Upon joining Dash, I gave up the seemingly unlimited supply of phones and service provided by Sling. Plus, I had dumped Vonage in Feburary after two and a half years – the call quality/connectivity had simply deteriorated to the point of being unusable. So, of course, I’ve burned through all my iPhone minutes (and rollover minutes) these last few months. I have tried being economical by using SkypeOut with a headset tethered to my laptop, but it’s been a bit uncomfortable. Especially since I tend to pace while on the phone.
Fortunately, a few of my former Sling peeps have relocated to Ooma and provided me with a device to play with. Setup was a breeze – the most difficult and time consuming aspect was deciding what area code (DC, 202) and number I wanted. (They’ll also port numbers.) The Ooma “Hub” (above, right) can sit between a router and modem or just hang off the router, which how I’ve configured it. Though I may reconsider the network topography since Ooma does provide QoS, port forwarding, etc. I’m also a sucker for sexy things and appreciate the understated Ooma design, which is much more visually appealing than my former clunky Vonage Linksys router.
Ooma retails for $250, which includes unlimited US calling. Forever. While it’s a bit more pricey than the MagicJack, no need to worry about leaving a computer on and Internet chatter strongly suggests Ooma call quality is superior. In my limited testing, I’ve been very pleased. Basic features like CallerID and Voice Mail are included, while an optional Premier tier of service ($99/yr) offers additional features such as extra lines/numbers and conference calling.
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Thanks for the mini-review, Dave. I've used Vonage for a few years now and while I haven't experienced too many issues with dropped calls or poor audio quality, there is a noticeable delay (lag) in some calls which can make for awkward conversations (i.e. both people start talking at the same time after a perceived pause in the conversation).
I'm curious how Ooma fares in this regard - is there a noticeable delay between parties? I'm sure this has more to do with the routing the call takes over the internet (each hop adding to the latency) but it would be interesting to see if Ooma somehow optimizes this.
OOMA has favorable reviews BUT the company, based on all published reports, is going down the tubes....fast. Can you say "Sunrocket?" Hope everyone was not Punk'd by Ashton's name-only involvement. I will stick with magicJack.
Which published reports, and are they recent from reputable sources? I'll take a look. Though I imagine "all" might be a bit of an overstatement... Their recent addition to Best Buy shelves certainly seems like a positive and telling development on the business end.