Bought one here on Woot a couple of months ago and I concur with the other positive comments here, but...

We have a 1.5MB upstream/downstream wireless Internet connection (regional Motorola Canopy) and the Ooma doesn't play very well with it even though it has way more than enough bandwidth. I've tried it both behind and in front of my router, and given it QoS priority 1 to no avail. Oddly enough, my Avaya VoIP business phone works well on the same LAN.

When I contacted Ooma support about it, they reiterated that they support hard-wired connections only, which is not clearly stated on their website and they would not offer any futher assistance.

So, while the Ooma Telo is a good product, it only gets one thumbs up from me.

chennai8 wrote:If it's your own wifi, you must own a wireless router. Ooma connects to your router (or Modem).

Thank you!

tommygio wrote:Got one for this price off of woot about 8 mons back. Unit worked for about a month, then died. Called the factory and they sent a replacement. No problems since. Great way to cut phone bill, but not as reliable as the copper wire analog. Have had the choppy all to familiar VOIP effect quite a few times

Sounds like a QoS issue.

kbilling wrote:Bought one here on Woot a couple of months ago and I concur with the other positive comments here, but...

We have a 1.5MB upstream/downstream wireless Internet connection (regional Motorola Canopy) and the Ooma doesn't play very well with it even though it has way more than enough bandwidth. I've tried it both behind and in front of my router, and given it QoS priority 1 to no avail. Oddly enough, my Avaya VoIP business phone works well on the same LAN.

When I contacted Ooma support about it, they reiterated that they support hard-wired connections only, which is not clearly stated on their website and they would not offer any futher assistance.

So, while the Ooma Telo is a good product, it only gets one thumbs up from me.

So, have you tried the wired? QoS may not work for wireless is why I ask, and your comments were a little confusing as to what you've done. Also, 1.5Mb is not all that high for what Ooma wants. I think they claim it is, but that is only when you do nothing else. I used mine briefly at that rate and noticed a massive difference when I upgraded to much higher bandwidth broadband.

atd15 wrote:Man.....the VOIP thing is so confusing. I just want to be able to plug little box into my router...no computer turned on...use the same phones I already have...port my number...save money...and forget about.
But then it gets confusing, Magic Jack Plus, Obi, Ooma, and whatever else is out there.
I just want to place and recieve phone calls, and I want to do that without a $45 a month phone bill.
Every review seems biased toward some company. I am just trying to pay my mortgage, and save a few $$$ when I can.

That's exactly what I've been doing for over a year with an Ooma Telo.

chgo wrote:Sounds good but I still have to pay AT&T to provide DSL service. That's $35 a month. Am I wrong?

It won't work without an internet connection, however you don't necessarily need to keep AT&T's phone service to keep their DSL.
See http://consumerist.com/2008/08/how-to-get-att-naked-dsl-redux.html

I ran into that situation with Verizon where I wanted to dump their expensive phone service but keep the DSL. They wanted $15/mos more for the DSL without phone service and the max connection speed was 3mbps. I ended up switching to cable internet and got a much faster connection. Ooma allowed me to upgrade my internet connection without increasing my total monthly expenses for internet and phone. Basically the money I save from not having a land line pays for a better internet connection.

how is this different than the MagicJack?

I have had an OOMA Telo for over a year now, and prior to that had the OOMA Hub & Scout for two years. I moved to OOMA from Vonage because of the significant cost savings.

For those that might ask:

OOMA can integrate with voice.google.com so you can get your txt voicmail. OOMA has thier own pay service txt voicemail as an option. Call blocking includes the awesome option to blacklist and send to voicemail with both personal and community black lists. All the common call features come without the premium service. I pay for the premium service so I can have a phone number in Pensacola, FL and another in Apple Valley, MN. My family can call the one that is local to them and reach me with no long distance fees even if they don't have such a service. Numbers can be ported to the service if you have one you want to keep.

Only negative over other IP phone services: Telo handset battery life and device quality is iffy. New handsets are apparently under development. You don't have to buy OOMA Telo handsets becuase you can use any standard phone with the Telo providing dial-tone. The handset does offer some additional nice features which have made me stick to it even with the issues: online, syncronized contact lists, instant access to 2nd line roll over, setting system do not distrub without going to the Telo, etc.

Telo Handset (maybe not included?)is a great device for families that have a child who stays on the phone as instant 2nd line can used to place calls while another handset is in use.

mkentosh wrote:how is this different than the MagicJack?

Magic Jack requires a PC to be one and running. This is separate from a PC. Majic Jack does not support the instant 2nd line feature and does not offer the option to attach to a land line for failover emergengy dialing if the ISP is down.

2GOOD2BTRUE wrote:Huh? Can you expand on this? I am seriouslly thinking about getting one of these but don't want to have to dial 1-(areacode)- and then my number every time I call somewhere local to the number I selected.

my.ooma.com, preferences, system, click the checkbox by Enable 10 digit dialing. "10-digit dialing lets you make long-distance calls without dialing the initial 1, just like on your cell phone."

No, I don't work for OOMA. I am just use and like low cost of thier features.

Makes you wonder about the quality of Telo's when you note they're always selling these refurbished units. I hope the one I bought new will last.

Alnico wrote:Magic Jack requires a PC to be one and running. This is separate from a PC. Majic Jack does not support the instant 2nd line feature and does not offer the option to attach to a land line for failover emergengy dialing if the ISP is down.

MagicJack Plus does not require a computer, except for set up.

Have had the regular Magic Jack running on a thin client (which uses very little power) for almost three years - no issues and it is much cheaper than Ooma. It also portable.

teevee wrote:I can't believe so many people still have home phones.

Some of us like to hear the person we're speaking with and be heard by them, instead of just being heard by strangers on the bus/train/sidewalk, etc.

I gave up my BlackBerry a year and a half ago and have yet to regret not having a cell phone. Nothing in life is so important it can't wait until I get home, except medical emergencies and they should be calling 911, not me (despite my background in emergency medicine.)

People seem to forget that life existed before every home had a phone, every home had an answering machine, every person had a beeper, every person had a cell phone, every person had an Krampusphone, oh sorry, some call them smartphones.

It's no wonder 50% of our population is clinically overweight, or that 50% of the children are obese, or that divorce rates have shot up to over 50% now.

Gadgets like Ooma, Obi, cell phones, tablets, etc are fun and entertaining, but unnecessary and don't help sustain a well balanced individual when they become the center of that persons world. iPhones and Facebook are killers of the moral society.

Having a phone at home is a sign of maturity vs. the need to be in touch 24/7 with one's hundreds or thousands of 'friends.'

ivanivanovich wrote:If you're in the military, and you live in barracks, and somebody gets an OBi, and you get an Ooma, you can call it Barracks Obooma!

Nice one... The underwear jokes are always the best

I got sucked in by all the positive comments. I hope it works well with my dial-up modem and rotary phone.

atd15 wrote:Man.....the VOIP thing is so confusing. I just want to be able to plug little box into my router...no computer turned on...use the same phones I already have...port my number...save money...and forget about.
But then it gets confusing, Magic Jack Plus, Obi, Ooma, and whatever else is out there.
I just want to place and recieve phone calls, and I want to do that without a $45 a month phone bill.
Every review seems biased toward some company. I am just trying to pay my mortgage, and save a few $$$ when I can.

The problem with VOIP reviews is that there are many things that go into making a quality end to end VOIP connection. And I mean many.

Start with the fact that virtually all VOIP to VOIP calls go through two separate VOIP networks plus the 'old' switched network in between.

There's the issue of bandwidth, something that changes by the millisecond during a phone call. You have different VOIP services connected to the internet through different portals and despite all the advances made recently with BGP and other routing protocols, the most efficient path for the data (your voice) is rarely taken. Top that off with different service providers prioritizing different data packets differently (and yes, even encrypted and secure tunnel packets can be prioritized) and you get situations where TWC severly limits non TWC VOIP transmission, while COX doesn't touch it and where Verizon FiOS prioritizes it only during specific peak hours. And one of the last, rarely talked about problems, is the ever growing # of routers that cache certain types of data, which often is the cause of 'missed words' during VOIP and cell phone conversations. (It's a technology borrowed by the likes of Cisco, HP & Juniper from the cell phone world where poor quality is expected so lost or greatly compressed packets are ok.)

This list doesn't even touch on things like what else is using bandwidth on your home/office network or the effects of other RF waves on your wifi network or the fact that cable internet bandwidth is a shared medium vs. something like a dedicated connection provided by some of the FiOS packages/T1 lines/etc.

Compare this ever growing list to the 'landline' packet switched network where the quality of the wiring in your house, your jacks and your phone were the primary sources of issues.

Considering any/all of this and you can see why VOIP reviews vary from person to person, region to region, block to block, day to day, hour to hour....

Canceling orders - I used to be able to cancel a woot order the day of placing, don't see that option anymore. Is that not possible now?

I have had the Ooma Telo Voip system since the first white one came out a few years ago. I have paid no phone bill and have had consistant service. I have only had 2 interuptions in service in the past 4 years and both were less than a couple hours.

I have called Ooma with questions and received service with little complaint. I ported my home number. The quality of the service surpasses any other consumer voip system I have tried.

I would and have recommended it to my friends and family.

The fee based services are unmatched by the phone company if you decide you want them.

I called some family members today and told them it was on sale.

You can check your voicemail from any computer with web access. It will notify your email you have voicemail as well.

And for those who don't understand the system, to use it you need to have cable or dsl and need a router to beable to use it. It works best with one of the wireless phone systems that has a base station and several chargers throughout your home.

Enjoy

So far so good after 1 month. I would recommend to anyone trying to reduce monthly bills but keep a home phone.

I bought Ooma last time it was on Woot. Now bill is about $3.50 per month and it is exactly the same as having a landline without getting bent over every month!

I just bought one...I am crazy.

What is WOOT!'s return policy anyway? I cannot find anything about it?

FunkyFresh wrote:Just to clarify, sounds like caller ID should be included without needing Premier:

To clarify:

Without Premier, you get to see just the number. With Premier, you get to see the name associated with the caller's number.

jont717 wrote:I just bought one...I am crazy.

What is WOOT!'s return policy anyway? I cannot find anything about it?

It's pretty much: If you think you may want to return it...don't buy it.

Really though, you can return it, but you have to pay return postage.

gallatin wrote:To clarify:

Without Premier, you get to see just the number. With Premier, you get to see the name associated with the caller's number.

I see names. No Premier.

Great product! Nearly all the positive statements are true. But, as I've learned several times so far - Stay Away From WOOT Refurbished products! My Ooma was DOA and took about a month to get it sorted out (which I did). My "HP" monitor went bad after a few weeks too, again another WOOT refurbished product. I'm convinced that these, so called refurbished products, are not really that, just someone else's rejects! Just buy a new Ooma!

Do you realize that you can "hear" through this device using the antiquated phone you still use?

mschauber wrote:Some of us like to hear the person we're speaking with and be heard by them, instead of just being heard by strangers on the bus/train/sidewalk, etc.

I gave up my BlackBerry a year and a half ago and have yet to regret not having a cell phone. Nothing in life is so important it can't wait until I get home, except medical emergencies and they should be calling 911, not me (despite my background in emergency medicine.)

People seem to forget that life existed before every home had a phone, every home had an answering machine, every person had a beeper, every person had a cell phone, every person had an Krampusphone, oh sorry, some call them smartphones.

It's no wonder 50% of our population is clinically overweight, or that 50% of the children are obese, or that divorce rates have shot up to over 50% now.

Gadgets like Ooma, Obi, cell phones, tablets, etc are fun and entertaining, but unnecessary and don't help sustain a well balanced individual when they become the center of that persons world. iPhones and Facebook are killers of the moral society.

Having a phone at home is a sign of maturity vs. the need to be in touch 24/7 with one's hundreds or thousands of 'friends.'

Never saw that option. Buyers remorse?

vyasbhavin wrote:Canceling orders - I used to be able to cancel a woot order the day of placing, don't see that option anymore. Is that not possible now?

I bought one of these around April of this year. The voice quality is excellent. It is perfect for the person who uses their cell phone a lot but does not want to give up a land line.

I plugged the Ooma, modem, and router into a ups and have had no down time.

Omitted.

I have had my Ooma for about 6 months now. It has worked flawlessly and has already saved me about $240. I'm kicking myself for not buying this before I did. I could've been saving $40 every month! And yes, you can port your own number over to it!

As stated earlier in another post, you're supposed to disconnect a couple of wires from the box outside your house.

My question: There is no box, there is no house. I live in a condo. Where the heck do I disconnect these wires????

In case it matters, I have Verizon DSL and phone.

This may be the best purchase by far that we've made with Woot...better than the Roomba....better than the ear muffs...
We have now been using the OOMA for over a year. We have experienced only one slight inconvenience when the initial unit locked up - it was quickly replaced by the company.
We've had massive power outages and internet interruptions and the phone simply forwards to our cell phone line. The voice mail is great, the ease of use is excellent. Set up was no problem. We've become very fond of the unique and somewhat musical dial tone!
Amazing, at our office we have VOIP via our cable carrier. They are charging us over $60 a month for the service we only pay a federal tax of $3.45 for with the OOMA. The clarity, the cost, the convenience...simply cannot be beat! Thanks Woot and thanks OOMA!

I too was wondering if I could plug my 8088 Leading Edge PC into this and dial up Compuserve on my 9600bps modem...

Well, I bought one, my wife may kill me eventually, but I want to have telecom savings at home; willing to try it out.

MAGIC JACK has turned out to be a big rip off - My guess it figured out which numbers I like to call and talk at length with, because I cannot call those one any more. The ones I can call, the sound is distorted and garbled. I am lucky if I have enough time to get them to hear, "Call me back on another number." It went down hill about 30 days after they confiscated my $69 for the re-new, worked so much better before then. And no it is not my problem, we have all new wiring in the house, new computer, new modem.. It is MJack manipulation, they have no human support for and the "virtual people" promised to fix it... months ago...guess what... Not Fixed

GoSolar wrote:
If you're running MJ on a standard PC that has a 300 Watt power supply you'll be burning up 7.2 kWh of electricity just to have the thing turned on. Multiply times 365 days and you get 2628 kWh for a PC to serve as your phone. Even at the cheap rate of $0.10/kWh here, that's over $262 just for electricity.

Ooma runs about 12 watts (.288kWh/day) or 105.12 kWh over the year. At 10 cents per, thats only $10.51 in electricity cost annually. WAY better than MJ on a PC.

Lots of MJ users buy thin clients (all solid state PCs) that use between 7 and 15 watts of power, depending on the unit. You can buy them on eBay for at little as $20, tops $50. I've had nothing but good luck with the MJ service, but it's not a primary phone. No issue with call quality.

pitterpat wrote:I have had the Ooma Telo Voip system since the first white one came out a few years ago. I have paid no phone bill and have had consistant service. I have only had 2 interuptions in service in the past 4 years and both were less than a couple hours.

I have called Ooma with questions and received service with little complaint. I ported my home number. The quality of the service surpasses any other consumer voip system I have tried.

I would and have recommended it to my friends and family.

The fee based services are unmatched by the phone company if you decide you want them.

I called some family members today and told them it was on sale.

You can check your voicemail from any computer with web access. It will notify your email you have voicemail as well.

And for those who don't understand the system, to use it you need to have cable or dsl and need a router to beable to use it. It works best with one of the wireless phone systems that has a base station and several chargers throughout your home.

Enjoy

The Ooma folks say you should use a DECT cordless phone connected to the Ooma box.

lrespin wrote:As stated earlier in another post, you're supposed to disconnect a couple of wires from the box outside your house.

My question: There is no box, there is no house. I live in a condo. Where the heck do I disconnect these wires????

In case it matters, I have Verizon DSL and phone.

In a condo, you touch no wires outside of your unit. Very bad idea for you and your insurance premiums. You should be able to just plug your Ooma into your DSL router.

If your DSL Modem/Router doesn't have an additional free Ethernet port you will need to get either a DSL Modem/Router that has a 4 port hub included or purchase a inexpensive hub. You can buy those for about $20. You probably won't have to do this as most DSL Modems have hub included.

Your computer, DSL Router, and OOma would all be plugged into the hub.

drblaw wrote:In a condo, you touch no wires outside of your unit. Very bad idea for you and your insurance premiums. You should be able to just plug your Ooma into your DSL router.

If your DSL Modem/Router doesn't have an additional free Ethernet port you will need to get either a DSL Modem/Router that has a 4 port hub included or purchase a inexpensive hub. You can buy those for about $20. You probably won't have to do this as most DSL Modems have hub included.

Your computer, DSL Router, and OOma would all be plugged into the hub.

The other issue is that you may not have access to the internal wiring for your POTS lines. It is the desire to connect your old POTS phones to your existing wiring that necessitates disconnecting the TELCO from the internal wiring. BUT if you are in a condo setting, that may not be possible unless your condo is new enough to have a network interface in your broom closet or such.

The rub is that to use your DSL your router needs to be connected - somehow - to the POTS line, but to "conveniently" use your old handsets with Ooma (or other similar VOIP systems) you need to not have Ooma's POTS line share the telco's POTS.

If your current POTS phones are all cordless, or you have a corded base station and no other corded phones, just plug the base into the Ooma's RJ11 jack.

If all that's not clear, find someone who understands the problem to do the installation for you.

FedEx just delivered mine - in time for Christmas alright. However, I'm really glad it's not a gift, because there is no AC adapter (or lan cable or phone cable) in the box. Just the unit and instruction booklet.