curveboy wrote:Does anyone know if this can be used for a small business? We have 5 employees using one phone number. Could this be used with a set of wireless phones or would you have to use the Ooma headsets (they limit it to 4)? Could 2 or more people be making calls at the same time?

Yeah, no reason why you can't. Just treat it like a normal landline jack. We have a Panasonic cordless phone system with 6 extensions plugged into ours. You only have to deal with the Ooma headset and special service if you want to have another distinct phone number coming out of the same line. So if you want have two people on two separate calls, yes, you will need Ooma's special headsets. But your two employees will have separate incoming numbers, I believe.

If you don't want the hassles of having to use Ooma's headset, an option is to get a separate Ooma for each employee.

You might also consider something like this phone multiplexing system that automatically distrbutes your phone line.

http://www.smarthome.com/5241/Give-Everyone-a-Personal-Phone-Extension/p.aspx

ericshmerick wrote:Very true. Guess I have a *rare* 100% free model. Time to start fazing out my Ooma number (which is VERY easy to remember...hand picked years ago) and migrating to the Obi device for my GV number.

Perhaps sell the Ooma w/NO fees ever on feeBay.

Plan, made. Thx!

And, luckily for you, electronic devices NEVER break down or become obsolete, so you'll never pay any fees again! Congrats!

Switched from Vonage to ooma about one year ago. Quality and reliability is about the same, the premium service has some great features including 300 voip minutes you can use with a iphone or android phone (even works over 3g).

It's not included in this sale, but don't even think about buying the ooma cordless phones, they are terrible. I have two of them, they feel cheap and with the volume all the way up it is difficult to hear. The only good thing about them is you can to listen to your messages and screen your calls the same way you would with an answering machine.

alphajolt wrote:Anybody know if I can use Ooma anywhere other than our NYC home as long as there is broadband available? Like when we go to our summer house I bring our Vonage modem with us and boom, we still answer our home phone. Or go a few thousand miles away, bring it along and hook up to WiFi - "Hello? Oh hi Mr. Parole Officer, yeah, I'm home, why?" (that was a joke Ms. Informant). So will this work? Anybody know for sure?

Thanks!

-- alphajolt

We use it in our RI home and our FL condo. We keep a cell phone system in each home. All we do is move the Telo box between homes. If someone calls your phone number, your phones will ring so long as the Telo adapter is plugged into an active Internet connection.

Really tempted but trying to decide if it makes more sense to buy the new unit from Amazon for $60 more, and have the flexibility to return it if I don't like it or it doesn't work well. Additionally, I get a year warranty as opposed to 6 months.

Anyone have any heartburn about buying this refurb over a new one?

applesforjonah wrote:I'm thinking this deal is a no-brainer. After I get approval from my wife in the morning, I think I'm going to be joining the ranks of the Ooma.
Thanks for the good comments and reviews everyone.

Dude...grow a pair. Be a man. Make that purchase and say, "WOMAN...I just saved us a $360.00+ every year on our phone bill. NOW GO MAKE ME SOME BREAKFAST!!"

(Could this attitude be the reason I'm single?)

KyserSoze wrote:Is this better than Magicjack? This is more expensive.

Better? Hard to say... that depends on your needs.

Ooma is standalone VOIP adapter. I got one last time and ditched Vonage.

I use with Google Voice which requires the premium service and ends up $13.47 monthly or about half what I paid for Vonage.

I really like the GV capabilities.

sdc100 wrote:You can either have Ooma randomly choose a number for you or port over an existing number. If you want to port over a number, there's a fee (I think it's $40). Pretty much the same with cellphones. I think Ooma has a deal where porting is free if you sign on to their Premium service for a few months.

There is nothing random about new Ooma numbers, I sellected the area code, sellected from local prefixes, and then from a list of numbers for my two numbers. (Need two to interface with Google Voice.

nwms8 wrote:I currently use AT&T because I need a land line in order to get DSL internet. Could I use the Ooma, cancel my landline and be still be able to access the internet?

You don't need a landline to get DSL on copper... change to naked DSL. AT&T may give you the runaround but you can have it without a phone.

Purchased this when they were last up for grabs on w00t! This is positively the easiest way to save yourself $40-$75 each month on phone service. Excellent call quality. Ridiculously easy to set up. Integrates seamlessly with existing phones (AT&T 5.8GHz cordless base station with 6 handsets, in my case). I'd buy this again in a heartbeat... or a dial tone.

easily the best Woot I've ever bought. This thing has already paid for itself.

stabnwswd wrote:if you do choose to cancel your land line and go with this, what will your phone number be?

You can either choose from a list of available numbers in a number of area codes (also your choice) OR have your old number ported over.

stabnwswd wrote:if you do choose to cancel your land line and go with this, what will your phone number be?

You can port your old number for an additional fee so you keep your number. Otherwise, Woot will give you a new number.

I've used Vonage for about a year and then Magic Jack for 2 years. I also tried a skype box. Vonage is a good reliable service, but pricey compared to Ooma. If found MagicJack to be insanely cheap, but also insanely unreliable. It was ok when it worked. That was less than half the time though. MagicJack also requires you to keep your computer on at all times.

Ooma is a good spend and forget solution. For most people it will be cheaper than your land line over just a few months. At this price it's a great deal!

The service is good, the sound quality is excellent. It's a phone service and it just works. All of the basic features are included (Voicemail, call forwarding, caller id, etc.)

Premium features and calling plans are also available. For overseas calls, their rates beat skype.

dancojanu wrote:You can port your old number for an additional fee so you keep your number. Otherwise, Woot will give you a new number.

Number porting is extra. $40 I think, but if you sign up for the premium service ($120)for a year it may be free.

One question for those who have this already: I have mine hooked up such that my wireless router is plugged into the Ooma.(then the OOma to the cable modem) The only issue with this is if for some reason the Ooma reboots the wireless is out for the whole time, which takes up to a few minutes. I know that's the preferred way they tell you to hook it up but if I remember right there are other methods. Does anyone else have it configured differently?

Bought one of these last time, to switch from Vonage. I'm very glad I did. I do wish some of the premium features were just free, but for the price, it can't be beat. You can also configure this to work with Google Voice.

deathopie wrote:One question for those who have this already: I have mine hooked up such that my wireless router is plugged into the Ooma.(then the OOma to the cable modem) The only issue with this is if for some reason the Ooma reboots the wireless is out for the whole time, which takes up to a few minutes. I know that's the preferred way they tell you to hook it up but if I remember right there are other methods. Does anyone else have it configured differently?

Huh. I do my own networking so I ignored that: I've got the Ooma plugged into the wireless router, not the other way around. No problems to report, though I could see you having an issue with audio quality when you're doing massive video or Torrent downloads. (if you do those sorts of things). Or use a router with QOS features that can guarantee the Ooma a certain amount of bandwidth no matter what else is happening on your network.

Another very happy owner of this system. We had a little clicking in the phone at first. We moved the components farther apart and voila! Nice, clear call. LOVE IT!

Can you install Ooma with you land line still connected? I don't want to disconnect the land line number before I port that number over to the Ooma.

It is nice that this device does not require that a computer be on at all times. I use Magic Jack on a dedicated thin client-found this solved all Magic Jack call quality issues plus uses very little power, though I would guess more than the Ooma device.

Saw one reference to security systems, and the only reason I am holding on to my land line is for my Safetouch security system. Does anyone have any experience or info regarding its use with a security system?

I wooted this item almost over six months ago. Got a bad re-ferb. and had to send it back to Ooma.. they replaced it quickly.. they are very helpful, easy to get on phone. The replacement has been great. The good thing was I kept all the goodies and just swapped the faulty unit. I did not have to go thru setup again.. just plugged it in.
The deal I had was I had "internet only" at my house, DSL @ $35.00 a month. so now I have a land line, all for the internet only price.
They give you the preimum service for 60 days, and I liked it. but really did not need it. but it is there if you wish. Nice. Most of the reviews have been positive, or rave! I would say rave! great deal. It works really well. has a ans machine on it, free, I use it with a wireless phone, so a phone anywhere in the house I need one. garage, bath, office, whatever..

I bought one last time it was on Woot. I love it. Easy to set up, quality service. Only one issue I have yet to resolve. I switched from Vonage and have a three receiver set - one plugs into the wall and the other two get their signal wirelessly from the plug-in unit. They are DECT 6.0 phones. They do not show the caller-ID information. I have two older cordless phones that plug into phone outlets that do show the caller-ID. I have no idea how to get the Vonage phones to show the caller-ID.

Not nearly as good as Vonage on connection quality or customer service (technical issues). I bought this as a Vonage alternative in an effort to save some money. It arrived and setup was painless. Call quality was far from perfect, but much better than Skype, and probably an acceptable level for the occasional user. It was not the same as a POTS line. Sometimes it wouldn't connect at tall, or have a strange echo or delay. I called them for tech help, but I was told they would contact me back within 24 hours, which they did via email. Once I did talk to them on the phone, they checked a few things (ran a few tests - everything checked out fine) and said there was nothing additional they could do.

If you want a VOIP soultion that just works all the time without any hassle, OOMA is probably not for you. If you have the time and patience and are willing to sacrifice call quality for quirkyness, then it is a viable option. One additional note... I actually bought two of these at two different times before I tried either one of them. They were both the same way, so I doubt I had a bad unit (one unit was the older model that was completely free).

onefastwienerdog wrote:The option to get a new number at no charge or keep your current phone number (one-time porting fee of $39.99 - if available to port)

We have a landline thru Qwest. Does anyone know if we could keep our number when we cancel with Qwest? If so, could we still have our number published in print phone directories? That's important for my wife's home based business. Thanks.

Have had it for a over a year and a half... feel like the premium service is worth it for the call block and when connection isn't working it will send callers to another specified number. You either pay 3 bucks a month for taxes and fees or 10 bucks... either way: sweet. Seldom have problems... let's see... an occasional hiccup in quality or connection: 3-10 bucks a month... perfect service: 55 bucks a month... I'm good with the occasional hiccup.

fargolf wrote:We have a landline thru Qwest. Does anyone know if we could keep our number when we cancel with Qwest? If so, could we still have our number published in print phone directories? That's important for my wife's home based business. Thanks.

You get Ooma, pay for the switch and they contact Qwest. Have no idea about how to get listed in phone directories...

gbinman wrote:You don't need a landline to get DSL on copper... change to naked DSL. AT&T may give you the runaround but you can have it without a phone.

I too. only had DSL from phone co. and use ooma for phone service. pick a # (u want it?) you can even pick a area code.

Has anyone tried to use one of these to tie their home security system into a central station? Will it work?

Of course I know this requires your network and VOIP to be on a network system.

In general these central stations have trouble with vonage, magicjack, and other VOIP systems I have tried, unless you go for a complete broadband solution which is an expensive investment.

I was an early adopted of the original ooma hub in 2007. As a beta tester ooma supplied me with a free hub and perier service for life. My phone service and customer support experience has been great. This is one of the best innovations and money savers. FYI, even though owners of the original hub do not pay the monthly tax, ooma is paying it instead.

Ok this is one I can actually give a quality post on. I have used VOIP for about 3 years. Have 3 phone lines that are VOIP. Went through a lot of the providers - Vonnage, Packet8, Phonepower, via talk, 8x8 and a lot you haven't heard of. A couple of them had a strange thing where at random times you would just hear a tone - much like if someone hit a key on the key pad. Tech support said it was 'a known issue' and they were working on it. Over a year later, still working on it. Some would have issues where you hear fine but the other person gets digitized sound that skips around. Found that to be due to most ISP plans have better download speeds than upload and the upload is what determines the quality the other person hears. So, seems some providers don't use bandwidth very well.

Vonnage is good for quality but you will be paying around $30 for unlimited voice per month. There aren't any of the others I would recommend.

Oooma is right up there in quality and is cheap, like they said it would be. I pay less than $4 per month for that line and it has been fine on voice quality. Make sure you have good bandwidth though. It is good enough that I use it as a home office line.

If it gives you any indication, I was waiting on this to come on Woot again so I can get another one to replace one of the other providers I have been carrying that is more expensive and lower quality. So, I will have two Oomas in the house.

Also, I did port my phone number over to Ooma successfully. Another neat thing Ooma has is a free 2nd number feature. The downside of this is that it is inbound only. I thought that was Jatravartid but then we moved from TX to AR (different area code). What we were able to do was port our original TX phone number (which was actually on another provider) to the 2nd phone number on the Ooma service. Then we got a new AR number as the primary number. Now people can still call our old TX number and it rigns to us the same as if they called our new number. Only thing - you can't call out using the TX number; still it keeps you from having to worry about if you are missing calls to the old number. Hope that made since.

bobbro wrote:Can you install Ooma with you land line still connected? I don't want to disconnect the land line number before I port that number over to the Ooma.

Yes. In fact the Ooma comes with an extra jack on the back to plug into a land line just for this (or if you decide to keep the landline as backup when your internet is out).

Wrong...I have the older one and they make me pay 3.50.mo

uli2000 wrote:If you are interested in Ooma service, I suggest seeking out the older Hub over the Telo. With the Telo, you have to pay the taxes ($3-4/month for most), but the Hub has no charges, ever.

bobbro wrote:Can you install Ooma with you land line still connected? I don't want to disconnect the land line number before I port that number over to the Ooma.

Yes. This runs over Internet. You would want to hook a cordless phone into it so you could use that then leave the rest the way it is until the port.

i love mine. i've had it 7 months now and i get great call quality, the HD voice is amazingly good. only pay $3.47 per month and get all the features you need. no it doesnt forward voicemail to your phone but neither did my regular home phone service. this is a great deal.

jbills wrote:yes, ooma/telo is the real deal. Got one last woot and ditched Vonage, never looked back. Call quality is great, no hiccups whatesoever, and bill is like $3.47 a month as advertised. We even ditched cable internet in favor of Clear (wimax) and call quality is still fab. Great purchase.

Side item question: I'm guessing from your comment that you're happy with Clear? I've been thinking about switching from cable to Clear... but concerned about reception in my house and whether Ooma would work with it (you already answered the second question and I suppose the first question).

I bought one of these units several months ago. I'm very pleased with this service.

I don't make many phone calls per month and I was paying over $41.00 for my landline with at&t.

Now I pay $3.47 (tax) per month and I bought a GO phone plan from at&t for $25.00/3 months pay-as-you-go 10 cents/minute as a back-up.

Two phones for a quarter of the price I was paying for my landline.

The Ooma Telo is very easy to setup. Voice is clear and reliable. If you want to save money - buy one of these units.

This is a great deal. We've had our Ooma for about 8 months. Call quality is excellent. Install was extremely easy, hardest part I remember was waiting for it to load new software, as it seemed to take a long time, but patience paid off. I've spent hours at a time on conference calls with no problems.

I haven't ported it yet as I have had a need for a reliable fax. But I am about past that point. So, I'll soon be cutting my ties to the local telco..woo hoo!

During the 8 months we've used it, seems like there has been about 6 or 7 times our internet has gone down. We have cell phones, so we're not totally cut off, but it's an uncomfortable feeling. That is NOT ooma's fault, but our lousy cable internet company.

Why a second unit? Well, be nice to take along when you travel. I'm going to buy a wireless access point and see if I can connect through my cradlepoint 3G router so that I can use my aircard to call in/out on the ooma. Be great for camping. Here's a link to the device I'm going to try: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001KUV49U/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_5?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

This is not perfect, but then again, neither is the phone company. But it is a heck of a lot cheaper, even if we have to pay uncle his cut. Don't let the few badmouths talk you out of a great deal, both now, and every month.

nwms8 wrote:I currently use AT&T because I need a land line in order to get DSL internet. Could I use the Ooma, cancel my landline and be still be able to access the internet?

What you want - DSL service without the phone (dial tone) service, is called Naked DSL, or sometimes a Dry Loop, or Standalone DSL. AT&T does offer it, but they don't encourage it (since they prefer you to pay for phone service too). Anecdotes are that you may have to call a few tomes before you find a customer service rep who knows about it. And it's possible that you may have more hassle as an existing customer dropping the phone service than a new customer adding DSL would. Still, if you're persistent, you should be able to get this set up.

Google "naked DSL AT&T" for more info.