FaceBook
Twitter
RSS
Email
Ooma Review: 1 Year After Making the Switch
It’s been just over a year since I made the switch from Verizon to the Ooma (for land line) and Net10 (prepaid cellular) and I wanted to provide a comprehensive Ooma review. I had been paying $60/mo. with Verizon for cell phones for my wife and myself and did not use a land line at all.
My thought was that if I could drastically reduce my cell phone usage by having a land line, I could lower my cell phone bill significantly by switching to a lower minute prepaid plan. And I did just that – I have cut my total phone bills for two cell phone plans and the Ooma land line to just $30/month. The Ooma was essential in that transition, so I wanted to give a comprehensive review for you to determine if the Ooma might make sense for you.
In this Ooma review, first, I wanted to give a recap on what the Ooma is, for those who don’t know and get into the rest of the review so that you know everything you’d want to know about the Ooma.
What is an Ooma?
The Ooma is VOIP hardware that you plug in to a modem. It allows you to make free domestic calls, low priced international calls, and use a variety of other features. It differs from other VOIP services in that you pay for the hardware and have very limited or zero monthly fees vs. higher fees like traditional land line telephone service. It works without having your computer turned on. You just plug any regular phone into the Ooma unit.
What About Ooma International Calls?
If you make calls internationally, you really have an opportunity to save money over cellular and land line phone service. You can view the latest Ooma international rates on their site, but at the time of this post, calls to Canada were $0.014, UK – $0.019, China – $0.025, and Mexico – $0.07 per minute.
Ooma Telo
The Ooma Telo
Once you pay for the Ooma Telo unit, all calls are still free of charge. However, there is a nominal service charge per month now that covers regulatory compliance, 911 service fees, and a federal universal service charge. Through a Ooma fee calculator on their site you can calculate what your fee is. Still cheap as heck and better than any alternative out there. Here’s what it came up with for my zip code:
Ooma Setup
Anyone (who has a modem and high-speed internet connection) can do it. The basic setup looks like this:
It’s really that simple, you plug your phone into the Ooma (in the middle) and your Ooma into a modem. You choose and activate a number online, and you’re ready to go. As stated earlier, you DO NOT use your computer at all in the connection.
Ooma Features
Other than providing you a connection, the Ooma does provide some nifty free features.
- Caller ID
- Call Waiting
- Voicemail (also can be listened to online)
- New phone number (available for most area codes)
- Free in-network calling (for international calls)
You can also port in your old landline number for a one-time fee of $39.99.
You can upgrade your features for a monthly fee to Ooma premier. Upgraded features include conferencing, forwarding, call blocking, and one free number porting. I haven’t used these features, so I can’t tell you if the upgrade service is worth it or not.
Service & Product Quality
I have not had to call Ooma customer service for anything. Ever. The setup is easy, the hardware has worked beautifully, and the acoustics are incredibly clear. There was one time over the last year that service was down (for an hour or so) and Ooma was very respondent and transparent about what caused the problem and how they were going to fix it. I have zero complaints. If you check out Ooma’s Amazon reviews,
Where to Buy Ooma
You can purchase Ooma at a number of retailers and on Ooma’s site, but the lowest price I have seen recently was at Amazon for $199 (w/free shipping) for the Ooma Telo. This is the lowest price I have ever seen it at (it has been retailing for about $250 at most places lately and on the Ooma site). The associated Ooma Telo handset sells for $49 on Amazon and just about everywhere else.
As an update, Ooma occasionally offers referral coupons to existing customers that I get now and then. Check out my Ooma snippet on my “money saving products page” for this coupon. Recently, it offers $10 off, free shipping, and a free bluetooth unit, directly from Ooma.
Final Thoughts
They really have made a great product that I have recommended to a number of people and would recommend to anyone looking to cut their phone bill. 5 out of 5 stars. It’s a frugal, monthly-subscription hater’s dream. Check out the Ooma at Amazon for more.
My name is G.E. Miller and 
Looking to get rid of land line which includes a special ring fax number that comes in on the same line as the house phone. Can this number also be ported to ooma providing I pay the fee?
How does one handle voice mail? A neccesity since my husband uses land line for his business.
I’m also not sure I’m clear on whether or not the computer must be on for all this to work.
I do not know about the fax question, but I do know that I occasionally have trouble doing outgoing faxes on the Ooma line even though I dial the recommended *99 first. So I am not sure how reliable incoming faxes would be. You might need to ask this question directly to Ooma unless someone else can answer it.
Voice mail is not a problem and comes standard. You can access the voicemail directly from your Ooma phone, or remotely from any other phone by setting up a password.
i just fax regular, without using the *99 and never had a problem. you can also access your vm through your email or online. The computer does not need to be on, in fact now you can use ooma wirelessly with their wifi adapter and put in anywhere you can get wireless in your home, no need to plug it into anything but the wall and phone.
Does anyone have a workaround for using ooma with an alarm service, I am sure there is a way, I believe I read it in a forum, but my alarm company insists on landline, but I am not paying $25 a month for a landline to use an alarm service paid by HOA.
Ooma Premium may be a fax solution. the second # may be the thing that might handle fax. i am assuming that you have one phone # ported over to Ooma but that the fax is done with a double ring for the same #. You could re-route that to a virtual number that could deliver the fax. Fax settings are different resulting in poor voice quality. Ooma tech support is best contacted to see if this will work.