Ooma whitelist. Also alternatives?

[Lsbcal]

We were getting some spam calls a bit too often using Ooma Premier. We have the annual subscription plus $6/mo for basic. So I was thinking maybe there was an alternative and called up the Ooma tech. He told me about the whitelist capability (see below for one way to do this). I was never told about this feature which is important for us. We have iPhones too so this is just to retain the old home phone number and route it (via Panasonic cordless) to rooms in our house. Nowadays our TMobil carrier does a very good job of removing spam calls for our iPhones.

I want to go to a monthly total fee (Premier + basic = $17/mo ) and was told I have to wait until near the end of our annual period which is July for us. I will do this so that the service is month to month.

Is there a better service option nowadays that beats Ooma? Adding another cell line is something like $30/mo on TMobil so this is not competitive.

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Setting up whitelist on Ooma
1) in Preferences set all your options to "Send to Voicemail"
2) in Phone fill out all your Contacts you want to whitelist

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

I use Google Voice and an OBI200 for my home phone and never get any Spam calls. The Obi costs about $50. You'd need to port your number to a cheap cellphone plan and then to Google and they charge a porting fee nowadays, I think about $30. After that no fees at all.

Or if you just want a cheap cellphone plan Hello Mobile for $5 would work and they also use T-Mobile towers. https://hellomobile.com/shop/plans/ (under view more plans)

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Here is the link to OBItalk for how it works

https://www.obitalk.com/obinet/

 

[Lsbcal]

I use Google Voice and an OBI200 for my home phone and never get any Spam calls. The Obi costs about $50. You'd need to port your number to a cheap cellphone plan and then to Google and they charge a porting fee nowadays, I think about $30. After that no fees at all.

Or if you just want a cheap cellphone plan Hello Mobile for $5 would work and they also use T-Mobile towers. https://hellomobile.com/shop/plans/ (under view more plans)

Thanks for this information! Some questions to confirm my understanding:

1) What I seem to be reading on Google Voice is that spam calls will come in and then you can block the caller number for future calls. Not quite the elimination of spam calling I am looking for.

Since spam number spoofing is used a lot, just blocking the latest caller is not the answer. Or you can choose to route all calls to voicemail but that is not quite what we want.

Before I created the whitelist on Ooma we would know not to pick up the phone when the Panasonic unit announced an unknown number like "Las Vegas calling". Still we had to listen to that and then delete it if it triggered our Panasonic message taker. Details count.

2) Regarding the red highlights, could I not port from Ooma directly to Google? I have a Google voice account already but don't use it.

3) So on the OBI200 I guess the phone line would connect to my Panasonic main unit and the internet would connect up to my Google mesh wifi unit which has an output port. Sound right? This is how the Ooma is wired in.

OBI200 ports:

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

I can't remember the last time I got a Spam call to my Google Voice number. They do a great job of keeping them away. There are option in Obitalk to screen calls if that's what you want. Be aware if you miss or don't answer a call, it will go to your google voicemail and you will get an e-mail on your phone. I have mine set up so calls ring both at home and on my cellphone.

You cannot port landline directly to Google Voice any more, don't know why but it's Google that seems to not allow it.
https://www.google.com/voice/b/0/porting?pli=1go for

3. My Obi setup 1 analog cable goes from OBI to my phone and wall jack using a splitter and the network cable plugs into to my router/OBI. I'm using the house wall jacks for my phones and only 1 cordless.

There is quite a few people on here using google voice, they'll probably drop in soon to comment.

 

[easysurfer]

Just from what I read here, OBItalk takes a bit more setup work than Ooma, but the big draw is your are only paying for the hardware as it is free. Not sure if OBItalk has 911 service. I'm sure those who use OBItalk can clarify.

I have Ooma Premier. The main reason is to use the whitelist feature. I have the screening set to if not one whitelist calls go to my voicemail. I could have a tighter setting if not on whitelist to ring continuously or play a disconnected message. But I choose go to voicemail in case I get a valid emergency call or like from a doctor's office not on my whitelist. The drawback though is I get people who are not on whitelist, call and wait before hanging up and I have to delete these hang ups on the voicemail.

I'm happy to be billed for the Premier service as one time charge annually. I really don't see a difference in pricing when budgeted out. Kind of like if you got a paycheck. Paid $4000 once a month or $2000 twice a month .

IMO, Premier totally worth the peace of mind.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

It's not hard to set up at all, OBI walks you through it in your dashboard or at least it did when I set mine up in 2012/13, it took me about 1/2 hour. I assume it's the same with OOMA, you do have to unplug the phone companies jack in the panel usually on an outside wall of your home.
911 service is not free, I don't need it but there are many options for about $1.50 a month.
Phone reconnects automatically after power cuts/internet loss and on the very rare occasion that you have no dial tone, just unplug and plug it back in. Usually it turns out that the dog or cat has knocked one of the phones off hook so always check that first.
One feature I really love is my telephone area code is set in the dashboard so when I make local calls I only have to dial 7 digits.

 

[Sunset]

I use Google Voice and an OBI200 for my home phone and never get any Spam calls. The Obi costs about $50. You'd need to port your number to a cheap cellphone plan and then to Google and they charge a porting fee nowadays, I think about $30. After that no fees at all.

...

I have the same setup - I took the new number as I had nothing to port at the time.
It is more complex to set up, but zero fees.
Never get any spam calls on it vs our old land line (don't ask) gets 3-4 per day.
I love being able to call Canada for free.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I can't remember the last time I got a Spam call to my Google Voice number. They do a great job of keeping them away.

I think you are a lucky one. I have all but abandoned my GV number due to spam. They are all "car warranty" or "pay your taxes" calls and are the ones that triggered a voice mail (all neighbor "spoof" numbers). The only RELIABLE way I have been able to control spam calls is to leave my do not disturb on my cell phone and it's set to "contacts only"

 

[Lsbcal]

I think you are a lucky one. I have all but abandoned my GV number due to spam. They are all "car warranty" or "pay your taxes" calls and are the ones that triggered a voice mail (all neighbor "spoof" numbers). The only RELIABLE way I have been able to control spam calls is to leave my do not disturb on my cell phone and it's set to "contacts only"

Hmmm...it seems this is the worst case situation that I would like to avoid. So maybe Google Voice is problematic? Our home phone gets a fair number of these "car warranty" calls. Porting it to GV would perhaps not change the situation?

If this is really the case then maybe the answer is to just dump the old home phone number and use TMobil's service with iPhones and Apple watches (which we already have). In recent months all the spam calls have gone away entirely on our cell phones. I think this is because the industry has coordinated to remove spam calls. See this article: https://fortune.com/2021/03/17/robocalls-wireless-industry-stop-spam-calls/

The iPhones can connect to a Panasonic base station and then to cordless phones throughout the house. The connection is via bluetooth. This makes family conference calls very convenient.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Hmmm...it seems this is the worst case situation that I would like to avoid. So maybe Google Voice is problematic? Our home phone gets a fair number of these "car warranty" calls. Porting it to GV would perhaps not change the situation?

If this is really the case then maybe the answer is to just dump the old home phone number and use TMobil's service with iPhones and Apple watches (which we already have). In recent months all the spam calls have gone away entirely on our cell phones. I think this is because the industry has coordinated to remove spam calls. See this article: https://fortune.com/2021/03/17/robocalls-wireless-industry-stop-spam-calls/

The iPhones can connect to a Panasonic base station and then to cordless phones throughout the house. The connection is via bluetooth. This makes family conference calls very convenient.

Yeah, I don't know what will happen by porting your number. My Dad used to do the Bluetooth cell phone to cordless phone and it worked well for him.

The cell industry is getting better and hopefully the "authenticity certificates" for phone numbers (like a SSL cert on a website) will be implemented making the neighbor spoof calls go away. But of course, the scammers tend to be two steps ahead so not sure if they will ever be beat.

 

[RetMD21]

We've been happy with the Ooma white list. I was sending anonymous calls a disconnected signal but we missed one so I let them go to voicemail. This isn't the cheapest but it is easy.

 

[cathy63]

Hmmm...it seems this is the worst case situation that I would like to avoid. So maybe Google Voice is problematic? Our home phone gets a fair number of these "car warranty" calls. Porting it to GV would perhaps not change the situation?

GV itself is not problematic. It's having an old number that used to be a landline and is already on everybody's list that is a problem.

With Google Voice, you can setup groups and specify which phone they ring on or whether they go to voicemail. I have a group called "family" that rings my cell and Obi/home phones. Everyone else rings only the Obi/home phone. I could choose that everyone else goes to voice mail and doesn't ring anywhere, but then I'd miss calls from delivery people, plumbers, etc.

We just look at the caller ID and ignore the spam calls. If someone starts calling too frequently, I block them through the Google Voice webpage, the most recent example being our alma mater's alumni association fundraisers.

 

[Lsbcal]

GV itself is not problematic. It's having an old number that used to be a landline and is already on everybody's list that is a problem.

That appears to be our situation even though it is not a landline anymore.

With Google Voice, you can setup groups and specify which phone they ring on or whether they go to voicemail. I have a group called "family" that rings my cell and Obi/home phones. Everyone else rings only the Obi/home phone. I could choose that everyone else goes to voice mail and doesn't ring anywhere, but then I'd miss calls from delivery people, plumbers, etc.

We just look at the caller ID and ignore the spam calls. If someone starts calling too frequently, I block them through the Google Voice webpage, the most recent example being our alma mater's alumni association fundraisers.

Why do you not just (1) send Google Voice calls to your cell with your current GV setup, (2) tell family to use the cell number and not the GV number, (3) tell delivery people/plumbers to use the cell phone number? Then if you want a home phone use something like a Panasonic unit that can connect to the cell phone via bluetooth when you are home.

What functionality would you miss with this approach?

Thanks for your comments.

 

[cathy63]

That appears to be our situation even though it is not a landline anymore.


Why do you not just (1) send Google Voice calls to your cell with your current GV setup, (2) tell family to use the cell number and not the GV number, (3) tell delivery people/plumbers to use the cell phone number? Then if you want a home phone use something like a Panasonic unit that can connect to the cell phone via bluetooth when you are home.

What functionality would you miss with this approach?

Thanks for your comments.

Well for starters, that would require retraining DH and my 93 yr old MIL and my 86 yr old mother. Believe me, my approach is the one that's least painful for all involved!

 

[Lsbcal]

Well for starters, that would require retraining DH and my 93 yr old MIL and my 86 yr old mother. Believe me, my approach is the one that's least painful for all involved!

I suspected there were some circumstances that lead to your solution. Thanks.

 

[sengsational]

I've got Ooma basic for $5+ per month (and annoyingly increasing). But for the spam, I have the Sentry 2. One-time expense and it works flawlessly with the minor annoyance of explaining to new callers that they'll have to add themselves to the white list. Even though the device tells them how to do it (press zero and call back) some people freak out with the "mean guy" outbound message for non-whitelist callers.