Moving to Ooma

[njhowie]

CenturyLink pissed me off last week, when I learned they raised my Price for Life package price by $6/month. Discussion with their folks didn't get me anywhere, other than more annoyed. I mean, we're still in the stone age with the landline, and 10Mb/s DSL. We had paid $59.90/month for the past 8 years and now it's raised to $65.90. Add taxes and fees and we're at $90/month.

Fast forward a couple days, we have our Ooma set up, purchased our Premier annual plan, a few accessories from their current 50% off sale, and the port request for our home phone number has been initiated.

A few weeks ago, because DD (who recently moved home) was complaining constantly about how slow the DSL was (though DW and I were fine with it) we had Comcast turn on the cable internet. They gave us a great promo for 200Mb/s service of $39.99/month (includes all fees and taxes) for the first year, and $49.99/month for the second year. A couple of their guys were actually just here this morning finishing the install burying a new cable line for us from the telephone pole to the house.

Now the DSL modem is unplugged and we're entirely on the cable modem.

Really looking forward to being off of the landline soon.

 

[OldShooter]

Yup. Almost exactly BTDT about 6 months ago. Very happy with the change. One thing I like about Ooma is the online call logs and vm logs. Also the email we get when a VM is left. That is useful when we're traveling because we can access the VM from the internet and deal with whatever might be necessary.

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

We've been using Ooma since 2009. It's excellent, and I have zero complaints. Works great!!!

 

[Dash man]

I’m making the switch too. Just waiting for delivery of my order.

 

[pb4uski]

We've been doing Ooma for years. Just moved DM and DUncle to it within th last couple months.

 

[JoeWras]

I almost went to Ooma last year. Instead, went to google voice forwarded to an OBIHAI device in the home. It was a process. Ooma is simpler, and it would be my recommendation for an easier landline transition to Voip.

The OBI with GV is working fine, but the future of this product is uncertain. They are either having production problems, or stopped making them. The price on Amazon is outrageous (nearly $200, they were sub $50 last year). Yes, COVID factors into this, but something seems off.

 

[CDRE]

Wait,.....did you die and get reincarnated? Lifetime means lifetime, does it not?

 

[sengsational]

I've been on Ooma since 2013. Started at $4.31/month. Now it's $5.64/month. No need for the screening function of Premier with the one-time purchase Sentry 2 box.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

What's a Land Line?

 

[Vincenzo Corleone]

My wife and I have been using Google Voice with the Obihai Obi200 since 2018 (the device cost around $58 then) with no issues whatsoever. Prior to 2018, we were using the Obi100 on an experimental, beta test basis and felt that it met our needs and our price point ($0 after the initial device purchase).

 

[njhowie]

Wait,.....did you die and get reincarnated? Lifetime means lifetime, does it not?

Their claim is that the $6 is for their Access Recovery Surcharge - which is not a federally mandated charge, but what the carrier "can" assess. I've read some articles on this in the past. My issue was that my bill does not show the Access Recovery Surcharge, it shows that my bundled package monthly charge was raised. If this increase is for their Access Recovery Surcharge, then it should be broken out as fees/taxes - my Price for Life package means exactly what the name says and what I was told and agreed to 8 years ago...the price doesn't change.

Regardless, I think that pushing us to move to Ooma is a good end result, so it was probably a good thing that they broke their end of the agreement to give the impetus to make it happen.

 

[steelyman]

I’m really happy with Ooma Premier and Consumer Cellular/AT&T.

I could likely find cheaper but don’t want to bother with chasing deals.

 

[CDRE]

Their claim is that the $6 is for their Access Recovery Surcharge - which is not a federally mandated charge, but what the carrier "can" assess. I've read some articles on this in the past. My issue was that my bill does not show the Access Recovery Surcharge, it shows that my bundled package monthly charge was raised. If this increase is for their Access Recovery Surcharge, then it should be broken out as fees/taxes - my Price for Life package means exactly what the name says and what I was told and agreed to 8 years ago...the price doesn't change.

Regardless, I think that pushing us to move to Ooma is a good end result, so it was probably a good thing that they broke their end of the agreement to give the impetus to make it happen.

Thanks. I'm on their Lifetime plan too and now I'll be on the lookout for that type of an increase.

 

[cathy63]

I almost went to Ooma last year. Instead, went to google voice forwarded to an OBIHAI device in the home. It was a process. Ooma is simpler, and it would be my recommendation for an easier landline transition to Voip.

The OBI with GV is working fine, but the future of this product is uncertain. They are either having production problems, or stopped making them. The price on Amazon is outrageous (nearly $200, they were sub $50 last year). Yes, COVID factors into this, but something seems off.

My wife and I have been using Google Voice with the Obihai Obi200 since 2018 (the device cost around $58 then) with no issues whatsoever. Prior to 2018, we were using the Obi100 on an experimental, beta test basis and felt that it met our needs and our price point ($0 after the initial device purchase).

Same setup here. Obi got bought by Polycom (maker of the ubiquitous triangular conference room speaker phone), so they're probably more financially stable now than they were before. Polycom doesn't sell their products on Amazon directly, so the $200 ones are probably resellers engaging in some kind of arbitrage, but you can buy the current Obi 300 series from NewEgg, CDW, etc.

 

[Scrapr]

I just gave up my Ooma at the house. It was mainly for Mrs Scrapr as she liked a handset instead of a iphone. She talked a lot on the phone. Wore out several handsets. Since she passed the number of actual calls is almost zero. I think I looked up 2 calls since February. Versus spammers. The office & MIL are still on Ooma

I will mail anyone an Ooma device if you want one

 

[Dtail]

What's a Land Line?

Exactly - long gone with that thing.

 

[Toocold]

We transitioned to OOMA when it was $139 with 0 monthly fees in 2009. The ROI is great - it keeps a tally of how much we saved and it's at over $5200 and rising!

 

[Dalmore]

We have had OOMA for several years also. I'd like to get rid of it, but it is the only number that my MIL will call, so we have to keep it for now.

 

[sengsational]

The Ooma is the "junk number" we give out so as to limit BS cell phone calls. It would be nice if Ooma was able to accept SMS because sometimes some of the more prying companies just have a cell phone field, and presume SMS capability.

 

[OldShooter]

We have had OOMA for several years also. I'd like to get rid of it, but it is the only number that my MIL will call, so we have to keep it for now.

I think you could port that number to Google Voice and have it forwarded to whatever number you like. I'm not real crazy about Google products like this because they have a habit of canceling them from time to time but GV has been around for a few years.

 

[JoeWras]

Same setup here. Obi got bought by Polycom (maker of the ubiquitous triangular conference room speaker phone), so they're probably more financially stable now than they were before. Polycom doesn't sell their products on Amazon directly, so the $200 ones are probably resellers engaging in some kind of arbitrage, but you can buy the current Obi 300 series from NewEgg, CDW, etc.

For sure, the retailers are playing an arbitrage game. You can even see daily price changes. I'm going to assume COVID has caused the shortage, but it is still nerve wracking to see what's gone on here. The OBI pages specifically point to Amazon as the purchase source, so there's that. The OBI 300 on Newegg specifically says "Not compatible with Google Voice," so be careful.

This is still a niche market, so there's danger Polycom may jettison it "in these trying times." For all we know, the actual wholesale price from Polycom may have been raised significantly as a test of the market.

In any case, the days of $50 OBI200 are apparently gone.

I think you could port that number to Google Voice and have it forwarded to whatever number you like. I'm not real crazy about Google products like this because they have a habit of canceling them from time to time but GV has been around for a few years.

While OBI support has gotten sketchier, Alphabet showed signs of life for GV in the last few years. They updated the interface to be more in line with the current Google UI. I don't like the new UI, but at least we know Google is recognizing the product is still alive... for now.

 

[WestUniversity]

Exactly - long gone with that thing.

Yup. Have not had one for 8 or 9 years. Don’t miss it at all...

 

[Time2]

We have had OOMA for several years also. I'd like to get rid of it, but it is the only number that my MIL will call, so we have to keep it for now.

Hmm, seems like a solution rather than a problem!


On another topic, I have a buddy that has Ooma, and it is a problem because of the delay.
We are always talking over each other.
I don't know if this has got any better, because he now uses his cellphone to call me.

 

[Rocket Man]

We have had Ooma for several years. Like another poster said, we give that number out to keep the junk calls off the cell phones. We had a delay in the calls and trouble with dropped calls, but that was due to poor dsl internet service. We upgraded to cable internet which is much better and no longer have those problems.

 

[pb4uski]

.... On another topic, I have a buddy that has Ooma, and it is a problem because of the delay.
We are always talking over each other.
I don't know if this has got any better, because he now uses his cellphone to call me.

We had a similar problem for a while and also had a problem with internet reliability... internet speed was good but it would cut out frequently.... the DSL company found that the wiring in a box on the street was dodgy... they fixed that wiring and the delay problem was gone.