ooma Review: P2P VoIP with a risky twist

[Unregistered]

i was reading up on the ooma device. i think i understand now how it works. btwn majic jack and ooma...the pc doesn't have to be on all the time. couple of qs... can we use ooma to provide connection in all the phone jacks around the house...or only two phones...1 wth the base set and the 2nd wth the hub? and what can i expect expense wise..othedr than the initial cost of $229? or is there anything better out there to get away from $50/mo land line?

 

[branon]

Using Ooma

Have been using Ooma for a month now. To answer some of your questions
a) You can always by one of those multi handset cordless systems. In that case you do not even need the scout.
b) They charge you $40 for porting your no. unless you want to sign up for their $99 annual premium service which includes a lot of interesting but not necessary stuff. In that case number porting is free.



FYI - call quality is the same as a regular landline in my opinion.

 

[mgraves]

I'm told that Ooma will eventually exceed POTS line quality when their new cordless phone hardware ships in September. It's DECT 6.0/CATiq based so has G.722 wideband capability built-in.

When calling other Ooma users the call quality will be startlingly good. Every bit as good as my Gigaset S675IP cordless phones.

Michael Graves

 

[JackMiller]

Have been using Ooma for a month now. To answer some of your questions
a) You can always by one of those multi handset cordless systems. In that case you do not even need the scout.
b) They charge you $40 for porting your no. unless you want to sign up for their $99 annual premium service which includes a lot of interesting but not necessary stuff. In that case number porting is free.

FYI - call quality is the same as a regular landline in my opinion.

I got a residential VoIP service and its free and the quality is just as good as any landline I have used.

 

[jimm1909]

Have been using Ooma for a month now. To answer some of your questions
a) You can always by one of those multi handset cordless systems. In that case you do not even need the scout.
b) They charge you $40 for porting your no. unless you want to sign up for their $99 annual premium service which includes a lot of interesting but not necessary stuff. In that case number porting is free.



FYI - call quality is the same as a regular landline in my opinion.

Are you still using ooma? Seems pretty similar to Magicjack in my opinion. What do you think?

-Jim

 

[stevech]

Isn't Ooma PC-independent?
MagicJack IIRC runs on a PC and is cheap because of ads and perhaps they collect/send your activities with marketing value.

 

[Az Syndicate]

Been on Ooma for about a year now.

I ported my old Teleco line over to my Ooma unit. So basically I have same old number I have had for 15 years now.

I have older white ooma unit. It works great. I have the LAN line plugged into it to give it network. I have the omma's Tele out plugged into my house wall jack. This basically make all the jacks in my house work like they used to, ie you plug in any phone and it has signal. BE AWARE YOU NEED TO DISCONNECT your old telco line on the outside of your house. That is as simple as opening the side of the box with the phillips screw driver. Then unhook the CAT3 cable lines.

I think the service is great. I do sometimes get a bad connection where I need to drop and call again. Sometimes I have an echo on the line, once again I can drop and add again. Lastly their can be a noticeable delay especially when talking to other VoIP lines that are not OOMA.

I am will to deal with that all for not having to pay a monthly fee. I work from home and I am on the phone about 4 hours a day. I use Ooma every day.

 

[Unregistered]

I have the LAN line plugged into it to give it network. I have the omma's Tele out plugged into my house wall jack. This basically make all the jacks in my house work like they used to, ie you plug in any phone and it has signal.

Could you please explain your setup in more detail. I don't understand how plugging Ooma into your wall jack gets the signal to other wall jacks in your home. Does the Ooma work like a Powerline network adapter that uses the electrical wires to transmit ethernet?

 

[edall]

Isn't PC-independent?
MagicJack IIRC runs on a PC and is cheap because of ads and perhaps they collect/send your activities with marketing value.
Stevech

_
I always wondered how Magic Jack was able to do it so cheaply (inexpensive)...
That makes sense...ADS!!!!! Dah...
Thanks for helping me figure that one out

 

[leegold]

___________
I'm told that Ooma will eventually exceed POTS line quality when their new cordless phone hardware ships in September. It's DECT 6.0/CATiq based so has G.722 wideband capability built-in.

When calling other Ooma users the call quality will be startlingly good. Every bit as good as my Gigaset S675IP cordless phones.

Michael Graves

_____
Curious to hear if anyone on this board has tried the new Ooma cordless phone hardware and wondering how you like it?
Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

 

[edall]

_____
Curious to hear if anyone on this board has tried the new Ooma cordless phone hardware and wondering how you like it?
Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

Hi,

I finally did it...

The Ooma hardware is well designed, with thoughtful touches like a built in speaker for listening to voicemail and a brightness control so that you can turn down the brightness of the unit in a bedroom. The hardware comes wonderfully packaged like a product from Apple and includes just about any of the cords you might need to get everything connected with your existing service.

Setup was quite easy. You have to get online and activate the Ooma Hub unit by entering the MAC address on the bottom of the unit and telling Ooma what kind of service setup you are doing, such as whether you will use Ooma with an existing line, get a new phone number, etc. They don't even need your credit card and you are activated.

If you are getting a new phone number then you are essentially done at this point. You get a new phone number to use, and you connect the Ooma hub to your home network. Ooma recommends you put the Ooma hub between your Cable or DSL modem and your home router (if you have one). The reason for this is that it allows the Ooma unit to manage your outbound internet traffic and make sure your phone calls are optimized ahead of other traffic, so that phone calls always have priority, sound good and work properly.

If you have a more sophisticated home network router than can do traffic shaping, recognition of IP audio, etc (some of the top of the line D-Link models have these "QoS" features built in) then you can simply plug the Ooma hub into such a router and get good results.