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Review of ooma (voip)


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Six Month Rating

Reviews:
72 reviews (64 good) (3 bad)
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Review by compuguybna See Profile
member for 3.8 years, 1794 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 116 days ago

  • Nashville,Davidson,TN
  • $5 per month
  • about 1 days
  • "Cheap Home Phone Service if you have a FAST broadband connection"
  • "Call quality generally, but sometimes choppy with heavy internet usage."
  • "Fair Voip Quality Overall, Taxes Went up to $4.72."
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)

11/30/12 - - CANCELLED OOMA. bundled internet and phone from the local cable co. Phone for $14.99 taxes included. better quality.

UPDATE 10/8/12. Had OOMA for over a year now. Most of the startup bugs have been worked out. TAXES have gone up to $4.72 a month.. Downgraded ISP speed, but still works ok on a 15mbps connection.

UPDATE 11/23/11....
Decided to just go with OOMA BASIC. Over a month and a half passed, I got my first bill... $3.47.
still solid. Charter gave us a speed bump. now 30mbps down / 4 up. no problems with QOS.

UPDATE 11/12/11 . . . .
Received new FIRMWARE about a week ago. the "robotic voice" seems to be corrected. AT&T landline issue seems to be corrected. Unit seems solid. Calls get choppy with heavy downloading on the network at the same time. Have devoted about 1500down and 900up as QOS priority, and that seems to be sufficient for phone calls with normal web surfing. will probably NOT renew the Premier service. Not sure the 9.99 extra is worth it ((( I like free service too much))). If any thing changes, I'll be sure to update.

UPDATE 10/19/11 . . . .
Up and running for 15 days here without an issue. The calling AT&T landlines appears to have been resolved.. Call quality seems to be ok, Although gets "robotic" about 20 minutes into a call. Overall, second time around seems alot better than the first unit. Will update next month.

UPDATE 10/4/11 . . . . .
Trying another OOMA box and new phone number. Exchanged the other unit.
The AT&T landline seems to be resolved for now. I'm still testing the new unit for now. Only a few calls not received so far. VoiceMail is sometimes very choppy and laggy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------

Thought I'd take a minute to review the OOMA TELO device.
Advertised as "FREE HOME PHONE SERVICE".

Its a VOIP device, so you have to have a pretty steady consistent fast internet connections. I had Charter 18 down / 2 up service, so bandwidth was NOT an issue..

Setup was pretty easy, but I have to add, you really have to be a little computer savy and know what functions a modem, router, and IP address performs.

Register the device online using the Activation Code (last few digits of the MAC address).

Put in your local area code and prefix (like if you have a landline #), and it will suggest local numbers that you can choose in YOUR area code (and prefix)..

A few configurations you can have the device in, including where the device is in your configuration. You can plug the internet directly into the device, then your home network (router) into the "home" port. Or you can hook the device into your router ports (this configuration requires a little more tweaking, and a little knowledge of IP address, etc).

I found the optimal configuration was for the device to be plugged into the router, and provide the device reserved bandwidth from the router. I reserved 5000 down and 1000 up for QOS rules.

Up and working, we called several numbers back and forth to determine the call quality. Mostly, the calls were clear, but on occassion, the calls were fuzzy with a strange "echo" in the background (on a call that was previously crystal clear).

All the sudden we could not call local #'s in our local town (SPECIFICALLY AT&T landline #'s). For example, the OOMA device was 931-422-xxxx, and our local # was 931-359)
When we called 931-359-xxxx from our OOMA device, we could tell when the caller answered BUT, we could hear the caller (outgoing call). Likewise, on incoming calls from 931-359, everything was ok. After speaking for about an hour troubleshooting with someone in the Phillippies, I was transferred to Level 2 tech support, after a while of investigating states that there were some issues DIALING at&t landlines with this device, (and obviously had been for a while, since people from late 2010 had reported this issue in their forums).... The "workaround" was to dial *99 before the #, but this basically was a "fax" mode. the call worked and you could hear on both ends, BUT all the sudden, there was a "double echo" on both ends.
I am taking this specific unit back to the retail store for an exchange, and i'll start the registration progress again and hopefully get a new #. Will report back later the exchange.

Comments:
elizabeth

join:2010-07-23

This seemed interesting

This seemed interesting. My family has used Ooma for a very long time. I used Google to search for 931-359 and the first hit was on »phones.whitepages.com/931-359 .

Off the first page was a link for Walgreens, it is pasted below:

758 N Ellington Pkwy
Lewisburg, TN (0.2 mi)
(931) 359-6204

I picked up my phone, and used Ooma to call Walgreens. Got a robot voice menu, then music while waiting for customer service. I asked what hours the pharmacy was open on Sunday, and got an answer from a very polite woman.

No echo, the call went right through, no problem. We don't dedicate anything in QOS to our Ooma device, it is just plugged into the router.

Did you ever post your concern on the Ooma forum at ooma.com?

compuguybna

join:2009-06-17
Nashville, TN
Reviews:
·Virgin Mobile Br..
·Charter
·ooma
·HughesNet Satell..
·Millenicom

Re: This seemed interesting

OOMA Level 2 Tech Support stated that there are "intermittent" problems with dialing AT&T landlines. And Yes 931-359-xxxx
are AT&T landlines.
The # that OOMA assigned to this device is a 931-422 #, and it is maintained by Global Crossing Local Services, Inc.- TN , so there could be some issues with that prefix dialing a 359 prefix in 931 area code.....
the last update I got from them was "we are further investigating the problem".
Long story short, it sucks I can't dial my sister next door and talk to her.....
Thanks for your concern though...
pandora
Premium
join:2001-06-01
Outland
kudos:1

Re: This seemed interesting

Are you using AT&T DSL?

compuguybna

join:2009-06-17
Nashville, TN

Re: This seemed interesting

No, using Charter HSI.

said by pandora:

Are you using AT&T DSL?

pandora
Premium
join:2001-06-01
Outland
kudos:1
Reviews:
·Google Voice
·Comcast
·ooma
·Future Nine Corp..

Re: This seemed interesting

Hmm,
Shouldn't be any problem with that. DSL can cause some interference with some Ooma devices.

Sorry, I can't think of anything else helpful to ask that would be helpful.
--
"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use."

kieranmullen
Premium
join:2005-12-12
Portland, OR
Any voip services would be choppy with heavy Internet usage unless properly controlled. Why do you put that in the rating as if that is the companies fault?
--
Make your voip number accessible to sipbroker.com and free worldwide call in numbers

compuguybna

join:2009-06-17
Nashville, TN
Reviews:
·Virgin Mobile Br..
·Charter
·ooma
·HughesNet Satell..
·Millenicom

Re: This seemed interesting

THE QOS function in the OOMA box should control bandwidth needed for HD call quality. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.

If you dont have an OOMA, why are you so concerned?

said by kieranmullen:

Any voip services would be choppy with heavy Internet usage unless properly controlled. Why do you put that in the rating as if that is the companies fault?

pandora
Premium
join:2001-06-01
Outland
kudos:1

At least your long Ooma nightmare is over

Congrats,

Finally your long and torturous Ooma nightmare is over.

Kudos!

compuguybna

join:2009-06-17
Nashville, TN
Reviews:
·Virgin Mobile Br..
·Charter
·ooma
·HughesNet Satell..
·Millenicom

Re: At least your long Ooma nightmare is over

You seem to be more torn up over it than I am(was)...

said by pandora:

Congrats,

Finally your long and torturous Ooma nightmare is over.

Kudos!

pandora
Premium
join:2001-06-01
Outland
kudos:1
Reviews:
·Google Voice
·Comcast
·ooma
·Future Nine Corp..

Re: At least your long Ooma nightmare is over

said by compuguybna:

You seem to be more torn up over it than I am(was)...

I never understood why Ooma was so awful for you, and felt badly about the situation. It would have been nicer to see Ooma resolve your issues, but regardless of venue, you now have a solution that works. I'm glad to read that.
--
"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand." - Milton Friedman"

rezapci

join:2002-03-24
Kansas City, MO

contact your congressman

regarding the taxes you can contact your congressman and senators

compuguybna

join:2009-06-17
Nashville, TN
Reviews:
·Virgin Mobile Br..
·Charter
·ooma
·HughesNet Satell..
·Millenicom

i'd still recommend OOMA although we switched to charter

Actually Charter Phone is just an ARRIS voice modem. It works pretty much like VOIP, it just doesn't go thru a router, its has its dedicated coax. just sits there and does its "phone thing".

$14.99 a month, taxes INCLUDED.

considering the OOMA was out of warranty, and taxes were at $4.82, just made sense to me to bundle the phone and internet for the discount.

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