A while ago, we cheaped out and switched to a cell-phone only arrangement at home using the XLink Gateway, but the cell phone voice quality was dependent on the distance of the cell phone to the Gateway. When it is far away, the sound can be choppy. After a while it induced enough annoyance that I investigated cheap alternatives to reinstating our home phone, and that’s when I came across this at Best Buy:
It’s called Ooma Core and for $250, you get a hub that masquerades as an answering machine, and a “scout” device for connecting to other outlets. In my case, I just plugged it into my XLink Gateway, and as a result all three phones ring my cordless at home.
The device comes with lifetime phone service with free calling features such as caller ID and call waiting, as long as your device is in good working order. It also includes unlimited national calling and pretty cheap international rates. Signing up was a breeze, as it just takes typing in the serial number on the ooma.com web site and choosing a phone number in the city of your choice. Within 15 minutes the number was ringing my phone.
How’s the sound quality? Short answer: It depends. Long answer: It depends on your internet connection. When I first got the device, Comcast had some issues with its internet service for the entire city, so sometimes the sound would cut in and out. However, since Comcast fixed their issue, the phone service had been working fine for the most part. Occasionally, one person cannot hear the other person at all, but I suppose one can use that as an excuse to evade unwanted calls. A reconnection typically fixes the problem. The other annoying part was that the caller ID redial on the phone did not work because I needed to add a 1 before the area code, which was not part of the caller ID. Lastly, there can be a little static when the phone connects where the ooma tone is supposed to be heard, but I assume it’s just a software bug. Otherwise, the call quality is as good as any other VOIP phone.
There are a few caveats, of course. First, for any product where they got your money already, customer service is probably sacrificed. I’ve yet to call customer service, but I can’t imagine why they would want to spend much time and money supporting a device they’ve already got paid in full. Second, I’m betting on the company fending off becoming another SunRocket (bankruptcy) for 10 months to break even (using Vonage/Comcast as a comparison point). With the country being in a recession, this can be even more of a gamble than before.
So the jury is still out to whether this was a good investment or money down the drain, but lately it has been working just fine. With our cell phones as backups, let’s see how long we can stretch this service out!
