I have had ooma for just over a week and I must say that I am very impressed. I had a Vonage account in the past and the sound quality was ok but the ooma sound quality is very clear. I have read horror stories about trying to contact customer service which has me a little scared but set up and activation is so easy I have not had any need to contact their support personnel. The was I look at it, if I get 8 months service for free I will have made my money back in comparison to Vonage. Anything after that is a bonus!

Technology, in and of itself, is a living, breathing, devious, vindictive entity. I know this is true.

For months we have used ooma with no major problems. Then, a week ago, we decided to move the ooma hub from our bedroom into the kitchen. Maybe Technology felt this was a selfish thing on our part, but we just wanted to have our voice mail button more centrally located.

In any case, Technology clearly was unhappy, and It decided to make It’s point with us.

About the time of the ooma move, I noticed that the ooma hub’s blue light had switched to red at 10 p.m., and we no more could enjoy the rewarding “Doo doo duh DUHHHH” when we picked up a phone. I watched it for the past four days, and discovered this was occurring with regularity. The blue light did not come back until sometime between 7:00 – 8:00 on the subsequent morning. I turned on my computer each night and measured its DSL speed. The connection was good and the speed was as mediocre as ever.

Calls and e-mail with ooma and Qwest revealed nothing. Last night, a Qwest tech, who’s language on the online chat box revealed him to be an actual American, took some time to remotely investigate my DSL line and modem. Nothing. He said, “Everything looks normal.”

The modem? Hmmmmm…. I recalled previously discovering a setting on the modem where I could prohibit the DSL connection during specific hours. I remembered, I thought, trying to set it to block the Internet at night (to make us all go to bed on time), but it didn’t work.

So, last night I logged into the modem’s setup screen, and with guidance from Above, quickly found the setting – which was set to prohibit an internet connection between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. Aha!

I deleted the setting, saved the modem’s setup changes, and waited a minute. I picked up the phone on my desk, and “Doo doo duh DUHHHH.” Music to my ears!

So, you see, the gods of the Ethernet are clever, vindictive beings who lurk in the firmware of every technical device you own. They wait. And then when you’ve forgotten that they are there, they unleash the software settings that you could never get to work, at time when you are tired and frustrated.

And then they laugh.

Hmmm, I always wondered about that. Thanks for clearing things up for me, Teha. I will be much more careful in the future when toying around with the settings on any of my devices for the fear of upsetting Technology!

I want to purchase an OOMA but I have a question. I want the Premier so I can use the second line as a FAX line. Do I need a second NUMBER of how does that work?

what is the lowest up bandwith that will give a good clean call

I’m only an ooma investagater at this point. It’s true about the “ethernet gods” and don’t forget about the evil little hardware imps! The fact is that every system, no matter how well oiled and smooth, eventually has its gastro nightmare’ish’ moments, and the timing is always so poor its actually a laughing matter when the imps do strike. I pay $130 a month for phone service + DSL from a phone company that doesn’t even offer a “stand-alone” broadband connection. And they are the only game in town.

I’m in agreement with a previous comment about ooma paying for itself in just a few months. I’m impressed with the presentation and the appearance of the Hub and Scout and the fact that I can contune to use my three sets of newly purchased cordless phones.

As soon as I can get a “stand alone” broadband connection I’ll take the leap, and I say ‘leap’ because I am a bit wary of the word “free” especially when in the context of an advertisement. Remember Magic Jack offered free service for it’s purchase price when it first came out.

I love it but…….. OK i’m skeptical

Can anyone tell me if this will work with Alarm Systems that require line capture/seizure where in case of an emergency, the line will be immediately dropped if in use and a ‘off-hook’ clean dial tone to make that emergency call? I’m trying to drop that expensive ‘land-line’ or the alarm system’s $16.95/mo charge for their cell equipment service!! I see other Line Seizure relay devices out there but not sure if they will work either. Does anyone know???

Chuck,

Any system that allows the alarm dispatch or automated system to dial into the alarm and send it a tone will function. It is my understanding that the ooma creates that dial tone. I know that Cable Company and Verizon fios lines function and they both use IP or switched IP (IP over switched phone lines). The ooma should as well, though you may require a scout to make it work optimally.

One thing to keep in mind is that when tone checks fail, the alarm usually goes into alert mode and starts beeping, maddeningly, that it has lost connection. This will happen far more often with IP based phones as they are reliant on at least a modem and often a computer (the ooma has the computer built into it). If the modem fails, you get the beep. Also, if power fails, you get the beep.

Do not underestimate the beep. Most alarm system users stick with the phone company because of the reliability.

The battery is another issue. If you alarm does not have a battery back up, then you hear the beep anytime you have a power outage. If the alarm does have a back up battery, well, it won’t do you much good with the Ooma as as soon as you lose power, the ooma and Modem go offline. This results in a loss of tone and a disconnection beep. Of course, you could buy a backup UPS to alleviate this problem.

In interest of disclosure, I used to work for a cable company and sold the IP phones, so I know of their limitations. That said, I am also buying an Ooma, because that is essentially what the cable company offers, but at $50 a month.

Chris,

WOW! Fantastic answer! It’s exactly what I wanted and needed! Thanks very much for your candor and details.

With all your info and what I’ve gathered up to this point, I’m very close to buying one along with that all-important UPS for BOTH modem and Ooma. The Alarm System has one already. Yes, I would definitely do the Scout for keeping that dedicated line.

Once again, THANKS!!!

I have verizon dsl and phone service. Is there a conflict if I eleminate my service with verizon. How does dsl service fit into ooma service.

Hi Ralph:

The first thing you need to do is phone Verizon and ask them to disassociate your phone # from your DSL. I also have a Verizon (area code 425), and it took 2 phone calls to get the right person to do this (& understand). They are able to do so, so if they tell you it cannot be done, hang up and try another person @ Verizon. The first person told me that its not possible. She said, proceeding with my request it will mean shutting off my landline (not true). When I phoned the 2nd time, their agent told me that they will need to “separate” my landline vs internet bills, so from now on I would be getting 2 different bills (fine with me). Check this article from Ooma that explains that:

http://cp-ooma.talismaonline.com/al/12652/14888/article.asp?aid=261445&n=1&tab=search&bt=4&s=

You only do this “dry loop” if you wish to keep your current landline number. 2nd step is:

http://cp-ooma.talismaonline.com/al/12652/14888/article.asp?aid=261409&tab=search&bt=4

Do not cancel your Verizon landline account until you get confirmation from Ooma that your system is working with your current number. It takes about 3 to 4 weeks.

http://cp-ooma.talismaonline.com/al/12652/14888/article.asp?aid=261448&tab=search&bt=4

I’m getting my Ooma in June. You can get it from Newegg cheaper (@ Amazon, you have to pay additional for taxes)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833888001&Tpk=Ooma