Free VOIP Phone Service

[Keltin]

Just bumped into this neat little device.

http://www.ooma.com/products/faqs


The Ooma Telo.

It's like Vonage. It gives you VOIP (telephone service) over your existing broadband connection.

For free.

For life.

There is an initial buy price (from them) of $250.00 for the box, and then you have to pay 11.99 per year to cover the regulatory fees. And that's it.

You can also buy the box from Amazon for 199.00 thus saving 50 bucks.

<click here to see Oooma at Amazon>


I have Vonage and their 24.99 plan. With fees it's 32.86, so lets say 33.00 per month.

$33 x 12months = $396.00 per year

$396 - $200(Ooma from Amazon) = $196

$196 / 12 = 16.33

So, for what I pay for one year with Vonage, I could get 16 (that is SIXTEEN) years of service with Ooma.

Ooma is averaging 4.5 stars on Amazon.

Ooma offers a "Premier" calling package for 10 per month that gives you many extra (and nice) features.

If you want to keep your existing phone number, they charge a $39.99 port fee.

I was talking with another Engineer here, and he says that he heard that the free Ooma may be tagging its voice traffic with a low PCP (Priority Code Point) before it hits the voice gateway, while it would tag voice traffic from its Premier service with a higher priority. What this means is, if traffic at the gateway begins to exceed allocated bandwidth, the traffic will be shaped on priority. Lower priority will be queued and have to wait, while higher priority will be allowed to pass through first. This could lead to longer than usual times in making a connection, and possible degradation in call quality (if shaping is still done at the priority level after a connection has been made).

But, we aren't for sure if they are tagging it that way or not.

Hmmmmmmmmmm……this is a mighty tempting proposition. My birthday is in August, and I may just treat myself to this little gadget and run it for 30 days to compare it to Vonage.

To be continued………

[buzzard767]

Do it, Keltin. If you are dissatisfied you can resell the box. Does it hook directly to your router? WiFi?

[GotGarlic]

I'm asking out of true ignorance - how is this different from or better than Skype, which is free?

[YeOldeStonecat]

Originally Posted by GotGarlic

I'm asking out of true ignorance - how is this different from or better than Skype, which is free?

This is more like a traditional phone....you can call landlines and cell phones, they can call you, you have a regular phone number, etc.

I believe Skype allows that, but you need the optional pay for component called skypeout. I believe the basic free skype is only free for other skype users, it's like voice over instant messaging.

[Doc]

I have Voipo rather than Vonage. I was paying 32 a month with Vonage, with Voipo it's 11 and change per month (8.95 + taxes). 133 per year.
For that I get all the bells and whistles that Vonage offered. That offer sounds interesting but every company that has ever sold me something that was good for 'life' has never lasted. I'm still here but the companies have folded.
I'll be interested in how this turns out if you try it, but at this point I'm skeptical, not of their service but of them being around forever.

[Keltin]

Yeah Buzz, you plug this little box directly into your router, and then plug your phone into the box. Instant phone service (just like Vonage and Voipo).

I know what you mean Doc. I'm a bit torn on this as I did try MagicJack and that sucked out loud. If the quality on Ooma isn't there, then it is a far pricier experiment than the 40 bucks I dropped on MagicJack.

Voipo is a very tempting service indeed. Considering how little I use my house line, I've decided its time to dump the unnecessary cost of 33 bucks a month for Vonage. I LOVE vonage, don't get me wrong, but after 2 years of using it, and averaging only 100 minutes a month on it, I can't justify continuing on with it.

Since you stand by Voipo's service and quality, I'm in a tight spot. Which do I choose…..Ooma or VoipO?????




I'll continue to ponder this over the next few weeks. In the end, I think curiosity is going to get the better of me, and I'll cave-in to the temptations of ooma.

[Shermie]

Originally Posted by Keltin

Yeah Buzz, you plug this little box directly into your router, and then plug your phone into the box. Instant phone service (just like Vonage and Voipo).

I know what you mean Doc. I'm a bit torn on this as I did try MagicJack and that sucked out loud. If the quality on Ooma isn't there, then it is a far pricier experiment than the 40 bucks I dropped on MagicJack.

Voipo is a very tempting service indeed. Considering how little I use my house line, I've decided its time to dump the unnecessary cost of 33 bucks a month for Vonage. I LOVE vonage, don't get me wrong, but after 2 years of using it, and averaging only 100 minutes a month on it, I can't justify continuing on with it.

Since you stand by Voipo's service and quality, I'm in a tight spot. Which do I choose…..Ooma or VoipO?????




I'll continue to ponder this over the next few weeks. In the end, I think curiosity is going to get the better of me, and I'll cave-in to the temptations of ooma.

As you already know, I tried Magic Jack as well.

And even though it is very dirt-cheap, it is NOT worth going through all those aggravating and annoying dropped calls that I've had to constantly deal with!!

At least with broadband (in this case, Comcast), I have not had any dropped calls. And now, I'm no longer forced to keep the computer on when I'm expecting a call from a friend or relative.

Yeah, I think I heard of that new phone service, but I get very leary now when service is said to be for free of near-free - especially if the co that is offering the free service is new.

That is much like Magic Jack where the inventor claims that it is just as reliable as any other type of phone service, but we know that's a lie and that Magic Jack still has yet to get rid of all the chinks in the chain.

Also, I don't like the fact that with Magic Jack, there is no number at all to call, much less an 800-number, if you are having problems with the device or the software and you'd want to call them, but you can't because there is no number to call them!!

[UncleRalph]

sweet, thanks for sharing!

[Shermie]

A friend who lives down the street, his heighbor is having trouble with his laptop pc, he says, because he can't get Magic jack to work for him. And he just got the computer about a week ago, he says!

He has TWO magic Jack devices. Says that the first one didn't work, so he bought a 2nd one. That means that he spent $100 for them!

Seems his computer has suddenly started running awfully slow.

He, also, is going through the same problem that I had - annoying and constant dropped calls! I told him that I had that same problem and that I've stopped using MJ and went back to Comcast for home phone service.

Guess Magic Jack IS very problematic!!

[Cooksie]

Originally Posted by Doc

I have Voipo rather than Vonage. I was paying 32 a month with Vonage, with Voipo it's 11 and change per month (8.95 + taxes). 133 per year.
For that I get all the bells and whistles that Vonage offered. That offer sounds interesting but every company that has ever sold me something that was good for 'life' has never lasted. I'm still here but the companies have folded.
I'll be interested in how this turns out if you try it, but at this point I'm skeptical, not of their service but of them being around forever.

They're still around, and I'm thinking about giving Ooma a try.

I've got it narrowed down to these three, in this order:

Ooma
Voipo
New Magic Jack that doesn't plug into your computer

Decisions, decisions , I've spent hours reading about all of them, and each has its goods and bads.

[Cooksie]

And yet another

I finally took the plunge and bought one of the Oomas. I found the box for $125. The activation fee is $10, and the monthly expense is about $4. If it sucks, I can return the box and only be out about $15 to $20. On the other hand, if it works like it's supposed to, I'll be a happy camper with a $4 monthly bill as opposed to a $35 monthly bill.

Time will tell!

[QSis]

Keep us posted, Cooksie!

Lee

[Cooksie]

The set up on this was soooo easy and quick. I've made and received calls, and the sound is as good as my land line. I'm going to make a few more calls this evening to check everything once again. If it's all still good, I'm going to cut my landline...can't wait .

I call her my Ooma Lou .

The one and only thing that I don't like so far is that there is no audible beep when you have messages on the answering machine. I'll get used to that shortly as my phone system before this one didn't beep either.

[Doc]

Congtrats. I still have Voipo and it works just fine. It is costing me 6 a month now since I reup'd for two years of service for $149. Not bad at all. Much much better than conventional land line with long distance charges. and charges for caller id and stuff like that. All that comes at no extra charge with these services. A great deal. If it were not for the cheap home service i would be tempted to drop home service all together and just use cell phones, but for $6 a month it's worth it to have the home service.

[Cooksie]

Thanks Doc!

Yeah, I'm thinking now...Gah, I should have done this a long time ago.

I chose Ooma thinking I would just go buy it locally, and if I decided that I didn't like it, returning would be easier. I couldn't find it locally though.

[Cooksie]

Originally Posted by Cooksie

The set up on this was soooo easy and quick. I've made and received calls, and the sound is as good as my land line. I'm going to make a few more calls this evening to check everything once again. If it's all still good, I'm going to cut my landline...can't wait .

I call her my Ooma Lou .

The one and only thing that I don't like so far is that there is no audible beep when you have messages on the answering machine. I'll get used to that shortly as my phone system before this one didn't beep either.

Update - It does beep, don't know where I got that it didn't, maybe it just wasn't in the beep mode. It still works just fine, and I'm still glad that the landline is gone.