New Retail Pricing

April 25th, 2008 @ 3:30 pm

We, at ooma, are dedicated to eliminating monthly phone bills for US calling. To make it even easier to switch to ooma, we’ve introduced a new package of hardware and features called ooma Core. This offer comes with the award-winning ooma Hub™ device and the ooma Scout™ device, bundled with unlimited US calling, caller-ID, call-waiting, and voicemail, all for $249 with no monthly fees.

New customers will get to try out ooma’s enhanced calling features with a free trial of ooma Premier. This bundle includes the Instant Second Line™, the Broadband Answering Machine™ with real-time message-screening, Send to Voicemail, Do Not Disturb, a second personal number with private voicemail, and more. After the trial, new customers can subscribe to ooma Premier for $12.95 per month or $99 per year.

For those of you who purchased the ooma Hub device for $399, we’ve already upgraded you to ooma Premier for Life. This gets you a lifetime subscription to ooma’s enhanced calling features with no monthly charges (this offer is good for the life of the ooma Hub device)! We’ll also throw in complimentary number porting and an extended three-year warranty (valued at $79 and $69, respectively) to show our appreciation for your ongoing support.

We hope you’ll take some time to check out our redesigned Web site, explore the new features in the ooma Lounge, and participate in our engaging customer forum. We look forward to hearing what you think.

23 Responses to “New Retail Pricing”

  1. Hiroshi Fujisawa says:

    I am a Ooma Hub user.
    Can I still buy a scout for $39 now?

  2. VBob says:

    Hi Hiroshi, the ooma Scout is only available at the new retail price of $59.95 to all customers.

  3. Chris says:

    Does the ooma Scout works when you don’t use a regular phone line? Just curious!

  4. VBob says:

    Hi Chris, the ooma Scout connects to the ooma Hub through your existing home phone wiring via a technology called HPNA. You do not need an active landline from a phone company in order for the scout to work OK. This support article below has some additional technical details about how this works:

    ooma Scout article

    -Bobby

  5. Cliff says:

    I’m curious . . .
    During the design of the ooma hub & scout why was a Caller ID Viewer Screen not included on both – or at least on the hub? Seems like a logical and practical feature that’s missing . . .

  6. VBob says:

    Hi Cliff, check out this post for more information on the caller-ID screen:
    http://forums.ooma.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=47

  7. Chris says:

    Thanks Bobby. If I have DSL with a non-breakable dial tone, it will or should also work as well, right? (Probably that’s why the scouts use HPNA I suppose!) :)

  8. VBob says:

    Hi Chris, ooma Scouts will work OK if you have a DSL line. Just be sure to disconnect any existing phone filters before connecting the ooma Scout to the wall.

  9. Randey says:

    What is this? Wasn’t the whole point of this thing to ELIMINATE MONTHLY FEES?

  10. VBob says:

    Hi Randey, thanks for your comment.

    The original intent of lowering the price of the ooma system and separating out the enhanced calling features was to make the ooma system more affordable to a broader audience. At $249, we believe ooma offers an exceptional value. This new retail bundle includes true home phone service with unlimited US calling and a familiar suite of phone service features, including caller-ID, voicemail and call-waiting, all with *no monthly fees.*

    Customers that are interested in ooma’s enhanced calling features, such as the Instant Second Line and Personal Numbers, will be able to sign up for ooma Premier as an option.

  11. Jim says:

    Vonage provides unlimited outbound service to canada. Ooma does not appear to.

    Vonage provides an inbounf toll free from Canada and USA. Ooma does not appear to.

  12. VBob says:

    Hi Jim, thanks for your comments. As of today, outbound calling to Canada is currently offered at 1.4 cents to most destinations.

    While we continue to focus on enhancing the value of unlimited US calling and the innovative services and features bundled with ooma, we’ll definitely consider different international calling bundles for the future.

    -Bobby

  13. Kevin Baird says:

    I think it’s a little bit expensive for the Premier features. People gravitate towards the Ooma concept to get away from a monthly bill. Obviously charging something is necessary for the company to continue as a going concern, but I’m looking at one or two features I may be interested in and not caring about the others, and then can’t justify the end price of $13 a month for those two features.

    For instance, I can’t use a Scout because it only works through ordinary phone jacks. There should have been an alternative Ethernet jack on the back. As where my Hub is located is no where near a phone jack. So double line, double number, extra voice mail, doesn’t matter to me.

    Getting my voicemail in email and being able to screen voicemail are both nice features, but I’m not going to pay $13 a month for them. There just aren’t enough phone calls coming in here to make that worthwhile.

    I don’t think my situation is unique, in that not everyone is going to embrace all the features available. Maybe you guys should think about doing something cheaper with only a few select features. Allowing people to build their own custom features and paying for what they actually use. That would be more revolutionary and useful and fit the Ooma model of giving people a better deal. Just a thought.

  14. VBob says:

    Hi Kevin, thanks for your feedback. At $12.95/month or $99/yr (which works out to about $8/month), we believe ooma Premier offers a great all-in-one value. That being said, we’ll continue to evaluate how we can offer the best value for our customers.

    Also regarding your ooma Hub’s location to a phone jack — some users have used home plug units (which runs your network signaling over your home power wiring) to locate the ooma Hub nearer to a phone jack so they can use the ooma Scout. This might be an acceptable workaround for your setup. Feel free to give our support team a call for more information.

    -Bobby

  15. VIC says:

    CAN I USE AND WILL THE $250 OOMA WORK WELL FOR MY FAX MACHINE? HOW MANY PHONE NUMBERS CAN I USE IN ONE OOMA UNIT?
    Would appreciate your reply please.

  16. VBob says:

    Hi Vic,

    While ooma does not guarantee 100% reliability with faxing, it frequently does work. Check out the question “Can I use a Fax machine with my ooma system?” on our learn FAQ page:

    http://www.ooma.com/learn/ooma_faq.php

    Also, with the purchase of the ooma system, you can select one phone number to use. If you choose to subscribe to our enhanced calling services with ooma Premier, you’ll get another phone number with the option to assign it to a Personal ooma Device (e.g. a private extension). Some customers have used this feature to create a dedicated fax line.

    Also as an ooma Premier user, you’ll have the option to add additional phone numbers ( up to 8 ) for $4.95/mo.

    Thanks,
    Bobby

  17. Salvatore Liggieri says:

    If I use the scout, I must subscribe to the premier service, is that right?

    I have no need for the Scout but I can’t buy the hub by itself. You should consider there are many potential users if you broaden the choices. Right now they are to restrictive. I’m not going to buy a package if I can’t use the Scout.

  18. VBob says:

    Hello Salvatore,

    You do not need ooma Premier to use the Scout. If you do not subscribe to Premier services, you can still use the Scout to extend the voicemail functions throughout your home.

    Thanks,
    Bobby

  19. chris says:

    Hi

    When will you add an audible tone to tell the analog phone that a voice mail is waiting?

    I just bought the unit from Best Buy and my wife wants me to return it unless I can address this key feature. She likes the “in-the-cloud” service concept and doesn’t want to worry about another box in the house. It complicates her life too much and she likes the analog phones I’ve hard wired to every room from my 110 punch down block.

    Hay it’s Linux Dude…just some simple code and a little QA oughta do the trick. I’ll hide the hub in my MDF and you help me make it look and feel like AT&T. Deal?

    Chris.

  20. Guy G says:

    I made the purchase on black Friday from BestBuy for $199. I thought that was a good price point for me to take the plunge. After reading thru the manuals, I’ve come to the conclusion that all I would need to use is the ooma hub since I already own a multi handset cordless phone (with an answering machine). Perhaps there are other users out there opting for the same configuration. Do you think selling the ooma hub without the scout can get ooma to a lower price point and into the hands of more customers? Just a thought.

    BTW.. after 2 days of using the service I’m very impressed with the voice quality on both ends of the call. I hope ooma succeeds and will be telling all of my techie friends about ooma.

    Guy G

  21. Dusan says:

    Free service “for the life of the device.” – what does that mean? What is the estimated “life cycle” for the ooma device?

    $250 may be OK if I can have any guarantee that the service will be in business for at least 5-6 years, otherwise it makes more sense to just stick with my Packet8 for $14/month

  22. Armando says:

    I have another voip service and I connected the ATA to a telephone outlet and all my phones connected thru out the house work. Can I connect the ooma hub the same way?

  23. Ray says:

    I want to transfer my Home ATT phone number and my ATT cell phone numbers

    I want both to be used with 1 ooma hub, is this possible via Premier?

    Thanks.

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