There is certainly some fine print to using this service……….the changes they make can be charged for by your local phone company. that much is a given. In my case, I was charged $10.80 to add CF-B to my line, which is an additional $1.75 a month. Then, when my Ooma box broke, I didn’t have VM for 2 weeks. So, after no signs of getting a new box in the mail, I pleaded w/ Ooma to add my VM back until I get a new box. So, they do, which adds an additional $10.80 charge to my phone bill. To add insult to injury, the customer care reps w/ Ooma had the audacity to tell me that they never removed my VM to begin with, and moreover, that my phone company stated that I never had VM w/ my service. Someone must have been giving it to me for free for the last 2 years then………please!

So far Ooma has cost me $23.35 and w/ Unlimited LD only costing $5 more a month, I could have gotten more usage out of my money by upgrading my account w/ my local carrier; 4 monhts of US domestic calling versus 2 days.

I also had a con-call with ooma and Qwest to add CFB based on ooma email to me. We got this done and then I received a letter from Qwest thanking me for adding the service. I am still trying to figure out the cost and who pays it. I am sure it is me, that would of been nice to know before hand.

I also had a con-call with ooma and Qwest to add CFB based on ooma email to me. We got this done and then I received a letter from Qwest thanking me for adding the serice. I am still trying to figure out the cost and who pays it. I am sure it is me, that would of been nice to know before hand.

If someone is kind enough to be able to offer me one, it would be GREATLY, GREATLY appreciated!!

Thank you!! =)

RobbW (giantrobot at socal dot rr dot com)

But you never go into details. You honestly don’t expect customer just to take your word for it?

You should clarify do you mean it is impossible for someone to listen or just hard and under most cases detectable?

If you do somehow detect it while in the middle of a call what happens? Does the call get dropped?

Also how do you detect an induction phone tap? I find it very unlikely you have the capability to detect an induction phone tap in a $400 device.

Please explain. Without answers, how do you expect the potential customers to feel secure about their calls. Also I will assume that without answesr, you CANNOT detect or prevent induction phone taps, and therefore our calls are not safe.

Make your own induction phone tap http://www.unterzuber.com/tap.html

But read the statement on OOMA’s web site that says “This announcement contains forward-looking statements … Actual results may differ significantly from management’s expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, …”

I read that to say that they don’t have to provide anything they promised, including quality.

Where did you see the promise of five nine’s? What did it mean? I’ve never seen the term “five nine’s” applied to sound quality, only to things like “up time” and probability of call completion.

August 9, OOMA announces Pre-sales. The announcement includes the following two statements:

1. “This announcement contains forward-looking statements … Actual results may differ significantly from management’s expectations.”

2. “Purchasers during the promotional period will have this no monthly charge service for at least three years.”

3. “ooma reserves the right to change or modify its offering including limiting the unlimited U.S. domestic calling to an initial set of customers.”

You can interpret these anyway you want, but to me they mean:

1. OOMA is making wild claims and, if they don’t work, don’t blame us.
2. “Free service for life” is only guaranteed to be 3 years.
3. Later subscribers won’t get free service.

Anybody willing to bet $400 on those terms?

Regarding the question by Michaelsoft and others about how you receive a call when your line is busy with an OOMA call. I realized right away that CFB could be used, but someone has to pay for that. Who pays? If I have to pay it, that needs to be added to my expense for this “free for life” service. If OOMA pays, that adds to their expenses, and prevents offering a “free for life” service.

Now related questions: Where does the second number come from to CFB to? Is it a unique number only for me? Does it go to some OOMA server somewhere else? If it is a common number for many subscribers, how does OOMA know where to route the call?

Jeff, thank you very much for your answer. I suspected it was something like that.

The only remaining question is how much it is costing ooma per user for the “Call Forward Busy” (CFB) service.

Maybe it’s free. :)

That would be great.

If it isn’t free to ooma, maybe it’s an inconsequential amount. Almost as good.

Inquiring, materialist cynical minds want to know.

Of course, if this isn’t the case….that would be real bad. But maybe it’s OK.

BTW, I do have a sense of awe and wonder. I wonder how this CFB necessity was missed/evaded by everyone. I’m in awe of the sneakiness of it all.

But at least you’ve cleared up the mystery. :)

Regards,

michaelsoft

Not enough that I say it works, not even if Om Malik, Michael Arrington, Walt Mossberg, David Pogue say it works; the true materialist cynic cannot be satisfied until they see it with their own eyes, and undertstand how it works.

But then, where is the aura of mystery? the sense of awe and wonder? the hint of corporate trade secrets? “There are more things … than are dreamt of in your philosophy”

But here’s a hint, three letters: C-F-B

Suffice to say that ooma works with the Local Exchange Carrier to arrange that thet calls that would otherwise be signaled as “busy” are instead deliverd to ooma, where we can send them to your Hub (or voicemail, if the Hub or your phones are not available to take the call).

Jeff Peck ooma, Inc.