Ooma is great. We’ve been on it for years and have zero complaints.
If you’re resisting Ooma due to fear of losing your phone service when your Internet goes down, the following might help: (BTW, Comcast/U-Verse/TWC/Wow phone service has the same risk.)
The traditional phone companies want to dump their legacy phone services (POTS or “Plain Old Telephone Service”) because it is expensive to operate and is not in line with their new VoIP/TV/Internet offerings. You’ll see the POTS price creep up.
Plug your Internet Modem/Router into a backup battery/“UPS” (uninterruptible power supply). Some cable companies do this for their VoIP telephone services.
Or, add the $119/year Premier service which adds several great features, including auto-failover to your cell phone. If your Internet goes down, your landline calls ring on your cell phone.
If your internet or power goes down your line will go straight to voice-mail (if you don’t have premier with the auto forward feature activated). Most people who would need to reach me for an emergency have my cell number anyway. If it isn’t an emergency it can wait and then I can get the voice mail later from my cell phone.
I do keep my Ooma, my router and computer on a good UPS (backup power supply) which keeps them from having to reset every time there is a momentary power interruption. It also is good protection from power spikes and surges. Remember that Ooma is basically a small computer.
Our favorite Ooma Premier Service Features (optional extra $119/year… Ooma is great without Premier as well):
Both of us get texts on our cell phones when a new voicemail arrives.
Multi-ring landline calls can ring on our cell phones at the same time.
Second phone number - handy if you have kids or if like us run a business out of the home. We have the second number set to ring on a cell phone so those calls are never missed. You could also select a second number in a different state with lots of relatives/friends so they could call you without a long distance charge.
Automatic failover to cell phone when Internet goes down. I was camping once and started getting calls to our landline on my cell phone. Realized our home’s Internet was down.
@rlohnes, excellent advice on the spike/surge protection. Even if you do not want to bother with UPS battery backup, definitely plug your Ooma box (as with all other electronics like cordless phones, cell chargers, laptops, TVs, microwave ovens, etc…) into a reputable surge protector strip.
Remember, Ooma’s revenue, if you do not have the Premier Service, comes from selling you that Ooma box. Protect it and you’ll get many years of inexpensive, excellent service.
BTW, I spent about $50 for a Magic Jack and it seems to drop out at least 60% of the time. I need to make quite a few calls to promote my camera how-to books and audiobooks, and if I can use this more reliably, it will be great!
A co-worker has been using one of these for years and has nothing but praise for it. So, I wasted $50 on the MJ, but no sense paying for regular LD calls and pouting.
We’ve had one for several years now. (Bought on Woot! for $139 I believe…) Nothing but praise for this. In fact, my brother now has one, and we bought one a little over a year ago for my parents.
The REAL nice thing about it (and what my parents use theirs for) is that you can take the Ooma with you when you travel, and as long as you have internet access, you have your local phone number. They have a house in the Bahamas and spend about 4 months a year there. The Ooma stays there. Works flawlessly and calls from the States to the Bahamas and vice versa are free (less the minor $3-$4 monthly taxes). I CANNOT RECOMMEND THIS HIGHLY ENOUGH!!
My experience with MJ was very mixed. And the 911/taxes/fees issue has caught up with them since they now charge you if your community charges them for 911.
The only scenario where I might consider a MJ - if I travelled a lot and needed to take a landline with me since the MJ device is very compact. But that compactness means you don’t have all the handy voicemail access buttons like on an Ooma box.
Another handy use for these Ooma/MJ VoIP boxes - if you’re moving to another state after living in a home for many years… And don’t want to risk losing touch with people who know your old phone number. Port your old number over to the MJ/Ooma box and take the box with you to your new state. Then you can decide to kill the number once you’re confident everyone knows your new number. (Note, taking your old number to the new state as your main new home number might not make sense if you want a local to the new location phone number.
The Ooma VoIP router system also works well as a mobile phone system for those that travel.
As long as you’ve got shore power (a place to plug the Ooma router in and a phone to plug into the Ooma phone jack) along with good I-net connectivity, the system will perform just like it does at home.
For extended stays such as long term RV’ing at locations with good WiFi service (need the Ooma WiFi adapter for non-wired WiFi connection), it saves a fortune over monthly cell phone bills.
I’ve been using one of these for over a year and it works great.
Note that they require a 110VAC to work and, since you’re going out through your cable line, your modem has to be powered too. Depending how you’ve set your Ooma up, you may have to power your router.
I keep all the components plugged into a UPC. That way, when the power goes down, I’m still able to use the phones (presuming that the cable line itself hasn’t gone down).
Pluses with this method is that you’re providing some surge protection to the components and the power draw is low so the UPC can keep it up for quite a while.
I have this ooma (they recently had a friends and family deal for $99)… paid the $39 to port my number… took about 2 weeks. I already had one of those v-tech cordless phone sets… one base unit that plugs into a phone jack and then 3 or 4 other handsets that just plug into a power source… they all work the same as they did previously when the base unit is plugged into the ooma.
I have had the Ooma Hub for about 3.5 years. I paid just around $100.00 for it. Since all I pay is <4.00 per month for phone I have made my money back - and then some.
No issues with call quality. It works great. I do not have the premier and there is one thing I do not have. That is caller id. Or should I say NAMED caller ID. It shows what number is calling but there is absolutely no way to get a name. The workaround is I add every number that friends and family have, and put it into the phonebook of my phone. It’s more for the wifey then for me - but isn’t that always part of the hurdle with these things.
Do you get NAMED caller id with the telo (with free service?) If so - then I may grab one.
I’d like to second (or 3rd or 4th, etc.) the great reviews from everyone else here. I’ve owned this for about 4 years and have zero complaints. I use a Vtech 3 phone set up and it works perfectly. A lot of people think I’m crazy for having a land line but there’s a lot of convenience in having one phone number that’s associated with the entire family. That way I don’t calls on my cell for my wife, and it’s a great number to use for rewards programs, etc.
@HulaGirl, our use of faxing is subsiding but we do run into cases where it is necessary.
We have no problems with faxing. But there are some prefix codes you can enter in front of the fax number to improve faxing if the other end is having difficulty receiving. Note that all VoIP services (cable phones as well) are Digital while Fax is conveyed via Analog, so VoIP can be a problem with them.
I recall seeing that Ooma had done some optimizing of their network to recognize and properly handle faxing.
I don’t recall ever seeing Ooma available from authorized retailers for less than $79. Woot is an authorized Ooma retailer.
So don’t go looking for better deals on Craigslist or eBay. You’ll end up paying Ooma a hefty activation fee ($60-80?) to use that Ooma box.
Note that Ooma’s revenue model is selling the Ooma box and optional Premier service. Without the Premier service, their only revenue from you is your purchase of the box. (Monthly tax/fees get passed thru to the government.)