Ooma (VoIP telephony) Review

**tmobiley** · 01-04-2010, 11:32 AM

I recently purchased an Ooma Core system (Hub/Scout combo) for $199.99 at RadioShack for our family for Christmas - since we recently moved and needed a landline phone and did not want to have to pay at&t out the ear for monthly local phone service.

We have the 6meg at&t DSL and the Ooma Hub setup (the Scout is waiting to be wired - but we figured out how to) - without going into any technical details; we configured the VoIP service to work flawlessly. What I did was set the ''reserved bandwidth'' to the max mbps (in the Ooma setup) and set the uplink/downlink speeds to 75% of my overall internet speeds - these settings kick in only when a call is coming in or being initiated.

While on a call I do not notice a difference in web surfing - although video streaming takes a hit while on-call. I have called customer support for a few general questions (just to test) and they seem very helpful. Activation was quick and easy (online).

We also plugged in a traditional phone jack in so we can have POTS 911 service. (nice feature for backup - in-case VoIP is down; be able to use same phone.)

Overall we are very pleased with our new Ooma phone setup. You get unlimited local/long distance (USA), Ooma-to-Ooma calling, Caller-ID with name, Call Waiting, voice mail and an OLAM (which includes online call logs, listening to voice mail online, and a set of pay-for premiere features).

^^ with Ooma Core - new Telo has different features included plus regulatory fee (which reg fee is not charged for Ooma Core; only Ooma Hub & Ooma Telo customers, I believe it's $11.95/year)

You can find Ooma Core online and at RadioShack - but I do not believe they are sold by Ooma directly anymore. The Ooma Telo is the new device on the block though. For differences in device rates see: http://www.ooma.com/legal/rates

-tmobiley

**cpugeek** · 01-10-2010, 04:47 PM

i THINK IM GOING TO BUY THIS

**funone46** · 01-10-2010, 07:34 PM

Originally Posted by tmobiley

I recently purchased an Ooma Core system (Hub/Scout combo) for $199.99 at RadioShack for our family for Christmas - since we recently moved and needed a landline phone and did not want to have to pay at&t out the ear for monthly local phone service.

We have the 6meg at&t DSL and the Ooma Hub setup (the Scout is waiting to be wired - but we figured out how to) - without going into any technical details; we configured the VoIP service to work flawlessly. What I did was set the ''reserved bandwidth'' to the max mbps (in the Ooma setup) and set the uplink/downlink speeds to 75% of my overall internet speeds - these settings kick in only when a call is coming in or being initiated.

While on a call I do not notice a difference in web surfing - although video streaming takes a hit while on-call. I have called customer support for a few general questions (just to test) and they seem very helpful. Activation was quick and easy (online).

We also plugged in a traditional phone jack in so we can have POTS 911 service. (nice feature for backup - in-case VoIP is down; be able to use same phone.)

Overall we are very pleased with our new Ooma phone setup. You get unlimited local/long distance (USA), Ooma-to-Ooma calling, Caller-ID with name, Call Waiting, voice mail and an OLAM (which includes online call logs, listening to voice mail online, and a set of pay-for premiere features).

^^ with Ooma Core - new Telo has different features included plus regulatory fee (which reg fee is not charged for Ooma Core; only Ooma Hub & Ooma Telo customers, I believe it's $11.95/year)

You can find Ooma Core online and at RadioShack - but I do not believe they are sold by Ooma directly anymore. The Ooma Telo is the new device on the block though. For differences in device rates see: http://www.ooma.com/legal/rates

-tmobiley

I have had it for almost a year now. Very little issues. I save apx 90.00 a month. You do know you can forward your calls to a cell from my ooma.