Ooma Core VoIP Phone System
by ooma
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List Price: Our Price: $170.00 You Save: $79.99 (32%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Ooma Core VoIP Phone System
Customer Review: Ooma phone - FREE! what else is there to know
Summary: 5 Stars
My wife and I have had the Ooma for about 3 months now. We love it! Easy to set up, easy to have my existing landline number transferred to Ooma (but takes a few weeks, and has a one-time $40 fee). Calls are clear, I cannot notice any difference between the Ooma and my old landline (which we have cancelled). The Ooma comes with a free trial of Ooma premier, which seems to add some useful features such as the second line; once the Ooma premier free trial runs out, you lose the second line. I plugged the phone jack outlet on the Ooma base into my wall phone jack, so now all of my phones function just as they did when I had a landline that cost around $25/mo, with another $10/mo or so in government taxes and fees... Did I mention the Ooma phone service is free?
*UPDATE* Sept 17th: I have not noticed any difference between the Ooma and the land line it replaced. Call quality is great, no phone issues (outages, missed or dropped calls, etc). We get free nationwide long distance, so now my wife can call her brother in California any time she feels like it.
We have free caller ID now too... we never had it before because we just didn't want to spend extra money for features we could do without. Well, the caller ID has been a blessing... now I do not answer almost 99% of our calls, which are usually from my mother-in-law or my wife's friends; thank you caller ID!
We did not sign up for Ooma premier, just the basic. So we have no phone bill whatsoever. I cannot imagine this will sit too well with the federal & local governments when they see the loss of revenue from telecommunications taxes... it will be pretty hard for the FCC to tax a free service, but I am confident that they will legislate a way to do it.
*UPDATE* Dec 12th, 2009: There will probably be no need for me to provide any more updates. The Ooma phone is still going strong, the call quality is excellent, and it is still 100% free!
I purchased two more Ooma Hub & Scout packages, one as a Christmas present and one to be placed in a Florida vacation rental property. Since cancelling my landline back in July, I have had the Ooma long enough now to have recouped my initial investment.
I read on a website somewhere that the Ooma business model is flawed, and that Ooma has to pay a small recurring fee for every phone number it provides. The blogger said that ultimately Ooma would not be able to provide free service indefinitely, and would either go bankrupt or have to start charging a service fee.
It looks as though there may be some truth to this, as along with the introduction of the new Ooma Telo device (which is replacing the hub & scout combo)... there will be a $1.00/month service charge for the FREE Ooma service plan. In my opinion, this is nothing to complain about however... once a fee for service is initiated, the door has just been opened for GOVERNMENT to stick their dirty little fingers into the pie. Soon (mark my words), the $1.00/month FREE service will incur a 911 fee, number portability surcharge, service tax, etc etc etc etc... and before too long the FREE service will be $12.00/month instead of $12.00/year... from there it will just keep going until you have your old monthly bill back again.
Luckily, the OLD Ooma Hub & Scout combo will remain 100% FREE, and will be grandfathered in to the Ooma service. Only new purchasers of the Ooma Telo and beyond will be subject to the $12.00/year regulatory recovery fee.
I still think that even the 100% FREE Ooma users (such as myself) will ultimately be forced to pay some sort of telecommunications tax/fee, but for the time being and into the near future it will remain 100% free until the politicians re-write existing legislation so that they can tax free services.
*Update: November 30, 2010*
My Ooma is still going strong, and it is still 100% free. Call quality is great. I have a 2nd totally free Ooma in a vacation rental, and I no longer have to pay for my guests to have free nationwide phone service. Ooma has already re-paid my initial investment back several times over, gotta love the Ooma!
Customer Review: Bad customer service and false advertising
Summary: 1 Stars
I brought this product last year. For some odd reason, after 6 months the hardware went out. It took out my DSL modem in the process. I had a neighbor who is an A.T.&T. tech come out with three lap tops and three DSL modems too.
He tested it under the same conditions, it was to Ooma system gone bad, he tested just the system and told me the hardware was bad. He had the tool and works with the stuff every day. The last test, we hooked it all up the same. But before the DSL modem went out we unplugged it. It seemed that under all tests you could not plug in the Ooma unit to your system and if you did you would loose you internet connection every time. Leave it hooked up long enough.
I am a disabled vet and this is my only phone, I am on fixed income. I wrote Ooma for two weeks and got know reply. Finally at the end of the two weeks, I got some stupid message to call, well I could not do it. I wrote that in my e-mails. I always wrote, this was my only phone, what should I do (Ooma's warranty is one year) But they do not sell their own product, third party distributors do. So you cannot send it back and not one of their distributors has more then a 30 day return policy, nothing about replacing a bad unit. So that is how they get out of replacing a bad defective unit, Ooma's return policy it to take it back to the vendor, well when the vendors policy is 30 days and Oomas is a year. That is a shrewd way to get out of you commitment if you get a defective unit.
I wrote Amazon asking them what I should do and I got one heck of a response, they were more then accommodating. I told here in an e-mail the entire story. The customer service lady told me she would send out another product at no charge. There return policy was 30 days and it was 6 months when the units hardware went out within Oomas warranty range but after Amazons. The after I get the unit hooked up and start a new account its been three weeks Ooma finally responds, in each of my e-mails I have told them that was my only phone I cannot call their customer service I had to e-mail. But it should not have made a difference how I got in contact with them. So after three weeks this idiot, tells me I need to call him, so they can run some test. I wrote back and called him an idiot. I said what part of this is the only phone I have. They never even read my whole e-mails, all 5. So I love the product, if this can make it past 6 months wonderful. Customer service sucks, not only do they no respond, they do not even read you entire problem. The agent at Ooma asks me to call, when I have clearly stated I have no phone, I cannot call. So given they are a start up company, I have to take that into account. But I am sorry they have been around long enough there customer service should not be so pathetic. You I am taking a chance with another Ooma box, hope it last longer then 6 months, if not. Well then I would not recommend them and if you have problems and need customer service, they guarantee, within 24 hours. I got my reply in 3 weeks. So that is purely pathetic. I would not recommend this company period, until they get there act together. It is like a new model car, you do not get it the first year it is out, you wait till like the third year it is out, till they work out all the bugs.
Same with Ooma. As for Amazon, coodos to them, being disabled and not having any phone. The listened and did not have to but did send my out another unit in record time, against there own return policy. I give them no stars based on they lie about there warranty policy, the way they sell it makes it impossible to keep, there customer service say a reply guaranteed in 224 hours. Well not only this time but others, I have never received a reply in 24 hours. There product is iffy. When it works it is great. If I loose a second unit, then the product needs to be re-looked at. I am on fixed income, so this my only option now. So like I said it works great while it works, how long will you box work, it may have been one in a million. but there policies on there site is false advertising and there customer service is pathetic.
Customer Review: Good, but no phone card from them still.....
Summary: 5 Stars
The Good:
YOu can call everywhere in the USA
You can call overseas for about the same cost as Skype (no world plan though)
The VERY Shady part
When you first get the phone, you think it is SOO great, features like you get your voice mails to go to email in wave format. Naturally, you go and tell everyone you know about this GREAT new phone system you bought. This is the shady part, they do not "ask" you if you wanted to sign up for "premier-TRIAL", IT JUST COMES THAT WAY. I said from day 1 I just want "FREE". so at first you get all these features and get VERY excited. Then after 90 days BAM, no more Voice mail going to your email, BAM, suddenly BAM NO MORE SECOND LINE. BAM no call blocking, ETC. ECT. It is sorta like a Pyramid or MLM scheme. They keep getting new customers, and people keep recommending it... The people they told about it, tell 10 more people when they get their new phones. That is how the business keeps growing...
Update: while the phone system is great, I am still waiting on my $50 phone card I was promised. Don't try to do the resale thing to get a $50 card, you will never get it. Supposable, if you suggest a friend, they will give a a $50 international card, but good luck getting it. I am STILL waiting and emails go unanswered. SHAME, SHAME, SHAME!!!!
This phone system is truely a God Send. I basically plugged this thing in, put my few digit serial number in to register the unit. Hello Dialtone! I don't know why but the re-occuring charges are my pet peeve with traditional phone lines. With the $50 giftcard for international calls, this unit will cost me about $170. In a few months, the unit pays for iteself, and I save on phone calls for the rest of my life. My wife also calls overseas, so it is nice just to plug in some cash, and dial the phone to call anywhere in the world. For wiring I kept it simple, just plugged a cordless phone in, I will get more complicated as time permits.
E-mail and internet is free, why not the Phone? Actually, I called my ISP and demanded they give me a "DSL ONLY" line and to drop the old school type phone system. Not only do I have a cheaper monthly bill from XYZ phone company, but my speed is actually 5 times faster that I dropped the voice off, and had them upgrade my data. Really I am paying half and getting twice as much.
The free features are awesome, you can make it ring to another handset or cell. Have your voicemail and caller ID info forwarded to your mailbox. For someone like me always on the go, this is really a blessing.
What's more, for the annoying calls you can not only see them for free on your free caller ID, but you can block them for free. You can also sign up for a community blacklist feature, which is like a spam filter for phone calls. I mean, come on, what more can you ask for?
My big question with the free unit, I got a free phone number which I am now giving out to everyone. My big question was with the free line, if I am on a call what happens? Well, you can pick up the other line, because call waiting is free with the unit. You can also just forward it to your free voicemail.
The Scout, Ok what is this thing? It basically comes for free, and allows you to set up another phone in your house. Why would you want to do this? If you are on the Hub, and on a call, just tell your teen to pick up the phone on the scout and here they can dial out while you are still on the phone. Amazing, 2 outbound calls at once.
I was only paying 25$ a month for a phone I never used, just to have DSL. I can not imagine what someone who really uses the phone alot would save. Now that the calls are totally free, I am using the phone much much more!
UPDATE: I FINALLY GOT MY $50 card MONTHS AFTER HOUNDING THEM BY MULTIPLE EMAILS AND CALLS.
All in all it is good for making free phone calls if you had a Data connection, but that is IT. Forget about features unless you want to pay $100 a year.
Customer Review: Customer Support? What's that...
Summary: 3 Stars
My ROI took affect this month. Actually, my Ooma finally paid for itself last month which is one month longer than I had anticipated when I bought the device in June of 2009. It took 7 months for the device to pay for itself because it took an EXTRA month for Ooma to port my number over. OOMA CUSTOMER SERVICE? what is that? I never encountered a "customer rep"...just emails from BOTs with friendly names like "Cindy" who never responded directly to my emails...not even a, "Sorry for the inconvenience."
QUALITY OF SERVICE? Remember the old adage, "You get what you pay for." That is true in the case of Ooma.
Here's what I like and my gripes with Ooma.
GRIPES:
* Limited availability of phone numbers in my metro area.
* Device is not suited for installation in homes with a centrally located "multimedia" hub.
* 3-5 second delay after dialing a number before the number actually starts ringing.
* Poor online interface for registration of device and service setup.
LIKES:
* No more phone bills.
* On line logging of all calls.
* Free nationwide long distance.
* Low cost international calls.
* On line management of phone service.
* Call quality not much inferior to land-line.
GRIPES
SMALL AVAILABILITY OF PHONE NUMBERS
You would think that in Minnesota's major metropolitan area where there are 4 area codes that there would be good availability of phone numbers. WRONG! There were a total of 12 phone numbers. And NONE were in my area of the metro. So even though I didn't care to port my number, I had to do pay the extra $$ to have it ported.
At the time I registered and signed up, Ooma did not accept DISCOVER cards but no where did it state that. It was only after my number was supposed to have been ported and it hadn't happened that I contacted Ooma (via email) was I told via email that it didn't go through.
My network is centrally located--in the basement. Which means that until I ran a new network wire to my kitchen, my Ooma device was down there. I had to run up and down to see if there were any messages. In short, I now have to network jacks in the kitchen: one to connect the OOma hub to my cable modem and the other to connect my OOma to the phone network/wiring. Their diagramming for this type of connection was non-existent.
There is a 3-5 second delay from when you dial the phone number to when you actually hear the dialing go through. Try calling your cell phone. After dialing the number, there will be delay of about 5-7 seconds before your cell phone starts ringing. This isn't a problem for me but it isn't an issue on a land line.
WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THE OOMA
No more phone bills! This is my first month where my phone service is truly free (the last 9 months were the cost of my Ooma and my fiasco with them related to the number porting). So now, I am saving about $60 a month. Not too bad.
The quality of the calls can be likened to that of calls made using calling cards. Sometimes "distant" sounding and "delayed". Most of the time the calls are clear-although not as "crisp" as land line calls. Don't say it's my LAN or ISP connection: I'm running it on 16mbps (4+Mbps up and 16+Mbps down).
The rest of my LIKES don't need further explanation.
In short, I wouldn't give a BLANK recommendation to Ooma--it isn't for everyone. But for those who don't mind doing a little extra work, or don't mind some of Ooma's quirks, Ooma is a great to get "free" phone service. You're already paying for your ISP service, stop paying for your phone service.
Customer Review: switched to ooma from AT&T CallVantage
Summary: 5 Stars
I got the letter from AT&T CallVantage that they are discontinuing the service so I went with ooma. Didn't feel like messing with other complicated monthly plans or even more complex pay as you go plans. I like the idea of paying once and forgetting about it.
Setup was fairly straight forward (no manuals here...hehe). I plugged in the cat5 cable coming from the Verizon FIOS ONT outside direct to the "MODEM" port and my Linksys wireless router to the "HOME" port. I was surprised OOMA automatically configured itself with no intervention on my part and the blue light came on.
So far the only issue I have come across with this setup is that utorrent port test says my custom port is blocked. But torrents are downloading fine so maybe thats just a glitch with the port tester. I also have an xbox360 on my home LAN and Live works fine with this setup. (this maybe bit of an overkill but I put my Linksys in the ooma DMZ for good measure ...yes for those advanced users ooma has a management GUI much like a home router which can be accessed via setup.ooma.com)
I then connected the included splitter into the PHONE jack on the back of ooma. One line from the spliter goes to the wall jack and supplies "dial tone" to all the phone jacks in the house. I have cordless phones so not sure if just a regular non-powered analog phone would work so this is a your mileage may vary situation. (ooma apparently does not "officially" support this setup per conversation with tech support) But hey, CallVantage never "officially" supported this setup either. As long as it works thats what matters.
The other line from splitter goes to my fax modem in the PC which is again split off from fax modem to another cordless phone. So far everything works perfect with this setup.
I haven't hooked up the scout as I haven't come across a real need for it but may try it out later. Even if you don't subscribe to premier it can still be used to manage vmail from another room in the house.
After giving it a through trial for about couple weeks I did not notice any difference in call quality compared to CallVantage. Everything worked as expected... caller id, call waiting, vmail. About the only features I'll miss from CV is the scheduled do not disturb but hey maybe thats asking too much as I haven't seen any other providers offer it. Oh and I really with it had an integrated speaker phone but again, maybe thats asking bit too much from a Terminal Adapter.
So all working as expected, I finally started the port process to move my CallVantage number to ooma and to my surprise I did not have to fax anything in like some have stated. What I found from tech support is that it depends on the other company's policy on if a signed form is required and luckily CallVantage does not requir a signed form. Again YMMV on this one.
Speaking of tech support, during the course of few weeks starting with research before purchasing the unit to now, I called tech support three times (with various pre-sales questions...etc..just pick the option that you have the service already and they will talk to you anyways) and calls were picked up consistently within a few minutes and they were able to answer my questions.
All in all I am very happy with my purchase and have recommended it to my friends and colleagues. As for those who question the viability of the company, I say no one is ever safe with any company. There is always chance of a company going out of business like Sun Rocket or discontinue its service like CallVantage. In the end I think the cost savings justify the risk.