MagicJack vs. Ooma vs. Vonage vs. ???

[jonat]

I have had Ooma for 4-5 years now, and it has been very good. I pay for the Premier level for added features and use it with Google Voice. No issues with the phone service itself, though they are maddeningly slow to add user control features. For example, you still can't see which calls they chose to block as spam, but you can at least block "neighbor spam" and blacklist "numbers starting with" and "caller ID name starts with".

My line, through Google Voice, gets no spam. My wife's line gets occasional robocallers (even with Nomorobo enabled), but it's not severe.

 

[Kelor]

I had Ooma for many years and never had any problems. I need to show my naivety for a moment. As soon as the landline is no longer needed for work, I have been assuming that we will just get rid of it, and just use cellular.

What's the reason to keep the landline?

 

[sengsational]

what is the name and model of the sentry device?

I have the 2.2. Don't get the 1.0...it was not good. I suspect the newest one, 3.1, has some ease of use features that would make it easier to set up. You don't really need to do anything but plug it in, but you can make it easier on your mom and regular callers by manually entering their numbers instead of having them add themselves.

 

[OldShooter]

... Two days ago I order the line port of our wireline number to Ooma. Amazingly, they say it might take as long as 3-4 weeks to get it done. ...

Just an update on this: I ordered the line port on 10/10 and today I have an email saying that the port will happen tomorrow, 10/15. So that's not so bad. Three business days. Apparently this is carrier dependent; ours is CenturyLink, formerly Qwest.

Now I have to get the phone wiring ready to cut over to the Ooma box.

 

[OldShooter]

... What's the reason to keep the landline?

Good question. Many would probably say there is no reason.

In our case, despite being in the city, cell strength in our home can be marginal. Sometimes I have to stand near a window to get a solid connection even though we have Google Fi and it is supposed to switch us to VoIP when the signal is weak. The signal has to be really weak for this to actually happen.

Also, we have many friends and family who have and use the landline number. We could use Google Voice to alias the number and have it ring our cell phones but as previously stated I do not consider Google to be a reliable vendor so I don't want to base my telephone infrastructure on their products. Again, YMMV.

 

[Cobra9777]

...What's the reason to keep the landline?

Here are a few reasons that apply to us. Your situation may be different.

1. It's free (GV+Obi) and makes use of our existing landline phones, 2 bases, 5 cordless handsets.
2. Our house is 4500 sqft, so unless you carry the cell phone everywhere you go, you might not hear it ring.
3. Our cell signal is weak at the house, but the landline phones use the broadband ISP, so more reliable.
4. We use an MVNO (Ting) that charges for actual usage, so cell voice minutes cost extra, while the VoIP is free.
5. Cell battery will sometimes be dead for hours before I notice, or I've left it on silent.

 

[rodi]

I have magic jack and am very happy with it. I buy a years service for $60 - so $5/month. We have cordless phones around the house... and a few old wall phones, and so we have a phone close by, just like the old bell landline.

And since it is my longtime landline phone number, I have various accounts tied to it... but it's also the biggest robo-call junk call magnet. My solution to that is to forward it to my google voice number... so my phone never rings and I get text messages with a transcript when someone calls the number.

My friends and family know to call my cell phone. If any businesses (legitimate ones) call - they get voicemail (google voice) and I call them back.

It words great.

 

[Kelor]

Those are excellent reasons. The cell reception is horrible here too, but we have an M-Cell (free at ATT if you complain enough).

We've used the home line for work only, so frankly I'm excited to get rid of it.

 

[tominboise]

We got rid of our landline 6 months ago and haven't missed it at all. The only calls coming in were robocalls.

 

[ncbill]

So is cable VOIP considered a land-line for Google Voice porting?

I'm selling a relative's home & want to port their number to GV - they've currently got Spectrum's "triple-play" (cable TV/VOIP phone/internet)

I still have to port to a cell phone first?

 

[retired1]

do you pay for that separately or with is it included in the yearly cost for the magic jacks?

9-1-1 charges are paid separately from MagicJack charges. It seems there is no way around 911 charges.

 

[pb4uski]

I had Ooma for many years and never had any problems. I need to show my naivety for a moment. As soon as the landline is no longer needed for work, I have been assuming that we will just get rid of it, and just use cellular.

What's the reason to keep the landline?

By "landline" I presume that you mean Ooma rather than any POTS number.

We ported our POTS number to Ooma in May 2011. The reason that we keep Ooma is because it is a phone number that we have had for the house (so for both of us) since 1986 so all our family, friends and vendors have that phone number to reach us. While we could probably port it to a cellphone, we each already have cellphones and cellphone numbers that friends, family and vendors already have for us individually.

According to Ooma, we have saved $3,411.

 

[kcowan]

What's the reason to keep the landline?

One reason is to keep in touch with friends who will talk to either of you. It saves them deciding ahead of time which one they want to talk to.

 

[Floridatennisplayer]

Did away with our landline about 4 years ago. Absolutely no need. Cable guy said having a land line is very rare anymore.

 

[mrfeh]

With traditional land lines the jacks all around house worked great but once you switch to VOIP, you'll need to buy multiple (2,3,or 4) phone system with 1 base + remote handsets.

Not if you wire the phone adapter into the house's phone wiring. We have VOIP and every traditional phone jack in the house can access it; no need for new handsets.

 

[sengsational]

Not if you wire the phone adapter into the house's phone wiring. We have VOIP and every traditional phone jack in the house can access it; no need for new handsets.

Yep. I went outside and disconnected my house from the external phone network, then plugged the Ooma into one of the house's telephone jacks. After that, every regular phone in the house worked as it had before (except for the "dial tone" was slightly different because Ma Bell has a trademark on their dial tone, believe it or not).

 

[BoodaGazelle]

DW and I have used Magic Jack for many years, and are very happy with it. It is not (nor will any VOIP phone be) perfect, but most of the time no one even notices it.

So I do recommend Magic Jack for your situation.

But we found that there are no “deals” from cable companies that offer a deal for just Cable and Internet (without Voice).... So for continuity, we pay Spectrum for the triple-play package, but still use MJ as our phone... since we are snowbirds this lets us keep the same number in both places.

Good luck!

 

[Texas Proud]

Yep. I went outside and disconnected my house from the external phone network, then plugged the Ooma into one of the house's telephone jacks. After that, every regular phone in the house worked as it had before (except for the "dial tone" was slightly different because Ma Bell has a trademark on their dial tone, believe it or not).

Interesting.... just turn on my phone with Comcast VOIP and the tone sounds the same as the old AT&T.... must be just enough different to not get in trouble... but I cannot tell the difference...


Now, maybe side by side I could....

 

[Golden sunsets]

DW and I have used Magic Jack for many years, and are very happy with it. It is not (nor will any VOIP phone be) perfect, but most of the time no one even notices it.

So I do recommend Magic Jack for your situation.

But we found that there are no “deals” from cable companies that offer a deal for just Cable and Internet (without Voice).... So for continuity, we pay Spectrum for the triple-play package, but still use MJ as our phone... since we are snowbirds this lets us keep the same number in both places.

Good luck!

Sorry - I'm confused. You can use the same number with Spectrum on a triple play as well as a with magic jack at a different location? Does the phone ring at both of your locations? I had always thought that once you port a number, the old location no longer works.

 

[Golden sunsets]

I'm the OP here and I thank you all for chiming in. I'm a little confused though. If I end up choosing Google voice, I would have to purchase a device - check. I would then port the landline number which is currently with Spectrum triple play to a cell phone. I can do that. I have a cell phone that no longer charges a fee to my Mom and which she no longer can use, so I could port to that phone. I would then set up Google Voice ( on the Google website somewhere?) and arrange to port the number from the cell phone company. The google device that I purchase would when plugged in, somehow enable my existing phone system - a panasonic base station and 5 wireless sub phones - to work just like it does now? And then would I need to cancel the cell phone service (which would not bother me) or would it still work on the same phone number.

The only other question I have is, the cell phone is in my Mom's name (now a dementia resident in an Assisted Living Facility). I wonder if the name difference would be a problem. And same question - when I then port the same number from that my Mom's phone to my google account. Any thoughts on that?

 

[mrfeh]

I'm the OP here and I thank you all for chiming in. I'm a little confused though. If I end up choosing Google voice, I would have to purchase a device - check. I would then port the landline number which is currently with Spectrum triple play to a cell phone. I can do that. I have a cell phone that no longer charges a fee to my Mom and which she no longer can use, so I could port to that phone. I would then set up Google Voice ( on the Google website somewhere?) and arrange to port the number from the cell phone company. The google device that I purchase would when plugged in, somehow enable my existing phone system - a panasonic base station and 5 wireless sub phones - to work just like it does now? And then would I need to cancel the cell phone service (which would not bother me) or would it still work on the same phone number.

The only other question I have is, the cell phone is in my Mom's name (now a dementia resident in an Assisted Living Facility). I wonder if the name difference would be a problem. And same question - when I then port the same number from that my Mom's phone to my google account. Any thoughts on that?

You wouldn't need to port your current Spectrum number to a cell phone; you can skip that step. You'd just port the number directly from spectrum to google voice.

 

[Golden sunsets]

You wouldn't need to port your current Spectrum number to a cell phone; you can skip that step. You'd just port the number directly from spectrum to google voice.

Oh great. Thanks.

 

[mrfeh]

Oh great. Thanks.

At least, I'm pretty sure (it's been years since I did this). Try the direct port - google voice will tell you if it's not possible.

 

[mrfeh]

Oh great. Thanks.

This page will tell you if you can do a direct port, or if you'd need the intermediate step:

https://www.google.com/voice/b/0/porting?pli=1

 

[Golden sunsets]

Google voice has fantastic call filtering. I can’t recall ever receiving a telemarketing call on my phone in years.

Question to those with Google Voice. If I port a number that has been known to spammers, spoofers, will I have the same callers plague me once I'm on google, or are there mechanisms within the Google Voice application that are either already in use or that I can configure to filter out these calls?

Thanks.