Decision Between Ooma and Spectrum Voice

[Belonging to Abba]

I am trying to decide between getting Ooma or Spectrum Voice for home phone over the Internet. Has anyone used Ooma? Ooma is free except for taxes and fees so its only about $6 a month. Spectrum Voice increases its price to $23 a month after the first year of service. I am considering getting the Ooma Telo Air 2 as the Ooma device that I would use for Ooma. It uses WiFi, so it allows for me to place my connected phone anywhere in my apartment, whereas with Spectrum Voice, I have to run a telephone wire to the specific spot the Internet modem is located.

At first I was thinking of going with Ooma to save the money, and have more convenient phone placement, but there are some things I am not sure of. I have read some reviews that say that sometimes there is a 1-2 second delay during calls which results in it sounding like the person you are talking to is starting to talk on top of you. Secondly, in some reviews some people have described a really complicated setup process, taking several hours on the phone with technical support. Third, I read a review that says if you cancel the Ooma service, you may have to tell them 15 times over and over on the phone that you want to cancel to get them to cancel your service.

I am thinking it may be easier to just get Spectrum Voice bundled with my home Internet. However Ooma is encrypted whereas Spectrum voice is not encrypted. I wouldn't want to get involved in the complicated work of setting up the Ooma device, only to decide later to switch to Spectrum Voice.

The other thing people have reported is that on rare occasions, the Ooma will disconnect from the Internet even though the Internet is still connected. I have also had times when my wireless router disconnects on rare occassions. Also, when the Ooma device receives updates it may be unavailable for a short time. In one review someone said if you turn off and on the Ooma device a lot, it messes up the file system and you may have to factory reset the device to fix it, which is complicated.

 

[jas3]

I haven't used Ooma, but I've had good success with voip.ms, which is still very cheap (only a few dollars a month).

 

[Belonging to Abba]

I am wanting something reliable because I plan on turning off my cell phone to reduce screen time, and I still want a way for my mom to reach me if there is an urgent situation. Because of the reviews that say that there can be a small number of occasions where the Ooma goes out, and also there are occasions where my wireless router goes out, I think that Spectrum Voice may be more reliable because it doesn't go through the router, but comes directly from Spectrum's modem.

 

[jas3]

Because of the reviews that say that there can be a small number of occasions where the Ooma goes out, and also there are occasions where my wireless router goes out, I think that Spectrum Voice may be more reliable because it doesn't go through the router, but comes directly from Spectrum's modem.

Does the modem have a battery backup? I have AT&T and the only thing that has a battery backup is the ONT (box on the outside wall that connects to the phone line). When I had a POTS line from AT&T it plugged directly into the ONT box and could use the battery backup, but they're trying to price their customers out of having a POTS line.

My current setup is this:

Phone line -> ONT -> Modem/Router -> ATA -> Phone

The router, ATA (phone adapter), and wireless phone base are plugged into a UPS (battery backup) so I can still use the phone and internet for a few hours if the power goes out.

 

[adrianmonk]

In both cases you will be using VoIP software using the SIP stack. The Oomabox and the spectrum modem contain what is known as an ATA (Analog Telephone Adapter) and that connects to your service via SIP or H323. Like @jas3 mentioned, setting up a cheap UPS should provide connectivity if your power goes out but it is still dependent on the internet being up.

I would go with the provider that offers the best support experience.