Ooma Telo VoIP Home Phone System w/ Linx

As long as you never plan on cancelling your service, ooma is fine. I have spent HOURS on the phone with their ‘customer service’ trying to get them to stop charging me for service (which I stopped using months ago). Think carefully about this!

“As one of the poster said, so long if you have a reliable internet connection and it is fast enough, nothing beats $5/month.”

I pay $35 A YEAR for MagicJack or under $3 per month. Is there a reason to switch?

MagicJack requires the use of a computer and software. If you have a home computer that’s on 24/7 anyway, stick with MagicJack. If you are leaving your computer on and awake 24/7 just for MagicJack, you are probably paying more for the additional electricity than you think (hundreds of dollars a year).

Also, Ooma’s support is great. From what I hear, MagicJack’s is virtually non-existent.

I got an Ooma form amazon about 3 years ago. Love it - 0 complaints. Bought a second set for my mom’s house about 2 years ago, and recommended my sister in law to get one, she did. All good, and we all save mad money on phone service. Here is the slight downside. Since you dont need phone, you cant get a good bundle discount on remaining ‘internet-TV’ that you still need to get. You still save $ overall, but its annoying that the high speed internet that used to be $39 is now $59 or more. My time-Warner bill only went down less than $20.

If you get the premium service, you can use the Android app that lets any Android device become a VOIP phone without using any of your voice minutes. It works on wifi or 3/4G connections. I have it on multiple devices and they all ring when I get an incoming call on my Ooma number.

Reviewing the app page, it doesn’t seem to say anything about needed premium, so maybe its not needed anymore.
The reviews there are mixed, though. Looks like the app has problems on some devices.
Also the app used to be $10 but its free now.

Find it here

Can someone please clarify what the linx unit is and actually does?

The app itself is free, but using it for incoming calls requires Premier service. Apparently you can use it for outbound calls without Premier, however.

I do pay for Premier and find the extra features worthwhile. I like being able to receive calls while I’m out, and I do use the second number (voice, for now, but with the Linx I’ll be using it for faxing as there are still rare occasions when I need that). You also get enhanced call screening (telemarketing blocks), and you can port your old number for free. My voicemails also show up in my email, although that’s not necessary when you have the app installed and can listen to your home voicemails through it.

FWIW, the app is also on iOS. It’s almost identical to the Android version, except that on Android it is easy to confuse voice mails and missed calls because they look exactly the same in the notification list as those that have come in via the device itself.

The information is here.

Basically it provides a “wireless” phone jack. If you have the basic service, you can use it to plug in a wired phone elsewhere in the house (i.e., in a room other than where the Ooma device lives). If you have Premier, you can assign the Linx to a second (or third, or fourth) number. When a call comes in to that alternate number, it will ring the phone connected to the Linx rather than the phone connected to the Ooma device.

The Linx unit gives you a second phone number which can be either a random number you select during setup, or for $40 they will port an existing second landline number you have to it.

We have the original Ooma, a Linx, and three handsets, and it’s the best money I ever spent. Ported both my number and my wife’s number to the system, and am using their Premiere $120/year service (plus the usual ~$5/month in taxes) to get endless features (the one fee for Premiere covers both lines).

The ability to manage the entire system with a browser, whether sitting at my desk or with my phone, is extremely handy. Tons of Premiere features, not the least of which is an EXCELLENT combination of a commercial and user-sourced spam call database that works REALLY well.

At this price for the hardware, this is a no-brainer for anyone who wants to cut their phone cord and save a ton of money while getting endless features.

The old MagicJack required the computer being on + software, but this is not true with the current model…it plugs directly into the router so the computer doesn’t have to be on to make/receive calls. It is true that customer service is not great, but, honestly I have had only a couple of problems, and they were resolved. I do like the fact that I have an option of renewing each year…it’s not automatic. So, if I want to discontinue, there shouldn’t be a problem with paying for service after I have discontinued. Someone mentioned that this was a problem with Ooma (see comment above).

Did anyone else receive their order without the linx? I just received my order and upon opening the box discovered the linx was not included. I wrote to customer service and im awaiting a response. I want to keep the ooma and requested they send me the linx that was supposed to be included. I know it sold out but hopefully they could accommodate me since I paid for an ooma with linx.

Uh oh! I’m really sorry to hear that your order arrived without the linx. Hopefully it’s just a one-off mistake that Customer Service gets squared away for you.

If anyone else has this issue, please contact Customer Service to report the problem right away. Thank you!

I GOT MY OOMA SYSTEM TODAY AND THE LINX WAS MISSING TOO,I E-MAILED CUSTOMER SERVICE TO. I SO HOPE THEY CAN SEND US ONE, I WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO SETTING MINE UP TONIGHT, I GESS NOT

Same issue here! No Linx. This isn’t what I was expecting… about to contact customer service.

same for me. No Linx.

Dang. Well, everyone please contact Customer Service. I’m going to start ringing the alarm bells here on my end to figure out what’s going on.

Missing Linx in mine too, contacted Customer Service.

Another incomplete order here, no Linx. Lets see what the excuse is from woot, I emailed their support already.

Hey all! We’re looking into why the Linx wasn’t included. Stay tuned.

(But go ahead and write into CS)

Mine was missing the Linx unit, too!