Ooma no longer works with Alexa
My 80 year old blind mother was using the Alexa skill to make hands free outgoing phone calls for years. Now all of a sudden the skill stopped working. It says it's making the call, but the phone never rings to connect her to the contact she wants to reach. Ooma tech support said they no longer support Alexa. Yet it's advertised all over their web site and the my.ooma dashboard. I am extremely disappointed that they removed this functionality. My mother is unable to use a cell phone or dial a phone. Does anyone know of an alternative?
Re: Ooma no longer works with Alexa
Sometimes, it can take a little while for Ooma to update their web pages. Currently, the only reference to Alexa in the 'Home Phone' section is a hyperlink in a table that compares features between Premier and non-Premier plans. That link forwards to another web page in the 'Smart Security' section.
One problem with free services that depend on third party providers is that the provider can always make changes to their terms of service, or to their (proprietary) APIs, and then the service costs money to keep, or to fix. However, Ooma could do a better job of explaining any feature changes with their customers.
One possible "smart" alternative might be to use some combination of Google Nest smart speakers with Google Assistant, Google Voice, and Ooma's Google Voice extensions. Non-"smart" options might include telephones that support voice-activated dialing, talking keypad, talking Caller ID, etc.
One problem with free services that depend on third party providers is that the provider can always make changes to their terms of service, or to their (proprietary) APIs, and then the service costs money to keep, or to fix. However, Ooma could do a better job of explaining any feature changes with their customers.
One possible "smart" alternative might be to use some combination of Google Nest smart speakers with Google Assistant, Google Voice, and Ooma's Google Voice extensions. Non-"smart" options might include telephones that support voice-activated dialing, talking keypad, talking Caller ID, etc.