ooma - The Free VoIP Service
ooma has recently joined the VoIP Uprising mission to take control of the VoIP market from the larger digital phone service providers to deliver cheap, quality Internet phone service. ooma has went one step further than the rest. ooma offers free unlimited VoIP calling service to anywhere in the United States. You read that sentence correct - ooma is free. No monthly bills. No hidden costs. No contracts. ooma is offering totally free broadband phone service. There is one catch. There are no recurring monthly charges for the ooma VoIP phone service but you do need to buy the ooma Hub that currently sells for $249. The price for the ooma hub is expected to go up to $599 sometime in 2008. That is a small price to pay for free unlimited calling to anywhere in the United States especially if you do a lot of long distance calling.
ooma comes complete with all of the usual features you would expect from a digital phone service at no extra charge. They do not charge you a penny for their VoIP phone service. ooma offers an instant second line feature that provides two phone lines at the same number. Great feature if your family is on the phone too much. They have the usual Caller ID and blocking, Three-way calling and an advanced broadband answering machine. The trademarked broadband answering machine combines the handiness of a traditional answering machine with the advanced functions of voicemail. ooma's broadband answering machine allows you to check your voicemail through your Internet connection from anywhere in the world.
Other VoIP Internet phone services offer you free hardware to set up your digital phone, ooma reverses this concept, charges you for the hardware, and gives you free VoIP phone service. An interesting concept indeed. If you do a lot of long distance calling in the US , the initial fee for the ooma hub pays for itself in no time. The ooma hub is not an eyesore either. It is a sleek little box about the size of a typical answering machine. Here is a picture of the ooma hub:
ooma is an easy service to setup too. All you need is a phone - any phone will do, a broadband Internet connection and the ooma Hub.
The ooma VoIP phone service is a new concept so I suppose there is a chance that the company will not succeed. Nevertheless, for $249 for unlimited calling with no monthly bills, what do you have to lose? They offer a 30-day money back guarantee if for some reason you don't like the VoIP service. The people that you call do not need to be connected to the ooma network and there are no charges for them or you to make or receive those calls.
ooma has learned from the experience of their predecessors and peers. They have built their system from the ground up and seeded a peer-to-peer network to make sure they can keep the quality high and the costs low. People in the telecom industry have been saying for years how the Internet would set us free from monthly phone bills. ooma capitalized on this fact and got to market first. Public and media feedback has been fantastic, way above expectations. Based on the enthusiasm of the marketplace and their financial backers, you can be fairly confident that ooma is here to stay.
We think that ooma has a very interesting new concept to VoIP phone services. We are glad to have ooma on board helping with the VoIP Uprising. Support the VoIP Uprising and check out the ooma VoIP Internet phone service.
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