Ooma Forums

sardog wrote:What a BATE-and-Switch....the back of my Telo box states caller-ID is included....It does not say anywhere on the box that you have to pay $9.99 a month for premium service to get the name with your caller-ID. This is a deal breaker for me and will probably be returning my Telo.... Maybe I'll get a Hub unit from Amazon instead.

I don't think that it is a baIT and switch. You do get caller ID, you can use the number itself to link it with a name. Plus, see thread below:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8265

sardog wrote:What a BATE-and-Switch....the back of my Telo box states caller-ID is included....It does not say anywhere on the box that you have to pay $9.99 a month for premium service to get the name with your caller-ID. This is a deal breaker for me and will probably be returning my Telo.... Maybe I'll get a Hub unit from Amazon instead.

How is that a bait and switch? The box states Caller-ID is included and it is. It doesn't state Caller-ID with NAME is included and it isn't.

Thanks for the link... So thats great... I can see all the names of my friends and family that call (that are already programed in my phone).... But unfortunately It's the ones that I don't have saved that I really need to see the names of.

As for how this is a bait-and-switch.... easy.... Caller-ID (with name) has been the STANDARD in the last 10+ years of use. If anyone is going to skimp on this most BASIC of features than they need to spell it out on the box and online.

Look at the opening statement "The Ooma Telo has all the features the Ooma Hub has to offer, and then some." from the Telo page: https://www.ooma.com/products/ooma-telo/features

Call me crazy but when I look read that statement I think it's safe to assume theat the Telo will have caller-ID (with name) as a Basic feature....just like the "Ooma hub has to offer".

My brother has a Telo and he does NOT have Premier and he has caller ID with names.
The big thing that he is missing with basic is "forward on network outage". His power goes out about once a month and during that time all calls go to voice mail.
He likes the fact that he pays nothing this year and about $4 per month (taxes) his 2nd year. So he is ok with this drawback.
Edit: I talked to my brother and it is unclear if the name really does show up. He has non-ooma cordless phones. The phone with all the numbers programed into it show the name that is in his phones address book. On the phone with out the address book it just showed my first name instead of the full name.
So I would have to say that I am not sure. I would try it out and if the name does not show up then program the numbers into the phone itself. Cordless phones are cheap and this would be a cheap way to fix the problem. (I really do think the name will show up, but I am unclear)

I can corroborate what was mentioned earlier about the Ooma Core (which is an Ooma Hub+Scout package). It DOES includes caller id WITH name, and no monthly taxes/fees. I got it for $245 on Amazon.com, here is a hyperlink right to the caller id sentence on amazon's product description:

http://www.amazon.com/Ooma-Core-VoIP-Ph ... I#callerid

and in my Ooma account it shows: "Taxes and fees: No payments due at this time, subject to Terms and Conditions"

No fees and caller id with name; Reason enough for me to get the Ooma Core!

sardog wrote:Look at the opening statement "The Ooma Telo has all the features the Ooma Hub has to offer, and then some." from the Telo page: https://www.ooma.com/products/ooma-telo/features

Call me crazy but when I look read that statement I think it's safe to assume theat the Telo will have caller-ID (with name) as a Basic feature....just like the "Ooma hub has to offer".

It DOES have all of the features of the hub. When the Telo was released, the terms and conditions on the box of the Hub changed as well. MOST of the hubs have CID W/name but the newer ( made after 10/09) ones do not.
Those with Ooma Core have it (older), those with Ooma Basic do not (newer).

jakeman02 wrote:

sardog wrote:What a BATE-and-Switch....the back of my Telo box states caller-ID is included....It does not say anywhere on the box that you have to pay $9.99 a month for premium service to get the name with your caller-ID. This is a deal breaker for me and will probably be returning my Telo.... Maybe I'll get a Hub unit from Amazon instead.

How is that a bait and switch? The box states Caller-ID is included and it is. It doesn't state Caller-ID with NAME is included and it isn't.

Ooma also states unlimited calling. However, there is nothing stated about incoming calls. This could very well become a premier feature. Ooma has a problem in siphoning off features of a service, and Ooma has no problem in slicing and dicing a particular feature.

My suggestion for any new subscribers is to buy their Ooma Telo from Costco and when your fed up with all their little games, just return it for a full refund.

Morpheus wrote:Ooma also states unlimited calling. However, there is nothing stated about incoming calls. This could very well become a premier feature. Ooma has a problem in siphoning off features of a service, and Ooma has no problem in slicing and dicing a particular feature.

My suggestion for any new subscribers is to buy their Ooma Telo from Costco and when your fed up with all their little games, just return it for a full refund.

I think ooma is an upright company. Delivers what it promises; even delivers beyond what it promises most of the time. Therefore, I don't understand your statement. I suppose your discontent comes from ooma making bluetooth feature available only to Premier. Like I said more than enough times (others too), I see nothing wrong with that. As for the 5000 minutes per month limit for unlimited (residential use only), do you know of a company that doesn't have a 5000 minute or like limit for residential use?

lbmofo wrote:

Morpheus wrote:Ooma also states unlimited calling. However, there is nothing stated about incoming calls. This could very well become a premier feature. Ooma has a problem in siphoning off features of a service, and Ooma has no problem in slicing and dicing a particular feature.

My suggestion for any new subscribers is to buy their Ooma Telo from Costco and when your fed up with all their little games, just return it for a full refund.

I think ooma is an upright company. Delivers what it promises; even delivers beyond what it promises most of the time. Therefore, I don't understand your statement. I suppose your discontent comes from ooma making bluetooth feature available only to Premier. Like I said more than enough times (others too), I see nothing wrong with that. As for the 5000 minutes per month limit for unlimited (residential use only), do you know of a company that doesn't have a 5000 minute or like limit for residential use?

Ooma omitted any possibility to connect a headset to their system when using the Ooma handset. If you bought Ooma handset to support Ooma then you are SOL for adding something as a simple headset. What phone manufacture nowadays fails to include jack for a headset.

However Ooma will charge a $10 monthly fee for this option, if you are a basic subscriber. Do you really think that Ooma had no ulterior motive behind not adding a simple 3 cent jack. If you do I have beach front property to sell you in Arizona.

I still stand by my initial assertion; Basic subscribers do not need a Ooma Telo handset and will be far better off in acquiring a decent alternative handset that will at least give them a headset jack or Bluetooth capability right out of the box.