ooma Ooma Telo Air (FFP) Ooma Telo Free Home Phone Service with Wireless and Bluetooth Adapter

My general thoughts are, if you're looking for something like this that lets you have hardware phones with VOIP and very cheap service, Ooma is a winner. I'm glad I bought it and I'll recommend it to friends and family, but it's important that you understand what it is and generally how it works before you buy it.Pros:The voice quality is superb. It greatly exceeds my expectations.It's very cheap. Note: it's not totally free. If you don't subscribe to their extra services, you have to pay taxes and fees which are (for me right now) just a few dollars a month. (About the cost of two or three sodas.)It's pretty easy to use.It's pretty.You can plug in your existing landline phone hardware if you want to. I have an old-fashioned touch tone desk phone plugged into it, and take great amusement that that old klunker of a phone is now internet-connected.Note: You do have to have *some* kind of phone to use with it, either an old landline phone you can plug into the Ooma, or an Ooma handset, sold separately. This item does not contain either in the box.Cons:Setup is *slightly* complicated - in order to set up the wifi, you have to plug it into a computer using ethernet, while it is in range of your wifi. So, you'd better own a computer that has an ethernet port - you can't complete the wifi setup using, say, a tablet that has only wifi. I also found that while the setup instructions for the wifi technically worked, they omitted the very important "wait several minutes for windows to figure out what it's hooked up to" step.Ooma's web interface, while not bad, is sort of in transition at the moment, as they are switching from an older version of it to a newer version but the new version isn't complete. You consequently have to use the old version to perform some tasks, which is a bit jarring.Their integration with Google contacts is very poor. Instead of using the web interface to import contacts, I found it much easier to use the Ooma Android app and upload contacts from my smartphone. Even then, all the phone numbers show up in the dialing directory of my Ooma handset, but NOT their phone types... so I can't tell which is home, office, or cell before calling. This makes the dialing directory kinda useless for some of my contacts where it matters which I call.They don't really explain what the purpose of connecting your cell phone to your ooma with bluetooth is. Does that mean I can answer my cell calls with my ooma, or does it mean I can answer my ooma calls with my cell? I still don't know.The 911 service is apparently a little strange, and they provide several warnings about it, I don't really understand what the difference is because I've never called 911 from my Ooma. You should remember that if your internet connection or your electricity go down, so does your ooma phone, so it's not as reliable as a landline phone with copper wire. I would not recommend anyone use this as their exclusive telephone if they have any concerns about being able to reach 911, especially people with a serious medical condition who might need to call for emergency help.

I first purchased an OOMA Telo with the wireless / Bluetooth adapter and a Linx. The idea was, using their “Instant Second Line” of the Premier service, I would use the Linx for the new Brother MFC FAX on one number and the Telo for the phone on the other number. This didn't work. What I ended up doing is buying another Telo unit and dedicate it for the FAX machine. Here's why.The Telo has one port on the back for a phone or FAX. I first tried the FAX machine with the Linx. FAX machines do not work reliably with their Linx extension unit. I had constant transmission errors (tried two different Linx units- same issue). When I connected the FAX to the Telo jack It worked without error. So I used the Linx for the phone. But unfortunately, I lost the ability to have an answering machine for the main line with this setup. The FAX machine would pick up the calls or the answering function on the Telo. And there was no way to get the answering machine function to work on only one line to separate the two. So I decided to buy another Telo unit and dedicate it to the Fax. Dedicate the other Telo to the phone and answering system.What did I learn in all this? - The OOMA system mimics a landline but is not truly a landline replacement. Things that work on a landline do not work with OOMA, like my mother-in-law's pill dispenser and the alarm system (both phone line monitored). - The voice system works great, it’s easy to setup and is just as good as my more expensive online service. Their Premier option gives you a second line and great communication features at half the cost. - The FAX works well as long as it is plugged into an OOMA Telo. Even with "Instant Second Line" feature, the Telo cannot differentiate between a FAX call and a phone call. So if you connect a FAX, you cannot use the Answering machine features of the service. - It’s not a true landline replacement. Comcast and other VOIP services are compatible with alarm and other monitored systems. OOMA is not. But these other VOIP services are more expensive. You get what you pay for. - Customer support can be spotty - either great or fair. One support person cleared a lot of issues up for me, working over the phone and online on her end for over an hour. Most just created a support request and passed it to some tech department to handle. They did correct all the issues I had but it was SLOOOOOOW. I'm taking days waiting for completion.After a few months using it I can say I am happy with the system. Two Telo at $100 each made a professional system that works for my wife’s small business. I can take the service anywhere if she moves office space. She’s in the medical field and does a lot of faxing and it works for her to have a real machine. The Premiere service is less than $10 a month. I pay more than $200 a year for a competitor’s service. So I think they fill a niche market for low cost telephone services. But know what you’re getting.