Gadgets Blog » Woohoo for Ooma! Device Makes International Calls Clearer

Here is a review sent in from one of our readers.

In it he talks about the recent Ooma purchase that he made, which is a calling device that will allow him to have clearer international phone calls.

Thanks for contributing Harry.

Read his article below.

OK, I’ve had the strangest long distance phone experience known to man. To make a long story short, whenever I make overseas calls at home, I can’t connect 9 out of 10 times. And that one time when I do connect, the call quality is terrible. Verizon has been unable to fix the problem for months. This left me with a few options

1. Don’t make long distance calls at home (not an option)

2. Use a phone card (pain in the butt and often times poor connection as well)

3. Use Skype (have to use it by the computer or use one of those sucky Skype phones)

4. VOIP

I read about this company called Ooma on Techcrunch a few weeks ago. After reading about it for a while, I thought I’d give it a try. The device costs about $400 and I’m supposed to be able to use my existing phones with this service, which is very important for me since I use a Siemens system with 8 cordless phones.

With much anticipation, I ordered the phone last Monday and paid for 2-business day delivery, hoping to get it Wednesday. Upon purchase, you had to provide Ooma with your existing phone info (account, etc.) which I did immediately. Wednesday rolls by and still no package arrived. So I called them late Wednesday and was told that the phone would be mailed out that day. So I eagerly waited for Friday to come and when I got home, still no Ooma. I called again and was told that it was shipped that afternoon as they needed three days to have the system prepared. Uh, whatever. Anyway, I finally received the merchandise on Saturday.

*Note #1 – expect a few days of delay with your order.

My first attempt to open the box was a drag. The box’s cover is so tight that I had to recruit my feet to assist my hands (imagine feet clamping down on the bottom of the box while my hands pulled the cover off).

Aside from the delay and opening the box, I’d have to say that the Ooma device is magnificently built. The Ooma hub is as slick as advertised and setting up the system couldn’t be any easier.

The total time spent on re-routing a few cables and plugging in the phone lines was probably less than 120 seconds. Within a minute of turning on the system, the acrylic tab turned from red to blue. And when I picked up the phone, voila! Ooooooomaaaaaaa!

So far, my international calls have been awesome. I was a bit skeptical with the call quality prior to getting the unit because I’ve used Skype (PC to PC) and Skype Out (PC to Phone) for years and the quality has always been unstable. But calls through Ooma has been crystal clear.

Bye bye Verizon and hello Oomaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

To read more about Ooma, check out their website here.