About a month ago, I had a phone conversation with David Beckemeyer regarding Ooma and how they co-opt your local phone service. The way Ooma operates could be construed as Toll Fraud, or at the very least, against the terms of service of your telephone service.
I have yet to get a paper bill from centurytel, so I can't confirm whether or not Ooma would be considered against the terms of service in my case. However, it's not something I'm willing to risk for a variety of reasons.
The only way I would consider trying Ooma out-and why I was talking to David-was if I had PhoneGnome supply the PSTN line. One has to wonder if that trick would work. One would also have to wonder how Ooma would feel about having a PhoneGnome hooked up to one of the Ooma scouts for the purposes of sharing their Ooma service with the world.
It's exactly what Ooma is doing to your local phone company. I have to wonder how they will feel with the shoe on the other foot. Tell me what you think in the comments.
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Beware what you say about Ooma!
I have been contacted by a follower of Mike Pierce whose website ooma-revealed.info has apparently been closed by Ooma’s lawyers. Read it in my blog!
Markus Göbel’s Tech News Comments:
Ooma closing critical website?
http://www.goebel.net/technews/2007/09/ooma-closing-critical-website.html
Ooma doesn’t have a leg to stand on. They’re also in between a rock and a hard place. The only absolute defense to these “libelous” claims is the truth, which means if someone wants to pursue it, they’d have to go ON RECORD with how they do what they do.
I believe you are correct about “toll fraud”. I detailed a lot of things wrong with ooma on a web site, but I took it down since I don’t have the time to fight with ooma after they threatened legal action for the “slanderous” things I was saying about them. That was after I was told their technical people would look at it and tell me what was technically wrong with what I wrote. They never did, so I can only suspect that the technical people couldn’t find anything wrong with it.
They offered me a “White Rabbit” but I refused, for the very reasons I wrote about (security, violating service agreement, etc).
Yes, one could stack PhoneGnome on ooma and maybe the other way around. Sort of shows the absurdity of the whole thing.
I read through some of the website. A ZIP of it is floating around somewhere.
The only absolute defense against libel (written slander) is the truth. Obviously, they don’t want the truth getting out there. I suspect that will be their undoing.
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I put the web site ooma-revealed.info back on the air.
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