- Link:
- https://www.costco.ca/ooma-telo-home-ph … 38378.html
- Price:
- $100
- Retailer:
- Costco
It’s time to get rid of your $40, $50, $60 (and more) Bell, Videotron, Rogers or Telus monthly home phone bill.
Ooma is a phone service that uses VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). All you need is a broadband Internet connection that most people have already. As long as you have a good Internet connection (5 Mbps is plenty – stability is more important than speed), you can’t tell the difference between an old traditional land line and a VoIP service.
It’s easy: just plug your high-speed Internet connection and regular home phone into Ooma, and you’re ready to call anywhere in Canada for free.
The basic service is free; you just pay “the fees” $5 – $6 per month, depending on your province. This includes voicemail, 911 service, caller-ID, call-waiting, etc.
The Premiere service is an extra $10 per month for a total of $15 – $16 including “the fees”. This adds US and Mexico calling, voicemail monitoring, voicemail forwarding via e-mail audio attachments, call forwarding, 3-way conference calls, etc.
You can get a new phone number for Free or you can transfer your existing number for $40. You can transfer your number for Free if you pay 12 months of Ooma Premier service upfront ($120) plus the regular $5 – $6 monthly fees.
There are many other VoIP services available like Freephoneline.ca Fongo.com and VoIP.ms with different business models. For example, Freephoneline.ca charges an upfront $100 fee, $25 to transfer a number and offers no technical support at all. Transferring a number with VoIP.ms is Free and it offers more features (all included, even the advanced ones). Some services are cheaper upfront while others are cheaper in the long run depending on your usage and your needs like if you need customer support or not, if you want 911 service or not, etc.
Arguably, Ooma is one of the easiest to set up; it’s almost plug and play. VoIP.ms is also easy to get into (you don’t need to be a nerd) and might be cheaper if you don’t talk a lot (like less than 500 minutes per month). The cost can be a low as $0.85 per month plus $0.005/minute outgoing and $0.009/minute incoming (USD). That’s half a cent per minute for outgoing calls and almost one cent per minute for incoming calls (USD).
If you want to know more about VoIP.ms check this RFD thread .
The regular price of te Ooma is $130 and has been as low as $80 recently but that doesn’t really matter. What matters is that you make the move!
How much will you pay this year FOR NOTHING! to Bell, Videotron, Rogers or Telus etc. for your land line if you DON’T make the move?
And next year…
And the year after…
Until you die!
It will probably be the most money you ever save because of RFD!
I switched from Bell 10 years ago and never looked back!
If you have been thinking about it for a while, now is the time to make the move. I’ve been a VoIP.ms customer for the last 10 years and I couldn’t be happier.
You won’t regret it!
Also available for $100 at:
Staples.ca Amazon.ca BestBuy.ca
Here is a little thread summary from previous Ooma threads on RFD:
Why a new thread every time the Ooma goes on sale?
Because the older threads are expired and like any other deal, the price varies over time.
Who still needs a home phone?
In many places, cellular signals are weak and some don’t own cellular phones.
You don’t always have a cellular phone nearby.
It’s nice to have a phone in every room.
Regular phone sound better than cellular.
VoIP is cheaper than a cell plan for those who don’t need a cellular phone.
Some don’t want their kids to have their own cellular phone.
Calling long distance (not North America) to/from a cell is more expensive than to/from a land line for many places.
In an emergency (such as choking or a severe injury) I don’t want to have to find my cell phone to call 911 or charge it if it’s dead.
Some people want to use a physical headset when talking for hours; it’s much more comfortable.
Why no use a (insert your favourite cellular provider) Home phone device?
Because you have to be a Fido/Zoomer/Koodo/Etc. mobile customer to have a reasonable price on this otherwise, it can be as expensive as $30 per month.
= = = = =
Ooma residential does not offer SMS service but VoIP.ms does at a rate of $0.0075 per message (3/4 of a cent per message USD).
Ooma has 2 servers in North America (it’s a US company) while VoIP.ms (a Canadian company) has 23 servers in Canada, over 30 in the US and 4 abroad. The closer you are to a server, the better the quality of service.
If you want to use a regular phone with any VoIP service, you need an ATA (Analog Telephone Adapter). That’s what the Ooma “base” is, an ATA locked and pre-programed to work with Ooma. You can buy your own ATA and use it with many VoIP services like VoIP.ms. It’s not difficult to program and usually only implies typing your credentials (account number, password) and a server URL or IP address. There are many wikis available.
You can then plug a cordless telephone base (like a Panasonic ) into the ATA and have the related handsets anywhere in the house.
Or, instead of plugging a phone into your ATA, you can run a regular phone cord from your ATA to any phone jack from the house.
Then you could plug any phone to any phone jack in the house; your entire home phone wiring (network) is now “live”.
IMPORTANT: to do that you must disconnect the land line from the phone provider (like Bell) that comes in the house at the demarcation point or cut the wires.
Ooma is a phone service that uses VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). All you need is a broadband Internet connection that most people have already. As long as you have a good Internet connection (5 Mbps is plenty – stability is more important than speed), you can’t tell the difference between an old traditional land line and a VoIP service.
It’s easy: just plug your high-speed Internet connection and regular home phone into Ooma, and you’re ready to call anywhere in Canada for free.
The basic service is free; you just pay “the fees” $5 – $6 per month, depending on your province. This includes voicemail, 911 service, caller-ID, call-waiting, etc.
The Premiere service is an extra $10 per month for a total of $15 – $16 including “the fees”. This adds US and Mexico calling, voicemail monitoring, voicemail forwarding via e-mail audio attachments, call forwarding, 3-way conference calls, etc.
You can get a new phone number for Free or you can transfer your existing number for $40. You can transfer your number for Free if you pay 12 months of Ooma Premier service upfront ($120) plus the regular $5 – $6 monthly fees.
There are many other VoIP services available like Freephoneline.ca Fongo.com and VoIP.ms with different business models. For example, Freephoneline.ca charges an upfront $100 fee, $25 to transfer a number and offers no technical support at all. Transferring a number with VoIP.ms is Free and it offers more features (all included, even the advanced ones). Some services are cheaper upfront while others are cheaper in the long run depending on your usage and your needs like if you need customer support or not, if you want 911 service or not, etc.
Arguably, Ooma is one of the easiest to set up; it’s almost plug and play. VoIP.ms is also easy to get into (you don’t need to be a nerd) and might be cheaper if you don’t talk a lot (like less than 500 minutes per month). The cost can be a low as $0.85 per month plus $0.005/minute outgoing and $0.009/minute incoming (USD). That’s half a cent per minute for outgoing calls and almost one cent per minute for incoming calls (USD).
If you want to know more about VoIP.ms check this RFD thread .
The regular price of te Ooma is $130 and has been as low as $80 recently but that doesn’t really matter. What matters is that you make the move!
How much will you pay this year FOR NOTHING! to Bell, Videotron, Rogers or Telus etc. for your land line if you DON’T make the move?
And next year…
And the year after…
Until you die!
It will probably be the most money you ever save because of RFD!
I switched from Bell 10 years ago and never looked back!
If you have been thinking about it for a while, now is the time to make the move. I’ve been a VoIP.ms customer for the last 10 years and I couldn’t be happier.
You won’t regret it!
Also available for $100 at:
Staples.ca Amazon.ca BestBuy.ca
Here is a little thread summary from previous Ooma threads on RFD:
Why a new thread every time the Ooma goes on sale?
Because the older threads are expired and like any other deal, the price varies over time.
Who still needs a home phone?
In many places, cellular signals are weak and some don’t own cellular phones.
You don’t always have a cellular phone nearby.
It’s nice to have a phone in every room.
Regular phone sound better than cellular.
VoIP is cheaper than a cell plan for those who don’t need a cellular phone.
Some don’t want their kids to have their own cellular phone.
Calling long distance (not North America) to/from a cell is more expensive than to/from a land line for many places.
In an emergency (such as choking or a severe injury) I don’t want to have to find my cell phone to call 911 or charge it if it’s dead.
Some people want to use a physical headset when talking for hours; it’s much more comfortable.
Why no use a (insert your favourite cellular provider) Home phone device?
Because you have to be a Fido/Zoomer/Koodo/Etc. mobile customer to have a reasonable price on this otherwise, it can be as expensive as $30 per month.
= = = = =
Ooma residential does not offer SMS service but VoIP.ms does at a rate of $0.0075 per message (3/4 of a cent per message USD).
Ooma has 2 servers in North America (it’s a US company) while VoIP.ms (a Canadian company) has 23 servers in Canada, over 30 in the US and 4 abroad. The closer you are to a server, the better the quality of service.
If you want to use a regular phone with any VoIP service, you need an ATA (Analog Telephone Adapter). That’s what the Ooma “base” is, an ATA locked and pre-programed to work with Ooma. You can buy your own ATA and use it with many VoIP services like VoIP.ms. It’s not difficult to program and usually only implies typing your credentials (account number, password) and a server URL or IP address. There are many wikis available.
You can then plug a cordless telephone base (like a Panasonic ) into the ATA and have the related handsets anywhere in the house.
Or, instead of plugging a phone into your ATA, you can run a regular phone cord from your ATA to any phone jack from the house.
Then you could plug any phone to any phone jack in the house; your entire home phone wiring (network) is now “live”.
IMPORTANT: to do that you must disconnect the land line from the phone provider (like Bell) that comes in the house at the demarcation point or cut the wires.