Quote:
Originally Posted by webmaster
Sorry I didn't reply sooner. I bought my Ooma about 3 years ago so I'm not up to date on their latest plans but it looks like you may be on their enhanced plan that gives you some additional features. If I remember correctly you had to be careful when you signed up to stay on the free plan since they keep directing you into the enhanced plan unless you followed the correct links. They still advertise Ooma as a free service and at the top of their website it says "Free Home Phone Service" so I think you can still get what I have.
I get charged nothing for the use of my Ooma. No fees, taxes or other charges. That may be grandfathered in because I've heard that you do now have to pay the taxes and government fees. I could be wrong.
After 3 years I love our Ooma. The service works perfectly for me and I haven't paid a cent for the service since I bought it.
|
I really like my Ooma system that I've had since April last year, but...
I must have bought one of the last boxes on the shelf that came with the $11 and change annual charge for taxes, billed after the first year. Ooma was in the process of changing to a monthly charge of $3 and change for taxes, which is what any new purchaser gets now, and I thought that I had lucked out. I was very disappointed to get an email from Ooma two months ago informing me that my good deal of $11 per year would change to a not-so-good deal of $3 per month starting next May. Like many consumer "contracts," Ooma has reserved the right to change the terms whenever they want, for any reason they want.
I'm not saying that it's impossible, but I would be very surprised if you're paying nothing for taxes on your Ooma calls. Domestic calling is free (to a point, there is a use limit), but as far as I know Ooma has always charged something for taxes, at least after the first year of use. It's billed automatically to a credit card that they keep on file, so for some people it may get overlooked.
Ooma's advertising of the service as "free" after initial purchase is highly misleading, since most users will be paying approximately $40 per year in taxes, and also because, as I already mentioned, there is a ceiling on the number of free domestic minutes that you get on what they call "unlimited" calling. That being said, even after buying the hardware for $200, I'm very happy to be free of Verizon/FairPoint and a long distance carrier to whom I had been paying a combined $40 to $50 a month.