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Re: RIP Ooma ?

Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 2:42 pm
by debonas
No doubt, ooma is the best home phone service out there.

I was comparing the international rates. Earlier back in 2009, Rich Buchanan
announced they are going to add a 9.99 pm international plan and iphone app
in 2010. So I was waiting for that. Now my international calling using popular
calling cards averaged about 50 USD per month.

Now, if I go the ooma + premier + pay for extra intl minutes
or go for vonage world plan which is 14.99 for 6 mnths + 24.99 for rest 6 months

I found vonage cheaper. I appreciate those who actually factored the 2 years ooma vs vonage cost, but
My contact with vonage ends in 1 year and I will find out a cheaper deal (possibly ooma) then.

But for now those who need a intl line, vonage is the best out there. Now lets not jump into the voice quality etc in there.

Another important aspect we forget is, we always dont call the same number so that we can buy another ooma and
send it overseas. We call a tons of numbers in UK, Australia, Newzealand, India, Singapore. So I cant send each one of them a ooma. :)

So overall, vonage works out cheap for me. See, why did vonage came up with world plan ?
Because they started loosing customers etc etc. Ooma was a competition to them too.

So I am sure, in the VOIP market competetion brings good products to customers.
I dont mind using Ooma if Ooma gives me good service cheaper than Vonage.

So according to my math, vonage is way cheaper than Ooma + Premier + 12 usd regulartory cost + 12 * 4.99 + tax + Pay for extra intl mins ...

Re: RIP Ooma ?

Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 3:05 pm
by Groundhound
debonas wrote:Now, if I go the ooma + premier + pay for extra intl minutes
or go for vonage world plan which is 14.99 for 6 mnths + 24.99 for rest 6 months
Interesting that you repeat the erroneous cost ($24.99 should be $25.99) for this, and leave out the considerable extra costs for fees and taxes...
debonas wrote:So according to my math, vonage is way cheaper than Ooma + Premier + 12 usd regulartory cost + 12 * 4.99 + tax + Pay for extra intl mins ...
Here you have correctly included the annual regulatory fee - good.

If you're spending $50 per month, every month, on International calls, then Vonage may be right for you. Distortion of the costs is not necessary and weakens your argument.

Re: RIP Ooma ?

Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 3:37 pm
by mthomtech
If you've worked out the math, and Vonage is cheaper, then that's great. I was thinking you must be calling some of the more expensive international locations, but the ones you listed are among the cheaper places, with India being the most expensive at 8.5 cents/min. Australia, New Zealand, UK and Singapore are between 1.8 and 3.9 cents/min.

Considering you already had Ooma equipment, and Premier would already give you the second line, you'd probably have to call about 750+ international minutes per month by my estimation for Ooma to cost as much as Vonage World. If you were spending $50 per month on calling card international calls, you're probably right up there with those minutes.

So, Vonage World may be cheaper for you ... but I don't think the vast majority of customers are 750+ minutes per month in international calls.

Of course, the biggest issue with international calls are how much more expensive it is to call mobile numbers in other countries. I'm guessing that's because those countries typically only charge the sender of calls, so they have to make up the network usage costs somehow. Still way too expensive though.

Re: RIP Ooma ?

Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 5:19 pm
by sfhub
debonas wrote:Now my international calling using popular
calling cards averaged about 50 USD per month.
...
We call a tons of numbers in UK, Australia, Newzealand, India, Singapore.
If you are doing 1400-2000 minutes (or more) per month Intl, I think clearly Vonage World is for you.

I do think you are in the minority of Ooma users though.

While Vonage World may have you as a customer, they might actually be losing money on you, so I don't know if it really hurts Ooma that much that you've chosen Vonage World. Maybe we should rename the title RIP Vonage because if every customer has your calling patterns, they might be in trouble :)

Re: RIP Ooma ?

Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 1:59 pm
by debonas
Since feb 27 till date, I have clocked 3218 international minutes.

Re: RIP Ooma ?

Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 2:22 pm
by murphy
debonas wrote:Since feb 27 till date, I have clocked 3218 international minutes.
That's 644 minutes a day.
There are 1440 minutes in a day.
Knock off 8 hours (480 minutes) for sleep and that leaves 960 minutes awake.
That is 67% of your awake hours on the phone.
That is hard to believe.
:shock:

Re: RIP Ooma ?

Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 12:52 am
by whn
amazing that people pay $24.99 a month with Vonage

I mean that's outrageous

Re: RIP Ooma ?

Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 7:37 am
by sfhub
debonas wrote:Since feb 27 till date, I have clocked 3218 international minutes.
I know for sure now that you are in the extreme minority of Ooma users :)

Re: RIP Ooma ?

Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 6:12 am
by FloridaJohn
murphy wrote:
debonas wrote:Since feb 27 till date, I have clocked 3218 international minutes.
That's 644 minutes a day.
There are 1440 minutes in a day.
Knock off 8 hours (480 minutes) for sleep and that leaves 960 minutes awake.
That is 67% of your awake hours on the phone.
That is hard to believe.
:shock:
Let's take this analysis even a little further. :)

From the 960 "awake" hours, subtract the 644 minutes spent on the phone. That leaves 316 minutes to "live" the rest of your life. That equals 5 hours, 15 minutes per day.

Now, we all have to eat, and that takes some time, too. Even if you eat quick meals, you probably spend a total of at least one of your waking hours each day eating. So, now we are down to 4 hours, 15 minutes left.

I will assume that you bathe yourself each day. It takes me about a half hour to take a shower and get dressed in the morning. I can't imagine spending less time than that each day. Now we are down to 3 hours 45 minutes.

You will have to use the toilet each day, so lets assume at a minimum that takes 15 minutes total out of your day. 3 hours 30 minutes left.

In the end, you average only 3 hours 30 minutes a day that will include things like: going grocery shopping, putting gas in the car, paying bills, home maintenance, reading the news, watching TV, surfing the 'net, etc. I know I waste a lot of time each day, but you would have to be really good at time management to get all of that done in that time frame.

Also, keep in mind that this is VOIP phone calls, so all calls are made inside the house. At most, you have the range of a cordless phone. Talking that much per day, I don't see how you could keep the batteries charged!




OK, this is all in good fun, and I can see why the Ooma plan is not for you! :D

Re: RIP Ooma ?

Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 6:37 pm
by sfhub
FloridaJohn wrote:
murphy wrote:
debonas wrote:Since feb 27 till date, I have clocked 3218 international minutes.
That's 644 minutes a day.
There are 1440 minutes in a day.
Knock off 8 hours (480 minutes) for sleep and that leaves 960 minutes awake.
That is 67% of your awake hours on the phone.
That is hard to believe.
:shock:
Let's take this analysis even a little further. :)
You are assuming he is personally making the calls. "I have clocked" could be interpreted as him making the calls, but it isn't explicitly saying that. There could be many people in the household or business sharing the outgoing line, which then skews the whole analysis.