iPhone app cost

[bryanlyle]

I didn't mind paying $9.99 for the app. I minded having to pony up $10 into my prepaid account in order to use the app. Being a premier customer should have been enough to get going.

[bw1]

I didn't mind paying $9.99 for the app. I minded having to pony up $10 into my prepaid account in order to use the app. Being a premier customer should have been enough to get going.

I thought so too. Perhaps they need to do this for billing in case you go over the 250 free minutes included with Premier and don't have a way to keep track of those 250 minutes without money in the prepaid account. Seems like they could have added that capability.

[Philmatic]

Guys? What the heck is this?

Why am I being charged $10 for an app that won't do anything useful until I pay an extra $10 to prepay my account that supposedly gives me 250 free minutes a month? Doesn't that negate the free aspect of it?

Why on EARTH am I being charged a per minute rate when my Ooma account COMES with it's own allotment of minutes? Shouldn't mobile minutes be pulled from the same bucket?

What if someone just wanted to use the app to check on their recent calls, listen to and manage voicemail, manage forwarding options or initiate regular carrier based phone calls but send the Ooma caller ID information (Like GV)? They'd have to pay $10 for the app then another $10 to prepay it with minutes they don't intend to ever use?

You guys have failed us, this is a HUGE mistake from a business perspective, and it may be enough to drive me away from Ooma. That won't affect you guys anyway since I've already PREPAID for the hardware, a years worth of premiere, a number port and a few telo's. I'm disappointed.

[DTMF]

I can understand why Ooma has to charge for the app. The coding/codecs for SIP calling in the app cost money to license from third-party developers, and may even be licensed on a per-user basis. Ooma is just passing that cost along to users.

What if someone just wanted to use the app to check on their recent calls, listen to and manage voicemail, manage forwarding options

Since I have an iPod Touch and no headset/mic, I wish there was a FREE version of this app that would let me do all of the above, without any call-making capability. This version I propose would need no SIP coding or codecs.

[bw1]

What if someone just wanted to use the app to check on their recent calls, listen to and manage voicemail, manage forwarding options or initiate regular carrier based phone calls but send the Ooma caller ID information (Like GV)? They'd have to pay $10 for the app then another $10 to prepay it with minutes they don't intend to ever use?

I can do that now using Safari on my iPod Touch and logging into my.ooma. All except for "initiate regular carrier based phone calls but send the Ooma caller ID information (Like GV)". Don't know what you mean by that.

[lbmofo]

Guys? What the heck is this?

Why am I being charged $10 for an app that won't do anything useful until I pay an extra $10 to prepay my account that supposedly gives me 250 free minutes a month? Doesn't that negate the free aspect of it?

Why on EARTH am I being charged a per minute rate when my Ooma account COMES with it's own allotment of minutes? Shouldn't mobile minutes be pulled from the same bucket?

What if someone just wanted to use the app to check on their recent calls, listen to and manage voicemail, manage forwarding options or initiate regular carrier based phone calls but send the Ooma caller ID information (Like GV)? They'd have to pay $10 for the app then another $10 to prepay it with minutes they don't intend to ever use?

You guys have failed us, this is a HUGE mistake from a business perspective, and it may be enough to drive me away from Ooma. That won't affect you guys anyway since I've already PREPAID for the hardware, a years worth of premiere, a number port and a few telo's. I'm disappointed.

The ~$10 for the app, I don't know the cost analysis behind it so can't comment on it other than it might be well worth it for some. Case in point: someone traveling internationally a lot, through wifi, call home/other ooma numbers for free, call USA for nominal cost (250 minutes free if Premier).

As for the per minute charge, it costs ooma $ to terminate calls so naturally, ooma charges $. People that use mobile VoIP do so because they want to save $ (overage minutes costs mucho bucks) especially when calling internationally. The ooma app is also convenient; works on wifi as well as the 3G network (I think the upload speed on EDGE would be too slow) so basically the app can be used anywhere there is 3G coverage.

As far as I know, there is no free mobile VoIP service when calling mobile or landline numbers.

EQO $0.023
Gizmo $0.01
Jajah $0.017
Mobiboo $0.02
Nimbuzz $0.02
Rebtel $0.015
Skype $0.024
Truphone $0.021

Someone else's thoughts (a famous person):

"Here's some more math around SIP vs the cell phone plans. Your mileage will vary but I just grabbed the latest plans from AT&T's web site. They have 3 plans:

450 minutes: $39.99
900 minutes: $59.99
Unlimited: $69.99

Difference between the 900 minute plan and the 450 minute plan is $20, or 4.4¢/minute. So if you were to downgrade from the 900 to the 450 minute plan and use the SIP application at 1.9¢/min, it is less than half the cost (450 SIP minutes would cost ~$8.50). If you have Premier and get the 250 minutes free every month, you would only need to pay for 200 SIP minutes which would be $3.80.

The difference between the Unlimited plan and the 450 minute plan is $30 which would pay for about 1500 SIP minutes."

I also heard that ooma is planning to introduce calling bundles that would make this app even more attractive economically.

[jsharp54]

I agree, I was so excited to see this app but terribly disapointed with the per minute fee's. I've promoted Ooma to friends and family and was ready to use this instead of Skype.

I've used Skype (free to download) on my Ipod Touch and it works great, plus I call 800 numbers for free. Ooma is $.002 cheaper per minute or $1.09 a month for unlimited (no option w/ Ooma)

I would be much more inclined to use this and be excited about it, if it was a one time $20 or even maybe $40 app charge which goes better with Ooma's pricing model, with unlimited usage like my home system.

For Premier customers, maybe offer up the app for free or at the very least unlimited minutes for them, 250 min free is silly.

Come on Ooma, you're better than this!

Sincerly,
John

[ooma-fan]

Guys? What the heck is this?

Why am I being charged $10 for an app that won't do anything useful until I pay an extra $10 to prepay my account that supposedly gives me 250 free minutes a month? Doesn't that negate the free aspect of it?

Why on EARTH am I being charged a per minute rate when my Ooma account COMES with it's own allotment of minutes? Shouldn't mobile minutes be pulled from the same bucket?

What if someone just wanted to use the app to check on their recent calls, listen to and manage voicemail, manage forwarding options or initiate regular carrier based phone calls but send the Ooma caller ID information (Like GV)? They'd have to pay $10 for the app then another $10 to prepay it with minutes they don't intend to ever use?

You guys have failed us, this is a HUGE mistake from a business perspective, and it may be enough to drive me away from Ooma. That won't affect you guys anyway since I've already PREPAID for the hardware, a years worth of premiere, a number port and a few telo's. I'm disappointed.

Charging on both application AND usage is a huge mistake from business perspective. it's trying to make money from existing OOMA users group, instead of attracting more users to the OOMA community.

[lbmofo]

Charging on both application AND usage is a huge mistake from business perspective. it's trying to make money from existing OOMA users group, instead of attracting more users to the OOMA community.

I believe that ooma's efforts are all about making Premier more attractive; the more people that sign up to Premier the better. Rightly so. Even without Premier, $10 for the app and then at most $0.02 for calls back to USA should be very attractive to international travelers. Different strokes for different folks.

[gcsaz]

Ii agree with everyone...big mistake to charge for minutes...and as a premier customer you get 250 minutes for free but you still have to deposit $10? Will my money sit there forever as long as I stay within my minutes?
I downloaded 'whistle' for free and it let's you make free calls to the US after listening to a 30 second ad...beats counting my minutes!
I really like ooma and have had no real issues...this is a bad business move...who is your business consultant/decision maker? I would like to offer my services instead...