colbytitus wrote:I'm shocked at the level to which people think this is such a great deal. Both the device and the cost of service is over double that of Magic Jack.

Pretty sure you can't get voicemail with Magic Jack. Ooma you can.

I love my Ooma-- I wish I had converted earlier. Great product!

phearlez wrote:Well I think y'all have convinced me, though I wish I'd seen someone here talking about what I'll be doing- switching from Vonage, whose $25 a month fee seems less and less reasonable by the day.

I'd been intending to call them up and threaten to cancel to see if they'd throw me a bone but the blacklists in this sound like they'd be worth it regardless.

That blacklist is part of the Premium package ONLY...additional fee required (monthly)

I have had Ooma for almost 3 years and love it! I had no problems with it. My family has three laptops, a Big McIntosh, two printers, a tablet and 4 smart phones on the wireless home network and with most of them going there is no problem with Ooma. The call quality is excellent and no one has ever complained to me about the quality of the call. The only downside, and it is minor, during hurricane Sandy, we lost our cable connection and internet so we did not have the Ooma working for a while. I would highly recommend Ooma. Since I purchased it so long ago, I do not have to the monthly taxes.

Since I have the old hub and scout, does anyone know if I upgraded to the newer Ooma box, would I have to start paying the taxes?

If you have a Discover Card for get it. After 3 emails and and a call to India I was informed,we do not except Discover cards. How do I pay,
get a Visa debit card. Why?

You can get a new one for 139.99 from ooma's site if you have a friend refer you. Also includes free shipping.

bachrock37 wrote:Pretty sure you can't get voicemail with Magic Jack. Ooma you can.

Magic Jack does have voicemail. See Magic Jack website.

Bought mine off woot in August 2011.

Just make sure you check your bill carefully, I was automatically enrolled in the premium program without asking to do so. My fault, it was in the fine print that I would be enrolled unless I contacted them and asked not to be.

Besides that, I love the price. Only ever use the phone to talk to the kids in the UK, which is cheap. Call quality is not the greatest, but we're leaning more towards SKYPE and less toward telephone. I was paying almost $60 pr month without even picking up the handset and now, for less than $5 pr month and $0.03 pr minute for calls, it was well worth it for me.

mikegrmi wrote:Don't just assume they have a local number for you, even if you live in a metro area. I have been waiting for over two years to get a number that would be closer than 100 miles away. Makes local incoming calls long distance, so it is almost worthless to me. Customer service is from India.

So get yourself a local Google Voice number (free), and tie it to the non-local Ooma number. Voila! Problem solved.

blinkyfish wrote:I don't own a Magic Jack, but I have owned the Ooma system for about 2 years and have been really happy with it. Not sure if this still holds true, but back then the Magic Jack required that your computer be on and running in order to use it. With Ooma your computer can be turned off. That was a big part of my decision. There's also a lot more capabilities with the Ooma (setting up call restrictions and a million other fancy features that you have to pay a little extra for).

I have a MagicJack and a MagicJack plus. The plus no longer requires that you connect through a computer. We use this as our "land line," and have no quality issues unless the internet is having issues. I can't speak to the conference calling numbers. I have never used them.

bachrock37 wrote:Pretty sure you can't get voicemail with Magic Jack. Ooma you can.

You most certainly CAN get voice mail with MagicJack.

As firefighter and EMT for the past 20 years, and former 911 dispatcher, Ooma is one of the best choices for safety at your home that is not a TelCo or cable option.

Not all VOIPs do the right thing by offering E911. Ooma does, and just relies on your properly entering your location on their site.

I personally dislike the reliance on cell phones so many use exclusively now. In an emergency, it is not like a TV show. When our center receives a 911 call from a cell phone, and it disconnects without any discussion, we may not have the proper location info. It could be a non-GPS phone... it could have the wrong location provided by the carrier... anything.

If we attempt to call back and they don't accept incoming calls, we can't reach the caller. If the phone is turned off, we can't reach the caller. A real home phone can be reached even if the caller is still on the phone... since the TelCo can break into the line in an emergency. WIthout power, a home phone will work (unless only cordless phones are used).

As soon as the last 1 is pressed on a home phone, the call is already sent to the 911 center. So even if a bad guy disconnects the line then, 911 knows where the call is With cell phones... not a chance. With VOIPS... depends on the service.

Again, VOIPS rely on your entering the proper location. You MUST do it for safety. I remember a dispatch journal article about a woman that called 911 on her VOIP phone to report a domestic. The call was routed to the 911 center in the town she first used the VOIP at, in Ohio. She was now on a military base overseas. The woman had no idea what the MP's or other area PD's direct number was. The Ohio dispatch center called a local recruiter, who got ahold of a superior at the Pentagon. The person at the Pentagon quickly located the base PD. It took about 20 minutes for the PD to get on the scene from the first call. That was not too bad... but think if it was a house fire or cardiac arrest.

Oh... and I do have an Ooma. Love it.

mikegrmi wrote:Don't just assume they have a local number for you, even if you live in a metro area. I have been waiting for over two years to get a number that would be closer than 100 miles away. Makes local incoming calls long distance, so it is almost worthless to me. Customer service is from India.

I live in a metro area and had several local numbers available to select.

a

I *did* just pull the trigger on this deal, then did a little more research and discovered that Verizon has discontinued its "dry-loop" (aka standalone) DSL service?! I currently have Vz DSL + landline, the latter outrageously overpriced. Was looking forward to keeping the DSL and dropping the telephone - now it seems that might not be possible. Gah. Does anyone have insight/experience? I'm not totally averse to going with alternate ISP (eg, cable), just curious if there is a Vz workaround. TIA for suggestions.

got mine off WOOT couple months back... cant freaking beat it for $4 a month... works perfect, saves a ton of money... what more can ya ask for...

starmanbackwards wrote:im sure people who subscribe to the Premier level are the reason they can stay in business ...

Ok. I hope alot of people subscribe. I am looking to go the cheapest. I never used all those features while I was hooked up to cable to that's to important to me.

I did receive it tonight from ups. Tomorrow I will hookmit up and have them use my phone number. I do have two questions. 1. What happens when someone calls me while they are getting my phone number from the cable company. And 2. I have 1 phone that plugs into the modem/router now so I will hook it up the same way and the extensions are all electric hookup. I know that will work but the main unit has a answering machine attached to it in the unit will that still work one I am under Ooma completely?

smader12 wrote:You can get a new one for 139.99 from ooma's site if you have a friend refer you. Also includes free shipping.

ninosgirl wrote:

ninosgirl wrote:

I ordered mine from Ooma. It just came tonight from UPS.

HELP! What telephones and routers are people using with their Ooma? I've had nothing but problems with mine (calls not going through and DTMF talkoff, i.e., loud beeps, as though I'm pressing a button during conversations). I've tried everything customer support has suggested (they even sent me a new unit) and I'm still having problems (since I bought it in July).

westwebb wrote:Do you need an ethernet connection? We only have Wifi. How could be get it to work?

Ooma offers a wireless adapter that retails for $49. That will allow the Telo to use your wifi for the internet connection.
Been an Ooma user for over 2 years now. Love it. If your only hesitation is because of the lack of a wired ethernet connection, grab this refurb and order the adapter. You will not regret it.

ninosgirl wrote:Ok. I hope alot of people subscribe. I am looking to go the cheapest. I never used all those features while I was hooked up to cable to that's to important to me.

I did receive it tonight from ups. Tomorrow I will hookmit up and have them use my phone number. I do have two questions. 1. What happens when someone calls me while they are getting my phone number from the cable company. And 2. I have 1 phone that plugs into the modem/router now so I will hook it up the same way and the extensions are all electric hookup. I know that will work but the main unit has a answering machine attached to it in the unit will that still work one I am under Ooma completely?

If you are porting your existing number over to Ooma, you will need to keep a phone connected to your cable-provided unit the port is complete. Your number will continue to ring on this phone until you receive an email from Ooma reporting that the port was completed. Once you get that email, switch the phone cord over to your Ooma and you are done. It's pretty painless, normally.
About your integrated answering machine, I also have a cordless set with integrated answering machine but since implementing my Ooma, that answering machine has been permanently turned off. The Ooma voicemail features (remote access, crystal clear voice quality) are far superior to most standard answering machines.
If your answering machine doesn't have the ability to shut off, then you'll have a race between the two to pick up the phone... pick whichever unit you want to answer the call first by adjusting the answer delay. Easily done in the "MyOoma" account settings.

I pay less than $5 a month for my phone with ooma. The sound quality of my calls is great, set up was easy, and I've used it for fax as Erroll without issue.

bachrock37 wrote:Pretty sure you can't get voicemail with Magic Jack. Ooma you can.

Voice mail is free with MJ as well as 411, caller ID, iphone app (I can use my iphone to make free MJ calls either with 3G or wifi service).

ronzo646 wrote:There are just too many cons to mention. Here a few.
Poor call quality
Dropped calls
Restricted calling
No local numbers(even certain states)
No existent tech support.

There are just a few. They are claims against it for fraud and I would only offer to people I strongly dislike

Hmmm I've had MJ for about 5 years and haven't had any of those issues. Never needed tech support so I can't speak to that. I just plugged it in and activated. I don't know what you mean by "restricted calling". I can call anywhere.

cas2 wrote:I *did* just pull the trigger on this deal, then did a little more research and discovered that Verizon has discontinued its "dry-loop" (aka standalone) DSL service?! I currently have Vz DSL + landline, the latter outrageously overpriced. Was looking forward to keeping the DSL and dropping the telephone - now it seems that might not be possible. Gah. Does anyone have insight/experience? I'm not totally averse to going with alternate ISP (eg, cable), just curious if there is a Vz workaround. TIA for suggestions.

I had exactly the same scenario but with AT&T. AT&T is jacking up DSL prices to drive remaining folks off DSL... *and* doing the same thing for POTS ('Plain Old Telephone') services.

I dumped the POTS phone service and moved to Ooma on AT&T's Unverse Internet (no cable or phone). You should be able to do the same thing. But when doing it call the disconnect department at Verizon to threaten going to another Internet provider assuming you have an alternative. That department has the most leverage to offer deals.

Caution: if you want to port your phone number over to another service, coordinate the changeover since pulling a phone number off DSL will kill that Internet connection! We were without internet for a week since AT&T screwed up the date. New number, no problem.

Everybody wants you on on their shiny new VoIP phone service inside their 'triple play' packages. Apparently they were too stupid to realize that a lot of customers are either duming landlines completely for mobile phones or moving to third party VoIP like Ooma/Magic Jack/OBi-Google.

colbytitus wrote:Hmmm I've had MJ for about 5 years and haven't had any of those issues. Never needed tech support so I can't speak to that. I just plugged it in and activated. I don't know what you mean by "restricted calling". I can call anywhere.

Its great to hear MagicJack has worked great for you. The reason why I mentioned restricted calling is due to having a limit of 2 hrs per call and unable to call many rural numbers. Here's just on forum that might help clarify some of what I am referring to.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r24566829-HELP-Magic-Jack-can-t-call-local-ISP-area-code

On another note, as mention before on the Ooma. New accounts will be given a 30 free period on premium service and auto enrolled unless they change to basic in that window.

I know this is an old post but in case the post is referred to in a future, I thought to include it.

722lad wrote:HELP! What telephones and routers are people using with their Ooma? I've had nothing but problems with mine (calls not going through and DTMF talkoff, i.e., loud beeps, as though I'm pressing a button during conversations). I've tried everything customer support has suggested (they even sent me a new unit) and I'm still having problems (since I bought it in July).

I have mine setup as modem to ooma to router. Handset is uniden dect1580-4wx from sam's club. I don't know if that helps.
I believe it might be an ISP issue. Might be the upload speed or their routers not being up to date with current software. Have you checked your connection with speedtest.net and see an upload of at least 192 Mbps. If so software on your ISP is probably dated and you might need to call them.

ronzo646 wrote:I have mine setup as modem to ooma to router. Handset is uniden dect1580-4wx from sam's club. I don't know if that helps.
I believe it might be an ISP issue. Might be the upload speed or their routers not being up to date with current software. Have you checked your connection with speedtest.net and see an upload of at least 192 Mbps. If so software on your ISP is probably dated and you might need to call them.

192 Kps not 192 Mbps.

Received my Ooma from last week's sale . . . but the box did not contain a wall-wart power supply. :_(

Guess I'm stuck with Uverse for a while longer.

Just received my ooma today. The set up was extremely easy, took about 10 mins. The only snag I ran into was that I was unable to call in from my cell phone. I would get the message "The number you have reached is not in service - this is a recording." I had to call support and request (actually demand) a ticket for next level of support. It turned out that I just needed a different phone number for whatever reason.

Extremely satisfied with this purchase!

bluemaple wrote:I had exactly the same scenario but with AT&T. AT&T is jacking up DSL prices to drive remaining folks off DSL... *and* doing the same thing for POTS ('Plain Old Telephone') services.

I dumped the POTS phone service and moved to Ooma on AT&T's Unverse Internet (no cable or phone). You should be able to do the same thing. But when doing it call the disconnect department at Verizon to threaten going to another Internet provider assuming you have an alternative. That department has the most leverage to offer deals.

Caution: if you want to port your phone number over to another service, coordinate the changeover since pulling a phone number off DSL will kill that Internet connection! We were without internet for a week since AT&T screwed up the date. New number, no problem.

Everybody wants you on on their shiny new VoIP phone service inside their 'triple play' packages. Apparently they were too stupid to realize that a lot of customers are either duming landlines completely for mobile phones or moving to third party VoIP like Ooma/Magic Jack/OBi-Google.

Thanks so much, bluemaple. I've read elsewhere that I should let Ooma take care of the porting (as opposed to Verizon), but it sounds like I should give Verizon the heads-up that it's happening, or else I'll lose my DSL when the port goes into effect? It's all a little chicken-and-eggy, I guess. Here's hoping it all works out.

bachrock37 wrote:Pretty sure you can't get voicemail with Magic Jack. Ooma you can.

Magic jack sends voice mails with each voice message left

Looked at the Ooma site but didn't see this answer:

In order to have internet, I have to have a phone line from my provider. Can I port the number to Ooma & use it both for local calls from provider, and for international from Ooma? Currently using Credo for international as the local provider rates are high, & that works ok - can the same thing be done with Ooma or is it exclusive from traditional telephone service?