Ooma Forums

I heard Clark Howard recommend Ooma over MagicJack, except if you are travelling out town and have your laptop with you and can get hotel wifi. In that case you should use MagicJack. Just plug in the Hotel room phone into MagicJack.

Of course Magic Jack couldn't possibly be paying for plugs. Inconceivable, no?

Zindar wrote:

lbmofo wrote:If same Clark Howard, he knows.

viewtopic.php?t=10577

Oh, so he does know then. I wonder why, of the few times I hear him talk about saving on phone bills on his show, he only talks about magic jack. I see on the video linked in your thread, he gives the proviso that ooma comes with the risk that the company might go under, and then you lose your service.

Can the same be said about Magic Jack, though? What if Magic Jack goes under? He also says in his video that a disadvantage of ooma is that you must have high speed internet in your house for it to work. Does Magic Jack also require that though? I assume it does.

Magic Jack is not invulnerable however this is not encouraging:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 939454.DTL

Davesworld wrote:

Zindar wrote:

lbmofo wrote:If same Clark Howard, he knows.

viewtopic.php?t=10577

Oh, so he does know then. I wonder why, of the few times I hear him talk about saving on phone bills on his show, he only talks about magic jack. I see on the video linked in your thread, he gives the proviso that ooma comes with the risk that the company might go under, and then you lose your service.

Can the same be said about Magic Jack, though? What if Magic Jack goes under? He also says in his video that a disadvantage of ooma is that you must have high speed internet in your house for it to work. Does Magic Jack also require that though? I assume it does.

Magic Jack is not invulnerable however this is not encouraging:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 939454.DTL

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10572 But then again, it might be great news....New Ads with Heat

I listen to him all the time and it irritates me that he never mentions that with Magic Jack you have to leave your computer on all the time or it doesn't work.

Donna

Background Info Posted: 12:00 a.m. Tuesday, April 7, 2009
http://www.clarkhoward.com/news/technol ... vice/nDfm/
"Recently, Clark told you about an Internet-based phone service called Ooma.com. The Howard household has been really pleased with Ooma, which promises lifetime free home phone service for a onetime purchase fee of around $199. No monthly fees ever!

Both Clark and his wife Lane find the call quality with Ooma superior to that of their monopoly local phone company landline. In fact, they're so smitten with Ooma that Clark even bought a second unit for use in their vacation home.

Of course, the risk is that if Ooma goes broke, he's doubly burned for nearly $400!

The first step in activating a new Ooma unit is going online and entering the serial number. When the consumer champ did that for his vacation home unit, he got a message saying that his registration couldn't be processed and he had to call customer service.

It turned out he was trying to register a stolen Ooma device! Mind you, Clark bought it at a major electronics retailer and it was shrink-wrapped in a new box.

After much confusion, the retailer gave him a new unit, which he has yet to try out.

But here's the takeaway: In technology, the unit is only as good as the service you use it on. We are in an era where you have to pay for hardware that's dedicated to a specific purpose...and you'd better hope that purpose sticks around! "

It was a simple decision for me.

Magic Jack pros:

• It is cheap and it (usually) works.
  It is easy to use.

Magic Jack cons:

• Your computer must be on to use it.
  You have to load software on the computer.
  It is supported by advertising.
  You have no idea what marketing use is being made of what you type.
  You have no idea what else that software is looking at.

Ooma pros:

• It is independent of the computer.
  It can replace a copper line directly, even for a phone system (PBX).
  Installation was relatively easy and Tech Support was good when I had a problem.
  It is cost effective, once it is paid for.
  It is not supported by advertising and it does not involve a marketing company.
  It is very inexpensive, especially without the Premier service.

Ooma cons:

• The initial cost is steep ($200-250).
  Installation could confuse some people (but Tech Support is good).

The tie-in with Dan Borislow's marketing company is sufficient reason that I would never plug in a Magic Jack. The Ooma Telo cost $200 locally and it will be paid for in three months. After that I will save $63 a month.

lbmofo wrote:

Davesworld wrote:Magic Jack is not invulnerable however this is not encouraging:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 939454.DTL

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10572 But then again, it might be great news....New Ads with Heat

As far as logevity of Ooma, my post on why I am not worried: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10664#p74117

BackupBob wrote:It was a simple decision for me.

Magic Jack pros:

• It is cheap and it (usually) works.
  It is easy to use.

Magic Jack cons:

• Your computer must be on to use it.
  You have to load software on the computer.
  It is supported by advertising.
  You have no idea what marketing use is being made of what you type.
  You have no idea what else that software is looking at.

Ooma pros:

• It is independent of the computer.
  It can replace a copper line directly, even for a phone system (PBX).
  Installation was relatively easy and Tech Support was good when I had a problem.
  It is cost effective, once it is paid for.
  It is not supported by advertising and it does not involve a marketing company.
  It is very inexpensive, especially without the Premier service.

Ooma cons:

• The initial cost is steep ($200-250).
  Installation could confuse some people (but Tech Support is good).

The tie-in with Dan Borislow's marketing company is sufficient reason that I would never plug in a Magic Jack. The Ooma Telo cost $200 locally and it will be paid for in three months. After that I will save $63 a month.

The excellent voice quality of Ooma is a huge plus for me. I heard too many Max Headrooms using Magic Jack.

Clark Howard was plugging Magic Jack again on today's show saying how $40 / year is a good deal. (I pay $0 / year with Ooma.) I still have yet to personally ever heam him talk about Ooma.