# Anyone tried Ooma Telo?



## Raylo (Feb 12, 2006)

Well, during our recent multi-day power outage even my copper phone line went away, along with my last reason for keeping it (supposed reliability during power outages). Just wondering if anyone here has experience with the latest iteration of Ooma Telo. "Free" ($12/year fees) basic service, $10/month premium service seem pretty attractive and will save me a lot of $$ compared to my Telco carrier (Verizon). Anyway just curious if there is any hands-on experience here and/or comparisons with other VOIP solutions.


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## Basementgeek (Feb 7, 2005)

How are you staying connected on the internet without power?

I used Magic Jack for a year as a second line. not bad at all.

BG


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## Raylo (Feb 12, 2006)

I am not connected to the internet w/o power. Just saying that if my copper phone line is also gonna go down in long power outages why pay to keep it? It worked for a few hours but VZ apparently doesn't have long term power backups for their local telco stations anymore, at least the one that feeds my house. So I may just go with a VOIP setup and save a lot of $$. Magic jack doesn't appeal since it needs to have a PC running. Rather have one that lives on my network which is always on.


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## Basementgeek (Feb 7, 2005)

Ooma Telo does not look bad. My phone is part of a bundle from my cable provider. If the power is off it is supposed to work for a max of 4 hours on its built in batteries, that is assuming the cable is still working.

BG


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## Raylo (Feb 12, 2006)

Those cable and FIOS bundles sound decent at the teaser rates but once they expire they aren't a good deal at all, especially compared to any of the third party VOIP solutions.

Yes, Ooma looks pretty good. I guess I am just gonna have to try it and see how it goes. I have been wanting to refresh my network for awhile with a new wifi router that has gigabit switch, VOIP telcom, and probably some POE IP cameras.

In this process I also may dump the TV part of my cable package (keep internet) and install a digital antenna in my attic to feed the house. The map says I'll get about a dozen hidef channels here. I am fed up with my cable company due to their recent encryption (not digital transition but encryption of the digital preferred channels that I am paying for) so I need a box even on my flat screens to get more than the basic basic channels. Just tired of the cable TV, paying for a lot of crap that I don't want to get a few channels that I do... having to use a stinkin' cable box on every TV. I've had it.


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## ebackhus (Apr 21, 2005)

I'm canceling my cable in favor of Netflix.

Raylo, the cable company doesn't make the calls for what goes on digital and what doesn't. The signal provider does. I used to work for TimeWarner Cable and when we switched to having HBO on digital people were furious. Then they get the box and see that HBO is now 14 channels plus OnDemand and they feel better about it all.


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## Raylo (Feb 12, 2006)

No, digital vs analog is NOT the issue here since the entire cable system here is digital. That transition was painless for those of us with digital QAM tuners except for the channels appeared in different numbers than the std cable lineup numbers. Then they went even further a few weeks ago and *encrypted* the "preferred basic" channels (not the premium channels like HBO, etc that were always encrypted), which is one tier up from the basic basic. Near as I can tell they encrypted them for their convenience to keep the basic basic folks from getting them in the clear (still digital of course). That means a proprietary cable box is necessary for us to get the basic preferred channels.

I have Netflix, too. Dropping the cable TV and keeping Netflix, an OTA antenna, and the internet to view other shows (like USA) a week late might be the way to go....


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## ebackhus (Apr 21, 2005)

Cable carriers simulcast (digital and analog) in most areas. You may want to find out from Verizon if they do that.


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## Raylo (Feb 12, 2006)

Our local cable (Comcast) deleted all their analog channels about 3 months ago to free up bandwidth. I had to get a box for my old tube TV to get anything at all. That's OK, it's in the kitchen. I still got all the digital channels on my LCDs until the prefrred channels were encrypted in groups over the last couple months. They started that soon after the analogs were totally gone and I think it is pretty much complete. No more CNN, USA, History, etc... unless I go to my old TV in the kitchen. I refuse to get the same dumb box for my LCDs for several reasons, one- only 1 more is free and two, I would lose the basic (typically the same ones that are broadcast locally) channels that come through clear (no encryptyion) over the cable in HD. To get those with the preferred channles both in HD is more $$, including $15 for each additional HD box. Cable is just a ripoff.....


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## Raylo (Feb 12, 2006)

Update on the original topic: Ooma Telo. I got one a few days ago and had it up and running in about 10 minutes, most of which was waiting for it to do an automatic firmware update when it is first connected. So far everyrhing is great. Easy to use, voice quality is outstanding, no dropping out, and an amazing feature set. So far I just have the Ooma connected to a cordless base station but this weekend I am going to disconnect the VZ telco line and try feeding my indoor phone wire with the Ooma. Then I will test the house alarm system to see if the Ooma can access the dialer and if it is able to dial out I will check with the monitoring company to see what they receive.

On the secondary topic (cable, etc), I bought a CS-5 HDTV antenna and it gets all but two of our local channels just sitting on the floor in my living room. The OTA HD pictures are better than with cable. This weekend it goes into the attic and I'll wire it up to feed all the coax cables except the one for my cable modem. I will have to run a new piece of coax for that. Then turn off the cable TV service.


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## Raylo (Feb 12, 2006)

Update on the Ooma telo: It will NOT work with my old Ademco alarm system. It can't even dial out. It seems the Ooma does not provide a compatible dialtone setup. Oh well, I would have been surprised if it had worked. I am checking into cellular and broadband solutions. Cellular would be the simplest as most of the broadband solutions aren't compatible with my old Ademco. The replacement upgrade Ademco panel itself isn't that expensive (about $100) but it would probaby be a day of work to swap it out and get it running. Cellular would be a about $200 initial cost but a simple plug and play install and would be more reliable in power outages.


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