[sdw2003] Residential VOIP? Vonage, Skype, etc?

[Karen Christian]

The info and documentation on the site is quite good with lots of pics.  As noted by Rich it is www.ooma.com.  I set the devices up at my home.  There is an 'official' limit of 5000 outbound minutes per month.  

The Hub is the unit you connect to an existing phone device and to the Internet (and to the home phone wiring if you setup a Scout which is optional).  That is all you need for a single phone or phone number.  We have a phone with 3 additional wireless extensions.  It is setup for our home phone.  You can start with just that and add Premier service later if needed/interested. ' All new customer purchases come with a free 60-day trial of Ooma Premier which includes access to the Instant second line service.'  The Hub will store its own VM on it and there is a button that lights up and will allow playback on the unit.

The Scout is a smaller unit you connect to the phone wiring in your home (no you don't need AT&T active lines) to add an additional phone number if desired.  We use it for our business line.  There is a separate phone connected to that with 2 wireless extensions on it.  This could also be for a separate family member line/number for example.  The Scout will store its own VM on it and there is a button that lights up and will allow playback on the unit.  You can have a number of Scouts on one system.

The Ooma Telo (hub) and Tel Handset (scout) were added to their product line recently.  

Karen Christian
North County Technology Group
760.734.4315
www.nctg.com
-----Original Message-----
From: sdw2003-bounces at mattware.com [mailto:sdw2003-bounces at mattware.com] On Behalf Of R Ernst
Sent: Friday, January 08, 2010 6:57 PM
To: San Diego Windows 2003 User Group
Subject: Re: [sdw2003] Residential VOIP? Vonage, Skype, etc?

Interesting, my porting of my home number went totally smoothly about 3 years ago.  I _think_ I did it all online.  Took about a week, I
think.

I don't understand how OOMA works, what's this hub you need and then
what is the "scout"?  Does their site (sorry, haven't looked yet) have
good description of what it costs up front, what you get, and what
extras you need or might really want?

Bear in mind, I use the 500 minutes a month service from vonage which
USED to be only $15 plus extra charges, coming to about $18, but now
it comes to about $21 and change/month.

On Fri, Jan 8, 2010 at 6:40 PM, Karen Christian <kchristian at nctg.com> wrote:
> You buy the equipment only for Ooma and then no extra charge EVER unless you want the added features.  I had terrible experiences with number porting and customer service from Vonage over the 5 years it was in use.  Glad to hear your experience was better.  Nice to know they seem to have improved (at some of our expense).
>
> Vonage = $300 per year @ $25/month with this expense ongoing
> Ooma = The older style hub (I have that) cost $169.99 a couple months ago at Fry's (it is a white unit and is still available at http://www.frys.com/product/5983204?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG for the same price)  I got mine in San Marcos.  I then bought the scout for the second number via eBay.  Yes you can setup:
> 'Call forward on network outage will only ring the number of your choice when your Ooma system is offline or when your Internet connection is down.'
>
> Vonage horror story:
> When my son and his wife moved his phone number from Vonage to Cox last year Vonage failed to remove the ported number from their available number database and assigned it to a company (Going Green).  He couldn't figure out why he was getting calls EARLY in the morning (from the east coast) that appeared to be the wrong number.  I could reach him if I used my mobile phone but if I called him from my Vonage phone I got Going Green.  They had already put it in lots of advertising pieces and online.  I talked to one of their sales people one time and then spoke with the company owner another time and described the issue (the number belonged to my son and Vonage erred in assigning it to him - I could tell he wasn't thrilled to hear that).  It took over 2 weeks to get Vonage to straighten that up and it took multiple calls from both me and my son (lives in AZ) to get it resolved.  They said they couldn't resolve it until they talked to the company they had assigned the number to and get them to OK the change (huh?).  Yes my son filed a complaint with the FCC regarding this matter.
>
> Karen Christian
> North County Technology Group
> 760.734.4315
> www.nctg.com
> -----Original Message-----
> From: sdw2003-bounces at mattware.com [mailto:sdw2003-bounces at mattware.com] On Behalf Of Randy K
> Sent: Friday, January 08, 2010 2:57 PM
> To: San Diego Windows 2003 User Group
> Subject: Re: [sdw2003] Residential VOIP? Vonage, Skype, etc?
>
> Used Vonage for about a year and was VERY happy.  Wife wanted to see called
> ID on the TV so we switched to Time Warner.  One thing I really lied about
> Vonage was that if your internet connection failed it would route the calls
> to another number.. say your cell.  TW doesn't do that.. when our internet
> connection was down calls went to.. well nowhere.. just dead not even a fast
> busy.  when I mention the reroute to the TW customer service and the tech,
> they were amazed that anyone could do that!  not surprised here..
>
> OOMA?  Why pay hundreds of dollars for that is included in Vonage.
> So Vonage is $25 month... and OOMA is 199 (basic) +109 (premium)= 308.  So
> that is about 12 months of Vonage..  I bet something better, cheaper ,  etc
> comes out in 12 months.  Plus Vonage ships you the hardware...  no need to
> go to Fry's and deal with the folks who couldnt get a job at Radio Shack!
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 5:44 PM, Tom Lively <tlively at livelycomputer.com>wrote:
>
>> I've been happy with voipyoulife.  I can't recommend any VOIP service for a
>> FAX line however.
>>
>> Tom
>>
>>
>> On 1/7/2010 11:48 AM, Leo Dano wrote:
>>
>>> Hello Group,
>>>
>>> Anyone have personal experience going VOIP at home?  I am looking at
>>> Vonage and they have a great International Plan of free fifty free which
>>> would save us bundles since my wife calls TJ all the time.  The problem
>>> is, I am seeing a lot of unhappy customers on the reviews I pull up on
>>> Google.  Anyone got any input on this?
>>>
>>> ___________________
>>> Leo P. Dano
>>> Network Administrator
>>> The Bishops School
>>> 7607 La Jolla Boulevard
>>> La Jolla, CA  92037
>>> 858-459-4021 X431
>>> 858-459-3914 fax
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> sdw2003 mailing list
>>> sdw2003 at mattware.com
>>> http://lists.mattware.com/mailman/listinfo/sdw2003
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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