# Ooma vs. Verizon FIOS



## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

Okay, I am looking at switching from Comcast Internet/Phone to Verizon FIOS as overall it will be a little less expensive, I can add my wireless phone to the bill and get free calls to/from home and cell, and faster Internet. However, I have read a little about Ooma as well. I realize with that you need to purchase the hardware up-front, but after that you your service would be free (or $10/month if you subscribed to their deluxe package).

I was wondering if anyone could provide me with some pros and cons of going with one of these services over the other. If I went with Ooma, I would still switch over to Verizon FIOS for internet service. I'm just trying to figure out if it is worth it to pay that up-front cost for Ooma and if I will actually end up with a quality service.

Thanks,
Merg


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

The Merg said:


> Okay, I am looking at switching from Comcast Internet/Phone to Verizon FIOS as overall it will be a little less expensive, I can add my wireless phone to the bill and get free calls to/from home and cell, and faster Internet. However, I have read a little about Ooma as well. I realize with that you need to purchase the hardware up-front, but after that you your service would be free (or $10/month if you subscribed to their deluxe package).
> 
> I was wondering if anyone could provide me with some pros and cons of going with one of these services over the other. If I went with Ooma, I would still switch over to Verizon FIOS for internet service. I'm just trying to figure out if it is worth it to pay that up-front cost for Ooma and if I will actually end up with a quality service.
> 
> ...


Can't speak for Ooma, but I can tell you that Vonage + FiOS has been virtually flawless for me, with no issues faxing or with ADT or DirecTV equipment. Depending on what your local taxes are, you can lock Vonage in to $25/month if you pay a year in advance.

And you can set up Vonage so that if you lose internet connectivity, it will automatically ring your home calls on a secondary #, such as your cell phone. That said, only time since 2006 I've lost FiOS internet connectivity for more than 5 minutes is when an overly tall truck rumbled down our street and tore down the fiber optic cables from the pole from 8 homes in a row.


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## shedberg (Jan 20, 2007)

I agree, I use Vonage and have not had any issues with it. I love being able to also have the call forward to a cell phone if I do not answer.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

Well, good to hear the VOIP with FIOS works well... Anyone with thoughts on Ooma? Voice quality and otherwise? My big thing is putting out that initial cost for the hardware. I realize that you get it back in only a few months, but still...

- Merg


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## jacksonm30354 (Mar 29, 2007)

The Merg said:


> Well, good to hear the VOIP with FIOS works well... Anyone with thoughts on Ooma? Voice quality and otherwise? My big thing is putting out that initial cost for the hardware. I realize that you get it back in only a few months, but still...
> 
> - Merg


I have Ooma with Comcast 6M and have only had a few bad connections. No more than I had with Bellsouth/AT&T POTS.

I am very happy with the service. I have tried Packet 8 and AT&T Callvantage and was told while I could hear people fine, the folks on the other end said I sounded like I was talking under water. I have not had any complaints with ooma and I am using it to dial into constant calls several times most days.

You can get the Telo at Costco.com now for $199 and it comes with 6 months of Premier for free as well as $100 credit for international calling. The Hub is $179 at the B&M Costco stores for $179. You will have to pay $39 to port your existing number or it's free if you actually sign up for premier. I just picked one up for my sister and got her switched.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

jacksonm30354 said:


> I have Ooma with Comcast 6M and have only had a few bad connections. No more than I had with Bellsouth/AT&T POTS.
> 
> I am very happy with the service. I have tried Packet 8 and AT&T Callvantage and was told while I could hear people fine, the folks on the other end said I sounded like I was talking under water. I have not had any complaints with ooma and I am using it to dial into constant calls several times most days.


Which service do you have with them? Do you just have the basic service and use your own cordless phones or do you also have their add-on hardware piece?

- Merg


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## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

I use PhonePower + FIOS - It's flawless.


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## jacksonm30354 (Mar 29, 2007)

The Merg said:


> Which service do you have with them? Do you just have the basic service and use your own cordless phones or do you also have their add-on hardware piece?
> 
> - Merg


I have the Premier with the Hub and Scout using my own cordless phones, not the newer Telo. I have 2 phone numbers with no extra charge. I use one for home calls and one for work.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

jacksonm30354 said:


> I have the Premier with the Hub and Scout using my own cordless phones, not the newer Telo. I have 2 phone numbers with no extra charge. I use one for home calls and one for work.


So what exactly does the Scout get you? As I read the site, it seems that you have that so that you can plug additional phones in, correct?

- Merg


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## Yoda-DBSguy (Nov 4, 2006)

I have a 16 Mb comcast line and used to use vonage for several years. the only thing vonage becaime a problem for me was in terms of faxing and my home security monitoring system.

About a year ago I switched to Ooma. I have the Ooma hub with the additional scout add-on.

Basically all you need for Ooma to work is a hub; but the scout allows you to have a totally difefrent number on multiple phones then the hub ittself. Basically allow you to have 2 seperate lines with seperate voice mail boxes for each.

At anyrate, I have had ZERO issues. Infact now faxing works flawlessly not to mention my security system nw reports back without issue.

The new telo acts as a hub/scout did; but also offers the ability to use additionally purchased telo system phones with dedicated system command buttons. One can still hook up their existing corded or cordeless phones in addition or even inlue of purchasing dedicated system phones. All the Telo system phones do is add the convienance of having dedicated matching term buttons for voice mail, 3 way etc....

Again any and all phones you currently have can be used with Ooma and area compatible with all functions/services Ooma has to offer.

Basically if you are looking to replace the older cordless phones you may possess, then get a telo cordelss extention. If not then only get the telo hub unit itself.

I have 2 lines (1 business and one personal for the home) on the hub with the personal line being redirected to the scout and all phones connected to it. The hub stays in my office and is connected to the phone and fax as well as the security system.

In fact anyone that is seriusly looking into purchasing Ooma, simply PM me and I'll shoot you a referal link for $50.00 off the equipment. It benefits you by $50 and also earns me a $25.00 Amazon gift card to boot.


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## Yoda-DBSguy (Nov 4, 2006)

To be straight forward, I do prefer Ooma to Vonage.

It's not just the fact that it is in fact way cheaper with the same service quality (But just to reitterate----->It is MUCH Cheaper in terms of cost; but also allows for the following:

No issues as I mentioned with faxing (sending or receiving) and without the need for a dedicated "fax" line as with Vonage.

With Ooma, I've picked up the added features that Vonage was lacking, such as Private Call Block & Community Block list enabling. Of course this is above and beyond anonymous call rejection.

The Ooma device (weather it be a older style hub or the new telo) has a easy to use web interface and allows for the throttling control of bandwidth used while in a call. Both upload and download rates are adjustable.

The Ooma device also has not only a WAN ethernet in, but also a LAN ethernet out. So even after it's connection you gain back the port used for it's own connection for later device hookups.


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## gitarzan (Dec 31, 2005)

I've had ooma for about a year and i've had no problems. Quality is great. I don't get the add on service and do not get any phone bill. I've also had vonage, net2phone (very good voip), and sunrocket but I have liked ooma the most.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

Okay. My deal is that I have a 4-handset cordless set. I just want to be able to use that, although I sometimes do fax from my computer. I really don't need any additional phone lines and just want simple voice-mail, call-waiting, caller ID, and call waiting-ID. I assume in that case, the Ooma Hub is all I would need. However, looking at the differences between the Hub and Telo, the Telo is like the Hub except that you don't need the Scout to use additional jacks in the house, correct?

Also, it looks like they have a special right now where you can get the Telo and a Handset for $230 as opposed to $300 if purchased separately. I guess that would be a pretty good deal.

- Merg


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## Yoda-DBSguy (Nov 4, 2006)

The Merg said:


> Okay. My deal is that I have a 4-handset cordless set. I just want to be able to use that, although I sometimes do fax from my computer. I really don't need any additional phone lines and just want simple voice-mail, call-waiting, caller ID, and call waiting-ID. I assume in that case, the Ooma Hub is all I would need. However, looking at the differences between the Hub and Telo, the Telo is like the Hub except that you don't need the Scout to use additional jacks in the house, correct?
> 
> Also, it looks like they have a special right now where you can get the Telo and a Handset for $230 as opposed to $300 if purchased separately. I guess that would be a pretty good deal.
> 
> - Merg


Correct. the Telo and the older style hub are exactly the same in all regards; except that the hub had to have scouts in order to use the additional "instant secondary line" feature (limited to a total of 4) connections where as the new telo uses propriatary additionally purchased handsets to do the same thing.

For single line use, a telo will work fine with your current phones with or without a ooma purchased cordeless handset.


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## shedberg (Jan 20, 2007)

Quick question - I currently have a VOIP number through verizon. This thread got me thinking of switching. I would want to use premier with the availability of a second line. Would I need the old hub and scout? Or would the telo work somehow? I am a bit confused since my current number is already VOIP and no landline is used. I would use the second line to get rid of my current landline. Will this work?


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## Yoda-DBSguy (Nov 4, 2006)

shedberg said:


> Quick question - I currently have a VOIP number through verizon. This thread got me thinking of switching. I would want to use premier with the availability of a second line. Would I need the old hub and scout? Or would the telo work somehow? I am a bit confused since my current number is already VOIP and no landline is used. I would use the second line to get rid of my current landline. Will this work?


You could use either the old hub and scout combination or a new telo with an extra telo cordless handset to get what you want done accomplished.

Remember you can port 1 or more numbers to ooma as well wheather it be from a land line carrier or another VOIP company or a cell for that matter....


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

Well, although I definitely like the idea of Ooma, their customer support has got me a little worried. I've noticed on their forums that there are a lot of people having issues getting problems corrected. It seems that some issues are taken care of quickly, but some just go without a response at all. Also, I sent an e-mail to them through their website on Monday and have yet to get a response. I also don't like how I can't join their forum to ask questions prior to purchasing an Ooma.

- Merg


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## Yoda-DBSguy (Nov 4, 2006)

The Merg said:


> Well, although I definitely like the idea of Ooma, their customer support has got me a little worried. I've noticed on their forums that there are a lot of people having issues getting problems corrected. It seems that some issues are taken care of quickly, but some just go without a response at all. Also, I sent an e-mail to them through their website on Monday and have yet to get a response. I also don't like how I can't join their forum to ask questions prior to purchasing an Ooma.
> 
> - Merg


Their email support is definately slower then most would like. However they have an 800 call in number. Most people have an issue with a company that is conversation by email only---basically no way of contacting a live person; this is not the case here. If you have a question----don't be shy; pick up the phone and ask....

As far as having to have already purchased to register for the forum in order to post; that I agree with you about. You should be able to ask your questions prior to purchasing a system if you have one. However I'll garentee if you do a search on theier forums that any question you have has already been asked and answered at least once if not a thousands times over.

As far as seeing alot of people getting issues corrected or not on their forum is pretty typical. People who don't have problems (which is the majority on all products ever made by any brand over any productline) don't feel the need to jump on the net, search out a forum to post their great experience as often as those who have an issue....


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

Yoda-DBSguy said:


> As far as seeing alot of people getting issues corrected or not on their forum is pretty typical. People who don't have problems (which is the majority on all products ever made by any brand over any productline) don't feel the need to jump on the net, search out a forum to post their great experience as often as those who have an issue....


That's good to hear about the live person contact.

As for my statement about issues not being resolved, I wasn't clear what I meant with that. When reading the forum, it looks like the moderators will take notice and post in certain threads, but others there is no comment from them at all even acknowledging the issue. That's what I found odd.

- Merg


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## jacksonm30354 (Mar 29, 2007)

The Merg said:


> So what exactly does the Scout get you? As I read the site, it seems that you have that so that you can plug additional phones in, correct?
> 
> - Merg


You only need the Scout if you want to separate out different phone numbers to different phones or you can't or don't want to place the hub at a point before all the household phone lines split off.

In my case, if I only had one number or didn't mind both numbers ringing all my phones, I could get by with the Hub. I only use the scout as I wanted to separate out my home office number so that if I go called in the middle of the night and had houseguests, it would not ring the phones in their rooms.

That said, my ooma is placed at a point before the phone line is split to the various rooms in the house. Essentially I replaced the the line from outside with a line from the PHONE port on the Ooma hub. This also means my hub is not in an easily accessible place - under the stairs in the basement. You don't really need those buttons on the hub or scout though.

If you can't put the ooma hub at a point before the phone lines are split, then yes, you would need a scout at any point you have a device plugged into a phone jack.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

Wow... 

I just got a reply back from Ooma Sales Support. I initially e-mailed them on 12/14. I had pretty much given up on getting a reply.

Two interesting things of note about the e-mail reply... One is that the Premier service is $99/yr for new customers at the end of the 6 month trial period; on-line it lists the price as being $120. They did up the monthly rate of Premier service to $12.99/month.

Also, they mention that the Telo will have Bluetooth ability in the future. Not sure how that will work exactly. I guess you could synch a BT headset with it and dial anyone in the your contact list then. Not sure how they would work being able to dial just a phone number unless you could just say the number for it to dial.

- Merg


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