Besides Google Voice, the OBI unit can connect to SIP sources. I have a free telephone number in London and one in Glascow that I can connect to. people calling those numbers route to me here in Hawaii, free of charge. I have no reason to dial out to them, so 100% free.

Sipgate also can give you a free inbound number that can connect to the Obi units.

I could just as easily have some other paid service like Broadvoice too if I wanted to pay for outbound service.

So the OBI devices can be used with other services even if their company goes out of business, or GoogleVoice is not free. I am not sure if the OOMA can be reprogrammed if OOMA goes out of business.

As an aside, I live in Hawaii and OOMA could not offer me a number in my state and there was additional charges.

From OOMAs site: Due to the high cost of Hawaii phone numbers, numbers in the 808 area code carry a surcharge of $29.99/year per number. This fee is waived for one 808 phone number if you subscribe to Ooma Premier. To activate your Ooma system with a Hawaii phone number, please contact Ooma support.

I didn't read all of the posts here but I did consider this the Ooma before trying what turned out to be nothing short of completely fantastic. \

i got the Net duo from Nettalk. it is amazing.

this might be a lesser phone if I did not have a super awesome connection, I get near 37megs here and the phone works perfectly and has all of the options the Ooma has without the monthly bill. I mean I have no monthly bill, taxes or otherwise. NONE. I paid for the net duo, it's no bigger than a twinkie.. LOL I set it up in minutes, seriously. My computer does not have to be on for it to work. My uniden office phone set has 5 satellite phones and they work perfectly.

also - they just reduced this to only 49.00 and that includes the entire first year of calls. in oct i will have to pay 29.00 for the next year and they accept pay pal.

no Kidding, it's amazing. My messages are posted on my email address, I can see every call on my account log in page. i have ID caller, 911 service .. everything! I can call anyone in North America and if i wanted to make international calls I can buy a add on, or pay by the minute. ( I Never will do that though ) 29 bucks is good for me. LOL

just saying, i believe I made the correct choice. :O)

I bought one of these from Best Buy about 6 mos ago. I had to return it.

I was super excited about getting rid of my land line. I spent an entire day trying to get this work with AT&T DSL to no avail.

The most common AT&T DSL setup across the country is the 2Wire 2701HG-B combination modem/router/wireless gateway (the one sold at Best Buy when you sign up for AT&T DSL service).

Anyway, it turns out, that both the Ooma device and the 2wire device both need primary access to incoming DSL signal. Ooma tech support was not helpful at all. Confusing automated phone tree. Long wait. Very poor English speaking technical skills. They can only follow a set decision tree of "help steps." They didn't even seem to understand the concept of a combination modem/router/wireless gateway.

Finally, I found several internet "self help" forums, and discovered that other people had tried Ooma with this AT&T modem with poor/no success. I suggest you google "Ooma" + "your modem/router" before you purchase.

LastApeMan wrote:I didn't read all of the posts here but I did consider this the Ooma before trying what turned out to be nothing short of completely fantastic. \

i got the Net duo from Nettalk. it is amazing.

this might be a lesser phone if I did not have a super awesome connection, I get near 37megs here and the phone works perfectly and has all of the options the Ooma has without the monthly bill. I mean I have no monthly bill, taxes or otherwise. NONE. I paid for the net duo, it's no bigger than a twinkie.. LOL I set it up in minutes, seriously. My computer does not have to be on for it to work. My uniden office phone set has 5 satellite phones and they work perfectly.

also - they just reduced this to only 49.00 and that includes the entire first year of calls. in oct i will have to pay 29.00 for the next year and they accept pay pal.

no Kidding, it's amazing. My messages are posted on my email address, I can see every call on my account log in page. i have ID caller, 911 service .. everything! I can call anyone in North America and if i wanted to make international calls I can buy a add on, or pay by the minute. ( I Never will do that though ) 29 bucks is good for me. LOL

just saying, i believe I made the correct choice. :O)

i forgot to mention it's crystal clear, there is a slight delay of some one inside my house calls with a cell phone, that is the only thing i have noticed that even remotely could be considered as not perfect.

really cool and so cheap. I also got to pick the area code i wanted and the prefix (First 3 of 7 ) as well. and i can change it for free at will, i tested it to be sure.

I had to speak to NOBODY to set this up. I liked that very much.

ckeilah wrote: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?

The manual recommends that the Ooma be the first device so that it gets first dibs to the Internet but plenty of people plug it into the router. And they claim no difference in quality. There's nothing different to configure. Just plug it into your router like any other device; the Telo won't know the difference. If there are quality problems because too many things are sharing the line, just attach it as the first device as they recommend.

Voicemail is only emailed to you if you subscribe to the Premier service. Otherwise, you can go to their website to download the file. Or if you don't need the file, simply listen on the Telo. It's a standalone answering machine (see the Play, Rew, FF, etc buttons in blue?) that also allows you to screen calls. Call screening is a feature that no other VoIP device has (unless you attach a conventional answering machine and not use voicemail).

"cut the wires" is an expression.. Like "cut the cord," not literally, another words, you are no longer "hooked up" to the exorbanant sim you pay the phone company!!

LastApeMan wrote:I didn't read all of the posts here but I did consider this the Ooma before trying what turned out to be nothing short of completely fantastic. \

i got the Net duo from Nettalk. it is amazing.

[...]no Kidding, it's amazing. My messages are posted on my email address, I can see every call on my account log in page. i have ID caller, 911 service .. everything! I can call anyone in North America and if i wanted to make international calls I can buy a add on, or pay by the minute. ( I Never will do that though ) 29 bucks is good for me. LOL

just saying, i believe I made the correct choice. :O)

There's one feature the Ooma has that no other VoIP does: Call Screening. If you look at the photo, you'll see the Play, Rew, FF, etc buttons in blue. In other words, it acts like a conventional answering machine and you don't need to lift the phone or go online to retrieve messages. But most importantly, you can call screen. As I wrote earlier, emergency calls have come from unfamiliar numbers, i.e. a payphone, and I wouldn't have picked up based on CallerID. Luckily, I heard the message as it was recording and I picked up. Furthermore, I like being able to ignore unimportant calls when I'm dining, watching TV or having quality "bedroom time." Few things destroy the mood more than having to look at the CallerID display or check voicemail during "bedroom time."

To have call screening with any other device, you'll need to use a conventional answering machine and turn off voicemail. You will then lose all the advantages of voicemail. For me, call screening is important enough to choose the Ooma.

If that's true, I can see how Google may make money in the future by selling numbers to users who want to quit GoogleVoice and port it to another service.

You can pay $3 and port your number back out from Google Voice, this is how you do it: http://support.google.com/voice/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1316844

Privacy issues aside, I like Google Voice and also like being able to make calls from my laptop anywhere I have a WiFi connection... the Obi sounds cool and I may spring for one of those for my apartment.

Here's a VERY unflattering review of MagicJack Plus (comparing it to Nettalk Duo), basically calling it a scam. It's so negative that I wonder if it's a real review. In fact, he never actually got MagicJack Plus working. I do agree, however, that MagicJack's website (and customer service) is horrible, and contains contradictory info.

I've also had mine for a few months and would like to add a couple more pluses and minuses. I too have Premier and some of the pluses only come with that. And to reiterate, blacklist is way cool.

Pluses:

- Call forwarding to your cell if the internet connection is down
- sending an mp3 file to your email with voicemails. I can't tell you how much we like that.
- Do Not Disturb feature to send calls to voicemail when you don't want the phone ringing
- Calling long distance from my landline instead of using my cell. I missed having a receiver for longer calls

Minuses:

- the documentation is still weak but getting better
- I had some setup issues (my fault) and the support was frustrating. Level 1 used a script and didn't seem to listen to me. Level 2 was much better but why did I have to go that far to get help?
- I have to reboot my unit once a month or so. It gets confused and random lights come on
- Faxing is a no-go for me as well

NavyStore wrote:Remember, VoIP is okay for long distance calls or a house line for the kids, but if you lose power - or there is an emergency and you have to call 911 - you'll want a traditional hard line phone that gets its' dial tone from the central office.

Good luck with this - but I'll never trust VoIP in my house after our neighbors house caught fire!

?? Forgive me if this is covered later (one kid is waking up whining - argh) but does this mean this won't work if the power is out? (It seems the answer would be a big yes, but hoping it's no) thnx

Got this the last time around just before Christmas. It works very well and took all of about 5 minutes of setup time till we were able to use it. No clarity issues and all the features work great! Definitely recommend if you have been considering something like this.

Can you use any wireless G/N network adapter on this or do you have to use the $60.00 Oooma one?

caton3 wrote:?? Forgive me if this is covered later (one kid is waking up whining - argh) but does this mean this won't work if the power is out? (It seems the answer would be a big yes, but hoping it's no) thnx

Yes, the devices needs power.

neddielutz wrote:Can you use any wireless G/N network adapter on this or do you have to use the $60.00 Oooma one?

You have to use the Ooma adapter. It is $49.99. If you sign up for a year of Premier, you can get the adapter for free.

Been using Ooma for over a year and love it! We use the basic service which is has as many bennies as any hardline provider. All we pay is a tax of about $2.50/month. We paid much more for our base...sigh

sdc100 wrote:The manual recommends that the Ooma be the first device so that it gets first dibs to the Internet but plenty of people plug it into the router. And they claim no difference in quality. There's nothing different to configure. Just plug it into your router like any other device; the Telo won't know the difference. If there are quality problems because too many things are sharing the line, just attach it as the first device as they recommend.

Voicemail is only emailed to you if you subscribe to the Premier service. Otherwise, you can go to their website to download the file. Or if you don't need the file, simply listen on the Telo. It's a standalone answering machine (see the Play, Rew, FF, etc buttons in blue?) that also allows you to screen calls. Call screening is a feature that no other VoIP device has (unless you attach a conventional answering machine and not use voicemail).

Ran it both ways, as I didn't read the directions well. Worked fine from the router, and bit of echo is all. Now I have as the first devive on my Fios feed, difference is minute.

We don't make a lot of calls - to family mostly. So we switched over to magicjack a couple years ago. The problem we discovered right off the bat is that we can't call my parents with it.

They live in a rural area where the phone is serviced by a small local telco. Apparently telco companies negotiate interconnect contracts with other telcos for connecting through their systems. Sort of a "last mile" fee. Magicjack has holes in its service where it doesn't pay for those connections, apparently. And my parents fall into one of those holes. Spent a lot of wasted time on support with MJ and my parents phone company being sent back and forth before I found the reason on the internet.

I'd be interested in Ooma, if I knew that it didn't have similar gaps in its coverage. Anyone know a way I could find that out?

Just wanted to let you guys & gals know that I was considering both the ooma & voipo.net 2 months ago & figured I'd try voipo 1st as there is no investment in equipment (& no equipment to go bad & be replaced from my pocket), & they have a 30-day trial period. Figured if I hated it, I could get the ooma with the next woot deal. Well, voipo knocks my socks off. Sounds even better than my Verizon landline -- my neighbor says it sounds like I'm standing next to her. And they have a ton of free features that rival ooma (& some great beta features) all included in the pkg. with no add'l. $ outlay. I got the 2-year special for $149 + tax & now they have the 2-year special for $129. Normally, after the 2-years are up it's $99 per year, however, they did email me with the a Holiday special to extend another 2-years for the $149, however, I wanted a little more time to use the service before I committed, even though cancellation at anytime is pro-rated. Hopefully, they'll offer another special next year, which I will grab. Love, love voipo!!!

i swallowed a bug

Easy set up. Had it running in 5 minutes.

We've had no issue with voice quality, dropped calls, anything. I wanted to drop the land line but with young kids, we felt it best to have a second 911 option besides our cell phones.

As for fax, well...faxing and VOIP just dont mix. I've gone through an analog to Voip transition @ work. We had to go back to analog for fax b/c it simply doesnt work.

E-fax, Nextiva Fax and the like, yes...fax machine and Voip NO.

Bought one a few woots ago and we love it. We reduced our cable bill significantly. Other then the very occasional noticeable lag, it works GREAT! I wager the lag is caused by my internet provider, not ooma.

NavyStore wrote:NEVER CUT YOUR WIRES! Inside your test box is a test jack - open the test port and that breaks the connection to the telephone companies wires.

This is nonsense. There's nothing inside the box that operates this way. Nothing, flat out wrong.

They can bill you up to $134 to reconnect them. It may work for you, until you have to reconnect the wires when you get your line hooked back up or you move and the landlord sends you a bill for the work.

If you remove the connection to the pole, you can be charged to have it reinstalled. That is true. If you rip out the lines going from your outside box to your inside connections those would have to be reinstalled, either by yourself or (at a fee) from the telco.

But there's no charge going to happen if you reconnect your inside phone lines to a box like this. You're simply changing your inside wiring. In an apartment (the landlord comment) this may be more complicated. But, again, it's still inside wire. It's more likely the landlord will have a problem, not the phone company.

I purchased one for my business and my phone bill went from $110 a month to about $10 a month. Love it"

Does anyone know if this works with ADT & FiOS combo? Or does it require you to pay the extra $5 per month when not having a landline?

Can I use a refer a friend and still buy it from woot?

Bought 2 of the Omma Telo systems last time these came up on woot. One worked great but the other one had to be shipped back to Ooma due to a bad internal board. Customer service was great and they shipped a replacement out in a few days. I've ported both my landlines over and so far so good. Love the ability to forward your voice messages to an email address with attached mp3 recording. Would recommend this to anyone wanting to ditch the old phone company.

Well, I'm in for one. Tired of reading about it and am just going for it. I have Charter (ugh) and pay something like $50 a month for their VOIP, so this can't be any worse, right?!

i am on teleblend

http://www.teleblend.com/planspricing/plans/1595.html
at 17.5 a month and 5 free Dollard internatioanl calling.. am in dilemma.. this will cost me . 190. with # porting. hence 17-4.5.. ie 12 $ saving... my break even is. around 18 months. to recover my cost.. after that. savings... of 12 a month...

To get fax to work on VOIP try turning off the error correction that is in the settings on the fax machine

May of last year, Consumer Reports rated Oooma 'The Best Phone Service you can Get for your Home'. Clark Howard loves it, and so do I.

This woot gets the official dbcooper stamp of OKness.

cbau934 wrote:i swallowed a bug

eww

Can anyone comment how this works in rural areas? My house is ~250' from the street and we have cable internet, and that needs an amplifier otherwise we don't get a clear signal. I worry about having to rely on my cable service for the phone.

Got it from Woot a year ago - no regrets. $3.51/Mo. - there is no catch. Works great.

wkearney99 wrote:
NavyStore wrote:NEVER CUT YOUR WIRES!
Inside your test box is a test jack - open the test port and that breaks the connection to the telephone companies wires.

This is nonsense. There's nothing inside the box that operates this way. Nothing, flat out wrong.

Actually NavyStore is right, it is actually called the 'Network Drop' and it is where the phone line from the pole drops to the house. Open that box and you can just unplug your phone line from the pole. (Note: If you ever have phone problems (with your landline), you can plug a phone in here. If it works the problem is inside wiring and the customer's responsibility. If there is no tone, then it is the phone company's problem.)

You do also have the option of instead, disconnecting the wire where it runs into your building and normally to a termination block. You can remove the incoming wires from the block, which will accomplish the same thing. The only difference is that for the average user, unplugging a phone cable from the drop box and reconnecting it is much simpler than pulling the wires off the term. block and attempting to punch them back down.

Couldn't disagree more. Customer service SUCKS and the unit puked after 3 months. Garbage.

Just to add some data to the prior comparisons with the MagicJack alternative-

I've had the original MagicJack for a several years, and my experience with it is that it works fine for voice, but will not fax at all due to bandwidth limitations. Their business model of upsell is pretty annoying, but functionally it's been working well enough.

I got the MagicJack Plus a few months ago, even while having the old MJ active. Main benefit is that it works standalone without having a computer running. They charge more for the annual fee, $30 vs 20 than they do for the computer MJ, even though there's no real reason for that other than they can. Same no-fax capability.
On activation, there's a small additional fee that's shown in reallly fine print that is pretty sneaky and easily overlooked if you assume they're like all other online retailers.

That said, functionally it's also been fine, and I backfed the MJ tone to the open second line pair of my phone wiring so I can access it from all my regular outlets with a crossover connector. I haven't encountered any numbers I couldn't call; didn't know there would be any dead zones-

I have had mine a month (since I bought it here) and have had no problems. I plan to start the porting process this week. With premier, service should only be about $14 a month for me. I got this mostly because of all the telemarketing and charity solicitations on my Verizon number. Personal blacklist is great!

So can I use this for my dial-up internet service?

;)

ckeilah wrote: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?

It's not required but it's probably the easiest, non-techy way to ensure the best quality of service (QoS) for the Ooma device. But if you feel comfortable peeking inside your router, you'll see QoS config in most routers. There, you can set the priority for Ooma higher than everything else and you're good. My setup is cable modem => wifi router => wired connection to Ooma and it works fine.