Ooma VOIP $194.99 from amazon

Linked

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001C1MGKI

Hmmm... $200 buys you the phone and free service for life. Your life, or ooma's life, whichever comes first.

On the other hand, the MagicJack costs $20 for the hardware + $20/year for service. But requires a computer be left on...

Was available at Dell Small Business for $170 with FS (after 15% coupon) last Friday. Incidentally I missed the deal as the 15% coupon expired after 15,000 redemptions. Holding out for a similar deal.

Got the same deal as mushman... Amazon shipped it the next day and was here the following day (although I missed the mailman and had to pick it up at the post office yesterday). First call was to NYC from San Diego... No problems. Clear as a bell. Next call was to Philadelphia, slight echo on the other end, re-called, clear. Very happy with the ooma so far.
Paid the $99 for premier service and began porting my AT&T landline over to ooma. Says about 3 weeks to be done. With the savings, I'll be bumping up my FIOS service up to a higher tier in a few weeks (when the port is done and I don't have to pay for the landline).
Today, I placed a 30 minute call to London, cost me just $0.95. Sound was perfect.

JohnnyRay said:

Wait, I bought this back in June from Wal-Mart for about $217, plus paid $99 for the year of premium service (because I was going to have to pay them $40 to port over my long-existing number). Are you telling me that NOW they add lifetime premier service for the same price?

EDIT: Never mind, I now realize he meant the NORMAL service, not the premier one, for life.

I'm currently running through the 6-month premier promo from costco. I was testing it out before biting the bullet. I was thinking the same thing about combining the premium just to avoid the $40 porting fee.

Correct me if I am wrong: if you go for the premium service ($99), they will credit you the $40 porting fee. But you have to pay the $40 fee initially anyway, right? i.e. you pay $99 premium + $40 porting fee, and they credit you back $40.

eklee said: Correct me if I am wrong: if you go for the premium service ($99), they will credit you the $40 porting fee. But you have to pay the $40 fee initially anyway, right? i.e. you pay $99 premium + $40 porting fee, and they credit you back $40.

It depends. If you order the porting at the same time that you pay your premium service fee then you only pay the $99 and don't have to wait for a refund. BUT if you pay the premium service fee then later decide that you want to port a number then you have to pay the $40 and wait for a refund.

pacman777 said: Its taking them over a month to port my number from Vonage... I keep getting emails that it is expected to be ported over on x date, but when that date comes around the port has not been completed. I called them and they keep saying its in process. So far, ooma's off to a crappy start in my books. debating whether I should return the ooma unit to costco, and keep my Vonage (especially with that $12.50 offer floating out there).

Stay with it. The porting process is usually not entirely within Ooma's control. Once you get it started and humming, you'll never want to give it up.

People who discuss MagicJack and Ooma as competing alternatives do not realize that they do not belong in the same universe. I've had Vonage in the past and to me, Ooma is way ahead, in terms of QOS and features, functionality. I've had the Ooma service for the longest time (3+years) and they have been outstanding.

Only quibble I have is that part of their CS group is now outsourced to the Philippines. The CSRs in the Philippines and even their managers don't have the technical depth of knowledge to handle any issue that does not fit their standard playbook. Insisting right away that they transfer you to a Mountain View based CSR was my way of handling this, after hours wasted with the former.

In terms of your issue, if you need to get an update, call their CS and they will tell you exactly where they are in the provisioning/porting process.

a

Very risky. Ooma just stopped discounting their one year premier service. Its now the same price to go monthly as annually.

Doesnt sound like a positive maneuver to me. Sounds like they lack someone with basic sales and marketing skills.

Given that they arent profitable and are still trying to pull in market share, abandoning a long term discount is a bizarre move. Something I dont think I've ever seen before from a company that was still in business a year or so later.

pacman777 said: Its taking them over a month to port my number from Vonage... I keep getting emails that it is expected to be ported over on x date, but when that date comes around the port has not been completed. I called them and they keep saying its in process. So far, ooma's off to a crappy start in my books. debating whether I should return the ooma unit to costco, and keep my Vonage (especially with that $12.50 offer floating out there).

More likely than not it's Vonage stalling the port. All the new guys do is make the request it's up to the current holder to surrender the number. They have to, but I don't know if there's any timeline for them to complete or any penalties if they don't.

I hope my happens soon.

sklar said: Very risky. Ooma just stopped discounting their one year premier service. Its now the same price to go monthly as annually.
.............. abandoning a long term discount is a bizarre move.......

This is not quite true. If you pay annually (rather than monthly) you get either your existing number ported free ($40 discount) or a free handset (worth $50) for the Tileo. You don't get that if you go month to month.

My guess is that they were getting far too few Premiere members to make their model work....so by removing key features (like Voicemail) from the free service and providing a lower cost monthly option ($10 rather than $12) they hope to greatly increase their paying base.

HOWEVER....the changes prove that their initial model of sell the hardware and give away the service was not nearing break even fast enough for them to survive. As consumer confidence in them dropped, fewer and fewer were opting for the annual fee (and this change will accelerate that).

I was all set to go annually....and will now go month to month and not port my number. So, their strategy did not work with me.

Whew - I activated mine a couple of weeks ago. (Assuming they don't call me a new customer when the 'free 60 days of Premiere' expires) I guess I got in just in time. I intend to stay a base/Core subscriber only, and no free Voicemail would have been a deal-breaker. I'd rather pay Vonage $10ish (they're discounting heavily if you call and ask for it) than Ooma.

Amazon's site lists voicemail for free aand the $99 fee for premium. i wonder if we can use this as leverage to get in on the old pricing.... threaten to return the hardware... since Amazon is technically false advertising now...

TheMouse said: Amazon's site lists voicemail for free aand the $99 fee for premium. i wonder if we can use this as leverage to get in on the old pricing.... threaten to return the hardware... since Amazon is technically false advertising now...

Ooma changed their policy this morning. Check their site. If you have already purchased an Ooma Sub/Scout you have until 12/20/09 to sign up for premiere at the old $99 for one year price. You also get Voicemail free and no FTC fee on basic (forever they imply).

I am certain that their change of heart was caused by big retailers like Costco/Amazon threatening massive returns from customers who were promised one thing and got another.

I am satisfied with the new policy. It's OK with me if I have to pay $120 for premiere a year from now...they did not promise to never raise rates...but what they did last week was wrong...and they changed it. Bravo Ooma. I hope they survive at least long enough for me to recoup my hardware expenditures.

Sorry posted in wrong board

My credit was confirmed in email, I didn't 'see' it online, but a subsequent order automatically had "$30 promo credit" deducted form the due total.

edit: credit email arrived a week ago, I ordered 2 days later.

tonsa said: I bought this ooma last month for $224.00. Its working great that I wanted to get another one. So I checked around and here it is again no tax free shipping $224.00 - $30 dollar credit from Amazon. Here is a quote from Amazon.

Get a Partial Credit Back After Purchase

Through December 31, get $30 credited back after you buy the ooma Core VoIP phone system. Simply make your purchase and the credit will be applied automatically to your Amazon.com account within 60 days for future use on the Amazon.com website. Offer valid only on products shipped and sold by Amazon.com. Does not apply to purchases made from other sellers on the Amazon.com website.

Has anyone got the $30 credit yet? i ordered over 60 days ago and nothing on Amazon yet. the offer is not on the Amazon site anymore either??

now Amazon is saying I don't qualify. It is not a promo thru dec 31. Only September?? Anyone else having this problem or a copy of the dec 31 offer? Please!

This is from Amazon:
"Your order didn't meet all of the qualifications for receiving this promotional offer. Specifically, this promotional offer was available on our website from September 2, 2009 through September 12, 2009.   Orders placed after September 12, 2009 did not qualify."

anonymouse99 said: My biggest worry is losing my longtime ported phone number if this company goes under. The free VOIP service for life is too good to last. I tend to question as to how this company can make money or even break even with such a freebee!

Yes thats a possibility. Remember what happened to SunRocket when they suddenly closes out leaving 220,000 subscribers in limbo? Not sure though how many loses their numbers.