Keep your current phone number for a one-time charge, or get a new number in any area code for free
Requires high-speed fixed-line internet connection, minimum 180 Kbps upstream, and a telephone
Optional Ooma Premier service ($10/month) lets you block anonymous calls, forward calls to your mobile, call Canada for free, and connect to your home’s Nest system
Condition: Refurbished Warranty:1 Year Ooma Estimated Delivery: 8/28 - 8/31
@narfcake I'd say you make that call...we already did:) @KDemo and I are saying what rings true....we are just trying to help mediocre cash in before tomorrow nights closing offering "bell" on this deal ( Alexander Graham Bell would be soooo proud of us)
@KDemo I wonder if it rings a bell to meh customers does this also mean then that it also rings true?? Then again it makes one wonder what does something that doesn't ring true sound like?..does it sound like meh or OOma?
@rmeden mine 'died' years ago but it works great. What stopped working on it is I can no longer access the device's web interface, but all the things I need to do are on the internet web interface controlled by my account. (yes I tried resetting it and plugging directly into it)
I know who uses land lines??? But do you really want to give your cell phone number to a potential spammer or someone who will sell your number? I buy the premium service, (the premium service has options that include a community black list and anonymous call right to voice mail.) Well worth the 120 a year for the premium service.
Bought one in January (from meh of course - $80 back then) . Transferred my number over and its been great. The Premier service was free for a month but I found it wasn't worth it to me. I think we now pay under $4 a month where we were paying $25 or so for our land line.
@ilovereality I'm almost ashamed to say that I bought mine from w00t. I paid $80 as well, but that was almost two years ago. One of my best purchases over there.
I got one of these last time they were up for sale and am very pleased with it. I got a phone number that doesn't receive spam calls (unlike my old comcrap phone that I unplugged from the wall because of all the annoying calls!). The cherry on top is that I pay $3/month for service through taxes.
Ooma is a great home phone service. I have been using it for about a year and I have 0 complaints about it. The cost for the basic service is ~$3.75 a month which just covers local taxes and 911 service.
If you want to pay more you can get it to do all sorts of cool stuff like interact with Google Voice, connect up with the Nest thermostat, etc.
I have a Google Voice number that I give out to everyone and it basically rings my Ooma and my cell and works splendidly.
@emcrocetti Yes, you can plug landline phones into it. I bought one of those base stations with all of the extenders for our house. We have phones everywhere now and the Ooma just sits by the router with the base station attached.
great writeup, meh. since I'm a member on your web site, I own a computer, and can thus already make free calls to the US any time I want so I do not want this product.
This is surprisingly awesome after you pay through the nose to get your home number ported (it's insane -- $40 or something -- since they know you're on the hook). Or if you wanted a "business" number for the home office or, um, any office with the internets already there, I guess (in which case potentially no porting needed). Was considering adding a second line with a second basestation or whatever this is. It's cheaper than getting their two line service with one station, iirc.
I'm paying less than $4 a month for my number, and it was easy to hook up to all the wired phones in the house using the existing twisted pair. OLD SKOOLZ 4 DAH WIN. (Though my rotary dial doesn't dial any more. Gotta use da ones with buttons.)
But wasn't it about the same price plus a WiFi adapter last time? I bagged one, but the WiFi adapter is sitting in my desk drawer.
@uwacn Yup, I did that then got hooked on the Premiere service & stuck with it. Blacklisting robocallers, politcal calls and all manner of scum is SO satisfying.
@MrHappypants Ha, we [literally] had POTS beforehand. I told the hoodlums to educate their friends about busy signals. I wonder what percentage of kids these days have heard one.
With Ooma, I'm still getting over the bizarre benefits of 1980s technologies, like Caller ID (it's magic! How does it know who's calling before I answer?!!) and call-waiting. There's demons in them thar wires.
I got my ooma a few years back and they ported my phone number for free. It is connected to my Google Voice number and has been great. I do have the premier service as I speak to friends in Canada. It's a great service.
I just checking into my Ooma account to see how long I've had it. Since February 2015, and no problems. I paid back in February, $45.36 to have my old number ported into Ooma, but since then,a bit less than $4 a month for a home land line with my old number. Somehow I just can't part with that old phone number. So I keep my old number for $4, versus $40 a month. I've never looked back. I bought it off Meh,refurbished, and the post that persuaded me was something like "All I use my land line for is calls from mom, and appointment reminders from Dr's." Ooma has this silly little counter on the website adding up your old bill, and it says I've saved $91 so far. And that's if prices haven't raised in the last 6 months.I'm sure there's some kinda 30 day period, try it out if you don't have it yet. And I'm pretty sure that's the first and last endorsement I'm gonna make this year.
@wew You made me curious about mine so I looked and my oldest billing is 2013-08-25. The only problem I've ever had was getting hit by lightning and having to replace the unit with a new one. I don't blame Ooma for the lightning.
Edit: On another page, it shows my warranty Expired on 10/24/2011 so I must have had it since 10/2010. Billing history must not be complete.
@cengland0 reminds me of my favorite "care for your electronics" tip (might or might not have helped with lightning depending on how close the strike was):
Plug all electronics into a brand name surge protector.That includes countertop micorowave ovens.
@RedOak I have nearly everything plugged into a surge suppressor. I have 5 surge suppressors around the house. The lightning strike did not come through the power, it came through the internet connection.
I tried putting the Comcast cable connector through a surge and the Internet doesn't work at all so that was not an option and still is not an option. The surge suppressors somehow strips out some of the signal that is required for the Internet to work.
Not only did the strike get my Ooma, it got my 24 port gigabit hub, the router, and my Sony audio receiver that was internet connected. Not all internet devices were damaged so I guess I was lucky. Most everything is wired and only some things like the laptop and cellphone is wifi.
Seriously my parents have OOma for their home telephone service and it works great. They pay less than 4 dollars a month in taxes, 911 line cost. We would have bought one ( OOma) for our own home but our wonderful ( insert snide sneer here) Internet/ cable service provider won't reduce our bill each month if we don't want their telephone service ( they will charge us the same price). So seriously this OOma service is great is you live in an area that doesn't hold you hostage like where we live regarding telephone / Internet/ cable service.
@AttyVette I too am hostage to the cable company's "Triple Play" package but I ignore their "free" phone service and have used Ooma for about 5 years. Voice quality is every bit as good as a real land line and the many features are useful and well-designed. Only time it doesn't work is when my internet is down; cell phone is my backup. As someone above mentioned, I too have a spare Ooma on the shelf. Incidentally, the refurbishment on these machines is excellent - both of mine look brand new.
@AttyVette I have cracked the Comcast code. Its a simple process but does cost you about 1.5 hours of your life each year that you can never get back. - Call cable provider, wait on hold 15 minutes, tell rep you are dissatified and want to talk to a manager. Wait on hold 15 minutes. Tell manager you are downsizing and unfortunately cable is on the top of the list to save money. At this point manager will trobleshoot your cash flow situation. After thanking them for free money management advice, reemphasize that you wish to cancel your service. The manager transfers you to the service cancellation (customer retention office). This person says, " so, I understand you want to terminate your service, lets get started on this. Oh by the way, are you aware that we have some promotional programs available for our best customers?" Now, is the point that you negotiate the services you really want at a price well below posted rates. This usually requires an annual follow-up to renew the current promos. Yes, you have to go through this process every year. What I have: Premium cable line-up 300+ channels, HBO, Starz, NFL all access, upgraded Internet service, on demand full access to premium channels, free tuner cards for my TiVo, and upgraded modem, no charge. All this for ~$114.00 total after taxes, franchise, etc. fees. Good luck!
@accelerator I spent much less time on the phone the last time, but I didn't save quite as much money as you did. I negotiated with the first person who answered the phone.
I did not want, so I did not try to get all of those TV channels.
Beware of special offers in the mail which have traps in the fine print. Something like "here are some free channels for 6 months, and by the way, not that it is important, but at the end of this period we return you to our standard evil rates".
I have the original Ooma Hub for over 7 years now and it's been working great. When it dies, I'll buy the Ooma Telo. The service has been fantastic and over 99% reliable (if it isn't, I just hang up and dial again and it's usually fine).
I have the original Ooma Hub and got it before they started charging taxes. Truly free phone service. Absolutely love it. If you actually talk on the phone at home a lot, the Premier service is great too. I believe it gives you 3 way calling ability.
I would love to get one of these but unfortunately I have satellite internet right now and it is the bane of my existence. I pay $90 for my landland and I need long distance because I'm in a different area code than my parents that live a mile away. I hate Verizon.
@PanicSwitch not that it would help your Internet situation, but you can pick the area code if you want. So if your parents have good internet, you could get them an Ooma and pick your area code. Local calls. That might pay for itself in a couple months depending on your current long distance cost.
Or both use cell phones which virtually always include long distance at no extra cost.
@RedOak That's an interesting idea. They only have DSL so it's iffy. The cell coverage is kinda terrible. I had to get a booster and even then I only get two bars in a few places in the house. Geography is really working against me. I will definitely keep this in mind though. Thanks!
@PanicSwitch This is the exact situation my mom was in. She flagged down a Verizon guy at a gas station and had him come out and look at why she can't get DSL. Turns out she could, the computers had it all wrong. She is pretty rural too.
@slhilbert I need to do this. I have had a few techs out to try and fix my phone line (still has static on it) and one guy thought that I could get it. Next time I call them out I will try to stay home and talk to the guy.
@PanicSwitch DSL should work with Ooma as long as the bandwidth is sufficient. The challenge with DSL can be if your location is too far from the nearest switching station.
Regarding cell coverage in your home, if there is sufficient signal outside, even if not 5-bar, there are several repeater solutions from cheap to expensive that can bring coverage into your home.
If there is a location in your home where the cell signal is acceptable (perhaps upstairs or near a window), consider picking up a Panasonic "Link-to-Cell" cordless phone system. Costco and SAMs regularly have $100 deals on them. The phone base allows you to Bluetooth pair up to two cell phones with the base. Leave your cell phones charging near that cell-signal-OK spot and locate the Panasonic base within 30 feet of your cell phones. Now all your Panasonic handsets will give you cell phone outbound and inbound calling anywhere in the house. Note you do not need a landline to do this.
@RedOak question for you. (I did not read everything above) I do have the link to cell phones. But here is my question. I did but this based on one blurb (didn't ge a chance to do much research) "You might get this because your mobile coverage sucks at your house" I don't know if I will use this to replace my landline yet. But will we be able to use our cell phones with no problem at the house with this?
@mfladd we don't have a cell signal problem at our home - 5-bar signal everywhere.
But we've had our phones paired with our Panasonic Link-to-Cell base for a couple years for the convenience of leaving our cell phones charging and still making/receiving calls anywhere in the home. The Panasonic handsets work fine with cell calls inbound and outbound. Sometimes there's a brief delay when picking up, but then it's fine.
They key requirement if your cell signal in the home generally sucks: you must be able to park (and presumably charge) your cell phones in a spot in the home where they do get an acceptable cell signal. Then locate the Panasonic base within 20-30 feet (Bluetooth range) of that cell parking spot. It just plain works if you can find that magic spot in your home.
@RedOak unfortunately, there is really no place in the house that cell signal is good. You have to eith er walk outside and even then you are most likely going to drop calls. go 100 yards down the street and all is good. I am hoping this Ooma can help. But like I said I wasn't able to do a lot of research last night. I guess if it doesn't, being goat, I don't have anyone to blame but myself.
@mfladd you don't need a "good" signal. Even a 1-2 bar signal can work. And you might need to get creative searching for the location - even to the point where it might not be comfortable to call from there (standing in your head next to the toilet?) As long as you can leave the cell phone in the spot, charging... and within 20-30 feet of the Pany base.
Failing that, google "cell repeater" where you'll find a wealth of useful and not so useful info.
Of course we haven't mentioned the most obvious thing - change cell carriers! I think T-Mobile has some cell phones that will switch to wifi when available. And there's a bargain basement/obscure carrier (name escapes me) that very much relies on wifi calling for a lot of their coverage.
I love my Ooma! Had cox phone and replaced with Ooma. I just plug the Ooma into my wall outlet and all my phone jacks are live through house (not always that simple for everyone out the box). My brother just plugs a multi-phone cordless system into his unit to have phones in multiple rooms. Highly recommend. Everyone should have a second phone. For 800# calls (darn those hold times!) or to just call your cell phone to locate it between your couch cushions. Quality of calls is good. Only once in a while do I have an issue, and when I do, it's short lived. Les frequent than issues with my cell coverage.
@nickm461 are you sure those occasional "issues" aren't due to the quality of your Internet service? I suspect most issues people might have with Ooma are not actually with Ooma, but rather with their internet quality/consistency. We have had virtually no issues whatsoever with Ooma over many years.
@RedOak that's very possible. The issues I've had are just brief moments of silence (like 10-15 seconds) where they can hear me but I can't hear them. Maybe happens once every few months. Not bothersome. Less frequent than cell phone issues!
I have had an Ooma for about a year. When there are issues it is always the network connection. I think one time Ooma legitimately had a problem and it was down for maybe 2 hours and they sent an email out talking about it.
I've got one of the older Ooma devices at home. I think it is called the hub. I forget. I love this thing. I don't use my home phone much, but since my cell is a company phone this lets me make as many long long personal calls as I like! It costs me $3.82 a month!
A couple of interesting notes. I also use the Ooma app. I can get my voicemail from home on my cell anytime, and as long as I have wifi I can call thru the app without using cell minutes. If I used premier (I don't) then I could get call there too. For me, this means that next week - while I am in Japan - I can call anyone in the US for free on wifi. Darn good deal for me.
Hanging up - picked up last time, excellent addition to home office for conference calls as cell can have an issue precisely at the most critical of times. No issues with mine at all!
Specs
Condition: Refurbished
Warranty: 1 Year Ooma
Estimated Delivery: 8/28 - 8/31
What’s in the Box?
1x Ooma Telo
1x Bluetooth adapter
1x Ethernet cable
1x AC adapter
1x Quick Start Guide
Pictures
Ooma Telo
What’s included
Back view
Irk’s old-ass nokia has bluetooth, don’t question it
Price Check
$179.99 List, $99.99 at Amazon
$129.99 List, $109.00 at Amazon for just the Telo (New)
$25.49 List, $25.49 at Amazon for just the Bluetooth adapter
Find a relevant price comparison? Please share it in a comment in this thread
Warranty
90 days
This will cost a bundle ..phone home irk..
I'd call this a good deal.
@KDemo and I bet the ooma owner uses dial deodorant too
@KDemo @AttyVette I can't quite put a pulse at what you two are getting at.
@narfcake I'd say you make that call...we already did:) @KDemo and I are saying what rings true....we are just trying to help mediocre cash in before tomorrow nights closing offering "bell" on this deal ( Alexander Graham Bell would be soooo proud of us)
@narfcake - It's all in the numbers.
@KDemo all I can say is what a dial....
@KDemo I wonder if it rings a bell to meh customers does this also mean then that it also rings true?? Then again it makes one wonder what does something that doesn't ring true sound like?..does it sound like meh or OOma?
@AttyVette you sound busy
Contributing: BUY IT... JUST BUY IT!!!
@rileyper
Charlie Brown face
I got one of these in my last fuku, no idea what to do with it, I don't have a need for a home phone line.
Any offers? $47 plus shipping?
@TaRDy $37.77
@hallmike $44.44
@TaRDy $39.97 with free shipping
@hallmike $63 + $5 shipping, final offer.
@TaRDy whatta bargain!
@TaRDy ..bell..sorry couldn't resist :)
Love my Telo. Wonder if I should get one as a backup.... if mine dies I'll be spending $99 to replace it!
@rmeden mine 'died' years ago but it works great. What stopped working on it is I can no longer access the device's web interface, but all the things I need to do are on the internet web interface controlled by my account. (yes I tried resetting it and plugging directly into it)
I know who uses land lines??? But do you really want to give your cell phone number to a potential spammer or someone who will sell your number? I buy the premium service, (the premium service has options that include a community black list and anonymous call right to voice mail.) Well worth the 120 a year for the premium service.
I'm at 6 years land line free... no regrets.
@ptrjon Wow. Just thinking back... I'm 12 years off the land line. Hard to believe.
Bought one in January (from meh of course - $80 back then) . Transferred my number over and its been great. The Premier service was free for a month but I found it wasn't worth it to me. I think we now pay under $4 a month where we were paying $25 or so for our land line.
@ilovereality I'm almost ashamed to say that I bought mine from w00t. I paid $80 as well, but that was almost two years ago. One of my best purchases over there.
@ilovereality You were paying $25 and taxes for your old land line. The taxes were much higher on your $25 land line than on the "free" one.
I got one of these last time they were up for sale and am very pleased with it. I got a phone number that doesn't receive spam calls (unlike my old comcrap phone that I unplugged from the wall because of all the annoying calls!). The cherry on top is that I pay $3/month for service through taxes.
Meh, I say. Meeeeeeeehhh. I roll my own VoIP for all of the flexibility and features I want.
Ooma is a great home phone service. I have been using it for about a year and I have 0 complaints about it. The cost for the basic service is ~$3.75 a month which just covers local taxes and 911 service.
If you want to pay more you can get it to do all sorts of cool stuff like interact with Google Voice, connect up with the Nest thermostat, etc.
I have a Google Voice number that I give out to everyone and it basically rings my Ooma and my cell and works splendidly.
@slhilbert can you use landline type phones with it?
@emcrocetti yes. it has had a phone jack. plug in landlines et voila
@emcrocetti Yes, you can plug landline phones into it. I bought one of those base stations with all of the extenders for our house. We have phones everywhere now and the Ooma just sits by the router with the base station attached.
I would also add, that I know probably five or six people who have an Ooma and none of them ever complain about it.
Looks like an OK deal - GroupOn has the same thing, minus the bluetooth adapter for $69 w/ free shipping.
https://www.groupon.com/deals/gg-ooma-telo-free-home-phone-service-refurbished?deal_option=7ec1972e-2fb6-11e5-9a4a-002590980a98&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=US_DT_SEA_GGL_TIM_TTT_PADS_CBP_CHP_NBR_g*gg-ooma-telo-free-home-phone-service-refurbished_c*78854764741_k*_m*_d*Goods-Product-Ads_keyword*_target*_adposition*1o1_prodtarget*91303810368_adtype*pla
Beautiful write-up
great writeup, meh. since I'm a member on your web site, I own a computer, and can thus already make free calls to the US any time I want so I do not want this product.
If no one buys these, then before you drop them into a landfill, try selling them for $25. I'm just curious to see what would happen.
Meh, change your name to Bluetooth Deals! Seems like you've been selling all bluetooth devices for the past 365days..
@ralphieeek Or two days in a row. Maybe you have trouble remembering coffee makers.
@hamjudo What if the next time, meh sold a Bluetooth enabled coffee maker?
@narfcake I'd buy a coffee maker you could start with your phone. (JK I will not give up my french press)
Uma?
@atannir
Where the heck is Phone Dock Friday now that I need one?
@DeuceSevin maybe it's sitting (on the dock of the bay) watching the tide roll away :)
This is surprisingly awesome after you pay through the nose to get your home number ported (it's insane -- $40 or something -- since they know you're on the hook). Or if you wanted a "business" number for the home office or, um, any office with the internets already there, I guess (in which case potentially no porting needed). Was considering adding a second line with a second basestation or whatever this is. It's cheaper than getting their two line service with one station, iirc.
I'm paying less than $4 a month for my number, and it was easy to hook up to all the wired phones in the house using the existing twisted pair. OLD SKOOLZ 4 DAH WIN. (Though my rotary dial doesn't dial any more. Gotta use da ones with buttons.)
But wasn't it about the same price plus a WiFi adapter last time? I bagged one, but the WiFi adapter is sitting in my desk drawer.
@stinks Looks like they will port the phone number for free if you subscribe to a year of premier service. Otherwise it's $40.
@uwacn Yup, I did that then got hooked on the Premiere service & stuck with it. Blacklisting robocallers, politcal calls and all manner of scum is SO satisfying.
@MrHappypants Ha, we [literally] had POTS beforehand. I told the hoodlums to educate their friends about busy signals. I wonder what percentage of kids these days have heard one.
With Ooma, I'm still getting over the bizarre benefits of 1980s technologies, like Caller ID (it's magic! How does it know who's calling before I answer?!!) and call-waiting. There's demons in them thar wires.
Can the Bluetooth adapter be used on the Ooma air from Meh in March Marty c
I got my ooma a few years back and they ported my phone number for free. It is connected to my Google Voice number and has been great. I do have the premier service as I speak to friends in Canada. It's a great service.
I just checking into my Ooma account to see how long I've had it. Since February 2015, and no problems. I paid back in February, $45.36 to have my old number ported into Ooma, but since then,a bit less than $4 a month for a home land line with my old number. Somehow I just can't part with that old phone number.
So I keep my old number for $4, versus $40 a month. I've never looked back.
I bought it off Meh,refurbished, and the post that persuaded me was something like "All I use my land line for is calls from mom, and appointment reminders from Dr's."
Ooma has this silly little counter on the website adding up your old bill, and it says I've saved $91 so far. And that's if prices haven't raised in the last 6 months.I'm sure there's some kinda 30 day period, try it out if you don't have it yet.
And I'm pretty sure that's the first and last endorsement I'm gonna make this year.
@wew You made me curious about mine so I looked and my oldest billing is 2013-08-25. The only problem I've ever had was getting hit by lightning and having to replace the unit with a new one. I don't blame Ooma for the lightning.
Edit: On another page, it shows my warranty Expired on 10/24/2011 so I must have had it since 10/2010. Billing history must not be complete.
@cengland0 reminds me of my favorite "care for your electronics" tip (might or might not have helped with lightning depending on how close the strike was):
Plug all electronics into a brand name surge protector. That includes countertop micorowave ovens.
@RedOak I have nearly everything plugged into a surge suppressor. I have 5 surge suppressors around the house. The lightning strike did not come through the power, it came through the internet connection.
I tried putting the Comcast cable connector through a surge and the Internet doesn't work at all so that was not an option and still is not an option. The surge suppressors somehow strips out some of the signal that is required for the Internet to work.
Not only did the strike get my Ooma, it got my 24 port gigabit hub, the router, and my Sony audio receiver that was internet connected. Not all internet devices were damaged so I guess I was lucky. Most everything is wired and only some things like the laptop and cellphone is wifi.
Just buy a new OBi200 VoIP Phone Adapter, T.38 Fax on Amazon for $45 and get a google voice number. There's no monthly taxes like with Ooma either.
@Anonymouss I know, if meh put up any obi devices, I would buy one as backup for my existing one
Seriously my parents have OOma for their home telephone service and it works great. They pay less than 4 dollars a month in taxes, 911 line cost. We would have bought one ( OOma) for our own home but our wonderful ( insert snide sneer here) Internet/ cable service provider won't reduce our bill each month if we don't want their telephone service ( they will charge us the same price). So seriously this OOma service is great is you live in an area that doesn't hold you hostage like where we live regarding telephone / Internet/ cable service.
@AttyVette I too am hostage to the cable company's "Triple Play" package but I ignore their "free" phone service and have used Ooma for about 5 years. Voice quality is every bit as good as a real land line and the many features are useful and well-designed. Only time it doesn't work is when my internet is down; cell phone is my backup. As someone above mentioned, I too have a spare Ooma on the shelf. Incidentally, the refurbishment on these machines is excellent - both of mine look brand new.
@tallmeh that's a cool Premier package feature - you can set Ooma to automatically fail over to your cell phone if your Internet goes down.
@AttyVette I have cracked the Comcast code. Its a simple process but does cost you about 1.5 hours of your life each year that you can never get back. - Call cable provider, wait on hold 15 minutes, tell rep you are dissatified and want to talk to a manager. Wait on hold 15 minutes. Tell manager you are downsizing and unfortunately cable is on the top of the list to save money. At this point manager will trobleshoot your cash flow situation. After thanking them for free money management advice, reemphasize that you wish to cancel your service. The manager transfers you to the service cancellation (customer retention office). This person says, " so, I understand you want to terminate your service, lets get started on this. Oh by the way, are you aware that we have some promotional programs available for our best customers?"
Now, is the point that you negotiate the services you really want at a price well below posted rates. This usually requires an annual follow-up to renew the current promos. Yes, you have to go through this process every year.
What I have: Premium cable line-up 300+ channels, HBO, Starz, NFL all access, upgraded Internet service, on demand full access to premium channels, free tuner cards for my TiVo, and upgraded modem, no charge. All this for ~$114.00 total after taxes, franchise, etc. fees.
Good luck!
@accelerator - Will you come over and negotiate for me?
@accelerator I spent much less time on the phone the last time, but I didn't save quite as much money as you did. I negotiated with the first person who answered the phone.
I did not want, so I did not try to get all of those TV channels.
Beware of special offers in the mail which have traps in the fine print. Something like "here are some free channels for 6 months, and by the way, not that it is important, but at the end of this period we return you to our standard evil rates".
@accelerator awesome I definitely need to try this out myself!
I have the original Ooma Hub for over 7 years now and it's been working great. When it dies, I'll buy the Ooma Telo. The service has been fantastic and over 99% reliable (if it isn't, I just hang up and dial again and it's usually fine).
@alextse we never have to do that. Works flawlessly every time.
@RedOak Umm, OK. Good for you. Very rarely I get an echo or some static but a quick hang up and redial fixes it. Not a big deal.
@alextse FYI, if you aren't paying taxes now, you will when you upgrade.
@nostrom0 Nope, I'm grandfathered in. But the taxes are far lower than POTS anyway. My back-up to this is Google Talk, also no taxes.
Or, you could just stop selling any crap that has anything to do with home phones that people no longer use.
@Portlis I work from home and it seems like more and more people are and being able to have a phone I can put on speaker and actually hear it is nice.
@slhilbert and you don't have to keep a cell plugged in st your home desk. Gay cordless phones, headsets and Ooma!
I have the original Ooma Hub and got it before they started charging taxes. Truly free phone service. Absolutely love it. If you actually talk on the phone at home a lot, the Premier service is great too. I believe it gives you 3 way calling ability.
@nostrom0 it does.
If not buying a product means never seeing again, why do we see speaker docks weekly? Surely, nobody is buying that useless junk.
Maybe Meh sells speaker docks on purpose so they know they will get the day off and can go fishing for the day.
I would love to get one of these but unfortunately I have satellite internet right now and it is the bane of my existence. I pay $90 for my landland and I need long distance because I'm in a different area code than my parents that live a mile away. I hate Verizon.
@PanicSwitch not that it would help your Internet situation, but you can pick the area code if you want. So if your parents have good internet, you could get them an Ooma and pick your area code. Local calls. That might pay for itself in a couple months depending on your current long distance cost.
Or both use cell phones which virtually always include long distance at no extra cost.
@RedOak That's an interesting idea. They only have DSL so it's iffy. The cell coverage is kinda terrible. I had to get a booster and even then I only get two bars in a few places in the house. Geography is really working against me. I will definitely keep this in mind though. Thanks!
@PanicSwitch This is the exact situation my mom was in. She flagged down a Verizon guy at a gas station and had him come out and look at why she can't get DSL. Turns out she could, the computers had it all wrong. She is pretty rural too.
@slhilbert I need to do this. I have had a few techs out to try and fix my phone line (still has static on it) and one guy thought that I could get it. Next time I call them out I will try to stay home and talk to the guy.
@PanicSwitch DSL should work with Ooma as long as the bandwidth is sufficient. The challenge with DSL can be if your location is too far from the nearest switching station.
Regarding cell coverage in your home, if there is sufficient signal outside, even if not 5-bar, there are several repeater solutions from cheap to expensive that can bring coverage into your home.
If there is a location in your home where the cell signal is acceptable (perhaps upstairs or near a window), consider picking up a Panasonic "Link-to-Cell" cordless phone system. Costco and SAMs regularly have $100 deals on them. The phone base allows you to Bluetooth pair up to two cell phones with the base. Leave your cell phones charging near that cell-signal-OK spot and locate the Panasonic base within 30 feet of your cell phones. Now all your Panasonic handsets will give you cell phone outbound and inbound calling anywhere in the house. Note you do not need a landline to do this.
@RedOak question for you. (I did not read everything above) I do have the link to cell phones. But here is my question. I did but this based on one blurb (didn't ge a chance to do much research) "You might get this because your mobile coverage sucks at your house" I don't know if I will use this to replace my landline yet. But will we be able to use our cell phones with no problem at the house with this?
@mfladd we don't have a cell signal problem at our home - 5-bar signal everywhere.
But we've had our phones paired with our Panasonic Link-to-Cell base for a couple years for the convenience of leaving our cell phones charging and still making/receiving calls anywhere in the home. The Panasonic handsets work fine with cell calls inbound and outbound. Sometimes there's a brief delay when picking up, but then it's fine.
They key requirement if your cell signal in the home generally sucks: you must be able to park (and presumably charge) your cell phones in a spot in the home where they do get an acceptable cell signal. Then locate the Panasonic base within 20-30 feet (Bluetooth range) of that cell parking spot. It just plain works if you can find that magic spot in your home.
@RedOak unfortunately, there is really no place in the house that cell signal is good. You have to eith er walk outside and even then you are most likely going to drop calls. go 100 yards down the street and all is good. I am hoping this Ooma can help. But like I said I wasn't able to do a lot of research last night. I guess if it doesn't, being goat, I don't have anyone to blame but myself.
@mfladd you don't need a "good" signal. Even a 1-2 bar signal can work. And you might need to get creative searching for the location - even to the point where it might not be comfortable to call from there (standing in your head next to the toilet?) As long as you can leave the cell phone in the spot, charging... and within 20-30 feet of the Pany base.
Failing that, google "cell repeater" where you'll find a wealth of useful and not so useful info.
Of course we haven't mentioned the most obvious thing - change cell carriers! I think T-Mobile has some cell phones that will switch to wifi when available. And there's a bargain basement/obscure carrier (name escapes me) that very much relies on wifi calling for a lot of their coverage.
@RedOak thanks for the help :)
I love my Ooma! Had cox phone and replaced with Ooma. I just plug the Ooma into my wall outlet and all my phone jacks are live through house (not always that simple for everyone out the box). My brother just plugs a multi-phone cordless system into his unit to have phones in multiple rooms.
Highly recommend. Everyone should have a second phone. For 800# calls (darn those hold times!) or to just call your cell phone to locate it between your couch cushions.
Quality of calls is good. Only once in a while do I have an issue, and when I do, it's short lived. Les frequent than issues with my cell coverage.
@nickm461 are you sure those occasional "issues" aren't due to the quality of your Internet service? I suspect most issues people might have with Ooma are not actually with Ooma, but rather with their internet quality/consistency. We have had virtually no issues whatsoever with Ooma over many years.
@RedOak that's very possible. The issues I've had are just brief moments of silence (like 10-15 seconds) where they can hear me but I can't hear them. Maybe happens once every few months. Not bothersome.
Less frequent than cell phone issues!
I have had an Ooma for about a year. When there are issues it is always the network connection. I think one time Ooma legitimately had a problem and it was down for maybe 2 hours and they sent an email out talking about it.
I've got one of the older Ooma devices at home. I think it is called the hub. I forget. I love this thing. I don't use my home phone much, but since my cell is a company phone this lets me make as many long long personal calls as I like! It costs me $3.82 a month!
A couple of interesting notes. I also use the Ooma app. I can get my voicemail from home on my cell anytime, and as long as I have wifi I can call thru the app without using cell minutes. If I used premier (I don't) then I could get call there too. For me, this means that next week - while I am in Japan - I can call anyone in the US for free on wifi. Darn good deal for me.
Oprah? Uma?
Hanging up - picked up last time, excellent addition to home office for conference calls as cell can have an issue precisely at the most critical of times. No issues with mine at all!
Looking forward to using telephone system.
Did anyone try to read Irk's lips to see what he is saying?
@somf69 "mama mama"