OOMA Telephone Service

[cynalan]

With Bell Canada costs soaring through the roof, a friend gave me a demo of his OOMA VOIP telephone setup. Simply put, it is a black box connected to the Internet that provides VOIP telephone service. The OOMA system was about $179 at Future Shop and subscription is the whopping sum of $3.95 per month.

I was skeptical but he swears by it. So, went out... got the box and hooked it up. It is hardwired to my router and the phone cable plugs into my regular wall telephone connector. I was able to keep my Bell telephone number and received a second number that I could locate in any North Americal Area Code - very convenient if you have that summer residence in Florida, for example. The monthly cost for service is only $3.95 to pay local taxes. That's it. After 3 months it paid for itself in saved Bell charges. The box includes: call waiting, call display, call screening, unlimited NOrth American long distance, call answer, etc. Annoying scammers who circumvent the DNC list can be blacklisted so their call goes to never never land. To top it all off... sound quality much better than my Bell land line. What a find!! Glad I took the plunge... no regrets and save me a bundle each month.

 

[IM469]

..... received a second number that I could locate in any North Americal Area Code - very convenient if you have that summer residence in Florida, for example.

I had VoIP service which including long distance fees was way cheaper than Bell. If you move the modem to Florida and plug it in there, you should be able to get your house calls in Florida.

I had some problems with the modem twice (not OOMA) and instead of getting the free replacement the second time, I wanted to see if a home phone was necessary when we both have cell phones. As a result I've decided to drop the home phone service altogether.

 

[shakenbake]

Can you receive and send faxes with this service? Also, I have an alarm system connected to my landline. Will it work with that alarm system, do you know?

 

[cynalan]

Can you receive and send faxes with this service? Also, I have an alarm system connected to my landline. Will it work with that alarm system, do you know?

Sorry, cannot answer the questions about sending/receiving fax messages as it is not a service that I need or use. As for the alarm system, no it will not work with my alarm but as I understand it, VOIP cannot do that... at least not with my system. I had to purchase a cellular link for the alarm to be monitored at about $15 per month. Even with this charge, I am still way ahead of what I paid Ma Bell before.

 

[danibbler]

Can you receive and send faxes with this service? Also, I have an alarm system connected to my landline. Will it work with that alarm system, do you know?

I don't believe so.

I've had Vonage (VoIP service) for almost ten years now!

 

[Intrepid416]

There are fax services I believe with the Ooma premium service. I was looking at this because the landline premium, fax, Internet and full works Bell has me paying 350 a month. The problem ulti,ate.y was the home alarm system which does require landline. As soon as I can get around that issue...my alarm system is not Rogers and are good guys who are independent of the big players, I'll be cost saving as much as possible with Ooma or Magic Jack.

 

[cynalan]

Are you sure that your alarm system requires a land line? I've had monitoring by both ADT and Counterforce which cannot use VOIP for monitoring, however, as I mentioned above I had a separate cellular link to the alarm system installed that costs about $15 per month. Still leaves me with significant savings from eliminating my Bell land line.