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Ooma Telo VoIP system connects on many levelsAug 12, 2011 (The Dallas Morning News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Many of my friends have dropped their landline and are going with either a cellphone or voice over Internet protocol service. I've been reluctant, but I just might have found a solution I can live with. I've been using the Ooma Telo and Telo handset VoIP system for about a month now. Its ease of setup was impressive, and the voice quality exceeded my expectations. The heart of the Ooma system is the Telo base station ($249, www.ooma.com), which uses an Ethernet connection to plug into your broadband modem. To start, go to the Ooma website and set up an account, which includes choosing an area code and a phone number, registering your 911 address and adding your billing information. Ooma charges a monthly fee for federal and state taxes and fees as well as a 911 service fee. This adds up to $3.47 per month. Once you've set up the account, you'll plug in the Telo and wait for the lights to stop blinking. At that point, you're ready to plug in a handset and make calls. The Telo base has caller ID and call waiting. Voice mail can be checked from the handset or the Web. You can also connect your existing phone with an answering system and use it instead of Ooma's voice mail if you like. Add-ons There are a few service choices to be made when you're setting up the account. Ooma offers unlimited local and domestic long distance calls for the $3.47 per month price. It also offers a few plans for international calling. There's a pay-as-you-go option and several types of discount plans that drop the cost of international calling to 70 countries to under a penny per minute. By the way, calls to other Ooma customers are always free, no matter where they are on the planet. There's also a $9.99 per month Ooma Premier service that adds features such as: Instant second line: Get a second phone number and use a second handset to make a call if the main line is in use. Three-way conferencing: Connect different parties to your line for a conference call. Multi-ring: Route calls to your cell or another phone. Backup number: automatically route calls to another number if your Internet service is out. Google voice extensions: Many of the features of Google Voice can be accessed through the Telo. Bluetooth: Add an optional Bluetooth adapter to use your favorite Bluetooth headset. You can also move your current phone number (landline or VoIP) to Ooma for $39.99, or get free porting with the purchase of a one-year subscription to Ooma Premier. Telo handset You can use any telephone with Ooma, but it sells its own handset ($49) with a voice clarity feature called PureVoice HD. The voice quality of the handset was very good and some other features also make it worth a strong look. The handset has DECT 6.0 for excellent sound, security and range. It also has caller ID, one-touch voicemail, speaker phone and a contact list that's also accessible online. You can add up to four Telo handsets per Ooma system. Mobile HD app Available for iPhone or Android, the $9.99 app allows for using a cellphone to call domestically or internationally for a small fee without using minutes on a cellphone plan. Calls in the U.S. cost 1.9 cents per minute. Ooma Premier includes 250 minutes of mobile talk each month. There's also Ooma Mobile, which uses the data connection of your smartphone over Wi-Fi or 3G. This means calls can also be made on devices such as an iPad and iPod Touch. You'll want to keep tabs on your usage if you don't have unlimited data on your account. Talking on Ooma Mobile uses a megabyte of data every five minutes. I'm impressed with how easy Ooma was to set up and use. The time from unboxing to making calls was less than 10 minutes. Call clarity has been outstanding for almost all calls. I did hear an echo of my voice on calls to one number, which leads me to point to their phone having issues rather than Ooma. Call connection times are faster than with my iPhone. The handset works really well and looks good. Its base does have a bright blue LED that I wish I could disable. The base also has many bright blue lights, but they can be dimmed. In short, I would have no qualms about using Ooma as my home phone. Ooma Telo Pros: Great sound quality. Super easy setup. Inexpensive calling. Cons: High initial hardware cost. (Look for sales or refurbished units online.) Bottom Line: Ooma delivers what it promises: clear, cheap, easy-to-use phone service. To see more of The Dallas Morning News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.dallasnews.com. Copyright (c) 2011, The Dallas Morning News Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. |