Ooma Telo VoIP Home Phone System Price: $79.99 Shipping Options: $5 Standard Shipping Estimates: Ships in 1-2 business days (Monday, Mar 03 to Tuesday, Mar 04) + transit Condition: Factory Reconditioned
Got one and everything looks good except for a small detail. Switching your phone number can take 3-4 weeks or more. And who wants the hassle of dropping your existing phone number? So plan ahead but don’t cut your phone or cable VOIP service until you have made that switch! I’m still waiting for confirmation of the phone number…
Just spoke with Ooma support and they will NOT grandfather in a free plan (the original Ooma Core plan). So I’m sticking with that unit until it dies then I’ll revisit the options at that point.
BTW, love the service and mine has been going strong for five years now!
I bought a refurbished unit in October of 2012 (for $99!), and even though they say it can take 3-4 weeks, my switchover took just 4 days.
One nice feature: we moved last month to a city 12 miles away with a different NXX. Moving our Ooma was easy, just plugged it into our new home’s router and we kept our old phone number. Just had to update the service address on the Ooma web site so that emergency responders know how to locate you in case of a 911 call.
I find myself in the unenviable position of having to shuttle back and forth between two houses. I’ve toted the same Ooma back and forth a few times now, but that’s getting old, and I’m sure I’ll forget it one of these days, and I don’t want to rely on cellphone exclusively. Does anyone here have any experience with multiple sites? I’ve read that I can get two numbers with two units, transferring locations on the Ooma website, so 911 operators know where I’m at. I was looking for a way to have the system ring at both sites anytime a single number is dialed, but I see now that wouldn’t be a good idea
because of 911. Anyone have experience with 2-unit setups?
These are great. We’ve had ours for over a year, and it works perfect as long as you’ve got dependable cable Internet. It’ll get a weird little glitch every once in a while, but nothing problematic.
Eighty bucks is a good price; we paid $100. Just keep a cell phone as a backup in case your power or cable goes out during the ice storm du jour and you have to call 911 about the hoard of frostbitten zombies scratching at your patio door.
Can you explain what you mean by this? Ooma service is still free. You just pay for the taxes which is a legal requirement. The taxes vary by state.
I’ve been using Ooma for a long time. I then had a lightning strike next door and it zapped many items connected to the network and the Ooma was one of those items. I bought a new one and they transferred my account from the old Ooma to the new one for free. I kept the same phone number.
Does it work with multiple phones? I have a VTech system. One main phone and 3 others that just plug into the wall and get their phone signal from the main one. Will that still work with Ooma or will have to buy additional receivers that work with Ooma?
I have had my Ooma for 3 years and love it. I have a wireless dongle (allows connecting Ooma anywhere your wireless router has good signal), a Linx (wireless box with standard phone jack) hooked to my DirecTv for caller ID display, two of the HD handsets from Ooma, and Premium ($120/year) for name CID, second number, community and personal phone blacklist, and other great things. I have a splitter off the back of my Ooma for Fax and a Uniden wireless base with 4 handsets. I have had no issues with my Ooma and love it. When I get a Voice Mail, I have the MP3 sent to my email address (Premier feature). Premier also allows me to get a second number that I have in my in-laws town so they can call for free to me.
Premier has a lot of other features I think are worth the $10/month I pay.
My monthly bill is <$14 ($3.50 tax 911 fee and $10 for Premier).
I am not affiliated with Ooma, just a very happy customer.
Note: You can only have 4 of their wireless accessories connected wirelessly to the unit. Either 4 HD2 handsets, 4 Linx, or a combo of them. There is no limit on wireless handsets if you plug your own base handset station into the phone jack and use your own units. The benefit of their wireless handsets is that it access both lines when the primary phone jack is in use allowing you to have 2 calls at the same time. Sorry so long, I never know when to stop.
Yeah, but then you ONLY pay taxes after that! what other telcom is essentially free? I love my ooma, and have had it for a couple years now, without any issue.
There is a way you could do it with two units but it would require the unit with your main number to have premier service. Set up the second unit with any phone number and then use the one with premier to either forward or multi-ring to the second number. That would also keep the second unit set up properly for 911 calls.
I got my Ooma about two months ago and I couldn’t be happier. The call quality is great and it only took 5 days for my number to port over (and that was over a weekend). I think the porting time depends on your local phone company and how willing they are to let you end your current service with them. Some of them draw it out as long as they can just to make another buck.
It really depends on your alarm monitoring company. You should call them to see if they support VOIP, specifically Ooma. When we got our Ooma, we had AT&T U-verse phone service, which is considered VOIP, and we have North Star alarm. North Star did not at that time officially support VOIP, but our U-verse worked just fine with it. Once we got Ooma, the system could not longer do its routine check-ins with the alarm company, and began beeping with an error message. We wound up going with a cell unit in our alarm system, which is slightly more expensive (like $6 a month), but it’s secure even when the phone/internet goes out, so that’s a win anyway. There are some tweaks and guides online, which help with compatibility issues as well.
The porting fee does sound high but if you compare it to Majic Jack it really isn’t. Majic Jack charges $19.95 to port plus an additional charge of $9.95 per year to keep it ported even though they don’t have to do anything each year on their side. With Ooma you pay $40.00 but you only pay once. There is no yearly charge to keep it ported.