Ooma. I'm interested in getting the ooma internet phone device?

Question

I'd like to learn about someones experience--good or bad, before I commit to it. I'm particularly interested in your experience with porting in a number from ATT. Also, do I need a device for each handset?

Answer 1

i would recommend against this service, it is way too much money to put down up front for a company that may or may not be around in 3 years...

take one of those old pcs that are laying around your home, reformat it and reinstall windoze on it and get yourself a magic jack.. and use this PC as a dedicated magic jack server...

or get vonage or something else..

its TOO expensive for a voip service no matter how you spin it...

Answer 2

I would not call the Ooma product/service a rip-off.

http://www.ooma.com/

If you compare what they are offering with what your local telco offers, it's a good deal.  If you want to talk about rip-offs, the PSTN Telco's are the rip-off monoply artists....

As a matter of fact, I predict that the Ooma "concept" is the future of VoIP and will succeed as a predominant method of phone service in the future.  Whether Ooma succeeds remains to be seen, but the "concept" that they are offering is definately "the future in VoIP home phone services".

Technically, the Cable companies are already offering a similar service with their "bundled" Internet and Digital Phone service  But at a higher price.  Ooma offers you an "unbundled" digital home phone service (VoIP) at a reasonable price.

Ooma does not require a PC to use it.

Remember, with Ooma you are buying VoIP appliance hardware which includes a VoIP telephone ATA with built-in router/ATA.  So, you will own the equipment, no strings.  Plus, it includes Unlimited USA calling for 3 years with e911 and all the bells and whistles.  True enough, you don't know what they will charge for continued unlimited phone service after the 3 years.  But, with VoIP the competition is fierce, so they can't afford to charge very much after that, due to competition pressures.

As far as the hardware, most computers and electronics devices these days become Obsolete after 3 years anyways....  

Ooma is providing a very similar service to the Panasonic GlobaRange JOIP Phone.

http://www.joip.com/NonMember/hp.aspx?co...

http://www.joip.com/NonMember/phoneFeatu...

Ooma and Joip are just the beginning of the "appliance based" VoIP home phone services we will see in the future.

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As far as your question about porting your phone number (LNP - local number portability), that can take from 2 weeks to 2 months.  It is a complicated process that takes co-operation between your new service provider (Ooma) and the old service provider (AT&T).  In part how seamless the process is depends on how cooperative AT&T is with the request from Ooma to port your phone number to their service.

When it comes to LNP, never disconnect your current phone service before you get the number ported to the new service.  LNP can only be implemented if you are "currently using the number".  It doesn't matter who you port your number to, this holds true and the process is the same.

Answer 3

I would use CAUTION, thats a lot of $$ to put out up front.  I advise that you go to site and read the terms and conditions.  You have NO rights and no protection under the law if you agree to their terms.

Read the small print, it looks like you will wind up with a 3 year contract.

NO WAY in H*LL would I use this company.  I certainly would not surrender my current number to them.

quote from their site

(** Your one-time purchase of the ooma Hub™ device means you won't owe monthly charges to ooma for unlimited calling in the US using the ooma system for at least three years. There may be calls, such as 411 calls, where there is an associated transactional service fee, in this case currently $0.99. ooma will provide a list of those numbers and the associated fees on its Web site. Extended functionality of the ooma Instant Second Line requires a one-time purchase of an ooma Scout™ device for $39.95. For further restrictions see ooma's Terms and Conditions on its Web site.)end of quote from their site.

$249.00 up front for thier equipment

39.95 is for the 2nd line

Save $1600.00  that is a way inflated figure spread over 36 months.

I'd call Ooma  Misleading, that's free enterprise

There are better VoIP service out there.

Just my thoughts, just be careful