Got the Ooma Scout from Woot several months ago. Setup wasn't a snap (because of way our router and cable modem are wired in the house), but call quality has been good enough to help me forget about it. One major problem is that the Ooma line will not ring our home phones for incoming calls. Ooma was unable to solve this and it seems like a problem many people have had with the Scout. Don't know if it happens with the Telo, but beware. We have to run two lines in our house: a land line for incoming calls and Ooma for outgoing calls. Frustrating..

BionicPickle wrote:911 Service works with this device.

Alarm phone service is not recommended, OOMA does not say why.

I have my internet modem, and OOMA on a battery-backup UPS. Then I have a non-powered phone (old cheapo) plugged into a home phone jack (using OOMA to provide the dial tone). This way, in case of power failure, I'm covered.

Now if only Comcast could keep the damn internet connection UP longer than a month without a phone call from me...

I can shed SOME light on this in one word: Liability.

POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) is pretty simple and basic. And there's not a lot of dependency involved. Alarm companies will generically say that VoIP solutions are a bad idea because there are so many solutions and each has its own list of dependencies. The Magic Jack, for example, requires that you have the jack working, the computer working, the router/switch working, the modem working, all of it has power, and you internet service hasn't been interrupted. With a POTS line the dependency is you get a dial tone. So they will be generic and say not to use them because they can make no guarantee that the system will work. And if it doesn't, and someone get hurt, they could get sued.

The other side to that coin is that most companies will not say that one VoIP solution will work over another one because then Ooma, for example, is suing them.

It's easier to just say "no VoIP" and walk away.

The lawyers, and a complete lack of common sense on the part of customers, strikes again.

--mop

Someone else mentioned this concern-what if the company goes belly up? I got burned by Sunrocket a few years back but at least there was no investment in equipment. Can ooma really perpetuate itself on sales of the device plus a smattering of people who pay for extra services? I suppose for $140, if ooma can provide service for more than a couple months, you haven't lost anything versus a landline or another VOIP provider. Still, it would be galling to invest in this equipment only to end up with a $140 paperweight a year from now.

I have one. Paid $200 and it's worth every penny. Some people compare this to Magic Jack but no, it's not a good comparison. My Ooma is truly a phone replacement. Once properly set up, it's indistinguishable from a landline service. Your phone will work from every jack in the house. You can tie your alarm system to it. You can send and receive faxes. If the phone didn't have that little chime in the beginning when it connects, I would have forgotten that we have Ooma and not landline service at $30 or so a month.

MJ is a nice product, and it'lll work for a lot of people. It wouldn't have worked for us, since we wanted to use the phones we already had with multiple phone jacks in the house. We also wanted to use it for alarm and faxes. The one thing people always seem to cite, the need to have a computer on, was irrelevant to us since we have multiple computers on all the time anyway. If we didn't need all that, we probably wouldn't even have bothered with MJ, since we have cellphones and google voice. Ooma worked great for us because functionally, Ooma is a more complete and transparent device. With this woot price, it really is even more attractive.

I have the original system and it's just okay. What's the main difference betweeen this and the older model?

Should I be worried that this is a refurbished piece?

aaltieri wrote:Any experience with using this on international travel? My daughter travels often and this would make a great way for her and her traveling companions to call home on the cheap.

Also, any idea what the data rates are like for a decent call? I mean, if I have a 300kbs/150kbs DSL connection, will this still work? Would it work with an android fone set up as a wifi hotspot over Verizon over 3g?


Thanks!

--mop

I had the 1 MB service with Charter when we got the Hub/Scout combo. It worked OK, but if we were watching videos or streaming music, calls would get choppy. We just stopped the video or music, and it was fine again.

Ooma states that the Telo unit is much better with bandwidth, but I don't know if that slow a connection would support it.

I've bumped up one level in service, internet-speed-wise and now we have 12 MB service for $29.99/month, which we have to have no matter what for work, anyway, so Ooma was definitely the way to go!

how's it compare to magicjack?

Got it last time on woot, added 3 remote ooma handsets and upgraded to premier service after trial period ended. We now have 2 lines; one for my part-time home based work, and one for the family. They're tied to separate lines and separate phones so my teenager won't accidentally pick up the biz line.

Love having my voicemails forwarded to my email (cell phone) as an mp3 file so I can listen to them anywhere. Quality is excellent!

One of the handsets I bought was defective (speaker didn't work). Ooma support was fast, courteous, helpful, and got the replacement out to me right away. I also had some setup questions that the FAQ's didn't have, and once again ooma support was fantastic.

Porting from Verizon was easy, and my bill dropped drastically, especially because there's none of those extra charges on a landline phone. Much better deal than Vonage!

What does this thing do that Magic Jack doesn't? I use Magic Jack for 20 bucks a year and get all the benefits of this device in smaller, more portable package.

Maybe there's something I'm missing but 140 bucks seems like a waste.

I've had mine for about 15 months and with the main # I call it is hit or miss. Some times the quality is really good and sometimes really bad, in fact it is terrible. It seems to happen with Veriozon users but I can't prove that. My "Facetime" on Apple OS is more consistent.

Homercles wrote:What does this thing do that Magic Jack doesn't? I use Magic Jack for 20 bucks a year and get all the benefits of this device in smaller, more portable package.

Maybe there's something I'm missing but 140 bucks seems like a waste.

NO COMPUTER NEEDED!
911 service
Better voice quality
Voicemail to email is a nice ooma feature
Works directly with your router

With MJ, you're running a computer 24/7/365 just to have phone service. A waste of electricity for no good reason... probably costs more for the electricity wasted than for the ooma on an annual basis.

Nothing 'wrong' with MJ in my opinion, just that ooma is better.

I have the Ooma Hub and have no complaints. If you can find a Hub either in or from a Core package you don't pay any monthly or annual fees

I just bought this exact model last week. The manufactures website has it new for $249 but I got mine off of amazon for $199. Had I waited one week I would have bought it from here for sure!!! Installation was nothing what the manual described. I have a cable modem box and wireless router and I had to plug this into an ethernet jack on the router instead of between the cable modem and router, like was documented in the manual. This exact Ooma has far superior call quality to that of the previous model. I am very happy with it and I signed up for their $9.99 monthly premium to get the free phone porting of your current phone number, normally a $40 charge, and after 1 year I will cut the premium and just get basic. You can tie this model to your iphone or android. For $5 more per month you get 1000 minutes to call from your iphone/android cell phone using their "App" on your phone. You can also have a defined backup forwarding number in case there is an outage with their service or your home internet service. You can have all voice mail forwarded to any email address you want (an attachment inside an email notification). I am very happy with my service!!! Their service also gives you the ability to have a second line for free, using the same phone number. For instance: if you have a teen in the house who is a phone hog and someone is trying to reach you, you will still be able to answer the call or even dial out. Very cool features!!!

You still have to pay your local taxes and 911 fee's regardless (around $4 per month) if you buy their premium service or not.

Homercles wrote:What does this thing do that Magic Jack doesn't? I use Magic Jack for 20 bucks a year and get all the benefits of this device in smaller, more portable package.

Maybe there's something I'm missing but 140 bucks seems like a waste.

No need for a computer with Ooma.

Zetalidan wrote:I use Skype as my home phone, would this be suggested over Skype?

I don't have a lot of money and Skype is so cheap compared to standard phone service, but some of the downsides nag at the back of my mind. Lack of 911 is one of the big ones.

In the long run, this seems like the better deal, but I like hearing from others.

Edit: Guy above me likes it over Skype. Good to know :D

Anyone else? And any reasons why that I might not have thought of?

I used to use skype for long distance to NC from CA, this is better because I got rid of my landline which saves me $34/month, all calls in US are free, and you don't need a computer on, just a internet connection. You can check your messages online with a cell phone/pc browser. I have the basic service, which is free but I do have to pay $3.47/ month taxes. It's been great.

I have had one with the premier plan for about a year and have had no problems. I would advise against using the ooma headsets, they are junk. They feel cheap and with the volume all the way up it can be difficult to hear.

ooma also just came out with an Android app that allows you to use 200 minutes a month on your cell phone via the data connection (requires premier plan).

I just entered in the area code and exchange for my area in Montana and it came back as unable to port and unable to obtain a number in that exchange. I wonder if Ooma doesn't have Montana numbers? That could be really useless.

I'm really interested in this, but I have a few questions/concerns.

I work from home using MS Live Meeting and a conference call to do training. I have Comcast's high speed Internet at 10-15 Mbps download speeds and 4-5 Mbps upload speeds. Does anyone have any experience using both the VoIP and Live Meeting at the same time, and if so, how was the quality? Is my Internet connection fast enough to support both at the same time?

Any help would be appreciated.

ItsMorph wrote:I had the 1 MB service with Charter when we got the Hub/Scout combo. It worked OK, but if we were watching videos or streaming music, calls would get choppy. We just stopped the video or music, and it was fine again.

Ooma states that the Telo unit is much better with bandwidth, but I don't know if that slow a connection would support it.

I've bumped up one level in service, internet-speed-wise and now we have 12 MB service for $29.99/month, which we have to have no matter what for work, anyway, so Ooma was definitely the way to go!

It requires wired Ethernet. There's no wifi.

Does this model support 'auto attendant'

ie press one for sales, press 2 for support

that sort of set-up?

Thanks!

http://www.ooma.com/products/ooma-hub/compare

cphotodesign wrote:Ooma didnt worked for me...
I bought it last time it was on woot, it slows down the internet, and there are a lot of extras to pay for ... Customer service was not very helpful ..
Google Voice connected to the cellphone worked way better for me, and Magic Jack works better for less ... It wont charge you extra for forwarding calls.

Got mine the last time it was offered. It was a snap to setup for me (though I'm technically inclined). It says you should connect the Ooma to the modem and then the router to the ooma, but I hooked mine into my router and it worked fine.

In the last round of posts, somebody mentioned that it screwed with their internet speeds due to "speed boot" by comcast, but if you configure the ooma by logging into it (don't know how) you can change it from "auto select speed" and dial it down to correct the problem.

You get a 60 day free trial of their premium service to decide if you want to use all the upgrade features. Although it does auto-renew, they are even nice enough to e-mail and warn you before it auto renews (unlike a lot of "sleezy" free trials).

Wubintheya wrote:I have the original system and it's just okay. What's the main difference betweeen this and the older model?

The Telo uses a newer voice codec, giving you much better sound quality. It also eliminates the "Scout", the remote access unit. I don't miss it since I plug the output of the Telo into my wall jack, giving me a dial tone anywhere in the house.

Wubintheya wrote:I have the original system and it's just okay. What's the main difference betweeen this and the older model?

The main kicker for me was that the Telo box has an Ooma branded wireless handset you can buy that does not require a traditional phone base station, it pairs right to the Ooma unit. Other differences I can think of; the Telo supports online phonebook editing (which I think is still beta-ish) and was advertised as having a different compression system that they called "HD Voice."

What is the fee for this device? I know there's either an annual fee or a monthly fee. Just not sure what they are.

kcfoster wrote:It requires wired Ethernet. There's no wifi.

What's wi-fi got to do with anything? I certainly haven't mentioned anything wireless.

cerroo wrote:What is the fee for this device? I know there's either an annual fee or a monthly fee. Just not sure what they are.

It's simply the monthly local and federal required taxes for your area.

If I had to pay them, it would be $3.67 per month.

All set to order one until I looked at the one star reviews on Amazon. Not very impressive, even though a small percentage of users. Looks like the customer service is poor, and you need to pay attention to what all the charges are. I call the UK a lot, so I won't be dumping Vonage after all I guess. Ooma's web site shows UK calls to be .019 per min on one page, .028 per min on another, which doesn't speak well for the accuracy of the website (noted in a couple of reviews....)

Here are the One Star reviews from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Ooma-Telo-Free-Phone-Service/product-reviews/B002O3W4LE/ref=cm_cr_pr_hist_1?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addOneStar

We've used this for about a year with Premier service. It rocks. Love the call logs, voicemail features and caller ID, etc. For all the "premium" features that are free with premier service, Qwest wanted something like $50 per month. It's great.

raygun300 wrote:I used to use skype for long distance to NC from CA, this is better because I got rid of my landline which saves me $34/month, all calls in US are free, and you don't need a computer on, just a internet connection. You can check your messages online with a cell phone/pc browser. I have the basic service, which is free but I do have to pay $3.47/ month taxes. It's been great.

If you need a whole house system for multiple phones and faxing or security systems this makes sense. if you have an android phone though skype makes more sense.install the skype app and you are only paying 30 bucks for a year subscription, all calls over skype in the us are covered, no annoying taxes, you dont need a computer, it goes with you every where, not just at home, and you can probably get a cheaper cell phone plan with less minutes. Set skype to forward to your cell if your offline and your done.

The ooma mobile app has a terrible rating and they make you pay per minute over 3g which makes no sense, they aren't providing the network, and internet is the internet, doesn't cost them anything extra.and that's on top of making you pay 10 bucks for a two star app, that you already had to buy a 140 dollar base in order to use

aaltieri wrote:Any experience with using this on international travel? My daughter travels often and this would make a great way for her and her traveling companions to call home on the cheap.

Also, any idea what the data rates are like for a decent call? I mean, if I have a 300kbs/150kbs DSL connection, will this still work? Would it work with an android fone set up as a wifi hotspot over Verizon over 3g?


Thanks!

--mop

I can't comment on US carriers, But I can say I live in South Korea and Having OOMA here is a god-sent. It allows me to talk to all my friends back stateside. Either at home, or though the OOMA app for smartphones.

Does anyone have experience using this in the UAE? I.E. are the ports blocked here to use it to call to the US, or is a tunnel router necessary?

eps49 wrote:Should I be worried that this is a refurbished piece?

I bought the referb'ed model here at WOOT several months ago, and when I opened the box it looked new, and has worked ever since. How I love woot for saving me some coin on the retail price.

I use Vonage to call the UK for next to nothing.
My family can call me from the UK for a local call to their area. I pay something like 30 a month for my service.

Does this compete with that or differ in any way?

Always looking to cut monthly bills.

I have had this system for over 18 months now and except for an occasional minor glitch it works perfectly. The big advantage to this system is that your computer does not have to be on - only your high speed modem.

Nonsense - you do not know of what you speak! My system works just fine in all regards - 18 months now!

AlexWalsh wrote:Got the Ooma Scout from Woot several months ago. Setup wasn't a snap (because of way our router and cable modem are wired in the house), but call quality has been good enough to help me forget about it. One major problem is that the Ooma line will not ring our home phones for incoming calls. Ooma was unable to solve this and it seems like a problem many people have had with the Scout. Don't know if it happens with the Telo, but beware. We have to run two lines in our house: a land line for incoming calls and Ooma for outgoing calls. Frustrating..

russellmz wrote:how's it compare to magicjack?

Here are a few points to consider:

1)-MagicJack requires a PC running Windoz(!). This unit does not require any computer, it connects directly to a (RJ45) port on your broadband router

2)+MagicJack costs $20 plus $20/year, or less than $2 a month-- $40 for first year

3)+MagicJack can send your VMs to your email, at no extra charge. It is not clear if this unit does that. Although, you can pay Ooma a monthly fee to get additional "features" such a receiving your VMs via email

4)+ MagicJack displays--on your PC--the caller's number when you receive a call, and always displays history (phone number, date, time, length) of each call--received and made calls.

I hope these help.

VERY susceptible to electric issues. Likes to fry itself.

How do I hook this up using DSL? I only have one ethernet port on my router... and the 'pooter needs that.