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Review by bex See Profile

  • Location: Villa Park, Du Page, IL, USA
  • Cost: $5 per month
  • Install: about 340 days
Cheap

Ooma Basic on Ooma Telo. Cost of the Telo was $100 after rebate, and has paid itself off many times over.

member for 13.2 years, 5 visits, last login: 6.2 years ago
updated 6.2 years ago


Elector
join:2000-05-25
Albany, NY

Elector

Member

They would not be a first choice for VoIP

Having done as you have via buying the Ooma tel device at Best Buy for $107 and then getting a $50 credit from Ooma it brought the price down.
The porting was painless and their online support was great. The call quality was fine, but the monthly taxes and fees had a habit of raising and in my case the service was charging sales tax on E911/911 which is against NY law.

I pointed this out on the phone to them and they kept saying they could do it. I gave them the link and they still insisted they could do it. I checked forums and others were complaining.
in my case I called up and tried to cancel, I say tried because they kept charging my credit card, kept insisting I sell or give the Telo device to another person, and when I requested a refund on the higher priced service and back months. I had to write overnight letters to the CEO which stopped the charging of my card, and a Corporate treasurer contacted me to refund every amount I paid. Minus the Telo device which I got rid of.

I went to »www.voipo.com and I paid $185 for two years, and their service is outstanding.
Ooma is very shady in billing and cancellations so be very wary.
I would never recommend them.






Review by jduffy See Profile

  • Location: Cincinnati, Hamilton, OH, USA
  • Cost: $15 per month
Great incoming voice quality, Premier Service nice
Outgoing audio had issues at times. Premier no longer doing a good job of filtering spam
Value not as great as it once was. Did not like proprietary hardware. Not a real savings when you add in cost of premier service
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

September 20, 2017 - Ooma box crapper out last week. Outgoing audio has been a problem for the last year and Ooma unable to do anything about it. They wanted me to pay $40 for a new box. I said no thanks and decided to port the number to CallCentric. When I went to cancel, and canceling the service is difficult as they don't want you to go, suddenly they could send me a new box free. Sorry, too late, I ported the number away.

Also, the spam filter was not working as well as it did. Telemarketers have come up with new ways to get around the filter. However, with the CallCentric call treatments, I can defeat the new methods telemarketers are using.

October 19, 2016 - Ooma is still working great. Nothing has changed still I started using them. Still highly recommended.

I purchased my Ooma Telo from Woot (now owned by Amazon) as a refurbished unit for $99.00. Still has a one year warranty. At the time I was paying Time Warner $30 a month for our home phone and $34 a month for a second line for home office. The Time Warner monthly bill with cable and Internet went from about $120 a month to $250 in just four years for the same Cable TV, Internet, and Phone. So I was looking to cut what I was spending.

So I connected the Ooma. Took about 15 minutes max to install and get it up and running by registering it on the Ooma website. After a few days of testing call quality, I submitted my porting order to port the home number to Ooma. Took Ooma only 8 days to get the port from Time Warner.

Now I have to tell you that my wife always liked retrieving voice mails using a "box" of some sort. She never like having to retrieve her voice mails using the phone. Why, I don't know and cannot figure it out. Anyway, with the Ooma box she has her "box" that she can press a button and listen to her voice mails. You can still retrieve voice messages using a phone and they will also be emailed to you as an mp3 file. I like that.

Now what I really list is how Ooma can filter out SPAM phone calls. They have a built-in community blacklist of telemarketers and the like. You can check the box on the Ooma website to use this AND you can specify what you want to do with those calls. You can send them to voice mail, just let the phone ring and never answer...or, and this is really great, you can have Ooma play the caller a "phone disconnected" message...gotta love that one.

AND, you can also have your own blacklist if the spamming caller is not on the Ooma, community list, you can add it yourself to your own list.

The Premier Service adds things like a free second number, and second line if you have a $59 Ooma phone that will pair with the Ooma Telo. BTW, you can have up to four Ooma phones/wireless jacks that pair with the Telo and this is with standard or Premier. You can even add more numbers for an extra charge beyond the two.

Premier also adds free calling to Canada (not important to me), three-way conferencing, caller name along with the phone number on caller ID, Community Blacklist and Personal Blacklist (forgot that this is only with Premier, which is worth the $9.95 a month extra just for this feature), call screening (you can listen to the caller leaving a voice mail and if it is someone you want to talk to, you can just pick up the phone and talk), a back-up number (if your Internet connection goes out, Ooma will forward your calls to another number like your cell phone, and more features that you can discover by going to the Ooma website.

I think it is still pretty important to have a phone at home. I know most people are just relying on cell phones now, but I hate chasing around for one cell phone at the house and the connection is not always reliable in the home.

So for under $14 a month, I have a really robust phone system now. If you really want just a basic no frills phone, then fore go the Premier Service for just basic calling and pay the 911 fees and taxes which are usually under $4 a month.

Personally, I think the Premier Service is more than worth and make Ooma a real nice home communication tool.

Oh, and it will integrate with Google Voice. So I just ordered another Ooma Telo for my home office. This time instead of porting that number to Ooma, I first ported it to T-Mobile (you have to do this since Google cannot port from anyone but a mobile carrier), then port to Google Voice. Then Google Voice can integrate with Ooma.

...and one more thing. My home Ooma Telo is connected wireless to the router. You can buy a wireless device for $49 that plugs into the back of the Telo. That way the Telo can be located anywhere in the house.

member for 17.6 years, 1966 visits, last login: 22 days ago
updated 6.5 years ago


Elector
join:2000-05-25
Albany, NY

Elector

Member

Ooma is not that great

I was once a customer and paid $99+tax for the unit.
The setup went fine and I opted to get the premier service and other than a slight glitch to get my number to call out since incoming was working a quick chat and all was well.

I used them for 3 months and was noticing my monthly tax rates were increasing. But I looked at my invoice and low and behold they were taxing my tax. It is illegal to do this in NY. I called customer service and explained the situation and for .33¢ they refused to stop collecting it.

I went to the NYS Tax department and the NYS Public Service Commission who both emailed me back saying it was not a valid tax/Surcharge. I called again and same bullshit line as before. I then ported out to Voipo and could not be happier.

Crazy as it sounds after I sent an over night letter canceling and telling them not to ever charge my credit card etc. they were willing to correct the billing and then I told them not going to happen. I also put disputes in with my card company and Ooma after a few weeks refunded my full costs from day one.

They wanted me to give my Telo to someone else, I said they must be crazy. In any case I would not recommend Ooma to my enemies.

Review by tmc8080 See Profile

  • Location: Brooklyn, Kings, NY, USA
  • Cost: $6 per month
  • Install: about 3 days
Great to get away from telco & cableco voip!
Website can be buggy and changes not instantly reflected.
You would think the price of premier would at least go DOWN over time, but Nooo..
Web-site:
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First got Ooma in 2012....

The Ooma forum is very good first line support and circumvents the need for many customer service calls.

As long as my Ooma telo holds out... I'm a happy camper.

2014: Update: I've had the Ooma for 2 years.. and recently (February, 2014) I think Verizon's been messing with their customers because there was some bad voip quality during the month of February. In a few weeks it cleared, but I was annoyed. During the same time I had limited ability to stream video. Maybe I should have called Verizon also to complain but I was too busy working. I still think Ooma is a good deal & the equipment has gotten cheaper. You can buy NEW units for $149 and often you might find deals as low as $99 for a new one. Maybe Ooma will make a newer VOIP box soon. This current one seems outdated by current technology standards. Ooma also has a referral program where you will get Amazon gift cards as a reward. That puts Ooma well below other VOIP services based on cost alone.

2/15

My Ooma telo is still going strong. They still haven't fixed the issue with being able to intercept calls that go to voicemail (ugh). Otherwise, I'm satisfied with the svc.

5/15 Ooma charges sales tax on their Pemier svc in a recent policy change $119.99 (+$8.31 in my case in addition to the $3 to $4 for the voip fees)-- making it less of a value. I would've thought the price of premier should go DOWN by now..

8/16 Same old, same old. Shame since I hardly ever use home phone service and most calling goes over cell and/or voip wifi anyway. Still beats telco or cableco voip.

4/17 Bill creep! The Ooma taxes and fees "passed along" are rising! It was btw 3-4$ for monthly fees, now NY customers are in the mid $5 range! This is starting to make google voice look better and better with each and every price hike! One can understand that these fees were inevitable price grab by Federal, State and local entities, but that's no excuse for not lowering the price of premier svc over time to compensate at least a little.. Also some features that were standard without premier are now premier features such as voip calling and 1 or 2 others [an erosion of value] #Call_It_Like_I_See_it



member for 19.9 years, 2735 visits, last login: 4.5 years ago
updated 6.9 years ago


Elector
join:2000-05-25
Albany, NY

Elector

Member

That tax on taxes is not the taxing authority

I dropped Ooma because of a .33¢ monthly increase on taxes on taxes.
I call the NYS Tax Department who wrote me back and confirmed it's illegal to place a tax on E911/911 services. I also filed a complaint with the FCC which agreed with my complaint.

I contacted Ooma and told them to remove the sales tax on 911 taxes and they kept saying they had the right to charge it and I kept saying they could not. Since Ooma did not want to listen to reason I had no choice but to cancel the service, I put in disputes and charge backs with my credit card company (Ooma was sent overnight letters of dispute and cancellation as well a cease and desist letter to have no further charges to my credit card)

And executive from Ooma refunded every dollar I paid to them for service. Monthly taxes plus the premier service costs. However I was past the return date for a refund from Best Buy for the Ooma Telo device. So it was a $108 cost. But as you can see Ooma could have saved a customer but that $4.23 extra in bogus fees/taxes was more important.

I ported out to »www.voipo.com and it was a better value in at $149 for two years plus one time taxes brought it to $185 great customer service and call quality, more features than any other VoIP service.

Check them out. And dump Ooma
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

1 recommendation

tmc8080

Member

Re: That tax on taxes is not the taxing authority

I'm going to stay with them a while longer and see if anything changes with offering a better value, but I am not going to see the service start charging $6+ next year and so forth (possibly even raise the price of premier).. that's ridiculous! The $5.55 they charge still isn't exactly what the website estimator says $5.19, so I know there are bogus charges in there somewhere. I'll weigh my options next year, and might even go cell only for PAID service and use a google voice device such as OBI as pushing $200 a year for Ooma premier plus taxes and fees is real money, not a "SMALL PRICE TO PAY" anymore.


Review by Elector See Profile

  • Location: Albany, Albany, NY, USA
  • Cost: $5 per month
  • Install: about 2 days
Easy Set up, Good Voice Quality, many free and paid features.
Beware of bogus taxes on your credit card.
Seems to be quite stable but will wait a few weeks to review Ooma again
Web-site:
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Update 1-8-2017 (sorry I did not want this service showing as a happy review. Happy with the call quality, not bogus billing)

Well it's been a few months since I choose Ooma for their phone service, although the call quality is good I must caution any potential customers that you have to check your monthly credit card invoice carefully.

Ooma now is placing bogus "sales taxes" on "Taxes" I called in about this and was told by three phone representatives that Ooma has a right to collect taxes. I pointed out you cannot charge sales tax on e911/911 surcharges. I referred to the NYS Tax Department where it states this. The company would not remove the bogus tax.

Unfortunately I ported out to another VoIP service. So Ooma loses a customer over bogus taxes. I also recommend you do a chargeback (dispute) with your credit card company. It is also a good idea to place a block on Ooma from getting anymore money from you if you port out of their service. It is documented Ooma likes to continue charging your credit card after you leave them.

It is a pity since the call quality was great. Hope my new provider is good.

*****************************************************************************************************************

Well I was looking for a replacement VOIP service for NetTalk and my friend said he uses Ooma and it was a great phone service.

So I trudged off to Best Buy and purchased the Ooma Telo for $107 and that came with a $50 credit for making international calls. So that makes it actually $57 for the device.

I then opted for the Premiere service so I think another $130 so now it around $237 cash outlay. Take the $50 credit from that price it now brings it down to $187

However there will be a $4.45 per month taxes accessed so in a year it will cost around $55
Which is high considering it is $35 a year for Magic Jack and NetTalk so around $70 total.
However NetTalk has been terrible with no support services so it was time to get rid of them.

I may post a review of just how bad NetTalk has been.

Now the Ooma installed very quickly, I picked two numbers to use until my port request is done from my NetTalk service. In any case it was free so I cannot complain.

The calls are crystal clear, and the fax sending has been good just like NetTalk was. However the difference with Ooma is you have to dial a *99 before you dial the fax machine.

It went through ok as a test, but I don't think my wife and I send more than three faxes a year so that is not a big issue.

I like how you can set everything up through the Ooma web portal in a matter of minutes.
And it even looks good on the desk. Nice blue color.

Hopefully I can update my review after we use it for awhile.

member for 23.8 years, 5022 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 7.2 years ago


Anon91872
@2602:306.x

Anon91872

Anon

Negative Experience

I have to say I have not been impressed with Ooma. The call quality often dropped or was tinny, and when I tried to leave the service it was nearly impossible. Very negative experience.

Elector
join:2000-05-25
Albany, NY

Elector

Member

Re: Negative Experience

It is fraught with customer service representatives who try and keep a customer via keeping the account open while you transfer service to another person.
They add on bogus taxes on taxes which as in NY are illegal and maybe in other states.

I had called them and told them to fully cancel and not to play that "charge my credit card continuously after I cancel" I sent it to the CEO via overnight mail.
Sent the disputes to my credit card company as well and filed an FCC complaint.
I had an executive send me an email and said every dollar I paid them has been refunded to me. (It was)

The sound quality and the fax quality were ok. I just don't like being ripped off with bogus taxes on E911

Review by samo300 See Profile

  • Location: Suwanee, Gwinnett, GA, USA
  • Cost: $14 per month
  • Install: about 2 days
Call quality and price
none
Great Service
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
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Value for money:

My Other Reviews

·T-Mobile
One of my lunch buddies recommended Ooma for years. I recently started having problems with my T-Mobile@Home and contacted support at both Charter and T-Mobile. Each said it was the other. A little troubleshooting and I decided that the T-Mobile@Home router had to be the culprit. T-Mobile@Home worked great for 6 years. Ordered the Ooma Telo and was back in business in two days. Very easy to config. It took 6 days to port my number. I have been on Ooma service for a month and I have to admit I should have changed a long time ago. I decided to add the premier service and also add my Google voice number to the config. I am happy with the value of the service for the money since it is the same price as T-Mobile@Home. I really love the blacklist and have enjoyed very few calls from telemarketers. If a caller makes it through the community blacklist, I add the number to the personal blacklist. The personal blacklist can block anyone you desire.

Update: September 1, 2015 Still pleased with Ooma. The only problems have been ISP related.

Update: October 6, 2016 Still pleased with Ooma. I have had zero issues since the last update.

member for 15 years, 3526 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 7.4 years ago


Elector
join:2000-05-25
Albany, NY

Elector

Member

Ooma so far so good

Have used Net talk for one of our VOIP Services since 2012 and although the sound quality has been superior to our Magic Jack device as of the last 6 months or more it becomes a complete hassle to keep plugging and resetting the device when it turns red.

Of course support at Net talk is non existent and no fixing of the problem. So today a friend said to try Ooma. Well the device costs me $107 to purchase, another $124 for the premier service for a year, and it's $4.45 a month so $55 about for the year in taxes.
$275 estimate then every year $190 which is a load more money than $35 for a complete year with Magic Jack and NetTalk or combined cost.

In any case set up was quick and the call quality is far superior to NetTalk and Magic Jack. And the blocking features are great, the second line number and it was free to start a port process out of NetTalk.

It will be nice to see if this service pans out.
samo300
Premium Member
join:2009-03-28
Suwanee, GA

samo300

Premium Member

Re: Ooma so far so good

Ooma has been actually better since GigaPower arrived at my location. I was on Charter cable before. A lot of times the call quality depends on the ISP.

Review by alchav See Profile

  • Location: Saint George, Washington, UT, USA
  • Cost: $13 per month
  • Install: about 1 days
Fantastic, matches Telco Phone Service!
Nothing
VoIP is the only way to go these days!
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I have Ooma Premier, and mainly for the Blocking Features which are fantastic because I almost get no Spam Calls. I have had Ooma for a while now, I use to have two Verizon lines and Ported one over with no problems. Ooma handled everything, Porting the number over and disconnecting my Service with Verizon. I have the basic single line Telo, which was very easy to set up they have OnLine instructions just plug the Telo into your Router, and plug in your Phone and you are Hot to Go. I have moved several times, and setting up the Phone has been easy and great, even used Call Forwarding to my Cell Phone. If you are looking for a VoIP that matches a Telco Land Line look no further.

Really nothing more to add, I still Love my Ooma. Voice Quality is outstanding, and it is very reliable. You can't beat the cost, and the screening and Blocking are just unbeatable. If you need a Land Line, get an Ooma.

member for 21.8 years, 6344 visits, last login: 1 day ago
updated 7.6 years ago


Review by Me530i See Profile

  • Location: Libertyville, Lake, IL, USA
  • Cost: $6 per month
Cheap, Fairly Reliable
Weird occasional glitches
Great price, low maintenance, worth it.
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Works well, occasionally have some weird glitches such as random messages on outgoing calls that the call may be recorded, or the call log on their web portal will occasionally quit working. Have had to reboot the device occasionally. The price is right, I get to keep my phone number, and 911 works as long as the power is on. Overall a good deal.

member for 22.1 years, 2414 visits, last login: 3.3 years ago
lodged 7.8 years ago

bottomfeeder3
Premium Member
join:2005-06-17
Naperville, IL

bottomfeeder3

Premium Member

Ooma - after a year

I have been an Ooma customer for a year. I have the basic package--pay the 911 fee and taxes about $6/mo. The porting over of the number and the activation, IIRC, was uneventful. Service has been ok. No significant outage. The web client is nice and easy to use. Since my first year is due to expire in a few days, Ooma has been emailing me with offers of a telo box warranty extension $39.95/2 years. That's pretty high and I will pass.

I have experienced the infrequent echo on occasion. My main criticism, and one which will ultimately lead me to dropping the service when a competitive alternative is found, is a persistent 1-2+ second voice delay on all calls. It is long enough to make calling awkward at best and often very annoying at its worst. It occurs when I have the Telo connected directly to the cable modem or through a router--with QOS activated or not.






Review by avx See Profile

  • Location: Osseo, Hennepin, MN, USA
  • Cost: $5 per month
Cheap, as reliable as Vonage and good customer service.
Cheaper than Vonage with just as good quality and customer service at a lower price.
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We were paying $35+ with Vonage for our phone service and then we heard about Ooma online and decided to jump ship after looking over reviews. We bough the Ooma Telo and got our number ported from Vonage within 2 weeks. Then we were up and running, call quality has been great and customer service has been excellent whenever we needed help regarding services or troubleshooting. We only pay state regulatory fees and have local and nationwide calling. International calling is an extra $10 for 1000 minutes or $15 for unlimited. We used to subscribe to unlimited international calling till T-Mobile roped us into their promotional international calling service for only +$10 for our entire cellular account of 4 lines.

Overall Ooma at least in our experience has been just as good as Vonage in terms of call quality and customer service but at a much lower price.

member for 8.2 years, 1348 visits, last login: 1.1 years ago
updated 7.8 years ago


Review by mroccella See Profile

  • Location: Lyndhurst, Bergen, NJ, USA
  • Cost: $15 per month
Excellent Voice Quality on our 3/768 DSL line!
Telo box documentation could be more detailed and easier to find.
Wish I thought of them before
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We have a Covad 3/768 DSL circuit through a reseller called Interlync. (Highly recommended! Read all their positive reviews on this site!) Our DSL service is a dry loop with NO dial-tone.

I connected the Telo device directly to my DSL modem which is in Bridged Mode. So, the Telo device runs PPPoE. It, in turn, provides a private DHCP address to my WiFi router. So, nothing on my internal network changed, except the Internet setting on my WiFi router. Now, the Telo has pretty decent router functionality built-in. It supports port-forwarding, DMZ, but no UPnP. Not a problem. With my setup, VPN tunnels pass through the Telo no problem. You would figure that the double-NATting would pose problems. But, it does NOT. The router does not slow the connection down, either. My only gripe is that the router's online help is not uptodate and hard to find on Ooma's website. For most people, the device really IS plug & play. But, for people with slower DSL circuits, I feel they should make the Telo documentation easier to find so that people can configure it for PPPoE and make other adjustments.

Voice quality is very good. Almost cannot tell it is VoIP! Even while uploading or downloading files, simultaneously, it does a very good job prioritizing voice packets. I think it uses some ridiculously low amount of bandwidth, around 200k, for calls. That's my estimate. So, even those with 384k upload speeds should have no problems.

The Android app works well. It actually sounds better than using my cellphone to make a cell call! If you have WiFi, even better. No minutes. No data. If you have an unlimited data plan, even better.

Normally, the service is free. You just pay whatever taxes and government fees, which is a few dollars per month. I decided to subscribe to the Premier Plan and International Calling plan. I suggest subscribing to the Premier Plan. The extra features are worth it. You can also choose a free number port if you do so, as of this writing.

Customer service is very good. I chat with them and they are always very helpful.

I am porting my number over to it. It should take about 3 days. I'll update this review on how the number porting went.

Update: Our number ported in a few days. Our home phone works normally.

Update: The HD2 handsets add amazing features to the service. For example, you can actually listen to a voicemail message as someone is leaving it. And, you can take the call, if you want to. They also allow you to access a second line if you want to make a call and someone else is already is on a call. The second call does not affect voice quality at all! My only complaint is that the speakerphone audio is a bit distorted.

member for 22 years, 464 visits, last login: 177 days ago
updated 7.8 years ago


Review by hnd4me See Profile

  • Location: Colton, Saint Lawrence, NY, USA
  • Cost: $4 per month
  • Install: about 20 days
cheap, clear calls, unlimited calling, great value with premier or without
support is fair, long number port, faxing you need premier, no way to remove voicemail
great phone service and recommend for people looking to save $$
Web-site:
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Have had the service for 4 years now and its been great. Can't beat the price of just paying for taxes! The initial setup costs a bit but you quickly recover those costs when service is roughly just 4$ a month and premier is around 15$ with tax. Support can be a hit or miss when you talk to them but for 4$ a month, i am not expecting red carpet experience. Once your enrolled in Premier you need to contact them to remove the feature which i feel is unnecessary and theres no removing the voicemail option at all. Which the website should have the option for both. We have a home office and faxing on occasion can be a chore, sometimes having to try 3-4x before a 1 page document will send. With premier it offers redundancy so document sends on first try. When we first got the service the number port took between 2 and 3 weeks from vonage which was inconvenient but not awful. Overall its a fantastic service once we got setup with solid reliability and clear calls. Did i mention cheap? Just 4$ a month! We used the service with 2.5 meg dsl and calls sometimes would be distorted but since we got faster connection no distortion. Very pleased with the system so far. Premier offers number blocking and host of other features which makes the 10$ for that even a decent value as well. With standard free service you get caller id with number only but can add a name in the online address book. Other than those few things, I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to save $$$.

member for 7.9 years, 130 visits, last login: 6.5 years ago
lodged 7.9 years ago


Red Hazard
Premium Member
join:2012-07-21
O Fallon, IL

Red Hazard

Premium Member

Better Alternatives

If you purchase an Obihai ATA ($48 but when on sale $30 on Amazon or Newegg), you can get Phonepower for $60.yr ($5/mo) TOTAL with similar features as the Ooma premium extra offers).