Vonage Telephone Service ?

[Winnisquamguy]

Originally Posted by webmaster

Last year in a similar thread I recommended OOMA. It's completely free after you buy the box. We've been using it now for over 2 years and haven't had a problem or a phone bill. See this post for more info:

http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...&postcount=177

Don, I have had my Ooma for a few months now but I am being charged $13.46 a month any ideas why or how did you get yours totally free?
Thanks

[Mirror Lake's BB]

Winnisquamguy,

We think we had the same issue with Omma as you are experiencing. Omma automatically gave us a 60 day free trial of their 'Premier' package. If after 60 days you don't 'opt out' you are automatically enrolled in the program and will get billed an additional $9.99 per month. The only way to discontinue the program is by calling them directly @1-888-711-6662. When we called, they claim they sent us emails warning that the 60 day trial was about to end. In our case, we had just changed internet providers and email so we didn't get the email. Also, they tried to offer us a deal for the Premier package which we turned down. We didn't feel like we needed the bells and whistles of Premier. All we care about is the ingoing/outgoing phone log. We only pay $3.47/month which I believe goes for taxes.

A week or so ago the whole Omma system crashed (not sure if that's the correct term) and the phone system was down for about 6 hours in the US and some international locations. Apparently, this problem was extremely rare for Omma.

Let us know how you make out.

[Belmont Resident]

We had it for years mainly for a fax line. Never had a problem with it.

[kauriel]

We have Vonage and use it with a router and 2 wireless handsets. The unlimited nationwide calling is great but our phones tend to skip and have periods of poor quality but I am guessing that might be due to distance between phones & router. I am planning to try hooking up our vonage router to repeater on 2nd floor where phones are predominantly used. One plus is that we have our service setup to forward to my cell phone if VOIP fails.

We also tried Magic Jack but had similar issues with poor quality. Too bad because it was much cheaper than Vonage!

[jazzman]

I use a VOIP service called phone power www.phonepower.com, that works out at around $10/month. It's reliable and I use it several hours per day for business. VOIP works fine over cable/broadband. It's a little trickier if you have DSL. The main problem is there is more of a delay between when you talk and the person on the other end hears you, but it's really no worse than a cell phone.

[webmaster]

Originally Posted by Winnisquamguy

Don, I have had my Ooma for a few months now but I am being charged $13.46 a month any ideas why or how did you get yours totally free?
Thanks

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.

[P-3 Guy]

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.

[webmaster]

Originally Posted by TMI Guy

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.

It's true. I've never received a bill or a credit card charge. Shhh, don't tell them.

Even if I had to pay $3/month it would still be a bargain. The thing that really sold be on Ooma (besides the price) is that you can just plug it in to a wall jack and all your phones (wired and cordless), dial-up computers and faxes in your house just work.

[tis]

I know this is an old thread, but wanted to ask a question of those in the know. can you hook up a freeze alarm to one of these or do you need the old fashioned cable landline? Of course I realize if the internet goes out, the freeze alarm won't be able to call.

[swnoel]

I don't see why you couldn't... as long as you have a phone connection it should call.

[TheProfessor]

This one uses cell signals.
No internet needed,
Do not have to sign up for entire year.

LINK

MARCELL Brand

For internet phone.
Have had Nettalk Duo for over 8 years.
Annual cost is/for me $99.00.
Connects directly to router. Can use with any phones.

LINK