Ooma Forums

OK, that's pretty cool. What features do I lose (or gain) without (or with) a landline connection? It looks like with caller ID and cfb on a basic line, I'm looking at about $25/mo from my carrier. I just need to judge whether it's worth it or not.

Thanks.

- Jeff

If you have good reception on a cell phone for emergency backup and there is no financial incentive (like with Qwest I have to have phone service at a certain level or my DSL price goes through the ceiling) I would pull the plug on the landline and never look back! Put a litt of the money you are saving towards Premier. I just got Google voice and will be very happy when the promised GV extensions for Premier show up - that will be the factor that makes Premier a must have for me!

And welcome to ooma! You're going to like it here!

The only thing you gain with an integrated landline:
no need to port your number
can make calls regardless of loss of power or internet/ooma service
911 calls always goes through your landline

There's more info on page 2 of the user guide.

Also, you'll probably want caller id on your landline and call forward on busy if you want to use the instant second line.

One thing to note, if you lose your landline service for any reason, your Ooma will also go out of service.

You need to subscribe to premier for the instant second line and other features. See: https://www.ooma.com/learn/ooma_premier.php

If you subscribe for a year of premier, they include the port for free.

Also, if you do decide to drop your landline and use your cell phone for backup, e911 from VOIP is more reliable than e911 from the cell phone. Just make sure that your address information is up to date on your account.

bw1 wrote: Also, if you do decide to drop your landline and use your cell phone for backup, e911 from VOIP is more reliable than e911 from the cell phone. Just make sure that your address information is up to date on your account.

True, right now e911 from your cell phone is only required to get your position within 300 meters, but it is getting better. Here is some more info on this: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/wi ... 1srvc.html

Thanks for the link. Here is another on VOIP 911:
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/voip911.html