Anybody Have the Ooma Phone Device?

[GizmoFreak]

I hope I've chosen the right forum for this topic. But does anyone own or know a lot about the Ooma device and how it works? I saw their booth at the Digital Life show this year and am strongly considering taking the plunge. To summarize, they are a phone service over internet like Skype or Vonage that uses a peer to peer infrastructure using customer broadband and phone lines to route calls. The major selling point is that it's $399 up front for free long distance service for life.

There has been some literature on the web regarding this device, including that "for life" actually means only "a minimum of three years" in the fine print. But that's not what I'm concerned about. I would get the version for use WITHOUT an actual phone line and I'm curious to know just how much of my internet bandwidth that Ooma will "borrow" for its peer to peer infrastructure, if any.

Again, there has been speculation and conjecture, but is there anyone who has some real facts regarding this concern? Thanks much!

 

[pm]

Why would you want to do this? Cheap calls? There are cheaper ways to implement a phone line.

Something like Vitelity can get you a phone line for no monthly fee and very low per minute fees.
http://www.vitelity.com/index.php?p=retailserv

You just need a SIP-compliant VOIP box, like a Linksys PAP2 ($50 at Newegg).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16833124162

But when you say you want it without a phone line, it leaves me confused as to what you are trying to achieve.

 

[GizmoFreak]

Originally posted by: pm
But when you say you want it without a phone line, it leaves me confused as to what you are trying to achieve.

Hey thanks for the reply. I am not trying to achieve anything. You have two options when buying this device. One that works in conjunction with a phone line and one that works without. I merely am looking at the latter option.

No offense intended, but I'm not looking for people to tell me this would be "a good (or bad) decision" or whether there are cheaper alternatives out there. I'm merely looking for someone who understands how this device actually works.

 

[pm]

I'm not offended, but I am still confused, but good luck. You could try asking in a VOIP specific forum like http://forum.voxilla.com/.