Ooma Forums

It's not recommended for satellite internet systems. ie. for people that get their internet service via satellite. The path delay for those systems is too large. As long as you have cable, DSL, or FIOS internet service you are fine.
You've misunderstood the post . Rob isn't getting his internet service over satellite. He has DishTV - a satellite TV service, which periodically needs to dial home, and wants to know whether the ooma scout can be used to make those calls. As WayneDsr pointed out, the answer is yes. Works over the hub, and over the scout - make sure the telephone wiring in your house is in good shape.
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I did not misunderstand the post. He cited the paragraph in the manual that says that ooma does not work with satellite internet as if he believed that it applied to satellite TV, which it does not.

To be clear, I was referrencing page 38 where it states under "Other Devices"...

"Devices such as digital video recorders, satellite receivers, and security systems require a landline to function properly. These devices should not be connected through an ooma device."

Because my satellite receiver needs to "phone home" occasionally, I was wondering if it could work using the Ooma phone line. I did not intend to ask about using Ooma with satellite broadband service.

I hope this clears this up.

I purchased a phone extension wire, and I will test. If it does work, I will run the phone wire under the floor to the other room since some feel quality would be better than using the (so far unused) Scout. I should know something in a few days. I will post the results of my testing for others to review.

Thanks everyone for all your input on this question.

...because my satellite receiver needs to "phone home" occasionally, I was wondering if it could work using the Ooma phone line...

Any device that requires a dial tone theoretically should work wirh ooma, after all, it's main function is to give you a dial tone and what you dial out to should not matter.

Of course there may be issues with fax baud rates, dialing sequences, etc., but most folks here have found a work around. The other issue with alarm systems is internet reliability / up time using VOIP, but the basic premise of providing a dialtone should be enought for things to work

ChiefBonesAlum wrote:I'm in a boat similar to you Rob - but I'm a DirecTV customer. From what I've read, if my DirecTV box has Internet connectivity (which mine does), it should be able to "phone home" that way, and the telephone line isn't really necessary (although DirecTV tells you they require it). I haven't tested it out though. I don't know if Dish can connect in the same way, but that may be something to consider.

I signed up for Directv a couple of month ago, before I became an Ooma user. The Directv rep told me that a phone line is not needed, and that the receiver LAN connection cannotbe used for it to "Phone Home". The LAN is used for on demand only. The rep added that the phone connection is only used to verify pay-per-view content. You can easily view pay-per-view content by ordering it on their web site, or by calling them. That being said, I use the phone port on my hub to power all of my house phones, including the jack that the Directv is plugged into. It is able to dial fine with no modifications. I do like having my caller ID appear on my TV Screen (a Directv option). My understanding about Dish Network is that they charge a $5.00 monthly fee for NOT having a phone line connected.

gbickel1 wrote:I signed up for Directv a couple of month ago, before I became an Ooma user. The Directv rep told me that a phone line is not needed, and that the receiver LAN connection cannotbe used for it to "Phone Home". The LAN is used for on demand only. The rep added that the phone connection is only used to verify pay-per-view content. You can easily view pay-per-view content by ordering it on their web site, or by calling them. That being said, I use the phone port on my hub to power all of my house phones, including the jack that the Directv is plugged into. It is able to dial fine with no modifications. I do like having my caller ID appear on my TV Screen (a Directv option). My understanding about Dish Network is that they charge a $5.00 monthly fee for NOT having a phone line connected.

I had read on a couple of DBS forums that the DirecTV boxes could connect back to DirecTV via the Internet, and didn't need a phone line. Of course, the posters of that information may or may not know what they're talking about.

I'm planning to move from my DSL connection and drop my landline (Embarq won't let you have DSL without a landline in this area), and move back over to Comcast for my ISP. I thought I might be able to use the configuration you mention, but haven't tried it yet since the DSL is still in place. But since I almost never order pay-per-view (think I've ordered 2 movies in my 3+ years of being a DirecTV customer, and those were a double feature), the need for connecting my box to a phone line may almost be a moot point. The caller-ID is a nice feature to have though.

I believe you are correct about the $5.00 charge from Dish, so that would be something the OP may want to take into consideration.

I have a dish network receiver which needs to be plugged into a phone line or I get charged $5 a month. Here's what I did and it works perfectly. I have stand alone dsl no landline anymore. Phone line out of wall to surge protector (you could use the splitter here) 1 line out to ooma hub (wall port)and one line out to dsl modem. Take another phone line and plug into ooma hub (phone port) which I have connected to cordless phone. The phone line going from wall port to splitter basically energizes your other phone jacks in your house. I have a phone line from wall in livingroom to dish network receiver and have tested phone connection which tests fine. Hope this helps.

Quicksprj,
You said you have dsl and with no landline. Since I have dsl (with SBC) I have to pay for a landline (so I "have" a landline) but I do not use it. Is that what you meant?

blakelyb wrote:Quicksprj,
You said you have dsl and with no landline. Since I have dsl (with SBC) I have to pay for a landline (so I "have" a landline) but I do not use it. Is that what you meant?

Not necessarily
He probably has what's called Dry DSL Where only a DSL signal is being passed through the lines without a Telephone's Dial-tone

Be careful about changing your ISP to ComCast; it has been alleged on other forums that ComCast was impeding access to Vonage's servers, so as to cause Vonage's service to appear to be poor, so that one would end up ditching them and changing to ComCast's own 'digital phone' service.

Although I have no way to prove it, this appears to be exactly what happened to my sister in the Jacksonville, FL area. She dropped Vonage (her calls were breaking up constantly, even when nothing else was using the internet), and went to ComCast's digital phone, which she didn't like, and finally ended up going back to AT&T's basic land line, thinking VoIP was no good. I would now have a hard time convincing her to try Ooma! [BTW, I am switching to Ooma from Vonage myself; the service has been fine, but I'm tired of being 'nickel-and-dimed' with price increases and fees from them; the 500-minute plan went up $3 per month, and now they are increasing the 911 service fee, too! Add taxes to that, and you get about $23/month.]

So, if you switch to ComCast, be sure to ask them for a guarantee that they will not IN ANY WAY impede access to Ooma's service (or any other VoIP provider, such a Skype).

I am on Comcast. I had Vonage for about 4 years and am now on ooma. There was never any problem with my voip access. My only problem came from a poorly designed Scientific Atlanta cable modem that slows the download connection when laying flat on the table due to overheating. Stood on it's edge it works fine.

Another alternative for those who don't have the hub near their satellite receiver is to use Easy Jack or something similar. I have a splitter from the hub going to our phones and the Easy Jack base station. Works great for our Dish Network receiver.