Home › Business › Tech & Science
Device simplifies process of Internet phone calls
Ooma purchasers get home phones without the bills
Download this story as a podcast!
Photo courtesy of Ooma Inc. Originally sold over the Internet for $399, Ooma now retails for $250.
STORY TOOLS
More from Tech & Science
The people behind Ooma want more people to "cut the cord" of paying for a land line at home without the pain of, well, not having a land line at home.
The Palo Alto company, which started selling its devices online in September and recently expanded into 25 Best Buy locations in Southern California, offers a way to avoid a monthly phone bill but still have phone access at home.
That appeals to those who have gone "mobile only" in their lives and regret the move and those afraid to shuck their home phone, said Andrew Frame, chief executive.
Ooma takes existing technology and makes it so people can plug their regular phones into their Ooma devices and start making calls, Frame said. The company avoids mentioning the technical-sounding Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, that Ooma builds upon.
"Consumers care about what it does for them," Frame said. "In our case, it gives you free phone service."
The upfront price was originally $399. Now, the Ooma device retails for $250. There is no monthly charge for basic service. Premium service is $13 a month.
Ooma uses a home's broadband connection to make calls over the Internet. That means free calls in the U.S. and international calls at a rate that is pretty similar to Skype, a competing Internet calling technology, Frame said.
Derrick Woo started using Ooma about a year ago when the product was still being tested.
"I was sort of intrigued," the Los Angeles resident said. He knew about other VoIP phone services, but thought they were complicated to set up. Ooma was easy, he said.
Woo still has a phone line in his apartment so that visitors can buzz in. But he's gone from paying $60 a month for the phone line to getting basic phone service for $20 a month.
"It's really cool," he said. He likes being able to go online to check his voice mail messages when he's not at home.
(Requires free registration.)
Article discussions on this site are to support community debates of issues related to our stories and editorials.
Discussions should not stray from the subject of the story or editorial.
We do not allow the following:
We reserve the right to delete threads and/or ban users for these or other reasons we deem necessary.
Opinions are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.