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Review by pandora 
UPDATED: 85 days ago
member for 8.4 years, 3354 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Outland
 Contract price not specified.
 "Easy setup, high quality voice, fax may be supported, no monthly fees"
 "Business model potentially unstable"
 "A great easy to set up VOIP service with high quality sound"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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2nd Update: I've now gone entirely off AT&T and to Ooma for landlines. The sound quality with Ooma is comparable to my old POTS lines. So far Ooma has delivered what it promised without any grief. I'm a 100% satisfied customer at this time. My only concern would be for the Ooma financial model. With 2 Ooma hubs, I currently have 3 lines supported by Ooma and have had no significant problems.
Update: It has been a few months since I installed Ooma and ported one of my phone numbers to it. Reliability has been great, and sound quality even better. When my internet connection was severely degraded, Ooma sound quality was first rate.
I mostly post about Ooma now on the Ooma forums. Support has improved. It used to take 15 or so minutes to get a live (American) at the Ooma support line, now it takes just a couple of minutes (or less). There is little need to call support as voice quality and reliability have been first rate.
Of late good deals on Ooma core systems have been harder to find, it seems to be a very popular product. I recommend Ooma to my friends.
Initial review: I read reviews on Amazon, and it seemed as if Ooma was providing a great service. When the price went from $219 to $200, I decided to give it a try. Amazon has a great 30 day return policy, if Ooma wasn't good, it would be easy to return.
Setup was easy, within 5 minutes it was unboxed and connected to my network (behind my router). Activation on the website was a breeze, and I had a functioning local telephone number within two minutes of completing the online form.
There was no credit card or social security number required to activate service. I did have to provide a street address for the E911 feature.
Within 2 minutes of completing the form, my Ooma went from having it's indicator tab glow red (meaning something is wrong) to blue (meaning it is ready to make a call). Since that time, my Ooma hub has been doing a wonderful job.
The Ooma core consists of a hub and scout. The hub does most of the work, the scout helps add support features which seem to mostly require the $99 per year premium service. I don't use the scout.
I've been able to send and receive faxes of up to 8 pages via my Ooma hub. There have been no fax problems.
Voice quality is exceptional for a VOIP service, it is almost as good as a land line.
The only drawback is there is no fallover to an alternate phone number in the event of an internet failure. Thus if my Ooma link goes down, there is no way to have Ooma call forward to my cell phone.
Ooma support has been helpful. They provide an 800 number, and Americans answer the phone. Wait time has varied between 6 and 15 minutes. Twice I've received a busy when calling support, and called later without a problem.
The business model of giving free domestic calling (up to 3,000 outgoing minutes per month) with no fee may not be stable. Time will tell. Until then, Ooma is a fantastic device and provides very good service.
Recently I added a second Ooma hub to my home network. It can make calls with no problem, both Ooma hubs work fine behind my router.
Each hub is assigned a static LAN IP via static DHCP, similarly they are assigned highest QOS priority via their MAC. So far, so good.
The second Ooma hub activated without any problem, it was as problem free as the first. Activation seems to take only 2-3 minutes.
Edited to add my recent experiences with Ooma support have been outstanding. I've increased my rating of Ooma.
Followup comments:  chiefjim
join:2000-11-12
Smithtown, NY | ooma questions I note you mentioned setting it up behind the router. Any advantages to doing it this way?
Curious what happens if you get a new DHCP address when your modem resets? Or perhaps change providers? | |
| | pandora
Premium
join:2001-06-01
Outland
 ·ooma
·Future Nine Corpor..
 ·Comcast
1 edit |  Re: ooma questions
The Ooma hub is currently using an alternate set of phones, distinct from my normal home phones. This to permit testing. In a few weeks, I'll probably port one of my phone numbers to Ooma and it will drive my normal home phone system.
I have set the Ooma hub to a fixed LAN address via static DHCP, using the Tomato 1.23 firmware on a Linksys WRT54GL router. The static LAN IP address is controlled by the Ooma MAC.
My Ooma is set to highest QOS priority via its MAC.
My PAP2T is similarly set.
Today, I bought and activated a 2nd Ooma core (hub + scout). Both work fine behind my router, each has a LAN static IP address, each gets highest QOS service. I can call from one to the other and get very high quality (voice) calls.
Ooma has been 100% reliable, and hasn't used much bandwidth. If my public WAN IP were to change, it wouldn't affect my Ooma devices. They would still be highest priority QOS on my LAN. Their LAN address can't change as its controlled by my router and is set to static.
I used to have two AT&T lines, and am now planning to go to none by the end of this summer.
Currently I have 4 VOIP connections running 24/7 on my LAN. 2 to Ooma, 2 to Future-Nine. I have moved one AT&T phone number to Future-Nine, and have one to go.
--
"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use." | |
| | | chiefjim
join:2000-11-12
Smithtown, NY | Re: ooma questions Your reply is a bit more technical than I am able to easily decipher. Is there an end benefit to connecting the hub to the router as opposed to the cable modem?
Any consequences were I to change providers? | |
| | | | | | | | | chiefjim
join:2000-11-12
Smithtown, NY | Re: ooma questions What happens if a power failure causes my modem to reset with a new leased IP address? Or, if I were to cancel my current provider and move to a new broadband provider? | |
| | | | | | pandora
Premium
join:2001-06-01
Outland | Re: ooma questions | |
| | | | 
HolmanGT
Premium
join:2001-11-20
Saint George, UT
·Baja Broadband
| There is an advantage to connecting the ooma unit between the modern and router. The ooma unit has its own QoS control. When placed between the modem and the router you can be assured that ooma will get all the band width it needs. It is just a little more Plug-n-Play that way.
Mine is also connected to my router and I did that only because when it was connected to the modem it acquired a strange IP address and I became alarmed that my ISP was also see it as a second device on their system. I have since found out hat the ooma unit will acquire an IP address and DNS address from ooma at least that is the what I believe was going on and why I saw a WAN address assigned to my ooma when connected to the modem. It is a pretty tricky little box, all designed to make your life truly P-n-P. (I don't know about you but I sure love to plug and play, feel free to take that anyway you choose)
Short story - it works fine either way and per ooma only requires about 47 kb-ps of band width. | |
| chiefjim
join:2000-11-12
Smithtown, NY
| I've searched here, the Amazon forums, and the ooma site but one question still remains. Do you have to select porting your number on initial setup or can that be delayed?
I'd like to know that the service met my expectations before committing my number to being ported over. | |
| | | | | chiefjim
join:2000-11-12
Smithtown, NY | Re: ooma questions So then at a later date I could begin the process to port the existing number? If so, great. Nothing I read mentions that as an option. Wonder how many people like myself are on the fence wondering what if? | |
| | | | pandora
Premium
join:2001-06-01
Outland | Re: ooma questions
--
"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use." | |
| | | | | chiefjim
join:2000-11-12
Smithtown, NY | Re: ooma questions Many thanks for your patience. That clears up all my issues. Now to place my order with Newegg. With any luck will be here tomorrow. | |
| | | | | | pandora
Premium
join:2001-06-01
Outland |  Re: ooma questions
 | |
| | | | | | | chiefjim
join:2000-11-12
Smithtown, NY | Re: ooma questions No question, just a comment. Works great! Installed behind my router. Only made a minor Qos adjustment.
Now for the biggest challenge, deciding whether or not to port over my existing number. Decisions, decisions..... | |
| | | | | | | | | 
BeejGA
@bellsouth.net
| What are the pros and cons and/or possibilities of connecting this to my Brinks Alarm System?
In the past I used ATT Callvantage, and my hubby (a licensed electrician) was able to connect the phones without issues.
Is this the same as ATT Callvantage VoIP?
Thanks in advance! | |
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BeejGA
@bellsouth.net
| Thanks for your quick response, currently Costco is offering this at a discount, and a money back guarantee. We will attempt this.
Hubby feels confident that he will be able to hook it up like he did in the past, using ATT's VoIP. I'll keep you posted with our results.
Again, THANKS! | |
| | | java007
join:2003-03-02
Abingdon, MD
| Re: Home Alarm System said by BeejGA :Thanks for your quick response, currently Costco is offering this at a discount, and a money back guarantee. We will attempt this. Hubby feels confident that he will be able to hook it up like he did in the past, using ATT's VoIP. I'll keep you posted with our results. Again, THANKS! Excellent tip re: Costco. Will check out the local store later this week. | |
| stuntman
join:2006-03-04
Hemet, CA
| Does anybody know if you can have your current line forwarded to the Ooma number until the Port is finished? My phone will be 'dry looped' next friday, at which point my current phone number will no longer connect to my home.. Is it possible to have the phone company (verizon) forward my phone number to the Ooma number until the porting completes?? | |
| | | | | stuntman
join:2006-03-04
Hemet, CA
| Re: Call Forwarding until ported? Wow.. the Verizon tech I spoke with told me I could not have both!
What would you suggest then?? Should I cancel the dry loop that is scheduled for Friday? I'm told my dry loop will still be tied to my phone number but I'll no longer get a dial tone on that line... she seemed to think I'd need two phone lines to have both data and voice...
My understanding was that I set up the Ooma first, then get the dry loop made... then do the Ooma port request... and that there could be a 3 week period where nobody could dial to my 'land' phone..
I wish this wasn't so confusing!!!!! | |
| | | | | | | | | stuntman
join:2006-03-04
Hemet, CA
| Re: Call Forwarding until ported? I've never been billed for my DSL as my employer pays for it.. I only get the phone bill sent to my house.. is that the same thing?
If I understand you correctly, I need to cancel the dry loop that Verizon is about to do as it will cause me to lose my phone number and prevent the porting? They told me that my dry loop would still be billed and tied to my current phone number.. is that only for accounting purposes?
I'm still confused on the order I need to do this in.
Is it..
1) Buy Ooma
2) Request Porting via Ooma's site
or
1) Have my single line split to a Dry Loop and a POTS
2) Buy Ooma
3) Request Number port via Ooma's site?
So there is no truth to what the Verizon person told me about needing two rj-11 jacks and two lines in order to have both Dry Loop and POTS?
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | stuntman
join:2006-03-04
Hemet, CA
| Re: Call Forwarding until ported?
Thanks again.. hopefully this will go smoothly! | |
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