Ooma Telo VoIP Home Phone System w/ Linx

LOVE this product and what they have to offer. I have recommended it to others. See pros and cons for details. I love the commerce diversity it encourages since so many of the ISP and TV content/ cable providers have tried to drive competition out of business with bundles that include a VoIP phone. They then jack the rates and charge disconnect fees (in microscopic contract print) to keep you after the teaser rates. They then have you over a barrel when your service is having problems because you are under contract. I choose this product and this service for this reason above and beyond the supeior product they provide. I choose to encourage competition with this fantastic option. ----- Pros ------- + Includes nationwide calling, voicemail, caller-ID, call-waiting, 911 calling that I have access to with Basic... though I believe other things too that I am not using. See website for other details. + Cost effective and super inexpensive [Basic is free and the Premium option is only $9.99 a month] NOTE: Basic you only pay taxes and fees, service is free. Example: I pay $4.22 a month for FCC taxes and fees. NOTE: see Ooma website for detailed features list for Basic and for Premium. + Clear voice quality and consistent which was not my experience with my Cable provider nor my Landline. NOTE: Cable VoIP had issues I haven't seen in the 5 months I have had Ooma as my house phone line. The landline was constantly staticy and I battled AT&T for several years over the dropping out of the landline which I primarily used for my ADT system. It constantly failed to send signal back to ADT and then I would pick up the extension and no dial tone... and I paid almost $48 a month for that crap with no long distance. + Works with any existing telephone you may already have. NOTE: If you have a built in answering device, you won't use that as the Telo functions as your answering machine, too. + There is an option for setup that allows all phones in traditional phone jacks to work if you set the Telo up that way. It eliminates the need for a Linx if you have multiple phones in your house already hooked up to household phone jacks. + Website provides lists of all missed calls and all calls with their details. Website has other information that is super helpful for a multitude of purposes (digresses from purpose of this review) + customer service is responsive and helpful + setup and dialtone on a temporary Ooma number was roughly 7 minutes after registering online. I had a temporary Ooma phone number while waiting for the porting of my house phone number. However, I could have just kept the new number and not ported the number. + Has multiple other features I am not using that allows for use with other wireless technology, second phone number, etc. See their ad and other reviews for detailed feedback on those. ----- Cons ------- - ???????????????????????????? Crystal-clear nationwide calling for free and low international rates. Pay only applicable taxes and fees. #1 rated home phone service for overall satisfaction and value by a leading consumer research publication. Ooma interacts with your favorite smart products to make your home safer and more convenient than ever before. Includes Ooma Linx remote phone jack to wirelessly connect telephony devices to your Telo, or access a second line. Includes nationwide calling, voicemail, caller-ID, call-waiting, 911 calling and text alerts. Compare with similar items

Phone appears to work well. The porting of numbers was and is my problem. You have to pay $40. to port a # and then they have some numbers they can't port because of something on their end. I have 2 #'s in the same area code, same address,and yet the number I wanted to port which has been ported before and yet they say it can't be ported. I have had the# for over 30years and just didn't want to change numbers now and have to go through all the hassle of having to deal with notifications. May do a update if improve on # porting.

i like the device and the service seems good for the 2 days i have had it. setup was very straightforward. my problem is with the extra charge that was automatically set up when service was activated. i signed up for the premier annual service and my credit card was charged $132.49 ($9.99 for twelve months plus taxes/fees). the next day i checked my account and an additional $16.33 was charged. in looking closer, the unlimited international plan had been added and charged to my account. when you are logged on to your account, there is no way to find ooma contact information. i had to log off my account and then go back to the ooma website to finally find their phone number. when i told the customer service rep that i did not want the international service, he asked me where i purchased the device. when i told him i bought it from amazon, he said the international service came with the purchase. i told him if i was being charged for it i did not want it. he promptly reversed the charge, but i will make sure to check the charges to my account in the following months.

I got rid of my internet+voice bundle from my local cable provider and switch to internet only service to leverage this VoIP device. The savings is as much as $400 a year so how can I ignore that. Moreso, how did I ignore it for so long. The rating is not perfect because Ooma's tech support was "shooting from the hip" with their solutions. I'm a technologist so I knew what was going on. I just needed confirmation if they knew the solution to the problems I encountered. In short, I had to replace my old firewall. While reducing my latency and jitter with the cable connected internet service, I also gained speed; now getting about 57Mbps. I also got a visit from the cable service provider because my leased modem died after a faithful service for many years. They ended up filtering the signal, maximizing my cable performance which was a bit important. Now about the Ooma Telo, I setup mine behind the new router/firewall. I had to do this because I requested for my cable modem to be set in bridge mode. I did not want to use the built in Wifi feature on their modem. I heard it was crap and besides, I already had a functional wireless AP. I also did not want their modem to perform the firewalling function for my network. My new router/firewall is faster. Things to know: 1. For Ooma activation, the setup will give you a temporary phone number to use. I suggest you use it and test functionality. This is how I found out my old firewall was not passing the VoIP traffic properly. Also, this number comes in handy when porting your old number. 2. Some customers reported an extra step while porting a land line number; they had to port the line to a cell service, then to Ooma. I did not need to because my number was VoIP and portable already. Ooma will confirm this after you pay $39.99 as porting fee. They claim this process takes 4-6 weeks. Mine did not take that long. My voice service was not in contract so porting was not delayed. However, I gave myself enough time between porting, to normalize my cable service, modem, and firewall. 3. Do not make any voice service changes with your cable provider unless a successful number transfer happens. In fact, on a clean transfer, your cable provider will simply downgrade your service to the lowest internet only speed automatically. This is something you have to decide and change based on how much bandwidth you actually need. For me, my service is 100Mbps download and 6Mbps upload. With my router/firewall, I only get 57Mbps max anyway and everything works just fine. 4. After a successful number porting, if your outbound Caller ID is still showing the temporary number, you need to call Ooma tech support and set your ported number as primary. You will also be asked if you wanted to keep the temporary number as a 2nd line, a feature supported by Ooma Premier service. I did not need it so, I just let it go. I can't imagine using Premier service for my basic home service. The cheaper the better. 5. Linx uses spectrum wide technology. Tech support said it will not conflict with my current portable phones using the same technology. Also, note that there are prefix digits to be entered before dialing using a fax machine. They are *99. As of this review, I have not tested it. 6. If you have an Amazon Echo, there is an Ooma app that links them together for voice activated functions. Some features require the Ooma Premier. You will need a smartphone to setup this app. Amusingly, the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX will not run the app. Ooma support did not know it. They claim they have not encountered this problem before. Summary: Ooma voice quality is definitely HD. In fact, it's loud and very clear. I'm using the Linx to connect my portable phone for now but eventually my fax machine. The service will save you a ton of money. I know, I will.

When it comes to internet based products (especially new routers), the experience of trying to get connected to the net through my ISP is usually one that produces a lot of frustration. Many, many products I have purchased to attach to the net through my ISP promise easy installation and deliver just the opposite when the product is actually attached to a router or the new router to my ISP. I was using a cell-based receiver from Verizon as my home phone for 2+ years. They promised good sound quality after checking their live coverage map when I signed the 2 year contract. My home experience was 2 years of calls that sounded terrible through a fairly good cordless phone set. No matter where in my home I placed the receiver, the home phone clarity was awful. Previous to Verizon, I had Vonage--expensive and call clarity was also not so great. I heard about Ooma VOIP through Mashable. Since Ooma's basic service was free excluding gov't taxes ($4.36/month) and their premier service is only $10 + taxes/month, I thought I would give it a try. After the package arrived from Amazon with the Ooma Telo and Linx, I was very pleased to see the set up process was extremely easy. After following the 4 step quick start process, the phone was up and running. I configured a home phone number (decided on new number because my previous number was getting WAY too many telemarketers!) and used the Linx wireless modem to attach home fax to with a separate number. The whole process took about 20-25 minutes including using the Android App and Chrome browser Ooma website on laptop. Very versatile software and easy to understand. Chatted with a service rep about a few things. Only took 35 seconds to speak with rep via chat. He answered my questions succinctly and resolved my issue in short order. The call quality is very clear--almost too clear as I and my wife can hear lots of background sounds through the mid-level Panasonic cordless handsets we have. This product is marvelous and, for the first time in quite a while, very easy to install and get up and running. Voice mails are easily retrieved through phone app or website. Very well organized. Will soon purchase Ooma handset for my wife to use while she works from home. Also, am happy we have 911 call features. Only drawback: if you are not connected to internet (say a power outage or ISP outage), you will not have 911 coverage. Am going to get a UPS to take care of any power issues. I really can't emphasize enough what a pleasure it is not to have to fight and struggle and call a customer service line to get internet hardware interfaced with my home router and peripherals. Plus great sound quality for 1/2 of what I was paying Verizon and 1/3 what I was paying Vonage. Did I mention the great call clarity? For once, the marketing claims matched the actual product performance! No--I don't own stock in Ooma, although I might check and see if they are publicly traded.

I read reviews before I purchased, but after I received I needed to purchase wireless Ethernet plugs as my router is located in the basement. I then read up on how to connect, and then was going to contact customer service and there were way to many complaints about customer service and I was not longer comfortable with my purchase.

Wow! I'd never heard of this until noticed by accident while brousing Amazon. We've been using Cox Communications for internet & VOIP phone service for about three years. One day, i looked at the phone bill & cox was charging me $16.94 for taxes & surcharges on top of the $29 we were paying for the phone. I purchased OOMA. Easy setup, took me about 30 minutes between creating the account online & installation. Worked perfectly. Except, our ADT alarm system would not connect. I had also purchased the linx device so I tried it with the alarm. I was able to change the type of service online to "alarm/fax" & it works perfectly! Test after test, alarm company is notified! I'm amazed with the OOMA devices. I have not received my first bill but according to their tax estimate with my zip-code, I should be saving close to $40 per month. I did pay the extra $40 to transfer my existing number & the complete system should pay for itself in less than three months. Voice quality is not quite as good as expected, but that could be due to my internet. The online dashboard is super & now I'm going to order the OOMA handheld phone specifically for the picture caller ID. Another cool feature is that voicemail can be sent to my cell phone! There are some good features to the premium plan but we're going to try the basic service for now. Only problem so far was I had accidently initiated the "do not disturb" feature and all the calls were going directly to voicemail. Easy fix but scratched my head for awhile. So far, super happy with the device & service! UPDATE: Phone number transferred in only 5 DAYS! First statement showed my monthly bill is $4.23 as estimated. Purchased the handset & it works exactly as described. Alarm still connecting & I love OOMA!

As another reviewer mentioned, they are now simply grabbing for every penny they can: they pre-charge everything ahead of time as soon as you started trying; they store your credit card information permanently even after you cancel the account. The phone quality is nothing but terrible with cut-offs and echoes constantly, and their customer service dept. has a super noisy background that I could barely hear anything. Worst VOIP phone service I've ever tried.

I was an early adopter of the first Ooma system-- with a bunch of little scouts placed all over my house to connect with cordless telephone base units. At the time that I purchased the original Ooma, I was paying $130 per month to Verizon for home phone service so my savings on switching were immediate. Ooma worked pretty well at first however the units aged pretty fast and we would often find them knocked off line with all the buttons lit up red (which is bad.) I worked around it for a while but just gave in and purchased the Ooma Telo and a remote unit for my extra cordless base. Setup is easy once you realize that you need to call Ooma to upgrade from the old Ooma (doesn't say that anywhere in the setup instructions) and the transition was quick and easy. Features are about the same although the remote Telo does not require the connection to ethernet that the old scouts did and once connected to the Ooma Telo (wirelessly) can be plugged in to the wall anywhere you like. It works flawlessly. In the intervening years since I originally purchased Ooma, no one pays the telephone company any longer for home service--it is either included in the internet service or folks just use their cellphone. Accordingly, the case for Ooma is less compelling than it was back then. And the extra services that can be purchased from Ooma (extra phone line, voicemail transcription to email, simultaneously ringing all of your devices etc) are all available free from other apps like Google voice-- so no need to pay for that either. The big disadvantage of Ooma and other internet telephony compared to POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) is that in an emergency, POTS has/had dedicated copper lines that often worked when the power went down and the phone company was generally very good at restoring service in the event of a storm or disruption. This is generally no longer the case-- the phone company is not that interested in POTS any longer and the capable response crews are disappearing. But if you are going to buy Ooma, realize that when the power or internet is down, your phone will not work. Obviously, you can use Battery Power or a generator in some cases however you may find yourself without phones more often that you are used to. Generally however, while Ooma provides very good voice quality and reliability as well as painless setup, I no longer see a compelling reason for Ooma.

First week and perfect replacement for my AT&T home phone. Sound is great, nice and clear. I worried about my slow, slow internet service, less than 3mbps. That is all I can get because AT&T refuses to upgrade out area. Anyway, I could never get more than 1.78, the highest download, it works and I am able to watch Netflix, but was concerned about how ooma would strain the system I have. Well, no worries, my Internet actually increased in speed, 2.4 for download, still only around 40 for uploads. Love it. The extra Linx wireless connect I will use for my fax. Update:. Lost my I Internet service !!! Caution ... Apparently, selected my Internet provider Cannot provide service over ATT lines without ATT home phone number a d service ... Forget about "dry looking" ... ATT will not do it ... I am going on two weeks now, trying to resolve this ... Only solution is to port my home phone number back to the ATT monopoly. Six days And counting waiting for home phone number a d like e to be turned back on. It took a mere two days to port from ATT to ooma, but so far, with two orders confirmed ATT monopoly still no service. Ooma has released the number but ATT seems to be punishing me for trying to drop their out of date land line service. ATT bill is $44 per month and my slow internet, from dslextreme ... Less than 3mbs .. at $28/Mo ..my crappy service costs me $72, not counting Verizon for two cell phones. Before you ask .. no the ATT line monopoly does not "itself" provide broadband to my area ... Yes, I live in the city limits. They maintain the lines but rent out to third party providers. They did offer me something they called U-verse an optic line high speed that is actually less than 1/3 the speed I now get on broadband 😁 What a joke ... Let this be a warning .. oh, and remember, without the online I teensy service for your wifi the ooma home phones will not work. Thankfully, our calls were set to forward to our cell phones where we can pick up voice mail. No, I can not drop my ATT number all together and go with my new number at ooma ... That is the catch 22 with all of this .. ATT does not have to supply you with a dry loop ... They only have to make Internet available, and they do, at a speed that is useless in this day and age. I'm stuck and it is going on two weeks no service ... So, be fore warned when dealing with ATT.