For whooma does this bell toll?

It’s a natural reaction upon seeing these Ooma Telo VoIP gadgets popping up all over the place: who uses these? We’ve wondered that ourselves. Not old folks who are comfortable continuing to get their phone service from The Phone Company. Not techno-whippersnappers who think any phone beyond the one in their pocket would be redundant. We can see how the Ooma Telo kind of falls between those two stools, even though theoretically everybody can appreciate making calls anywhere in the U.S. for almost free (bar $3 or $4 a month in taxes).

So who buys them and why? Fortunately, we just happen to have this forum where people talk, every day, about why they buy the things they buy. Let’s gaze into the minds of the Ooma community (oomunity?) via the discussion from last time we sold an Ooma Telo system.

First and foremost, Ooma users like @​rhedayi are careful with a dollar: “I may be the cheapest guy on earth, I bought my ooma unit, the first white one, probably in 2009, have been using it since.” So there’s one thing we know about Ooma users: they’re cheap.

Check out how @​caffeine_dude is jacked up on Ooma. “I buy the premier service. I use the 2nd line for my unified communications setup. Dial 1 number to reach me. The day and time determine which phones ring for me. I can give out my google number, that forwards calls through my Ooma’s 2nd number giving my Google number Ooma’s Community Blacklist, Anonymous Call Blocking, Personal blacklist. My point is I rarely get call spammed.” That’s not something you’ll find in the Ooma Telo manual. There’s another thing we know about Ooma users: they’re crafty, especially if it keeps telemarketers away.

Ooma users got things to do, you know? @​Pamtha says “I work from home often, so I put hours of free minutes on Ooma, and never an overage charge and perfect quality.” @​capguncowboy adds “I highly recommend anyone that’s required to carry a landline for work to look into these.” These diligent, productive Oomaphiles illustrate that Ooma users are busy.

But maybe they’re also a little… well, “lazy” isn’t exactly right. Let’s just say they prefer low-effort solutions. Like @​RedOak, who said “Activate the Ooma service online. Plug the Ooma box into the Internet and plug your existing cordless phone into it. You’re up and running.”. Or like @​davidgro: “I recently moved and simply changed the service/911 address on the website. No calling a phone company and setting up move date, etc.” And this time it’s even easier because of the included wireless adapter, so you can make calls even if you don’t have a wired Internet connection, like in a dorm room. Yes, Ooma users are… screw it, let’s just say lazy. A little lazy.

And finally, as you can see from this discussion about whether Ooma’s additional Premier service is worth $10 a month, Ooma users like @​G1 are savvy. They read the fine print. Here’s some more fine print about the cool stuff you can do with Ooma Premier, including work with your Nest system, for that extra $10 per month (not included with this sale, obviously).

OK, so that’s who Ooma Telo users are. They’re cheap, crafty, busy, savvy, and a little lazy. If that’s you, you can find the answer to the question “Who uses these?” in a mirror.

If you’re not cheap, crafty, busy, savvy, and lazy, are you sure you’re in the right place?