The spot was created by the ad agency Heat. Filmed in a documentary style and peppered with tongue-in-cheek humor, our goal is to be funny and memorable while raising awareness of Ooma’s high quality free home phone service.

The commercial was directed by Bob Odenkirk, a well-known writer, actor, and director, who has written for the likes of “Saturday Night Live” and appeared in shows such as “Breaking Bad,” “Entourage,” and “How I Met Your Mother.” I was excited that Bob was able to take on this project and lend his considerable style and expertise to our spot. Bob also offered his skill at creating Ooma’s “mnemonic” – which is essentially a memorable association to our brand. You’ll hear and see this at the end of our ads.

So, without further ado, I give you: “How To Eliminate Your Phone Company!”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Do you remember which method you used when you eliminated your phone company? Let us know in the comments!

UPDATE: Terms and conditions of these contests are included below for participants review.

Twitter Giveaway Terms and Conditions:

• US residents only.
• Must be following http://twitter.com/ooma
• One winner per question.
• Entrants cannot win twice.
• Stock photos of the Ooma product will not be accepted

Facebook Giveaway Terms and Conditions:

• US residents only.
• Must be an Ooma fan on Facebook
• One winner per question.
• Entrants cannot win twice, per weekly posting
• Stock photos of the Ooma product will not be accepted

Program Overview/Terms & Conditions:

Switch from magicJack to Ooma Telo and get a $40 Amazon.com Gift Card. Competitive rebate program is valid for Ooma Telo sold and shipped from Amazon.com between February 14, 2010 and February 27, 2010. Rebate is fulfilled through a $40 Amazon.com gift card only. Please read Terms and Conditions below for complete information. If you have any further questions about the rebate program, please contact Ooma Customer Service at: Email: CompetitiveRebate@ooma.com. Toll Free: 1-866-522-6662 (8:00 AM to 5:00 PM PST M-F)

What documentation do I need to get a rebate?

Documents Required

– Copy of coupon properly filled out

– Copy of Ooma Telo Proof of Purchase from Amazon.com

– Email/Web Order Confirmation

– Original UPC Barcode from Ooma Telo Retail Box

– Proof of Ownership of Qualifying Competitive Product†

a) magicJack™ hardware.

b) or proof of purchase (receipt, email confirmation, web confirmation of order).

TERMS & CONDITIONS: 1. Rebate forms with PO boxes do not qualify. 2. Ooma is not responsible for lost, late, damaged, misdirected or postage-due mail or illegible submissions. 3. All information on the rebate form must be filled out completely. Incomplete rebate forms do not qualify. 4. Limited-time offer – Rebate forms must be received by March 31, 2010. Valid for purchases between February 14, 2010 through February 27, 2010 at Amazon.com; Marketplace orders are not eligible. 5. This rebate is not valid with any other Ooma sponsored offers. Limit one (1) rebate per address as determined by Ooma in its sole discretion. 6. Rebate valid to consumers in the United States only. Offer void where prohibited by law. Rebate is made by Amazon.com Gift Card only. No cash value. 7. Please allow 10-12 weeks to receive your Amazon.com gift card. 8. No re submission allowed. 9. Your rebate rights cannot be transferred. 10. Rebates not available to distributors, dealers and resellers. 11. Rebate value will not exceed purchase price. 12. Use of fictitious names or multiple addresses to obtain additional rebates is considered fraud, will be deemed void and invalidate all submissions, and may result in prosecution under U.S. Mail Fraud Statute (18 USC Sections 1341-1342). 13. This offer may not be published in any publication without written permission of Ooma. 14. Do not send rebate via registered mail requiring signature. Alternatively, send using a method with no signature required.

Ooma made exciting progress during 2009 and enters 2010 with strong momentum.  I’m pleased to report that during 2009 Ooma achieved record adoption rates and is now approaching 100,000 subscribers.  We ended 2009 with thousands of retail locations and launched the new Ooma Telo and Ooma Telo handset nation-wide.  We also proudly announced several new features slated for introduction in the first quarter of 2010, which helps to strongly position Ooma as “the smartphone for your home.”  2009 was indeed an exciting year for Ooma.

I want to give special mention to our newly announced Ooma PureVoice™  technology.  In the business world, Internet telephony is widely deployed and works quite well, but in the home it has traditionally suffered from poor or variable voice quality.  Ooma PureVoice is a breakthrough solution combining multiple advanced technologies so that even under suboptimal Internet conditions (for example when congestion occurs) you will continue to receive clear, high quality voice.  On top of this, when calling Ooma to Ooma with Ooma HD Voice, the voice quality is truly remarkable.  Please look for a demo of our superior voice quality which will be coming soon to our website.

While I am thrilled with the accomplishments and momentum during 2009, I also recognize the areas where we need to improve.  Number one on our list is still our customer support activity.  During 2009 we made several fundamental changes to our customer support activity and while we saw improvement, I am sorry to say we are not yet where we want to be.  I would like to express again that we truly care about making our customer support experience consistently strong and we will not stop taking actions and making improvements until we do so.

Here at Ooma our vision is to change the game in telephony by providing you with a new and completely different kind of product – a product that saves you money, provides you with a better voice quality experience and adds features that truly add convenience and productivity to your life. During 2009, the number one reason people told us they purchased an Ooma was due to a positive recommendation from friends or family. We thank all of you for your support and your constructive input which helps us to grow and serve you better. We intend to make 2010 another incredible year of growth and accomplishment.

Sincerely,

Eric Stang, CEO

New additions to the product and services lineup include Ooma Pure Voice™, High Definition Voice, mobile phone calling with the iPhone or iPod touch, Bluetooth support, Google Voice Extensions and voicemail transcription. These new features offer the most complete home phone solution that extends Ooma’s crystal clear call quality, significant cost savings and ease of use beyond the home and into your mobile and business calling landscape.

All new features will be available in the first half of 2010, and will be on demonstration today through January 10th at Ooma’s booth at CES, Grand Lobby GL-7.

Specific details for each new feature and service are available in the press release.

For now, what we can tell you are some of the Ooma activities at CES. Inside the enormous Las Vegas Convention Center, Ooma will be located at booth GL-7, in the Grand Lobby outside Central Hall. We will have demos throughout the day presenting the new and existing features of the Ooma Telo and Ooma Telo Handset. Stop by and experience first-hand the exceptional voice quality and reliability of Ooma Telo, while checking out the latest introductions to the Ooma family.

Also at CES, Rich Buchanan, CMO of Ooma, will be participating in Jeff Pulver’s HD Voice Summit, discussing the latest innovations and future of HD voice communications. Rich will be a panelist in the “HD Voice-Deployments Around the World” session alongside other VoIP leaders from Orange/France Telecom and AudioCodes to discuss how North American Internet providers are starting to deploy HD on broadband. The session begins at 1:30 pm on Wednesday, January 6^th inside the LVCC North Hall, room N256.

Again, more to come, so check back here for more CES related news. For real-time updates on Ooma’s activities at CES, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or Ooma.com.

We created a short and very funny video that explains why CES attendees should visit our booth.  Out of all the videos entered, five winners will be selected through voting by the general public – you!  Winners receive a month’s worth of free exposure on CESweb.org.  

Here is where you come in: we are asking you to vote for our video! Voting period starts today and goes through Friday, December 4^th. You can quickly register online and cast up to one vote per entry per day.

To vote, click on this link, and then:

1. Look for the “phone talk show host” thumbnail on the right side.
2. Click on the “LOVE IT” link to vote for the video.

Once you vote, you can hit the “Share” tab and select sharing your vote on Twitter or Facebook. Be sure to include “I voted for Ooma for the Visit me at CES video contest!” to let others know that you’ve voted for Ooma.

 We appreciate the enthusiasm and support from our customers, and we hope that you feel the same way about Ooma. Get out there and vote! Thank you!

Rich Buchanan
CMO
Ooma, Inc.

Here at Ooma, we care deeply that each of you has a great experience owning and using Ooma products. As part of this, we recognize that access to timely and helpful customer support is critical to creating a delightful Ooma experience. Unfortunately, we have not always lived up to our standards for timely and helpful customer support, particularly of late, and so I want both to apologize to those of you who have had a frustrating customer support experience and to emphasize that this is a matter we take seriously and are very actively addressing.

As a small, fast growing company, we are always looking ahead and try to plan appropriately to support our growth. We did not do this well enough to handle the volume we’ve experienced since the launch of the new Ooma Telo on Oct 1. I want to assure you that we are taking the steps you would expect, including adding agents, increasing training on the new Ooma Telo, revising policies to solve or escalate problems faster, and better utilizing automation. We intensively measure our customer support against high standards that we have set, and will not rest until we consistently provide timely and helpful support.

Personally, I am excited about Ooma in so many ways. We believe Ooma brings features not seen before in residential telephony, and at a price and value that is unbeatable. I greatly appreciate your being an Ooma customer, I thank you for your patience if you have had a frustrating experience with our customer support, and most of all I want you to know the whole Ooma team is committed to making your complete Ooma experience a terrific one.

Sincerely,

Eric Stang
CEO

We’ve received a lot of terrific input from you over the last several weeks.  Some good. Some, well, let’s say “not so good”.  In this post I want to address the hot topic of voice mail.  When laying out features that non-Premier customers would receive, we examined whether or not to include voicemail.  The vast majority of phone systems sold over the last 3 years included an answering machine built into the base station.  It seemed logical that we could remove the online voice mail option since most phone systems used in homes today included an answering machine.

Wrong.  

An overwhelming percentage of the feedback was negative about removing voice mail. We do listen to our customers, so Ooma voicemail is going back into the product effective immediately (applies to all purchases made since the feature set changed 10/1/09 too).  Ooma Hub, Ooma Hub/Scout, and Ooma Telo customers will have the built in web based voice mail with local, remote, or web based access just like before.  For details on the complete feature set of the Ooma Hub and Ooma Telo please visit these links.

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with us; the good, the bad, and the ugly.  This is how we make our service better, by maintaining an open dialog, and responding to as many of you as we possibly can.  It’s with your help that we’ll continue to improve Ooma and change the face of telecommunications across the U.S.

Best regards,

Rich Buchanan
CMO
Ooma

It seems that we’re still confusing people.  Couple that with the Internet practice of  “Ready. Fire.  Aim.” and we’ve created a perfect storm.  There have been a lot of posts here that have been just factually incorrect, and it has created additional confusion that I hope this post helps to clear up.

I’m going to try to lay out for everyone what “Unlimited” service means and why minutes per month are discussed as part of an unlimited service – either the 3,000 minutes per month since September of 2007 or the new 5,000 minutes per month in the recently revised terms & conditions.  I’m going to try this without the legal jargon and definitions that permeate typical terms and conditions documents.  So I’ll ask you to not try to read between the lines or try to be the next Perry Mason, but simply engage in a dialog about the rationale behind our policies.

First, and most importantly, our product offers unlimited residential phone service.  Period.  No limit on minutes, no hidden fees, no “bait and switch”.  Here’s the big “but” in the definition of unlimited.  We designed this service as a home phone or residential system and have consistently promoted it this way.  We do not want, and cannot afford, to have businesses begin to utilize the service consuming a huge volume of call traffic and driving our monthly call termination charges through the roof.

We humans, being what we are, will constantly “work the system” to save money.  But if we don’t at least police our system to prevent abuse – use of our service in obviously non-residential ways – then the ultimate impact is born by you the respectful Ooma user.  Abuse of the service by non-residential users drives up costs, decreases reliability, stretches our systems beyond their intended application, and puts at risk your reliance on the vital communications service we extend to you.

So how do we police the system to ensure compliance?  One of the tools we use is to look at the nominal amount of minutes per month your account consumes.  Can a residential user go over this?  Yes. And they frequently do during times of family emergency, weddings, etc.  That’s perfectly fine with us.  But when we see month after month use of more than 5,000 minutes it sets off a red flag that the calling patterns of that number should be more closely evaluated.

Once again, residential use is not a problem, non-residential or business use is not desired, hence the $39.99/mo fee for non-residential use in our terms and conditions.  We’re really trying to tell you we don’t want you to use Ooma as a commercial business phone service replacement.  So what does this mean if you have a home office?  Most likely nothing.  We know that a lot of our current users use their Ooma system with a home office, and our Premier package includes a number of supporting features. We will introduce a business version of our service next year, but it will not be the same business model as the Ooma Telo or the Ooma Hub.

How did we decide what number of minutes constitutes residential service?  A little bit of guessing and a whole lot of experience over the last 2 years.  The average number of minutes consumed by Ooma subscribers is just 400+ minutes per month.  The number of Ooma accounts that fall into the 5,000+ minute per month category is less than 0.1%, but they consume a huge percentage of the total monthly phone call connection fees we have to pay.  Call volume in some of these cases exceeds 10,000 minutes per month – almost 6 hours a day, 7 days a week, on the phone.

I hope this helps you understand how and why we’ve come to the decisions we have made regarding the use of Ooma as a residential phone service and why we have to be diligent about protecting the integrity of Ooma’s residential phone service. I love the fact that a lot of you have written to me privately as well as multiple blog posts sharing your opinions with me, both positive and negative.  I read all these emails and posts and try to respond to as many as possible.

Thank you for being an Ooma customer.

Best regards,

Rich Buchanan
Chief Marketing Officer
Ooma, Inc.