Pricing for Ooma Premier

[Big Boy Laroux]

i think the biggest thing that will push away new customers is charging for phone support. That decision baffles me.

Well, so does charging for basic voicemail, but like you said, that can be justified over time. But A lot of potential casual customers won't do that calculation, i'm afraid.

[Groundhound]

i think the biggest thing that will push away new customers is charging for phone support. That decision baffles me.

I would think that most customers' need for phone support is when they are first starting out, and they will be in their Premier free trial period for that.

[Big Boy Laroux]

I'm not talking about the actual need. I had no problems with installation and hope I never have to call. But to say up front - "hey, if you want to call and actually talk to a person, it's gonna cost you." Just seems like it would push away potential customers.

[baca008]

A lot of companies are doing that now. Apple only offers 90 days of phone support after that you have to pay.

[Big Boy Laroux]

I understand that - but let's take your comparison. i don't think Apple's at ANY risk of losing potential customers by charging for support, though. Their marketing has always been extensive. They also have an ICONIC product in the iPod and now the iPhone. They have a HUGE customer base.

ooma doesn't have that.

Let me also say that none of these changes affect me. I am a current customer, i use an existing expandable handset system with answering machine (don't use voice mail), and do not plan on using premier past the free trial. But the potential for pushing away new customers is what worries me. Still a good deal, but not a GREAT deal, and that will cause problems for people trying to justify the initial $250 cost.

But if ooma can't survive on their current business model, i understand a change was necessary. I'm just a little pessimistic about the potential success of the new plan.

[southsound]

I also have a problem with the term 'current ooma core customers" because the features on printed on remaining stock of the original ooma hub/scout say "includes ... voicemail." Of course, they could always sticker over the feature list but that would look really tacky and not in the ooma style of doing things in an exceptional way.

I can see how a person could handle not having voicemail on the Telo since it is capable of passing DTMF to an answering machine for remote pickup of messages. But the hub hardware does not allow passing inbound DTMF so there is no way to use an outboard answering machine and pick up messages remotely. My hope is that ANY hub system, currently in service or sold new from an authorized dealer after this date, would include BASIC voicemail, just as it does now. The advanced features of enhanced voicemail seem to justify buying Premier for many folks.

[thively]

But the potential for pushing away new customers is what worries me. Still a good deal, but not a GREAT deal, and that will cause problems for people trying to justify the initial $250 cost.

http://www.voipo.com/ (standard SIP based VOIP provider) is now officially cheaper than Ooma with Premiere and equipment is free, and pretty much has the same feature list (with exception of future features like Google Voice.)
I'm am and have been a very happy Ooma customer and fan, but I have to consider this when recommending a low-cost VOIP phone service replacement to people. For that matter myself as well when renewing.

[hpepper]

I'm seeing a lot of negative reviews about Voipo... will continue to research...

[thively]

I'm seeing a lot of negative reviews about Voipo... will continue to research...

Good point. And at least I know that Ooma has been flawless and calls absolutely perfect quality (not counting one rare few hour outage a few months back.) If it's one thing I don't want to compromise on, is call quality.

[Gaelic1]

I will opt for the Premier, not that I need it, but because I want Ooma to survive and flourish. Just to get a free dial tone with quality, is a great bargain in itself. Free caller ID is frosting on the cake. There's no free lunch, folks, you pay for what you get. Want more - go Premier, it's still a bargain over what AT&T offers.