What is an Ooma?
Ooma is a company in the busy space of VOIP (Voice over IP). If you've heard of Vonage, for example, Ooma competes there.
Why Ooma or any VOIP?
For years, I have always been interested in changing over from the AT&T landline (and SBC and Pacific Bell before that). My family needs have always benefited from the plans than include unlimited long distance, caller ID, and call forwarding to cell phones when out of town. (Note to self: blog about cell phone plans.)
Why Ooma?
There have been many VOIP options for years. I have lightly kept track: Vonage, Packet8, CallVantage, etc. I never bit for all kinds of reasons: had DSL which required landline, cost was close to landline cost, mixed reviews. For example, the Vonage cancellation stories reported were reminiscent of the AOL cancellation problems - jumping through hoops, the "save" specialists, incorrect billing.
AT&T with its flaws and high costs still just worked, albeit at around $75/month.
I had heard of Ooma and its association with investor and actor Ashton Kucher. I wouldn't know Mr. Kucher if he were sitting in the same bar as me unless his girlfriend (wife?) were with him. It made enough news though that the name stuck in my head.
Eventually, Ooma resurfaced in my brain because they relocated to the same office complex as my employer in Palo Alto. I already knew one of the Ooma selling points was to buy the equipment and get a certain level of service for life. I began price shopping out of curiosity. Eventually, I bit at a special through Amazon which left me with a net price below $200. It would be an experiment replacing the second AT&T line; my office phone.
First Run
To be brief, funky dial tones, some echo, but it did work for the most part. I was eager to undo my AT&T bond. History has made me detest the AT&T name. In the 90's, they were the cable company in the Bay Area and were really bad at it. At the same time and place, I had a 2 month nightmare experience with them while living in Cupertino. It was one of many bad experiences dealing with AT&T.
Ciao, AT&T
When my annual DSL contract with Sonic.net was coming near, it was time to decide what to do. (Note: Sonic.net is a top notch ISP and was at least part reason for hanging on to AT&T for landline, but it was time to let go.)
Without going into much detail, I switched from DSL broadband to Comcast business class. The keyword is "business." For a little more money, it's worth every cent. My job and now my phone line depend on it.
Once I was satisfied with Comcast business, I put in the number port. I like my landline number and decided to try moving it to Ooma. Part of the deal with that is to avoid paying for porting, you have to buy a year of premium: 2 lines, call forwarding, other stuff for $99. So it goes. I was nervous for some reason.
Number Transfer Day
I was given a specific date that the AT&T landline would port to the Ooma line. Today's the day.
As of 10:00am, things are in a weird state.
* Calling the number nets dead air.
* Calling from the landline works and reports the legacy number.
As of 12:30pm, it's coming together
* Ooma emailed me that my new my.ooma.com account number is the new phone number
o That works
* My Ooma online shows 3 phone numbers, the 2 404's and the ported number
* When I call the ported number from my cell phone, the Ooma hub rings, but not the Scout (the kitchen phone)
o I'll have to experiment with that
* Calls from either the hub or scout display the ported phone number ... yes!
* I have a phone plugged into the landline
o It still works and ID's on a call to my cell phone as the legacy ported line ... hmmm
At the end of the day, literally, my old number was now ringing my Ooma VOIP.
Reconnecting to AT&T
One of my biggest problems with AT&T has always been customer service. First, just getting through the awful voice-activated call tree and then to the right person was an act of faith. Ironically, their greatest weakness was their greatest improvement as I removed services.
The original goal was to go completely off of the AT&T landline. In the end, I kept a bare minimum service for about $10/month (more than my full-blown VOIP) to support my home's burglar alarm and I guess keep that old-school copper backup around for whatever reason.
After 3 Months
Where do I stand with Ooma as my primary, 2-line house system? It's okay. I wish I could be more enthusiastic about it, but I can't. I'm saving money, a lot; that's a good thing. There are nice little features like getting voicemail sent to my email and the multi-ring feature which is even better than call-forwarding. It allows one of the cell phones to be rung with the main number.
There are still Ooma irritations that I (and my family) endure, but it prevents me from wanting to refer the service to family and friends. Echo, not all the time, but hearing echo on calls can be a maddening experience. Family and friends will occasionally call and say they were trying to call and wouldn't get a ring, signs of a flaky service. The strange audible tones are annoying as a call connects. It bugs the receiving caller too. Sometimes, it interferes with cell phone calls. I won't elaborate, but it's a fact.
From Here
I'll ride out the year looking for improvements to Ooma. It'll be a tossup on where to go. 3rd party cell services are getting really cheap (see PagePlus and WalMart - 30 bucks a month). I'd like to see Ooma succeed. They must spiff up the little things though. I might be able to deal with the annoyances, but I cannot recommend them as long as they're there.
