Ooma works great at my girlfriend's parents house. They ported their number over from Comcast and it only took about a week. I've heard their support is not good, but they haven't had any issues that warrants a support call. Also, the dial tone they use sounds cool lol. I think total cost is somewhere around $3 a month.
I second the vote for Ooma. I have had it for nearly a year and have no complaints. Only thing is that while the service only asks you to pay taxes (~$3/month) to get 911 service, you still have to buy the device initially (~$75 is the lowest i have ever seen) Of course, by paying only $3 a month, you pay off the device within a year vs. other providers
Third for Ooma. We've used it at our home for 2-3 years now. Great device, never had any real issues with it.
It sounds great. But how will the company be able to survive after everyone has bought the device? There will be no ongoing income at all. And what happen to our service if the company folds?
Some people use their Premier service which is $10/mo so that's one way for them to make money. I think they also have a pre-paid service to call overseas which makes them some money. There's no guarantee that they'll be around for a long time. But if they aren't gone a year after you purchase your Ooma, then you'll still have done better than paying for regular phone service for a year. For me, I've had it for close to 3 years, and I paid $200 when I first got it. So I've saved a lot of money considering I haven't had to pay more than $200 in 3 years for phone service. All of these services have that risk of them eventually shutting down, but you get your money's worth for at least a year of service.
My parents have Magic Jack and NetTalk. They've been using Magic Jack for probably around 6-7 years, with no issues, but we do have the 1st gen one where the PC has to be on at all times, where the new ones a PC isn't necessary. They have NetTalk also because you can use it with Fax Machines. The only setback is that it has conflicts with some routers, and with our luck, it was one of our routers, so I had to do a work around to get it to work at all times.
http://www.ooma.com/app/support/faxing-ooma As far as your concerns if the company goes under, I'm almost positive they're going to be required to inform you ahead of time so you can switch back to your old provider if that does in fact happen.
I found Ooma cost almost $100 more than the basic MagicJack. Has anyone used both before and how are they compared? Opinion please.
I use NetTalk, I ported my home number and canceled Uverse Voice, and saved myself about $40 per month, and it works perfectly.
My folks have vonage. It's nice to call an 832 number when I'm actually calling them in Saudi Arabia.
have magicJack PLUS at the house. no complaints at all, and the ~ $30/yr beats the locals only $30/mo of AT&T
Been with Ooma since '08 and no major consistent issues. From time to time I may get a dropped call but it is very rare. Not to mention, I have Comcast economy internet service. They do however charge about $3/month tax now when you purchase the new Ooma system which older customers do not have to pay. You get all the basic features free: caller ID, call waiting, and the message alert system which sends you e-mails so you can listen messages from their website. I gave magic jack a try but, I personally got way to much reverb all the time and the overall call quality was bad and at the time you had to use it through the PC, but apparently that's not the case anymore.
