Goodbye, Phone Bill!

If you’re considering looking into Vonage or some other VoIP service, pause and take a look at ooma. The concept is almost exactly the same, minus the monthly bill.

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is pretty well-known by this point–you basically make calls via your Internet connection rather than a landline phone. The big difference between ooma and providers such as Vonage is that once you buy your hardware, the company will not charge you for the service. To use ooma, you just connect your phone and Internet connection to an ooma Hub device and you’re ready to go. Of course, you don’t need to keep your computer on, and you can even keep your old phone number(s). Buying an ooma Scout device will add an additional line without adding a new phone number. And while the list of extra features is not overwhelming, they include the typical features such as call-waiting and caller ID, as well as unlimited calls in the US, call-blocking, and a do not disturb feature.

What are the major drawbacks to this service? Well, obviously, you might want to keep basic landline phone service if you want to be able to make calls during power and Internet outages. And investing in the ooma Hub device is not cheap–it costs $500, with its introductory rate being $400. But it will most likely pay for itself after a while and should save you a few thousand dollars after a few years.

I don’t expect to see too many people switching over ooma quite yet, but I have no doubt that it and similar services will become the norm within time. Learn more at www.ooma.com.