Before ditching your home phone for an Ooma Telo, read this first!

About the reviewer:

Nik Shepherd is a management consultant and part-time reviewer. Nik works from home and knows the importance of great, reliable, time and cost saving home and office technology.

Ooma Telo Free Home Phone Service Review

Ease of Setup Ooma Telo - Ooma Review
Value for Money
Call Quality
Customer Service

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I read a lot of great Ooma reviews for the Ooma Hub and Scout, but I never got around to trying them…I was nervous about the early days of VOIP reliability and clung to my tried and true landline.

I finally decided it was time to try the Ooma Telo when it came out – I work from home and anything that will cut my costs is worth a try!

After next-day delivery from Amazon, I hooked it up – no problem, no hassles at all. The only thing that took some time was downloading all the updates once it was online. Depending on your service speed, could take up to half an hour.

The instructions said to go to the Ooma website to “port” over my old landline number. It took about three weeks (but the site says it could take up to four). Cool thing was, I could start using the Ooma (through the base unit) AND still use my landline during the changeover time. No disruption of service.

Absolutely no complaints to report. The reception is crystal clear, even with an international calling. Bottom line, it was seamless and life seems no different than before, except cheaper!

Update: Ooma is currently on sale on Amazon through this link – Ooma Telo Free Home Phone Service

Fees

  • If you want to port over your existing number, there is a one-time $39 charge. Or, get a new number from Ooma for free.
  • Some government tax is due once a year, not an Ooma thing. It’s under $20.
  • You can go for a “Premier” package which includes the number port charge, a new phone, and other bonuses.
    Be sure to check out the latest package It comes with a 60-day trial period. Opt out if you like.

Ease

  • No need to buy new phones, keep the ones you have
  • Plug in directly to your cable modem
  • Unique dial tone once you’re hooked up. No confusion there.
  • “My Ooma” section of the site very user-friendly
  • Got the help I needed to figure out how to deactivate my old phone outlets in under 5 minutes.

Features

  • VOIP (Voice Over IP) technology device that gives you free calls within U.S. and low rates for international calls
  • Works with any corded or cordless phone; easy installation – NO computer required. (Not compatible with Ooma Scout)
  • Includes caller-ID, call-waiting, 911, and many other calling features
  • Includes 60-day free trial of Ooma Premier — a suite of enhanced calling services features
  • Includes everything needed for installation; backed by 30-day money-back guarantee and extendable 1-year warranty

The savings in canceling my “old fashioned” phone service covered the cost of the Ooma Telo in about three months. Great, thanks Ooma Review!

Here’s what another current user has to say (paraphrased for space):

Ashok A.

The Telo is well designed and sleek. The controls are touch controls and very sensitive. There is a USB port in the back – presumably for future expansion. Like the hub, there are two RJ45 ethernet jacks – one to connect to the “internet”, and the second to connect to one’s home network. There are also two RJ11 phone jacks. One to connect to your existing landline, should you have one, and decide to integrate the landline and Telo. The other is to connect to your phone.

The setup instructions are simple. While it is recommended that the Telo be connected directly to your cable/dsl/wimax modem (i.e. before your router), it works equally well after the router. We chose to connect the Ooma Telo to the router rather than the modem.

Read the whole Ooma review