If there's any doubt about how I feel about Ooma, let me stay it again: it's a stupid idea. Feel free to try and change as my mind as I felt the same way about GrandCentral initially, but now I love it. However, GrandCentral is free. This is not.
GigaOm gives us the scoop on the latest old idea to resurface as a "new" consumer product: Ooma. The basic idea is you plug this rather expensive box into your broadband connection and your phone lines. This expensive little box ($399, reportedly) enables a metric ton of functionality, including the ability to make free (US domestic) long distance calls. Calls are routed to other Ooma customers through their local phone lines.
Personally, if you're looking to VoIP-enable your phone lines, I think PhoneGnome is a better deal. Their box is only $60 and doesn't attempt to replace anything you already have. It just IP-enables your existing, stable phone service. If you want cheap long distance, you got that too.
Now supposedly, this company's got $27 million in funding and a bunch of supposedly impressive executives to help foist this snakeoil on an unsuspecting public. But let's face it: well-funded stupid ideas are still stupid. And, as I explain on phoneboy.com, I believe Ooma is even dangerous.
Some other coverage on this:
- Ooma? Oh my… from Alec Saunders
- The Dawn Of The Free Local Call from Mark Evans
- Ooma? No Ma from Aswath Rao
- Oh Boy, Just What We Need. Another VoIP Provider. from IP Democracy
- Ooma Hysteria from Rich Tehrani
- Oompa Loompa Oompa from Ken Camp @ Realtime Unified Communications
- Ooma Free Phone Calls and Ooma Goes Booma from Tom Keating @ TMCNet
- Ooma, another resi voip service with a twist from Erik Lagerway
- New ooma service works with standard home phones from Russell Shaw
- Ooma Has Ring of PhoneGnome To Me from Andy Abramson
- Ooma PhoneGnome and David Beckemeyer on Ooma by Gary Kim
- Ooma from Pat Phelan
{ 3 } Comments
Oomla seems to be an innovative idea at least.
As Guy Kawasaki says there are many stupid ideas but one may turn out to be the next youtube (stolen videos offered for free with no plans of a real revenues model)…. so let’s give it a chance.
I’m willing to give it a chance, although I have a fundamental issue with how they are routing calls–over other people’s phone lines. There’s several blog posts worth of material in that alone. If they drop the PSTN line requirement, and lower the price substantially, it might be a great device.
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