Save ooma Core VoIP Phone System with No Monthly Phone Service Bills

Good product and business idea, relatively easy installation, but clearly lacking in customer service department. BUT, and this is important, be aware about the Free Unlimited part of the advertisements!

Since this is a big attraction of the product, everyone needs to understand the actual limitations.

Unlimited means, well, no limits, right? Check with Webster's if you don't believe me. Duh, you think, isn't UNLIMITED what they said? Read on...

On the OOMA site in the FAQs, as well as other places, it states there is a 3000 minute monthly limit, subject to termination (or minute-by-minute fees).
So, UNLIMITED does not mean UNLIMITED. So much for Webster in this day and age.
The ad should say instead, 3000 free minutes monthly. But it doesn't. This raises questions about false advertising, and someone more litigious than I can pursue that. I'm more interested in considering the real cost-benefit trade-off.

First off, 3000 still sounds like lots of minutes, let's do the arithmetic and see. As it turns out, "Lots" is subjective to your situation.

For a 30 day month, this is an average of 100 minutes a day. Nets to 1 hour & 40 minutes talk time.

Now think about this carefully and set your expectations regarding that UNLIMITED statement. What is your household reality?

Do you have periodic teleconferences for work when you have to stay home? Or maybe you have a part-time work-from-home arrangement that still requires you to actually talk to people in your work team pretty frequently.
Two 1-hour meetings and you are over your daily allocation. Maybe low / no usage on the weekends will balance that out for you, maybe not.

Do you have teenagers and you wanted to recover from ruinous cell phone bills driven by seemingly endless social arrangements and prattle, teenaged angst conversations, or texting? Is OOMA really your answer or will you blow the minutes limit the same as your cell plan (which at least clearly tells the number of minutes you get per month, and if you have a good plan unused minutes might roll-over to the next month --- no indication of a roll-over benefit from OOMA)

Do you have a household with several people whose combined time adds up quicker than you'd think?

Are you temporarily or permanently house-bound and your frequent / lengthy conversations are a key lifeline to the outside world?

On the other hand are you an infrequent phone user, already have a broadband connection, and can't imagine your household spending an monthly average of 100 minutes a day? This could be a great deal for you!
Maybe you live single, maybe you are either out using your cell to stay in touch and make plans but still want a home line. Or maybe you stay at home and live in comparative social isolation...have no friends / family, no work meetings to attend to, no hobbies or groups you have to communicate with frequently, don't get stuck forever holding for customer support to OOMA or other companies, i.e. no life except your computer. (Do not feel alone, more and more people are living like this!)

You get the idea....this might be a great phone plan for you. Or not.
You decide how OOMA's minutes plan works with your reality, but do so with the right set of facts in your pocket. Get more detail about ooma Core VoIP Phone System with No Monthly Phone Service Bills.