A few weeks ago, I wrote about the promise of Ooma. I received the Ooma box soon after I wrote that and tested it. While the installation wasn’t hard, my first night I played with it, I ended up packing it up and almost writing it off. My biggest problem with how I hooked up the Ooma box was that I put it in front of my router as was recommend; that created a double NAT such that I had one internal network running inside of another internal network. For most people, this might not be a problem, but double NAT sometimes causes problems with VPN connections, iChat video sessions, and connecting back to my internal network using software such as EyeTV’s iPhone application.
So after the first failed attempt, I decided to give it another try the next day. This time, I just plugged the box into my switch. I have no idea if the Airport base stations support QOS, but my initial tests showed that downloading files didn’t affect voice quality. After my initial tests, I decided to call forward our home phone to the Ooma number, re-route some wires to have our cordless phones connected to the Ooma and I was off and running. The first time my wife tried to use the phone, she said that there was music on the line; I think my son had pressed one of the buttons and called voicemail. After I assured my wife it was fine, she made a call or two. While I was bathing my son, I heard my wife making a call and saying “can you hear me?” and basically apologizing because “her husband was doing something with the phone”.
After my son went to bed, I immediately disconnected the box, unforwarded the phone, packed up the system and prepared to return it. My wife said there was an echo on the line and she said there was a delay; both common issues with VOIP systems. So, my Ooma experiment was a complete failure.
Pros
- Lots of features.
- Low cost.
Cons
- Poor voice quality.
- Yearly cost for basic service has gone up due to changes in terms of service.
- Unsure of viability of company.
- Company ethics may be questionable; initially the company used “peer-to-peer” telephone which used your phone line for other people’s phone calls to save on termination costs. They have since stopped that practice.
Summary
Ooma and other VOIP systems have great promise and while I’d like to think that I’m willing to experiment with technology, messing with telephone service is bordering on crazy for me. Others that have used VOIP services and are pleased with them may like Ooma. For me, going from a landline to a VOIP system for my home phone just isn’t going to happen now. I’ll keep trying to get a cheaper phone service, but now isn’t the time to pull the plug on the old reliable phone company.
I have been researching Ooma for 3-4 days now reading all kinds of stuff (found your site through a google search) and the only thing that would stop me from buying it: if it interferred with the VPN that I use. I work at home through VPN and I cannot risk disconnection.
It sounds like I better not risk purchasing this system. It’s very hard to find information directly on Ooma and VPN issues. You could attach the Telo after the router (supposed to put between modem and router) which would solve the problem but then you loose the Telo’s benefit of dedicating part of your broadband signal to just voice.
Arrrgh.
Thank you for your post.
Pete
Hi Pete,
I briefly tested the Ooma before my router and it appeared to work fine with my company’s Cisco VPN, so it may not be an issue. However, for me the bigger issue with double NAT is iChat video chat. I had problems way back when using my own Linux box as a router where I couldn’t have just any machine do video chats; I could only have one due to the NAT mapping. Of course, I may have set it up incorrectly. With the AirPort Extreme base station (or Time Capsule), video chats are a no-brainer. I understand Ooma’s need to do double NAT, but there are far too many potential problems with this, in my opinion (for instance getting back to your machine with EyeTV for iPhone or GotoMyPC).
If you’re a Costco member, you can buy it from them and return it if it doesn’t work. Right now they have a special on the Telo for $100 off, I believe. Ooma has great promise, but VOIP to me still isn’t up to par with a regular landline (yes, I realize that most calls get routed over the Internet anyway). My father has Time Warner Cable’s VOIP service and between his phone being offline the other day when his cable modem went out to the questionable voice quality, the cost savings isn’t worth it.
I know this is a late comment on this post but I wanted to let you know that it is possible to have an Ooma in front of your wireless router and not have a double-NAT situation. I have an Ooma connected directly to my cable modem and I have a Apple Time Capsule downstream of the Ooma. I configured the Time Capsule in bridge mode so that it does not act as a DHCP server. In this configuration, all the network addresses are handed out by the Ooma and there is no double NAT. We’ve been on the Ooma for just about a year and while it hasn’t been completely without issues, we have found it to be worthy of being our only home phone. From what I’ve read about the new Ooma Telo, it would be even better than the unit that we have which is the older Ooma unit. Oh, and iChat and VPN work as expected with our network arrangement.
I did try what you suggested, but then I relied on the Ooma’s routing capabilities for handling UPNP and other features. I’ve used a number of routers over the years and the Airport Extreme as been the most reliable and easiest to use, so I didn’t want to give that up. Maybe I’ll try VOIP again in the future for my main phone, but for now, I’m OK with paying AT&T (that will change if they raise rates again).
Just came across this blog; using Telo (2 units) since last November and they are great! Hooked up directly to my router with Comcast internet. Only problem is when internet is down; othewise great voice to and from callers.
I just purchased the OOMA hub, but cannot Port my present phone number because of my area code and suffix. The system is not of much use to me, until I can use my present telephone number. Is their a solution? Google Voice or their the OOMA Premier Service will not do it either. At present I use Vonage.
You gotta watch out with that premier service. Don’t sign up for 60 day trial, this is how they make money, you forget then see charges every once in a while on your credit card, then it clicks that you are on their premier service. EASY TO MISS!!!! DO NOT SIGN UP! They will not refund any money!
I have subscribed to ooma for approximately 18 months. At first the jitter was killing the quality of conversations. It appears that ooma has gotten past this problem and voice quality is very good. I, however, have experienced serious problems with the Telo handset. The handset has been replace 4 or 5 times because it just stops working, doesn’t hold a charge, has to be synched every 3 or 4 attempts to use it. Now, ooma has crossed my numbers and the wrong voicemails are coming to my handset instead of the primary number. I have sent email after email to omma, sent phones back, etc. My patience is wearing very thin at this point.
Am I the only phone experiencing these problems? Any suggestions?
I just started trying Ooma and have been quite pleased in the first 2 weeks of my test. Voice quality has been good and I’ll be porting my number in a few days. The Telo handsets lack a headset jack, so they have limited utility to me; I already have a 5 handset system that works. Hopefully Ooma will redesign the handset at some point to add a headset jack and resolve some of the issues you’re having.
On 8/17/11 I have been getting, for 5 hours that I know of, a red blinking light on the ooma box. If I try to log into any ooma web site, I get a server time out. I have no phone number to call, and cannot find out if this is a broad system failure, or a failure of my personal system.. All other tests show my server, connections and hardware are otherwise working fine. Is anyone around to let me know if this an ooma error system-wide, or a local problem?
Ooma had a network wide outage today. Ooma hasn’t been all that communicative with users, but it seems to be working now. They could at least have updated their Twitter account earlier in the outage in inform users.