Ooma? Anyone familiar with it?

[sheriffabc]

I have been recommended Ooma as a voip telephone solution. Anyone familiar with it? Suggestions and/or recommendations or alternatives?
TIA

[PianoGuy]

Ooma has an interesting business model. Instead of paying $50 for an adapter and maybe $12 per month, you pay $200 for an adapter and $4 per month. Historically, Ooma has been criticized for having a non-sustainable business model, by people who don't think $4 per month is enough to provide VoIP service and make a profit long term. As far as we're aware, Ooma has never been profitable. I believe their last round of venture capital funding was in January for about $17 million. Will Ooma become profitable? Will they receive more VC funding when they run out of the $17 million? Nobody here knows.

On the flipside, $4/month is pretty cheap for VoIP. If it turns out you're happy with the service and it works for you long term, you'll save buckets of money.

Some more traditional VoIP providers include AcroVoice (full service, supports fax) and VoIP.ms (do-it-yourself). Note that with VoIP.ms, your monthly fees could in fact be in the $4-$5 range if your usage is low, like 100 or 200 minutes per month. The advantage is you can buy fairly-priced hardware. The disadvantage is you have to set it up yourself.

[gnuman]

Granted Voip.ms has to be setup yourself it is not too daunting of a task to do so. I'm quite knowledgeable in computers but for VOIP I don't know anything. I had to change 6 settings and I was ready. Using voip.ms for about 6 months with 1 or 2 hiccups during that time.

[infamouskid]

last i checked ooma was a cali only service. but this was years ago.
good product and setup though.

[reefyone]

I have been recommended Ooma as a voip telephone solution. Anyone familiar with it? Suggestions and/or recommendations or alternatives?
TIA

When I looked around the initial investment for the Ooma device was a deterrent. In the coming years you'll see VOIP services come and go, and dropping a few hundred on a branded device seems like a foolish move right now.

Buy yourself an unlocked adapter or SIP device and pick up an account with someone like voip.ms and you're set.