Ooma Forums

Derik wrote:And no GVE for hub users. Thanks a lot guys.
In return, you won't be getting any money for premier from me.

You might be surprised that this is a USER forum, so I never got any money from you anyways. (Sorry, I just had to remind you who you were addressing - hopefully now that you know I'm not the enemy (read: ooma) you will take what I have to say with a little more credibility).

I have been using Google Voice with ooma since July of last year. I use it as a front end, allowing my cell and ooma or landline to receive calls with just a single number. When I first heard about GV and got an invite, I was convinced that sliced bread had to move over as the greatest invention ever. As a hub owner, I also thought it would be good to have on my system. Then I added a Telo to my ooma family. Like many of the other frequent posters, I was able to beta test some neat features. We got GVE about a week before the rest of the ooma customers. And I instantly had them disable some of the neat "features" that were standard - like an autoanswer feature that made it so my cell phone had to answer on the first ring or the Telo would answer instead. To me, these "features" broke what I liked about GV.

I also found little value in the ability to press the fast forward key to listen to my GV messages since my Telo is in my network closet. Pressing #483 on my Telo handset to access GV voicemail seems a little more contrived than pressing a single speed dial button on my Uniden handset. And since my Telo actually displays my name (my hub never did in over a year) I really don't want my default caller ID to be my GV number. I can select it using **2, but I can use that same speed dial key and press 2 to make calls using GV and it sends my GV number too. With GVE I need to have a GV "virtual" number - which means I need to pay for another number or use my second Premier number for GV - and that number can only be used with GVE.

Bottom line, I really don't care if I have GVE or not. For me, using GV as a front end for my ooma system is as good as it gets - and as good as it needs to be. If you can find value in the things I've turned off, them maybe you have some reason to be displeased with ooma regarding GVE being an ooma Telo Premier feature only. For me, I just like the fact that I can use GV with or without Premier on my hub (now retired) or my Telo. For me, it is like getting upset because I can only get power windows with a black button when people who have the Deluxe edition get to have power windows with a black button that has a little blue logo that lights up. All I care about is that when I press the button the windows go up and down. GV without GVE is still a wonderful addition to your ooma system.

Note to moderators - I know this may be an unpopular opinion for ooma's marketing department- but for me it is the truth and that's why I'm on this forum.

.......Bottom line, I really don't care if I have GVE or not. For me, using GV as a front end for my ooma system is as good as it gets - and as good as it needs to be. If you can find value in the things I've turned off, them maybe you have some reason to be displeased with ooma regarding GVE being an ooma Telo Premier feature only. For me, I just like the fact that I can use GV with or without Premier on my hub (now retired) or my Telo. For me, it is like getting upset because I can only get power windows with a black button when people who have the Deluxe edition get to have power windows with a black button that has a little blue logo that lights up. All I care about is that when I press the button the windows go up and down. GV without GVE is still a wonderful addition to your ooma system......

Nice post southsound - I've been using Google Voice for 3 (maybe close to 4) years now (i.e from when it was called GrandCentral before Google acquired them) and yes it front-ends my OOMA scout (business number), has front-ended my cable VOIP system and front-ended my Vonage number before that. Google Voice just plain works and works well and if they were to charge for it I would subscribe. That said, I haven't paid a whole lot of attention to all of the posts here about OOMA GVE as it has not been clear (to me) just what GVE is bringing to the OOMA table, but your post summed it up "GV without GVE is still a wonderful addition to your ooma system"

southsound wrote:Bottom line, I really don't care if I have GVE or not. For me, using GV as a front end for my ooma system is as good as it gets - and as good as it needs to be.

Exactly the same sentiments here ... using GVE made it more cumbersome to use GV. GVE are also not useful when one has more than one GV number, as many couples do.

DG

southsound wrote:

Derik wrote:And no GVE for hub users. Thanks a lot guys.
In return, you won't be getting any money for premier from me.

You might be surprised that this is a USER forum, so I never got any money from you anyways.

Considering the lack of response I've gotten through other Ooma channels (ie, the corporate blog, etc.), I felt this was just as appropriate a place as any to voice my opinion in a way that Ooma might read it. (Sorry, I just had to remind you of the reality of the situation.)

(Sorry, I just had to remind you who you were addressing - hopefully now that you know I'm not the enemy (read: ooma) you will take what I have to say with a little more credibility).

I know you're not an Ooma employee, but you are a superfan. Some might say even an apologist, but I personally wouldn't say it.

I have been using Google Voice with ooma since July of last year. *clip stuff personal to you that may or may not apply to me*
If you can find value in the things I've turned off, them maybe you have some reason to be displeased with ooma regarding GVE being an ooma Telo Premier feature only.

Specifically, I want Ooma to use my GV info for caller ID (primarily). It still doesn't list my name. I love how my parents thought Ooma was soliciting them the first time I called. I don't know if it's still a feature (can't really check options without having the Telo), but the ability to forward an Ooma number through GV would have been fantastic (because Google still won't port numbers unless your name is Michael Arrington) because I could have ported that number everyone knows from Vonage over to Ooma and gotten the benefit of both Ooma and GV in one fel swoop.

For me, I just like the fact that I can use GV with or without Premier on my hub (now retired) or my Telo. For me, it is like getting upset because I can only get power windows with a black button when people who have the Deluxe edition get to have power windows with a black button that has a little blue logo that lights up. All I care about is that when I press the button the windows go up and down. GV without GVE is still a wonderful addition to your ooma system.

GV is a good addition to ANY phone system. And it's not a cosmetic thing. This is a feature Ooma advertised as going to work with current hardware (which was the hub at the time) and renegged without so much as an apology.

I just replied to the Ooma's Blog post: "Now Available: PureVoice, Google Voice Extensions, Voicemail Transcriptions." This reply is currently awaiting moderation.

April 20, 2010 at @ 1:01 pm

I purchased a Hub and two Scouts after this announcement:

“ooma, Inc. today announced a set of ooma Premier™ Google Voice Extensions (GVE) compatible with its current and future home phone systems planned for summer release.” (Press release, March 18, 2009)

Later in the same release:
“An ooma system consists of the ooma Hub™ connected to a broadband connection and an existing home phone.”

My question: Can I use the Google Voice Extensions with my Hub and Scouts, as promised?

Reference: “ooma Adds Features to Enhance Google Voice™ Experience”, http://www.ooma.com/media/press-release ... experience, March 18, 2009.

That press release is over a year old and things change a lot in that time period as i'm sure you know.

At present only the Telo is able to use GVE. I am not sure if they will be able to get GVE to work with the Hub or not. I've heard several reasons why but not sure which if any of them to believe.

1. The Hub can't handle the changes needed to make it work with GVE because its processor isn't fast enough.

2. The Hub does not have the needed memory to take the changes needed to get GVE working.

3. The Hub's chip-set can't support the changes needed to make it work with the GVE changes in place.

Take your pick as to which one to believe. It may be any one of them or none of them.

Yes, that press release is over a year old. That's part of the point. GVE was promised to be released last year, which just adds to the frustration.

I understand delays; that's a minor issue to me. The bigger problem is a potential requirement that I buy all new equipment when the release clearly says that GVE will work with then-"current" systems (only the Hub and Scout were available at the time) as well as the "future" systems such as Telo.

As things stand now, the things the Telo does could all be handled server-side. The current GVE doesn't even have visual notification of GV messages.

But I got a reply from Ginger:

We appreciate your interests with Google voice. Unfortunately, we are currently under beta testing. Rest assured that you will be notified as soon as it gets live.

Thank you for contacting ooma Customer Support.

Ginger

We'll see how things shake out.

MWPollard wrote:
As things stand now, the things the Telo does could all be handled server-side. The current GVE doesn't even have visual notification of GV messages.

Actually that's not true you can retrieve your google voice messages by pressing the > button on the telo and that does require a change to the telo firmware as well as the listen-in and auto-answer features that are in place now.

Tiger5353 wrote:Actually that's not true you can retrieve your google voice messages by pressing the > button on the telo and that does require a change to the telo firmware as well as the listen-in and auto-answer features that are in place now.

Did you work on the project, or otherwise work for Ooma? If so, you're a knowledgeable source. But since you're listed as just a registered user with 25 posts, I have to assume you're not. Please correct me if I assumed incorrectly.

Since all features and content are probably kept on the server, it probably only requires the Ooma server provide the Google content instead of Ooma-sourced content. It's little different than changing the destination address of a hyperlink. You still click the same link, but it goes someplace different. The Hub still requests "Play messages", but the Ooma server sends Google content instead of its own. (I was going to provide a more detailed example, based on my experience as a programmer, but that would be overkill.)

MWPollard wrote:

Tiger5353 wrote:Actually that's not true you can retrieve your google voice messages by pressing the > button on the telo and that does require a change to the telo firmware as well as the listen-in and auto-answer features that are in place now.

Did you work on the project, or otherwise work for Ooma? If so, you're a knowledgeable source. But since you're listed as just a registered user with 25 posts, I have to assume you're not. Please correct me if I assumed incorrectly.

Since all features and content are probably kept on the server, it probably only requires the Ooma server provide the Google content instead of Ooma-sourced content. It's little different than changing the destination address of a hyperlink. You still click the same link, but it goes someplace different. The Hub still requests "Play messages", but the Ooma server sends Google content instead of its own. (I was going to provide a more detailed example, based on my experience as a programmer, but that would be overkill.)

Just to satisfy the ramblings of a curious fanboy apologist mind - what GVE features would you like to see? I really don't care much for the implemtation of GVE on my Telo because I don't see a value add - in fact, I would NOT purchase Premier for the GVE features. (Note that I am a Lifetime Premier customer so I DO find a lot of value in other Premier features).

What I do like:
- I can use GV as a front end to ooma and take total control of what phone rings based on my contact list and groups.
- I can have my voicemails transcribed into rather comical text and emailed to me on various devices.
- I don't have to pay extra for my GV account - free is always good.

Cons:
- I haven't found any yet.

Oh darn! These things are all free and available even without GVE.

The only missing link without GVE is the ability of your ooma to spoof your GV number. This could be easily acomplished with any ATA - hub, Telo, even a generic Cisco box. I honestly think that if ooma were to offer the ability to send your GV number as outgoing CID there would be no reason to even have GVE.