:00pm EST, Sat-Sun 10:00am - 4:00pm EST)

In other words, you can call Ooma more, not less. Please speak in facts, not hype.

I've had one for about 4 months. My first had a hardware defect and I had to go through 3 separate calls with their first line support to get through to L2 support who immediately replaced the hardware.

So I've had it working for 3 months. It's actually pretty awesome, except the following:

• When I talk on conference calls with people in India, there's a delay that causes a lot of confusion. I suspect it's a second on my side and a second on their side, and nobody noticed the 1 second delay before but it's a little annoying now. Talking with US/Canada is fine.
  
• My phone has an auto-dial feature that I can't use anymore. It dials too fast for the Ooma. I tried to put pauses in to make it work, but after about an hour gave up and now I punch in the numbers for my conference calls.
  

GO Vonage, better deal

I have one of the White models, Works well and can save you money on your phone bill. Only Negative is that this isnt the free forever version(which i have aka no bills) and if you lose your power you often lose internet and then the phone wont work.
Overall Great product.

carehart wrote:It's not clear from the description (or did I miss it), but don't these kind of systems work with only one phone? Or is there a way to make it work for all phones in your house? (Is the signal somehow backfed into the whole house?)

I've not read through all the comments to see if this was addressed, but it's not listed as one of the discussion highlights at the top of the I need a lift!, and I suspect it would be a question for some less familiar with these kind of systems.

If you want to, you very much can disconnect your main line from the existing service and connect it to the Ooma unit to provide dial-tone to the entire house. They prefer you not do that - because they sell cordless handsets at $50 each.