Ooma

[retire-early]

The other hesitation I have other than the 911 one is that the internet is the slowest speed Comcast offers. It is not DSL but only 1 step up. Will the Oooma work well?
Also, sometimes when I am on hold on my cell phone, the call will disconnect. That doesn't happen with the landline. I concerned that will happen with the Ooma leaving no reliable connection.

 

[steelyman]

Of course, it won't work if your electricity goes out but most people also have a cell phone to use if that happens. You can listen to any of your voice messages from the Ooma website which is nice if you're on vacation.

I’m actually in this situation right now. Power went down around 11:15 am. Duke Energy (electric utility) estimates restore at around 4pm. This doesn’t happen often but it happens.

I bought a good UPS (uninterruptible power supply) a few years ago for just this situation. I have my cable modem and router connected to the UPS. This lets me keep my Internet service alive (that’s why I can post this reply).

I have Ooma Premier and use its mobile app frequently. Premier gives you inbound and outbound calling through the app so that works. I could also use iPhone cellular but the signal isn’t always reliable in this area so I’m glad to have Ooma. The Telo box doesn’t need to be involved with the app (so my Telo isn’t on the UPS).

 

[OldShooter]

The other hesitation I have other than the 911 one is that the internet is the slowest speed Comcast offers. It is not DSL but only 1 step up. Will the Oooma work well?

We switched to Ooma in 2018 at which time our DSL was 5meg down and something like 700K up. No problems. This spring we switched to Comcast @ 100Mbs. There was no discernible effect on Ooma calls.

Also, sometimes when I am on hold on my cell phone, the call will disconnect. That doesn't happen with the landline. I concerned that will happen with the Ooma leaving no reliable connection.

I don't recall any significant disconnection issues with Ooma. Sometimes when I am at my desk and get a rough cell phone connection I will have the caller call me back on the Ooma line to solve the problem.

 

[retire-early]

We switched to Ooma in 2018 at which time our DSL was 5meg down and something like 700K up. No problems. This spring we switched to Comcast @ 100Mbs. There was no discernible effect on Ooma calls.

Thanks. That's about the specs for the Comcast.


Can I try out the Ooma before switching my landline # to them?

 

[OldShooter]

... Can I try out the Ooma before switching my landline # to them?

I can't imagine why not. Just don't port your current number to them immediately. Check on the web site or call them to be sure.

FWIW, the Ooma "Telo" boxes on eBay look like ranging $25-45 with shipping. That's where I got mine. There is an "activation code" on the bottom; you just go on their web site and give them that code. I had no problems doing that with a previously-used box.

 

[Sojourner]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet about Ooma is the quite perceptible (and often annoying) lag between the two sides during conversations. I notice this virtually every time I use my Ooma to talk to someone. I haven't timed it precisely, but I'd estimate there's at least a ½ second delay between saying something and being heard on the other end. It's quote noticeable and frustrating in situations where there's a lot of rapid back and forth.

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

The only reason we have stuck with Vonage is the international travel advantage. They have an ap that allows you to send and receive calls from your vonage line when traveling. We use it with wifi on cruise ships to have a free phone, and with T-mobile the international data is free when we are off ship etc. Does Ooma have anything to replace this feature? We pay $19/mo for Vonage all in with tax and 911 fees. Mex and Canada are free, other countries are pennies per call. Without being able to travel much, I am tempted to cancel Vonage. Other than using it for a fax line at home, the travel ap was the big deal.

You can use T-mobile on wifi calling direct, but they charge you $0.50/min. The Vonage ap does not.

Ooma app has had that functionality for several years. I can't really tell you how well it works, because it's been a while and I rarely use the app. But I was able to make/receive Ooma phone calls from my cell phone, using the wifi, back in 2015 or so. Worked fine in Europe and here in the USA.

 

[OldShooter]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet about Ooma is the quite perceptible (and often annoying) lag between the two sides during conversations. I notice this virtually every time I use my Ooma to talk to someone. I haven't timed it precisely, but I'd estimate there's at least a ½ second delay between saying something and being heard on the other end. It's quote noticeable and frustrating in situations where there's a lot of rapid back and forth.

We haven't had that, even on our old slow DSL and I don't recall ever hearing that complaint before though I am no Ooma denizen.

I think what you're hearing has something to do with your network connection. Are you using satellite internet by any chance? That kind of delay (or more) shows up in satellite connections. You can often see it in TV news shows where the anchor it talking to somebody elsewhere in the world. Even at 300,000,000 meters/second the round trip time to talk through a geosynchronous bird is significant. Low earth orbit constellations like Iridium and Musk's new Starlink system exist because of this.

 

[Animorph]

We use the Obi200 box and VOIP provider PhonePower. We started that when Google Voice was looking flakey about continuing Voice, not to mention having to port the landline number to a mobile device and then to Google Voice. PhonePower costs use $35/year for 100 minutes a month, which we've never exceeded. We have special rings, caller ID, voice mail, and call blocking or forwarding. It's been easy enough and cheap enough that I haven't bothered switching to Google Voice.

 

[teetee]

After reading the thread I just realized how we don't need the landline these days. You get google voice on your smartphone to do the wifi call whenever there is internet connection. Household number is disappearing and are replaced with cellular numbers and voip numbers.

 

[DallasGuy]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet about Ooma is the quite perceptible (and often annoying) lag between the two sides during conversations. I notice this virtually every time I use my Ooma to talk to someone. I haven't timed it precisely, but I'd estimate there's at least a ½ second delay between saying something and being heard on the other end. It's quote noticeable and frustrating in situations where there's a lot of rapid back and forth.

I've never noticed that. Sorry to hear you're having that problem.

 

[Sunset]

On my Obihai I bought a new Panasonic wireless phone set and plugged in the master phone, and have the other 4 phones scattered around the house.

So convenient.

 

[retire-early]

I just saw that to port my existing number over costs $39.99
I had been hoping that it would be free or at less cost less.

 

[jayanu]

The only reason we have stuck with Vonage is the international travel advantage. They have an ap that allows you to send and receive calls from your vonage line when traveling. We use it with wifi on cruise ships to have a free phone, and with T-mobile the international data is free when we are off ship etc. Does Ooma have anything to replace this feature? We pay $19/mo for Vonage all in with tax and 911 fees. Mex and Canada are free, other countries are pennies per call. Without being able to travel much, I am tempted to cancel Vonage. Other than using it for a fax line at home, the travel ap was the big deal.

You can use T-mobile on wifi calling direct, but they charge you $0.50/min. The Vonage ap does not.

WhatsApp voice and video calls are free, and you can send large files also for free that email cannot.

Omma, etc. VoIP phone services are NOT traditional landlines - so-called POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) because they do not terminate at CO (central Office) which has a large battery backup, so your dial tone is always there, and it always works. Only once in 80s Hinsdale, Illinois Office had a problem that left the batteries drained while the person in charge was in a training so something and there was a fire.

 

[Kroeran]

When we had ooma I loved the fact our Canadian landline number followed the ooma to Florida.

911 is an issue cross border though.

We have now switched to smartphone only.

 

[smihaila]

I use an Obihai Obi100 with www.voip.ms as VoIP provider for all my telephony needs. Only "landlines" and no cell service. Paying $0.85/month to have the phone number, plus 1 cent/minute for any inbound or outbound calls. They also have a $5.00/month unlimited service, but considering my ultra-low monthly call volume, the pay-by-the-minute plan is more cost effective.

In terms of cell phone needs (which would still be useful mostly for a car emergency), I have yet to find a pay-as-you-go cell plan for less than $10/month (tx included) with unlimited voice + text. There was Tello.com (with Sprint, soon to be with T-Mobile as carrier) but they became greedy recently. Also found a Good2Go mobile, which on paper seemed cost-effective, but then there was an undisclosed $2.0 fee (plus tax!) which threw me off .

 

[isisdave]

We finally tried Ooma for the office fax line after having no success with MagicJack, Obihai, and one other one I forget. Works fine -- there's a special setting for fax use.

They DO bill monthly, and mine is usually a few cents different month to month. And you can't pay for a year in advance. This annoys me since the business doesn't have a credit card, only debit, and I have to remember to adjust the amount each month.

We've never used 911, but when you set it up you tell it the address, and it's confirmed on the website, so I expect it would work OK.

 

[Broland]

I bought an ooma back when they first came out (2005 I believe?} and have had it ever since. "Back in the day" when you bought the unit there was no monthly charge, even for taxes. To this day I still have no charges, but I only get basic service, no premium features. It still works great, and ranks up there with my two Sirius "lifetime subscriptions" I bought when they first came out as one of my better investments!

 

[music-and-ski]

I just bought a local number from voip.ms and then bought an ATA ("analog terminal adapter") that connects my old-style phones to The Internet and then over to voip.ms. I give them $25 a couple of times a year when my balance goes down below $10.

 

[retire-early]

I just bought a local number from voip.ms and then bought an ATA ("analog terminal adapter") that connects my old-style phones to The Internet and then over to voip.ms. I give them $25 a couple of times a year when my balance goes down below $10.

Which brand of ATA do you have?

From what I can tell is that the ATA connects to the router with an Ethernet cable and that a landline phone connects to the ATA. How do I connect the other landline phones in the house?

My Verizon landline service jumped by 25% this last month.

 

[retire-early]

I use an Obihai Obi100 with www.voip.ms as VoIP provider for all my telephony needs. Only "landlines" and no cell service. Paying $0.85/month to have the phone number, plus 1 cent/minute for any inbound or outbound calls. They also have a $5.00/month unlimited service, but considering my ultra-low monthly call volume, the pay-by-the-minute plan is more cost effective.

I am confused how this works if there are multiple landline phones that I would want to use. We have 3 cordless phones in the house. They are currently connected to the existing telephone jacks in the house.

 

[smihaila]

I just bought a local number from voip.ms and then bought an ATA ("analog terminal adapter") that connects my old-style phones to The Internet and then over to voip.ms. I give them $25 a couple of times a year when my balance goes down below $10.

Good choice. I'm also using them for all my telephony needs.
Highly recommended.

 

[smihaila]

Which brand of ATA do you have?

From what I can tell is that the ATA connects to the router with an Ethernet cable and that a landline phone connects to the ATA. How do I connect the other landline phones in the house?

My Verizon landline service jumped by 25% this last month.

I'm not the user whom your question is addressed to, but I can share my experience / setup. I am using Obihai Obi100, which I've bought for about $50 several years ago. There is the Obi200 series in the meantime, if you can get a good pricing on that, go for it.

In general, you can use any ATA brands and models. Obihai is a bit geeky / the UI feels like for more tech-oriented people, and very granular (many configuration details). Other good brands are: Cisco (they had a Sipura brand in the past, I think the Cisco VoIP team left Cisco and spun off Obihai), Grandstream etc.

Try to avoid built-in phone + ATA combinations (like those digital phones you see in the movies when they show business offices), because they are harder to upgrade or configure, may require a central server or PoE (Power Over Ethernet). Discrete components (like in PCs and routers) are always preferred, for flexibility and easy replacement of only once component should it fail.

A separate, little ATA box is very portable and you can carry it with you even when you travel.

For multi-line phone setups, the easiest route is to by a DECT 6.0 phone set, with 1 x base station + n x handsets. Or, if you prefer a wired RJ11 setup, buy an ATA with more analog (RJ11 connectors) ports.

 

[Hopeful]

I am confused how this works if there are multiple landline phones that I would want to use. We have 3 cordless phones in the house. They are currently connected to the existing telephone jacks in the house.

The Obi unit plugs into a phone jack, and then broadcasts to all the phone jacks in your home so that all your existing wired and wireless phones work as normal.

 

[smihaila]

I am confused how this works if there are multiple landline phones that I would want to use. We have 3 cordless phones in the house. They are currently connected to the existing telephone jacks in the house.

Why are those 3 cordless phones connected to telephone jacks? Is is because you have separate landline phone lines, each with its own number allocated by the telecom company?

Because otherwise, you could just have the base / main phone station plugged in, and all the other phones would wirelessly connect to the base. And DECT 6.0 is a solid wireless protocol, featuring less cross-band interference, and being audio conveyed digitally through a radio channel, you obviously don't get audio noise on the line, so the voice quality is superior.