Free Home Phone Service With Ooma? - Comments Page 1

I've been using OOMA for about 10 years and love it! I have the premier package so I can have a 2nd line for my home office. The call filtering alone is worth the extra cost. I have been using VOIP for about 14 years and the first 2 companies folded. OOMA looks to be about as good as it gets with 10 years with them and NO complaints.

Obi is better than Ooma. A number of years ago I bought an Obi device for $40. It plugs into the router and connects to my Google Voice number which I have had for years. It gives me an Internet based "landline" like Ooma which is totally free. There are NO additional charges. Google voice also has call seeking which means it rings several phones so I can have it ring my cell phone as well. It takes messages which are sent to my email.

We've been using OOMA for over 4 years, works great! We use the same phones we used back when we used to have a landline. There's no difference, except that the dialtone sounds different from the old landline, but we got used to that in about 2 days.

I too was a ten plus year Ooma user until early last year, when I got tired of the monthly tax continuing to go up- over $5 per month when I cancelled. I switched to Google Voice using a $50 box from amazon. Now I have NO bills or costs, and it has features no one including Ooma has even dreamed of. Faxing works fine, and I get my calls automatically routed to my cell number, if I'm not home. The last International call I made cost a penny per minute. I could not be happier with Google Voice.

I live in Ecuador. I know a number of expats use this or similar services, but all I need for speaking with family and friends in the US is WhatsApp, Facebook Chat and Skype. None of these have a fee.

For all of those pesky needs to get a security code from the bank or credit card companies, I use iPlum. It too has lots of bells and whistles, but I only use the basic plan. It allows me to get and make voice calls as well as text messages.

Don't forget that no VOIP service works if you don't have power or your ISP is down. The reason I keep my traditional central office AT&T landline is that it works in emergencies even when there is no power (the power comes over the copper phone lines).

But unless you care about that, VOIP works fine.

Ooma sounds fairly good. My only question is, if there are about $5.00/month (~$60.00/year) taxes/fees associated with it, why would I switch from MagicJack which costs me ~$40.00/year (~$20.00/year less)?

The only service I have seen in these response posts that may be better is Google Voice, because it's free ($0.00/year). I'm retired, so my phone calling needs are very modest. Free calls to the 48 US States more than meets my needs. Since my MagicJack account will come due in December, I'll have to look into it (Google Voice). If there are no hidden gotchas, I'll probably be making yet another change, even though it will save me only about $3.33/month. My final decision will probably depend on the cost of Google Voice-compatible hardware and the effort involved in making the change. In other words, how long will it take for the $40.00/year savings from leaving MagicJack to offset the cost of the new hardware and the time/effort required to make the change?

I suppose I'll see,

Ernie

I also have Ooma and so far all is well.
I wanted Google voice but they don't offer it anymore. Does anyone know why? what happened?
thanks

Charley:

With Ooma, if you get their optional cellular adapter, it will switch in automatically if your internet connection goes down. I think I pair $30 for the adapter, and it adds $4.99 a month to your charges.

I bought Ooma a few years back, and I also had the Premium plan. The online site I had with Ooma was nice, and that is where your Call Logs is at. I have very high Internet with COX, and my home phone is Caption Call from the F.C.C. for the hearing impaired, but there is no cost for the phone. Pairing the Caption Call and Ooma with my router was okay. But Ooma always had various glitches with it. One was if the electricity blinked for a second, you were cut off service, and the light atop the base unit, would blink constantly until the service was back and running, which took between 5 and 10 minutes, ALWAYS. Asked them if the unit was not defective, they said they ran testing on it, and it was okay. But it wasn't. My phone has built in answering system, but Ooma automatically turned on Voice Mail with their service, which hijacked any voice messages to my phone. There was other errors present, so finally I dropped them, and put the base unit in a drawer. Caption Call, because it's with the F.C.C., always has a Tech visit if there is a problem. When I dropped Ooma, they paired my Cell Phone and my Caption Call, by Bluetooth, and installed a small XLink BT box, as the Bluetooth connector. Thus my Cell number is now the number to call, and if I'm at home, when the cell rings, so does my Caption Call also ring, letting me answer with it. The one drawback, is Caller ID, with using Xlink BT. If a caller is NOT LISTED in my Cell's Contact list, using XLink BT only allows the number calling to be shown, not the name of the caller. They said XLink BT is trying to make it a better service for caller ID, but it hasn't yet. But the cost of it? $0.00, so it's free. So, maybe my Ooma experience was a mistake, but I'm glad I no longer have to pay for their poor service.

I gave up on Ooma after some problems and switched to Majic Jack several years ago. It works great, but based on the comments, I may switch to Google Voice.

Because COMCAST has achieved pretty good uptime in my area - I am considering a switch to Internet phon service from my high quality, even more reliable, but expensive landline. This article and the posts are really timely!
While free Google Voice sounds good, it may be buyer beware - Google is slipping in charges:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/20/technology/google-gsuite-small-business-fee.html
If I can send faxes using Ooma -its a done deal!

I've been using Magic Jack for years. I think first year was $45 which included the "device" (connects to router port and handset). For a 3 year term (the best deal) it's now $109 - which comes to about $3.03 / month. Add in $15/yr for 911 - so a little over $4 per month. Comes with the normal caller ID, call waiting, voice mail.

I've been using Ooma Office for years and can't imagine a better phone system or phone company. Haven't tried their home service yet, but I can highly recommend the company.

Is there anyone in Toronto, Canada who can help me set Ooma or Google voice up? I am Senior and not that savvy in this area but want to save on phone service.

Have been using VOIP for many years on recommendation of a relative who was a founding father of VOIP. Totally free here in Australia via my internet provider. Just had to change modem/router.

I'm happy with MagicJack. Presently 49 bucks a year which includes the dongle device (supplied the first year and works as long as you subscribe). There are reduced rates for longer access periods.An extra fee is due for Int'l access.

Happy with Magic Jack. Used it for years.

I have a somewhat unique problem with my phone service. I presently have a ATT land-line. We have relatives in the UK. British Telecom offers (for seniors) free long-distance calling to the US. This is of great service to our relatives, however, my land-line cost over $600 a year. I tried Magic-Jack a few years back but discovered that end-coming UK calls would not connect and had to abandon the Magic-Jack service and return to ATT. I am tempted to try some other service such as Google Voice or Ooma. Has anyone shared this problem?

Have had Ooma for more than 4 years. I have saved over $4000 CDN vs. Bell Canada at over $60 per month and their LONG DISTANCE charges. I have the premium service. Well worth it given second line, voice mail, caller-id, blocking and other included features especially in terms of LONG DISTANCE free in Canada and to the USA! The service works well and is reliable. If you must have a "landline" this is the service to seriously consider!"