Hello, Telo
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A few months ago we pondered the question Is the Ooma worth your moola? Our answer, in short, was:
Yes.
The Ooma Core VoIP Phone System is a product that allows users to make virtually unlimited telephone calls to, or within, the United States for free. Ooma’s call quality rivaled that of competitors Skype and Vonage, and surpassed that of MagicJack. Since the Ooma operates independently of your computer, allows for 911 emergency dialing and works with any standard telephone, the system is perfect for people seeking a cheaper alternative to a landline. You can even transfer a current landline number to the Ooma.
Not content to rest on its laurels, Ooma has announced that it will soon launch an updated version of its VoIP product: the Ooma Telo.
The Telo will do away with the Ooma’s old Hub and Scout system. Instead, the Telo will function entirely through a single console.
Among the other improvements:
- Better call quality. The Telo makes use of a new processor that holds the possibility of vaulting Ooma to a lead position in telephone call clarity.
- A new handset from which all the Ooma controls— including voicemail—will be accessible. The lightweight handset allows for customizable ringtones and will use DECT 6.0 technology (ie. an enhanced digital cordless signal that operates at a crisp 1.9 Ghz) for superior sound. As with the current Ooma, the Telo will also work with regular telephones.
- A completely redesigned Ooma website that will be more user friendly than the current, rather clunky, one.
At least, those are the theoretical improvements. Will the reality measure up? Check back here to find out.
What we can say now is that Ooma as a company appears to be thriving. In our last review we argued that purchasing an Ooma came with some risk—if the company went under the Ooma device would likely be rendered useless. After meeting with Ooma executives and talking with industry analysts we’re convinced that Ooma’s long term viability is no longer a concern; the company is financially strong and getting stronger.
The Telo is scheduled to launch in late September or early October. The price for the console is expected to be $250, the optional handset $49. Subscribe to our RSS feed to get our hands-on review of the Telo delivered to your email inbox as soon as it is published.
August 2009
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December 3rd, 2009at 12:40 am(#)
I made the plunge to ooma Telo. so far so good. I was initially looking into the ooma hub, but the telo seems so much simpler. I am still not sure what the differences are.
Currently, I am also a Vonage customer. Other than the monthly fees, Vonage worked great for me, very few issues over the past few years. My biggest biggest complaint is the fact call blocking is not available, plus the fact that the service costs around 400 buks a year. Granted, I plan on subscribing to the ooma premier service, which is 120 buks a year, but I get a lot more in return.
I was really getting disgusted with telemarketers and robocalls that something had to be done. Since I was not sure which service I will ultimately keep, I decided to get a google voice number and use that as my public number. This gives me the ability to change to any phone system and not have to contact my friends, family, doctors, etc … to give them yet a new number. The other advantage to Google voice is that you never need to worry about porting your number. You can make your virtual Google voice number point to any number.
I plan to cancel Vonage in the next week or so, unless something is terribly wrong with ooma, but I have faith.
Currently, my Google voice number points to my ooma number and my Vonage number points to my Google Voice number. All my calls go through 2 filters, first the Google voice, then the ooma blacklist. Overkill, maybe, unless you get unwanted calls early or late in the day when you are trying to relax. However if anyone gets a hold of my ooma number and calls me directly, based on ooma documentation, I should be covered and unwanted calls should be a minimum. I am doing all this because I recently changed my Vonage number and within a week I was getting robocalls on the new number, even though the number was never published, not even to my family. Vonage had no idea how that happened, so they say.
Setup was really easy, about 15 to 30 minutes including the time to register your device on line. All I did was first turn off my cable router and the Vonage voice box, disconect my Vonage Voice box and replace it with ooma. Turn everything back on, wait 15 minutes. Voila! I got phone service. As I mentioned previously, I logged into Google voice, point my Google voice to ooma. Logged into Vonage and point my Vonage number to Google voice. Done!
The voice quality is on par to Vonage, but time will tell.
I hope this is helpful to your readers.
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