As I just mentioned in the post below, I bought an Ooma Hub/Scout system which advertises Unlimited Home VoIP Phone Service with no future monthly fees. Features included free domestic long distance, 911 service, caller ID, voicemail, and call waiting. It was a bit of an impulse purchase, as I can still return it later but who knows how long the 20% cashback will last.

One major concern of Ooma is that it seems like just a matter of time before the FCC shuts it down. I have done some reading on the technical background of Ooma, but not enough to really write intelligently about how their business model can last long-term. I’m basically betting it’ll be around long enough so that I’ll at least break even. (Upfront cost/monthly savings = # of months to break even, often less than 10 months for those with landlines or Vonage.)

After reading a few reviews, there seems to be no real voice-quality difference between Ooma “Classic” and Ooma Telo, the primary difference being a sleeker design and some added multi-handset functionality. However, the new Ooma Telo is subject to a “regulatory recovery fee” of $12 per year after the first year. Not huge, but still not “100% free”. Ooma “Classics” are exempt from this fee per the Ooma Blog:

New or Unactivated Ooma Hub/Scout Combinations
a. No changes to your promised feature set, includes voicemail and a 60 day Premier Trial.
b. If you want to purchase an annual Ooma Premier subscription, you can do so until 12/31/09 at $99.99, after that the price will go up by $20 to $119.99
c. No regulatory recovery fee will be charged

I really like the idea of not having any recurring phone bills, and I might even get fax to work on it. I hope to get it soon and provide a more detailed review.

What are your thoughts? What’s keeping you from buying this?

If you have an Ooma already, what do you think of it?

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