Comments on: Is Ooma Free Home Service A Scam?

By: Berry Girl

Berry Girl — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 21:26:08 +0000

Questions for Dan:
Is it mandatory to buy the premier service? I’m confused, because I thought it was optional. All I really need is phone calls plus voice mail and caller ID. Why would I have to buy the premier service?
Also, what are the activation charges? If you buy it new, what is the activation charge?

By: Karen

Karen — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 01:22:30 +0000

I bought an Ooma box and have had nothing but bad service. It’s an expensive device at $200 and around $4/month for your “free” service. You can’t get email attachment without paying more for more “free” stuff.

I’ve tried it over different networks with different network hardware, and it was static city all the time.

I told them to cancel the service because I couldn’t afford the high price of their “free” service anymore that actually worked nowhere as well as MagicJack (which also is kinda lame since you need a computer, but ran circles around Ooma in call quality and feature set – email attachments).

I’m actually better off now, turning my Ooma into a piece of ewaste. Run very far and fast from Ooma (in my experience at any rate).

By: Kandace

Kandace — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:26:24 +0000

Same comments as Bruce up above. Ooma promises alot but it’s a hassle to set-up. I can’t take mine back so if you want to buy mine, let me know. LOL

By: K.D.

K.D. — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 01:29:28 +0000

We’ve been using ooma for several months now with no problems. The call quality is generally quite good (better than using my cell phone). My only complaint is that I can’t run a fax over it, but I expected that. We don’t use the premier service, our bill is like $3 a month for 911 access and taxes. That’s it. I think it’s great. We bought the hub on sale for $200 from amazon and we are probably pretty close to recooping the cost already. If you are considering getting rid of your landline and using cells only, but want the landline for security reasons, this is a good way to do it I think.

By: Dan Randolph

Dan Randolph — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 19:54:30 +0000

This article is very misleading.
First of all, expect to have to buy the premium service.
With the access fees, this will bring your cost up to around $13 per month.

So with port fees, etc., even if you get the Ooma Telo at a discount of $200,
you will only save $158 over the first two years (not $450 as the chart says) if you current phone line is $30 a month. If your Ooma device breaks after that, you are out another $200 plus activation charges, so don’t expect to save more than about $75 per year. Hardly worth the hassle an unreliability of using the service.

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 20:50:20 +0000

I was with SunRocket too. When they went out of business I made the transition to TeleBlend without a hitch. The SunRocket ATA is sitting on my desk still in service and I still have my original phone number.

When SunRocket went out of business, they made arrangements with TeleBlend and maybe a couple of other companies to absorbs their old customers. TeleBlend bought SunRocket’s infrastructure and continued the service. So if you transferred your service to one of the carriers SunRocket recommended there were no problems.

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 18 May 2011 05:29:43 +0000

I read all the comments, I too bought a Ooma , but after the hookup I was told I had 5,000 minutes per month,which is alot but Not as advertized! Its not unlimited calls.I’m surprised nobody has brought this up?

By: Laura Middleton

Laura Middleton — Wed, 18 May 2011 00:09:53 +0000

I have a residental landline and a separate business landline. My question , can I use the ooma for a small business and is that legal?

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 10 May 2011 18:23:42 +0000

Best Buy supports child labor (just kidding), though the kids that work there barely know there “arse” from a hole in the ground. A giga-bit router is not necessary, as VoIP calls are minimal in packet size; however, I do recommend a router with QoS support to prioritize VoIP packets if you have high usage Ie. video or tv, or a slow internet such as DSL. Hope this helps!

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 10 May 2011 18:00:27 +0000

Ooma really is the next best thing since sliced bread. I have had my Ooma box/service for ten months. The only fee with the basic service is taxes to our lovely government. I live in Ga and my fees total a whooping $3.47 a month. That’s it!

I have ATT DSL 1.5Mbps, which everyone that is slightly tech savvy knows, it a slow speed. I have had no issues unless both kids using two PC’s are trying to watch videos which hog up bandwidth. The reason I mention this is because you can also buy routers with QoS (quality of service: Bing/Google it) support which allows you to prioritize bandwidth usage ie. VoIP. With this installed I have no issues with any calls made or received. Also, if you are using DSL I recommend running a separate line to the DSL and then you can just plug the Ooma directly into you house wiring (provided you have the house wiring separate from the outside “landline” at this point) as this makes installation a breeze for large homes with multiple phones. I have a 4500 sqft home with something like 11-15 outlets. Now I can plug into any of the outlets and they all work on the Ooma. Cable users may just disconnect the outside line on the inside, ie your property, outside equipment is the phone companies.

Ooma may not be worth it’s weight in gold (as the prices of gold keep going up) but it doesn’t get any better. Also two last things
1. the Ooma box itself only comes with a one year warranty. Ooma does offer you extensions for the warranty. If you have concerns over this the plans are quite reasonable in my opinion for a $250 device. 39.99 one year, 79.98 for two years and you can buy them separately, meaning buy one year and then after that year is up buy the next year.
2. See what other services offer you this! Ooma just introduced a new service on top of their enhanced 911. You can add 3 phone numbers to your account that will be called ASAP if anyone dials 911 from the Ooma! How awesome is that! We have had to call 911 twice as our parents live with us. This just gives a heads up that we would all want at a crucial time like this.

I hope this helps anyone looking to ditch the phone company and quit over paying!

PS stay away from magic jack unless all you need is a fax-line, call quality is terrible and your PC must be on at all times to send and receive.
Technically, speaking Ooma is no different than other VoIP services such as Vonage, Comcast, an whom ever else has one except the price! Comcast $40, Vonage $15 intro rate, etc. ….