To all the users on the basic plan, if you want more features (i.e. Caller Name), give some serious thought to upgrading to the Premeir plan instead of asking for it for ‘free’ (yes I know you purchased the hardware). OOMA’s Premier plan is still one of the least expensive VOIP options available (certainly if call quality is considered). Upgrading to Premier is a great way to get the features you want (and then some), and will maintain the viability of the OOMA business model. It will also promote more advanced features as the number of Premier subsribers grow and warrant the effort/money spent on new features.

Some of the issues are, for me, hard to accept. Namely, the overseas support, the new fees on what was supposed to be “free” service, and the caller ID function.

Other issues, such as the not-so-strange 5000 minute “limit”, and the free, then not free, then free again voice mail (I have a phone with voice mail, I don’t think it is that strange that this feature is not free) are not as big a deal.

One other issue that bothers me is the lack of response from the company here in the blog comments. If you are going to have a blog and allow comments, at least plan on responding to posted comments within a reasonable amount of time, such as 24 hours. Even if your response amounts to “we are looking into this” or “we are considering this option,” it is better than no response at all. People like me come here and are left to think “Hmm, they don’t seem to care too much about what people are saying.”

If you are responding to posts by sending the poster an email, that’s fine if the information is private, but at least post a message here that says something to the effect of “John Doe, I just sent you an email detailing our response to your issue” so that other people know you are responsive.

Just my 2 cents, I hope I get the good feeling back about Ooma soon, I really want to get Qwest out of my life as much as possible (a 2 year DSL contract will prevent me from fully eliminating them at this time) but I do not want to leave one bad company for another. Obviously you cannot please everyone, but there are some basics here that I think are obvious.

Maybe you should offer the “free” service but have, as optional, a la carte features, those items that people seem to be requesting most – voice mail, caller id, call waiting – for a reasonable additional cost.

Thanks,
Jason Bunting

Be careful saving money by outsourcing customer support/service. You can lose far more customers than the money you gain with the lower cost. Your image can also be forever tarnished. I, for one, also think tech support (for premiere) should be 24 hour/7 day a week service. Since when did PacBell/AT&T decided that they did not have to be open after 5 or 6pm (when people actually get home from work and can conduct personal business).

In this economy many Americans have rebelled when American companies have been found to have moved customer support/service overseas — or opened support offices overseas instead of in the US. Consumers can easily take it as a slight. Personally I think it is a stupid move to have Support/Customer Services anywhere but in the US. It is much easier to pay for a call center in, say, Alabama — if as is usually the case the labor laws or the hourly rate is too expensive where the corporate headquarters is located — than to deal with the backlash from the idea that Ooma has decided to take money we pay them and move that money overseas to employ people in other countries.

Just my $.02

If you are using cable as your Internet source, you have no need for your old telco at all. In both cases you are able to port your existing number to your ooma ($39.95 or free if you subscribe to Premier for a year) – but if you have DSL you will want the telco to “dry loop” your line before starting the port. After the “dry loop” your DSL will have its own number and you will not loose it when the port is complete. Visit the ooma forums for a lot of great information from others who have had great success with ooma.