Customer Reviews

Ooma Core VoIP Phone System

5 star:		(609)
4 star:		(113)
3 star:		(41)
2 star:		(32)
1 star:		(82)

 

 

I have been a Vonage customer for three years and suffered through all of their growing pains. At $25 a month though for unlimited service I thought I would check to see what other options were available and decided on giving Ooma a try.

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.

After plugging in the Ooma to your home network you simply connect a home phone to the Ooma unit and you are pretty much ready to go. There is an "ooma music" dial tone you will hear when you make or receive a call. This is one of the ways Ooma lets you and others know you are using their system and is sort of a free advertising that lets people know you are using this service.

You can plug the Ooma hub back in to one of your home wall jacks and then connect the Ooma scout unit in to another jack in the house so that you can use a 2nd phone there. The scout can even be configured to only ring on a 2nd line, have it's own voicemail, etc... this is possible because the Ooma hub has a built in DSL network system in it that allows it to communicate with the scout units over your home phone wiring. This is very sophisticated compared to other VoIP vendor offerings. You can add up to about 20 scouts on the system and keep adding lines, etc, but obviously there are bandwidth and practical limits that you might run into in such a scenario.

If you are porting a number things get a bit more complicated. After indicating I wanted to port my number I was informed on their website that I needed to call them to complete the porting process. The agent I reached was a bit confused and kept insisting I should just use my existing phone service with Ooma. About the 3rd time of telling him I just wanted to get my number ported he got the paperwork started up. They email you some forms a few days after activation that you need to fill out and fax in to get your number ported, which takes a few weeks. In the interim you are assigned a temporary number to use and you can plug your existing line into the Ooma hub and it will take your inbound calls and route them through the Ooma system. There is a $40 charge for porting your existing number but Ooma will waive this fee if you sign up for the $99 premier service that includes a 2nd phone number plus additional features. Ooma advertises that you can keep your original home service as a backup line, so that your phone works even if the Internet is down, but in my experience Internet service is at least as reliable as my old school home phone line. Anyways, it's your choice.

In my case I elected to port my number, but didn't connect my old line to the Ooma Hub (as the agent insisted I do), I simply forwarded the number to the temporary phone number that Ooma assigned to me during the porting process.

Ooma offers a full suite of software features such as "simulring" (ring a cell or 2nd line at the same time your Ooma phone is ringing), magical "2nd phone line" from another phone on the system when the 1st line is busy, etc. You can control your entire Ooma system from the "Ooma Lounge" which is basically a web page you can access from anywhere that lets you control your Ooma system, features, additional numbers, caller ID, etc. You can learn a lot more about these features on Ooma's website so I won't go into them in great detail since this review is long as it is.

Sound quality on the Ooma is very very good. My mom who is used to hearing me talk on my Vonage line immediately noticed how much better the service was. Sound quality should be excellent provided you connect the Ooma equipment properly.

I would strongly recommend this service to anyone with even a basic technical ability. If you simply need the "basics" of phone service such as call waiting, caller ID and voicemail, Ooma will be a one time purchase. Their premium services are also very nice and reasonable at only $99 a year (sure beats paying Vonage $300 a year for similar features).

One question that keeps coming up is how Ooma can make money with this model. The answer is that Ooma makes money when you buy the system hardware and also makes money when you subscribe to the $99 premium service. There's no saying that they won't increase the price of the premium services at some time in the future. Also, I wouldn't be surprised to see Ooma come up with new tempting hardware offers down the road such as better "scout" and "hub" units that offer features such as video calling between Ooma subscribers.

I am a voice over IP engineer and can certainly recommend the Ooma service, it's a great option compared to spending $30-$60 a month for basic phone service with your local phone company. Ooma supports E-911 for emergency calling, and if you are really worried about having a phone line during a power outage simply connect your cable modem, Ooma Hub and cordless phone system to a UPS Battery Back UP and you will have power for at least an hour during a power loss since all those devices will be running on battery.

I highly recommend this product and the model that Ooma are starting to put together to move beyond the "bell head" phone system that we all grew up with.

12/16 update//

I wanted to provide an update to my review and answer a few additional questions. My number port was completed by Ooma almost exactly three weeks after the request which is fantastic. When the porting request is completed you start to log into the Ooma Lounge with your "real" phone number versus the temporary one that Ooma assigns to you.

I had no issues setting up my 2nd line either. Simply select from available numbers in the area code of your choice and tell Ooma how you want the call handled when it comes in (if you want it to ring to a particular hub/scout, have its own voicemail, etc). Now on to a few questions and/or mis-information I have seen about the Ooma system.

1. I have seen a lot of posts comparing Ooma to Magic Jack. There is no comparison. Magic Jack is a USB adapter that requires a PC running 24/7 to handle your phone calls. PC crashes, no phone. Want multiple lines/scouts... too bad. The Magic Jack is a toy compared to Ooma. Additionally Ooma's basic features are far superior to Magic Jack and requires NO FEES! With Magic Jack you do have to pay annual fees for unlimited calling. So Ooma will actually be cheaper in the long run for most users!

2. I have also seen reviews indicating that Ooma works well, but choppy voice is experienced when using the Internet. This is caused by incorrect installation of the Ooma hardware. Ooma hub must be installed BETWEEN your cable modem and your home router or it cannot prioritize your telephone calls for good quality! The only exception is if you have a home router that prioritizes your voice traffic, such as some higher end models. If in doubt you must put the Ooma directly behind your Cable or DSL modem to get the optimum performance!

3. I have also seen people comment that you can't use multiple phones with the Ooma system. This is only partially correct. If you want to use scouts and the features they offer (have a 2nd or 3rd number ring in to a scout, etc) then yes, you would need a scout for each phone you want to use with Ooma. However, if you just want a "shared line" (like regular home telephone service) then you can simply plug your Ooma Hub into your home phone jack and plug in as many other phones as you want. This will prevent some of the advanced features from working, but will basically work like a Vonage system, etc. Obviously many people have multiple handset wireless systems these days so they will just plug their wireless base station into the Ooma Hub and use scouts for other phones.

4. Someone asked me the question if I work for Ooma since I've commented in many reviews. The answer is no, I don't work for Ooma but I am a very satisfied customer and a voice over IP engineer with 13 years of industry experience. Ooma is the best residential voice over IP system I've ever seen and I very much would like them to succeed and offer their superior service for decades to come. The only way this will happen is with strong word of mouth advertising from professionals such as myself!

2/28 update//

There have been numerous questions and a lot of confusion about "how to wire" the Ooma unit with multiple phones in the home. I will try to address that here. The Ooma Hub has two separate jacks on it, one for connection to a primary telephone and a 2nd one for connection to your home phone wiring. There's no reason you can't take the primary phone jack and split it to as many phones in your home as you like. However, be aware that if you do this you will be unable to use Scout units with those phones for their own phone line, voice mail, and other special Ooma features. Personally I take the Ooma Hub to my home fax/printer, then back out to my primary home telephone. I then connect the 2nd jack on my Ooma Hub to my home phone wiring and then put the scout at another wall jack elsewhere in the home.

The bottom line is that if you want to use the Scout units (remember one is included with the system) then ALL phones that need their own line connection will need a scout at the wall jack and you will need to wire the Hub to your home wiring as described above. (you could actually re-wire all of the jacks in your house and put the scout feed on some of them and the hub on others but that is FAR beyond the scope of this review). If you do not want to use the scout units, then you can simply split the phone jack out of the hub (they even give you a splitter) and plug it back into your home wiring, then use as many additional telephones, just like regular home phone service.

5/22 update//

Two things I've seen posted about Ooma are disingenous. I wanted to comment briefly about them.

1. Ooma has limit on number of minutes. Yes, in the fine print, Ooma says there is a 3000 minute a month limit. However, it's worth noting that Ooma has never cut anyone off for using too many minutes. The whole point of limiting number of minutes is to prevent telemarketers or other high volume businesses from abusing the Ooma service.

2. Ooma isn't free. The following Ooma features are "free". Unlimited local and long distance calls one one phone line. Caller ID and Call Waiting with Caller ID. Review of phone lines online. Voicemail. The following features command a $99 per year premium per additional line for the Ooma Premium phone service;

a. Simulring (ring another phone along with your Ooma line)
b. Magic 2nd line (automatically access extra line with a phone from another scout or hub on the Ooma system when 1st line is busy)
c. Blacklists (join or create custom reject lists for telemarketers, etc)
d. 2nd phone number
e. 3 way conferencing
f. Message Screening
g. Voicemail forwarding (to email, etc)
h. Custom Ringers

And a few other features. Are these features great? Yes. Are they worth $99 a year? Yes. Do you need them to enjoy great FREE service with Ooma which still includes better features than you get from the phone company for $45 a monthg? NO!

If you don't need these additional features then according to the 'fine print', Ooma is no charge for a period of at least three years.

/// Update 3 - 10.34.09

The new Ooma Telo equipment is out, and apparently Ooma is now charing $11 per year after the 1st year to cover taxes and regulatory fees for new subscribers. Current subscribers still get free service and apparently will forever. The Ooma premier service with 2nd phone line is new $119 per year so the price on that has gone up a bit too.

/// Update 4 - 8.01.10

I have now been using this Ooma device for about 20 months. My total out of pocket cost for two phone lines for two years of service has been about $400 including the purchase of the Ooma system. Previous to this I was paying about $60 a month for two lines, so I would have spent about $1400 with traditional phone service over the same period. So, despite all of the predictions of Ooma going out of business and other similar doom and gloom, I have saved about $1000 with this setup compared to a traditional phone line.

It's also worth noting that in the entire time I've had the system I've had maybe 2 or 3 outages that lasted for any appreciable period of time. Typically the system just works, day after day, month after month without even paying attention to it.

01/20/2009
QUICK NOTE: Jason M. Page has a great review above my review...you should read it also.

UPDATED 12/17/2008
We dropped DSL and moved OOMA's to Cable Modem Service...

ORIGINAL REVIEW:
Hello All,
I bought an OOMA about 8+ months ago with one scout (added a 2nd system later on). Here is our setup.
1. NO LANDLINE required.
2. Using with Cable Broadband on Comcast.
3. Two OOMA Hubs (personal and business) and 2 OOMA Scouts.
4. 2 x 2 Line Panasonic Cordless system to use dual line capabilities.
5. Wired into home wiring so as to avoid unsightly clutter of hardware.

FIRST SYSTEM (Personal Use):
The OOMA hub is plugged in to our Apple Extreme Basetation, out of sight out of mind. Gave the OOMA internet access through the router and voila...phone service is live. NO land line is required. I know OOMA says you can use your existing land line, but it is not a necessity to use this system. They will issue you a new number or port your number over if you do not have or want a land line.

We took line one of the OOMA hub (marked home) and wired it into our home wiring (line 1 - our home is wired for 2 lines)....again very easy and no problem - the phones in the house starting working at once.

Challenge - we have a 2line phone system - so how can you use OOMA with a two line system and use the 2 line features of OOMA.

Since line one was wired and working we needed to get line 2 wired. I took the line 2 out of the ooma hub (marked WALL), wired into home wiring (line 2 jack in the basement), and used the ooma scout to complete the phone line network this system creates.

Line one was already going into the panasonic, so the scout now allowed us to plug in line 2. Voila - 2 lines on a 2 line system with one scout and one telephone number. Its like call waiting on steroids.

NOTE: You can also get multiple numbers with different ring patterns to make this more effective.

The panasonic system has 4 handsets - so now no matter where we are we have a 2 line phone system without the need for more scouts.

The scout itself does everything the OOMA hub does in a small package....so its easy to put in the kitchen and or bedroom and have it look somewhat decent.

SECOND SYSTEM:
Simply used near a telephone in the basement/home office...no fancy setup...works great with a 2 line Panasonic System.

I hope this helps you in deciding to purchase this system. Please let it be known that I am a consumer...not affiliated with OOMA....I simply LOVE this product. I no longer have monthly bills and thus we have recovered the cost of this system already.

UPDATE 12/17/08
Still going strong. WE now have two ooma hubs and two scouts at home. One for personal use and one for business. Works great...no complaints yet. Our broadband is now all cable - about 10-12mbps down (comcast) and 1.5mbps up...sometimes more on down/up in burst mode.

OOMA has also added a bunch of new features for people on the premier plan...ie. community black lists. Basically a GREAT feature.....they have created a blacklist that is shared by all members so that we can all contribute to block useless telemarketing calls etc.....you send them directly to voicemail or block them all together. AWESOME!.

People have emailed me and asked if this system works for faxing....I dont know that I can answer that since I have not really tried sending/receiving faxes with it. Please do chime in and let us all know if it works.

I have also had questions about what I think of OOMA and the business model...while I do not know the specifics, I am not afraid of using it as there seems to be enough people contacting me about purchasing it...I feel that it will be around long enough for everyone to recover the cost of the system.

If you have specific questions, feel free to ask me via email at tchachra@yahoo.com. I will try and help....and just to be clear..I am not affiliated with OOMA at all....just a consumer via AMAZON!

QUICK NOTE: (THANKS DAVE)
It is important to understand that you should disconnect the wiring from the local telephone company coming into your house before you wire any VOIP device into your home wiring. Basically the phone company wiring carries current into your house and OOMA also outputs some level of current to your phone lines....too much could cause an issue.

First off , I want to say I have looked all over for any reviews I could find on the Ooma system before we made the purchase. I found numerous reviews in blog forms that almost looked as if they were started by Oomas competition, and not real life users. Many included false statements that you could verify simply by checking product manuals which are freely downloadable from Ooma without purchase. Most reviews from actual users are very good, with some exceptions of some that may jump in before getting all their questions and concerns answered first. Great reviews here and at some other major retail stores , take advantage of them we did. That is the main reason I am adding to reviews , hopefully to help others. I have tested our system with a few challenges to just see how far we can push the system with great results. These tests are below and may help some with similar questions.

We have cable high speed internet service with fast but not the greatest speeds, speed tested at 350-380 Kbps upload and 9850 Kbps download (checked at numerous speed test sites). My biggest concern was the ability to use our other connected products with the phone as well. I know the Ooma regulates the download and upload speeds to preserve the sound quality, but would it limit us too much? We have a PS3 , Wii , Netflix (watch instantly) , and cable phone service (soon to be removed) over and above the Ooma. Let me tell you we just hooked the Ooma up as suggested between our router and the cable modem and all is excellent. The hook up has been documented in other reviews so I wont go into great detail here, but it was very straight forward and quick. We were up and running in less than 20 minutes including activation online. I never adjusted the settings for the limits of the upload/download Qos , all was left at default settings.

The first call was to my sister out of state, while I was on one computer uploading photos to our web host and downloading other files from another. I received no drop in quality in sound and everything sounded perfect on my sisters end as well. I found out fast, that the volume on our phones needed to be lowered , the Ooma system is much louder and clear than our cable phone. This surprised us as we already lowered our volume on our phones when we switched to cable from traditional landlines. When I first turned it on and heard the Ooma dial tone it sounded a little distorted on my Uniden cordless. I was very concerned until I turned the volume down just a bit, and all was perfect. The sound in the room I was in was being picked up by my phone due to the greater sound of this system.

My second test was just a little more for testing limits, but actually occurs in our house fairly often. We began a movie from netflix online as watch instantly downloading to our laptop and viewing on our TV. Then I booted up our other laptop to work online for work, still no errors or glitches. I picked up a phone and called a friend will all three online two wireless to our router and the Ooma direct connected. No problems at all watching , uploading pictures or downloading while talking. This was a great result as I noticed some state they feel the were limited some by the Ooma hub.

The final test was our PS3 online gaming , with the laptop surfing on the web and the phone in use. Again the same great results, no problems at all. I felt the need to post our results and will update if we find things change or test further limits. We found no references to actual other products used in combination to help us with our purchase.

Some final thoughts I feel should be considered when thinking about this purchase.

Do you believe that Ooma will be around to recoup the investment of the purchase? At this price currently two hundred fifty or less it was easier for us to commit, less than 8 months to pay it off compared to our regular phone.

Does your internet service have at least 256 Kbps upload (minimum req). We have tested ours and it is normally 350 Kbps or a little better so we felt fine , and it has been perfect so far. Minimum requirements are not hidden , they are posted here as well as on the Ooma website and most other web retail locations.

If on the fence check out the Ooma website as we did before you buy . The forums are open to view and read about the problems , tips and solutions with out buying first. I know another reviewer said the forums are only after you buy , but that is not correct. We used the forums well before we became owners of the Ooma product. I don't believe you can post questions or use the detailed search , you can just read and see the responses. Some are very helpful , or were for us at least.

As with all reviews , "Your mileage may vary" but we love our Ooma and our only regret is that we had not purchased earlier. I don't write a lot of reviews but felt this product is well worth it. Besides the more people that buy and enjoy this system the stronger the company becomes and the longer I will enjoy our service as well as thousands of others. Remember they have a 30 day return plan in the event it is not what you like or your experience is not as favorable. I know we wont need be needing that for us. Updates will follow.

PS. Thank you Amazon for the great product , best price on the internet and fast Prime shipping. A++++

Background: I've been using numerous VoIP products for several years. These include Vonage, Skype, Yahoo! Messenger with Voice, VoIP Discount, and more. I feel very familiar with today's VoIP offerings and have a thorough understanding of Ooma's product. My current broadband setup is through a Comcast Cable modem. For the sake of comparison, I will use Skype and Yahoo! Messenger.

Setup: Ooma is extremely easy to install. A tech-savvy customer probably doesn't even need the instructions to set up Ooma. For the uninitiated, the included instructions are very clear and all the ports are easily identifiable. I can't imagine many people that would have a hard time physically setting up Ooma and activating the service on the company's web site.

Features: In addition to unlimited domestic calling, Ooma offers great features like caller ID, call waiting, and voicemail. These all work as advertised. I particularly like the voicemail notification options. Ooma also has premium services; for my calling habits, they're unnecessary, but I understand why some people would find them useful.

Domestic Calling: For me, this is where Ooma really shines. The call quality is fantastic -- definitely as good or better than calls I made through Skype or Yahoo! Messenger. The calls are extremely clear and I never had any connection issues. Considering the current price of the system, Ooma will pay for itself in less than a year if you compare it to all-you-can-eat offerings from phone and cable companies.

International Calling: When it works, it's very good. In terms of call quality, Ooma sounded significantly better than Yahoo! Messenger and on par with Skype. The Ooma rates are very competitive. For the countries that I frequently call, the rates were better than Skype (sometimes half the cost) and on par with Yahoo!'s. Unlike those services, you don't need to have a PC on to dial internationally. This is a huge feature for my household, since I live with people that want to make international calls but are not PC savvy.

Now for the bad news -- the international service has been spotty. I've been using Ooma service for more than a year. At times it works perfectly for international calls. At other times, it's very difficult to connect. There have been extended periods (sometimes weeks) where I've had to redial a number numerous times in order to connect an international call. Ooma's customer service was not helpful at all in these cases, offering advice like "dial the number slowly" and "don't use speed dial". I understand that this service is evolving and changes are made to it, but the main reason I'm taking a star off of this review is due to the inconsistent international service. While it has worked flawlessly for the last few months, I'm not comfortable relying on it without Yahoo! And Skype as backups.

Conclusion: Overall, Ooma is a great product and a fantastic value at its current pricing. It has served me perfectly for domestic calls. For international calls, the service is great when it works and frustrating when it doesn't.

I was a Vonage user for two years, and loved it; but how could I not try something which after 8 months would buy itself and would provide me free phone service, so I switched from Vonage to Ooma. The packaging for the device is fantastic: the device, packaging, and the manual looks like something Apple would make. The installation was very easy. Before you install the device, you need to go to Ooma website to activate the hub and setup a new phone number or transfer your current number. Everything is very simple. My choice was to pick a new number. I followed the simple instructions in the quick start guide. Ooma took about 2 minutes to go through initialization, and the device was up and running in no time. The voice quality is fantastic: to describe it, it's like having the person you are talking to on the phone standing next to you. It seems like the company has done its homework. The scout was easy to install as well: I just plugged it in a phone jack, and it automatically found the hub. The initialization took about a minute. I called Vonage to cancel, and they gave me 2 free months of unlimited calling. I used it to my advantage by automatically redirecting all of the calls from my old number to the new Ooma number for 2 months! You do not have to have a land line at all, which I think confuses some buyers. I am very pleased with my new service and would most definitely recommend it.

The Ooma Core offers the ability to use internet technology to talk over a real phone, at no charge within the entire US, to landlines and cell phones. You can move freely about the house with your ordinary cordless phone. All you need is a high-speed broadband connection and a phone.

I was terrified about making the plunge to switch from traditional phone to VOIP, so I spent much time researching the Ooma before I actually installed it. I was afraid that I'd be locked into a system that would make me change my phone number, would fail when the power or cable did, necessitate the purchase of a non-wireless phone, and would sound like a synthesized voice. Fortunately, Ooma offers a variety of configurations that allowed me to avoid all of the preceding.

Before you even begin to install the Ooma, you must make a choice about how you want to set it up: internet only versus through the land line; and using your home phone number versus selecting a new one. For a fee, you can choose to have your current number ported to your Ooma if you want to keep your current number and cancel your traditional service. (Ooma recommends waiting 6 weeks before canceling phone service because of the time it takes to transfer numbers.) Because you have to register your home address when you activate, Ooma supports enhanced 9-1-1.

Set-up, in the best possible circumstances, takes mere minutes, from internet activation (required) to hooking up the unit. The quick start menu is extremely clear and easy to follow. However, in the worst possible circumstances -- and this is what happened to me -- it may take days of head-scratching to find a way to make all the necessary connections possible. When I activated the hub, I chose to keep my home number and to use the Ooma through my land line so that I would still be able to make calls when the power and/or cable was out. What I didn't count on was the unique set-up in my house: few rooms have both phone jacks AND cable connections. Those rooms that do have both already have a television using the cable jack. Right now, I have a long telephone wire running across the floor of my bedroom, down the hall, and into the room that contains the cable modem. If I don't find a way to fix this or get extra phone jacks or cable outlets installed for a reasonable fee, the Ooma will be history. Ironically, a DSL hook-up is probably much easier than a cable one. If you have both a phone jack and open outlet near your cable modem, you'll be fine. Otherwise, you may want to choose your activation set-up to be internet-only.

If you have a cordless phone, you need only to plug in the base station, and all its extension phones will work, but what about your hardwired phones? The Ooma Core comes with one Scout, a hand-size extender that will connect an additional phone to the network and enable a second line. If someone is using the phone, all I have to do is push "2," and I get the signature Ooma dial tone, telling me that I can dial out. The Ooma comes with caller ID (you must have a compatible handset), call waiting, and voice mail. The Ooma Lounge, your internet management area, allows you to check voice mail from a computer. You can even set your preferences to have Ooma notify you via email or text when you receive a voice message. If I decide to keep the Ooma, I will remove all the extras from my regular phone service to cut costs. Those who are confident with internet-only service can cancel phone service altogether, although they will not be able to make calls when the internet or power is down.

With my set up, the best sound quality comes from the corded phone I have hooked up to the Scout. The cordless phones have noticeable background hiss. During prolonged conversations, sometimes the sound breaks up, as though someone were walking out of range of a base station or talking from a cell phone, even though it wasn't the case. I suspect this has more to do with the quality of my cable internet service (questionable -- which is why I chose to keep my land line) than with Ooma itself. My initial phone call to set up voice mail sounded crystal clear. Ooma recommends that faxes be connected directly to the Hub, not an option in my case because I cannot relocate mine to the room with the cable modem. I have kept it attached to the regular phone service.

The Ooma Core comes with a 60 day trial of Ooma Premier, a service that allows a second phone number and other enhanced features. Unless you sign up for Premier, however, you won't have to pay for anything beyond the hardware.

Although the hardware may seem pricey, it will pay for itself -- as long as Ooma stays in business. If you have a compatible jack/power/internet set up and excellent high speed internet access, you cannot go wrong with Ooma. If you have issues similar to mine, you might want to think twice about buying it.

-- Debbie Lee Wesselmann

Was not going to review ooma because in several hundred previous reviews, it would appear that it's all been said, no?

However, ooma has now come out with newer hardware, and as of October 1 2009 has changed their Terms of Service, causing much confusion among current and prospective owners.

This review mostly concerns the time period of October through December 31 2009, though parts of it may still be helpful in 2010 and beyond :)

To provide you with a quick background, I have had my ooma Core system for three months now. I was kind of surprised when I saw my purchase date, because I feel like I've used it for much, much longer. I have NO hardware experience, having always left it to someone else to set up computers, televisions, etc. However, I installed ooma myself, with a DSL modem and a router that are each maybe 10 years old, connecting it to my laptop network. When I replaced my laptop with a desktop, using a new combo modem/router, I again had no trouble installing ooma and connecting my other computers to my new network. For reference, I have Verizon DSL with 3 Mbps download speed, and I have always had perfectly clear phone reception without any discernable difference in my web surfing speeds. I never even had to take the extra Quality of Service steps in ooma's instructions. Prior to my ooma purchase, I had been a very satisfied Vonage customer since November 2006. I still recommend Vonage to those who are unwilling to pay for ooma hardware, as they only recently raised their rate in all that time, by only $2/month, and it's still a fantastic deal compared to traditional landlines. However, ooma is even cheaper, or even free, depending upon how many features you want/need, so I made the jump and hope to never look back. Porting our number from Verizon to Vonage was a nightmare in 2006, and I have seen many people still have issues, although the phone companies seem to be slowly coming out of their self-induced fog.

I recommend that if you already have DSL attached to the phone number that you wish to port to VOIP, that you either ask for "dry loop" DSL, or if they don't seem to understand that, that you cancel your DSL while keeping your voice number active (or you won't be able to port it), then re-sign up for DSL or whatever high speed internet is competitive in your area, without attaching it to your phone number. Make sure your phone number is voice-only, completely unrelated to your internet service, and THEN you can activate ooma and begin the porting process. Porting to ooma costs $39.99, or is included free with a Premier subscription. I'm not sure if there will be issues by beginning the porting process before December 31st and completing it after, so you may wish to do this soon or ask questions of your current provider and ooma relevant to your particular situation.

Now, on to the subject of my review. There are many reasons why some people should purchase the new ooma Telo system, and others should purchase the ooma Core (Hub and Scout) system. What I want to stress, right now, is that you choose to go with the Core, DO NOT buy the ooma Hub all by itself! You MUST buy the Core, which includes the Hub AND a Scout, even if you don't need the Scout, in order to retain ooma's original benefits.

Unlimited minutes with ooma is 5000 minutes per month. This is well over 2.5 hours of talking every single day, which the vast majority of regular users will never come close to. If you're trying to use it for business purposes, that's a whole other story. So if you'd like "unlimited" phone service, with free benefit-packed voice mail and no fees of any sort (other than original hardware purchase), then you should buy the ooma Core system while you still can. In ooma's online forums, ooma representatives have confirmed that people with the Core system who activate before December 31st 2009 will still receive the free voice mail, 60 day Premier trial, and will not be charged the new annual regulatory recovery fee of $11.75 that Telo users will now be paying. A person who activates or who has already activated their ooma Core system can purchase a year of ooma Premier before December 31st 2009 at the $99.99 rate, but the following years will be at the new annual rate of $119.99, still with no annual regulatory recovery fee. You can also, for an unspecified amount of time, purchase a "Lifetime" Premier subscription, for $349.99. This can be purchased on either the Core or the Telo, and covers that original equipment. If the equipment fails, you can extend your Lifetime subscription another ooma device, but it has to be the same type as originally covered, either Hub or Telo.

So if you are considering buying Lifetime Premier, then I recommend Telo, because it's more likely that equipment will still be around to replace your original equipment should it fail. While the optional Telo handset does optimize ooma's features, it is not necessary and you do not have to have the Telo handset for your ooma system to work. You can still use your original corded or cordless phone(s). This applies to ooma Core/Hub as well. If you are NOT going to buy Lifetime Premier, and ESPECIALLY if you do not wish to pay for phone service at all, then I suggest you buy the ooma Core. In contrast, if you buy just the ooma Hub, without the Scout, or if you buy the Telo, then voicemail will not be included for free. You will still get it with a Premier subscription, or it can now be purchased as a standalone feature for $49.99/year. This includes call screening (like an old-fashioned answering machine), notifications sent to your mobile phone if you desire, voicemail attachments sent to your email if you choose, a quick Do Not Disturb option, and a Send-to-Voicemail button.

I'm not going to list all the features because that's not only been done, but can be easily found on ooma's site. I will tell you what features that I personally enjoy, and why I'm a Premier subscriber instead of free. I love the voicemail screening ability, and the ability for my daughter to tell a caller that she's going to transfer them to my voicemail, push a button, and I don't miss an important message. I also love the Multi-Ring feature... I never have to worry about call-forwarding, because whenever someone calls my house, it rings my cell at the exact same time. One little annoyance here is that when I answer the call on my cell, that was originally placed to my home/ooma number, I have to quickly press "1" to accept the call, or the caller is disconnected. I don't understand the logic... If I have chosen to have it ring my cell, and I ANSWER my cell, then YES, I want the call! Why make me press another button at this point?

I also have it programmed to send people who have their Caller ID blocked to voicemail, without ever ringing my phone. I never liked the idea of completely blocking a call, so this is great! If it's important, then they'll leave a message, right? The Scout is not necessary, but if you wish, it can be used to provide you with your free second line (A Premier feature). If you are planning on getting a new phone number, instead of porting an old one, I recommend getting your free second phone number at the same time as your first, and this way they can possibly be sequential. I did this, and ended up cancelling the porting I had started on my old number, since I liked having sequential numbers, just like my family's cell phones. I used my old discontinued Panasonic KX-TG2622 2.4 GHz Digital Cordless Telephone with ooma, and then I purchased Panasonic DECT 6.0 Expandable Cordless Telephone (KX-TG6413T) (pre-Telo handset, darn it!) and both work wonderfully with ooma. I now have my old phone set hooked up to the second line. So if you get the Telo, maybe you decide on the free handset instead of porting option they're currently offering. It is troublesome changing your phone number with everyone, but I had no attachments to my old number so for me it was worth it. The second line and second phone number would have been much more useful to me in the past, pre-cellular, but it's included with Premier so I take advantage of the feature. One thing you may use that second phone number for is to give it out to all those businesses or people that you never want calling you, and never even hook up a phone to it! Stores, online shopping, creepy guys/gals at bars, etc...

Make sure when you set up your "service" address, that you use your actual home address! This is the address that will show up when you call 9-1-1 from your ooma phone, so this is NOT the place to enter your billing/mailing address. If you are concerned about 9-1-1 services being disrupted, obtain the direct 7-digit numbers for police/fire/medical dispatch in your area, post them wherever it makes sense, and program them into your phones' memory. You should also do this on your cell phone for whatever cities you find yourself in most often, and for the highway patrol dispatch center in your area. You will reach the exact person who can help you instead of being 1 or 2 transfers and retellings away, which can still happen when you dial 9-1-1 from a cellular phone. If it helps to assuage your fear about VOIPs and 9-1-1, I can tell you that I have unfortunately had to dial 9-1-1 for two medical emergencies and one police emergency during the time that I had Vonage, and my call went to the right place every time, because my address was loaded properly.

Hope that helps you in your decision-making process, and feel free to Comment. I do not work for ooma and have only been a customer for three months, so I may not have the answer you're looking for, but I will do the best I can to help you with any questions that you might have.

I got the Ooma system seven months ago. It is a true innovation and provides a free, wonderful alternative way to manage your home/local/long distance land line needs. Calls are generally high quality, virtually indistinguishable from regular phone services. Like all of the other reviewers, I am thrilled to eliminate my home phone and long distance bills.

However, there are some real differences when you compare Ooma to a conventional land line:

Your Ooma system will not work if your power is out, or if your modem or high speed internet isn't working, or if the Ooma website goes down. The Ooma website has been off line for a few hours twice since February, and my Qwest DSL modem periodically goes down and needs to be re-booted. You need to anticipate one or more of these things happening, as you will be without a land line at those times.

You can't dial 911 and talk to a person. In Seattle, where I live, I doubt that the Ooma feature that forwards your address when you dial 911 would influence the ability to get a response in case of an emergency. The bottom line is that you need to have a cell phone back-up to Ooma if you want to offset these problems.

I was unaware that my home security system would not work with Ooma. So, despite my efforts to connect it up, I lost the ability to have the security system dial out in case of a break-in. From what I've read, security systems that dial out won't work with Ooma.

Finally, although the quality of the vast majority of calls are fine, there are annoying echos on some calls. The Ooma system does not provide as high a quality of calls as a conventional land line at times.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Ooma, but for some folks the above limitations might prove prohibitive.

It is simply inconceivable how bad Ooma's customer service is. I signed up at the beginning of January. Two months in, and they still have not ported my primary number (which means I'm paying both AT&T for continued service and Ooma for their so-called premier service).

I've submitted more than a dozen emails to customer support and have never received a single response from a human. A request for a tier-two technical support call-back was promised within the hour. That was three weeks ago. Since mid-February, their customer support line has either been continually busy or simply unanswered. Their system lets you sit on hold for 30 minutes and then automatically hangs up on you. I tried three successive times last week for a total of 90 minutes on hold only to be kicked off all three times.

There is simply no excuse for this. None. Stay far, far away from this product.

Up front - I love Ooma. The quality is crystal-clear, the features are great. I believe this is an incredible value even when compared to other VoIP services (in fact I just canceled my Vonage account for Ooma).

Setup is an absolute breeze. The easy to follow startup guide estimates about 20 minutes - but it really takes about 5. You go online, register your device, plug it in, and are good to go.

You can then enjoy free phone service for life. For a bit more (still way less than Vonage), you can get their premiere package which include a bunch of useful features.

The scout is a neat little unit that you plug into a land-line phone jack, and will communicate with your base unit. It allows you to plug in an additional phone and - BAM - you have a two line phone system (at no additional cost).

Some great things
- You can map up to 9 different phone numbers to one device - each with it's own ring and caller ID
-You can get your voicemail through email
-You can retrieve your voicemail from the base device
-The base makes three-way calling simple
-Ooma has its own dial-tone which is actually pleasant to listen to.
-It's sleek iPod-like design is a nice fit with most modern decor
-You can pre-pay for and make cheap international calls

I like the fact that the unit plugs in in front of my router. I would think this means that it is optimizing packet flow for VoIP. Frequently Vonage would bog down and people couldn't hear me talking - never with Ooma. I haven't noticed any degradation with my Internet access.

if you have broadband Internet access - get one, just get one.