Overall Cost of OOMA

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RobinWyman75
Posts:17
Joined:Mon Apr 12, 2010 1:33 pm
Overall Cost of OOMA

Post by RobinWyman75 » Sun May 02, 2010 5:49 am

I have had Vonage plan for the past 5 years and I recently purchased OOMA to replace Vonage.

I'm trying really hard to see how OOMA is cheaper overall than Vonage.

Please help me, see below.

Vonage 500 minute plan is 17.99 + taxes, roughly 22$/month.
Comes with most features the Premier plan offers.

If I were to add the 9.99 premeire plan + taxes and fees (not 100% sure how much that will be since the taxes are not included at the moment??) + the cost of OOMA 250$.

So if the taxes and fees turn out to be 10$/month + the 9.99 / month for premier (are taxes applied to this?) =19 $ per month. 22$ (cost of vonage) - 19$=3 dollars per month.

Cost of OOMA device 250$ divided by 3 dollars a month (the difference in the cost between the two products)= 84 months or 7 years to break even!

Will the OOMA device last and not break down in 7 years!

I don't really see the savings, I'm sorry!

Please prove me wrong.

frenchcamp49er
Posts:167
Joined:Thu Jan 08, 2009 8:42 pm

Re: Overall Cost of OOMA

Post by frenchcamp49er » Sun May 02, 2010 6:11 am

First off you do not need the premier plan, so your numbers are off, if you buy the unit, you would it you be paid off in 12.5 months, using your numbers. Still even using your numbers the device would be paid off in 21 months not 84.
Customer Since: January 2009
Ooma Hardware: Ooma Hub/Scout; Telo 04/02/10
Ooma Service: Premier Lifetime (Since December 2009)

murphy
Posts:7554
Joined:Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:49 pm
Location:Pennsylvania

Re: Overall Cost of OOMA

Post by murphy » Sun May 02, 2010 6:14 am

$250 for Ooma hardware
$120 per year for Premier
$3.50 per month for taxes (estimate)

First year costs 250 + 120 + 42 = 412.
Second and subsequent years cost 120 + 42 = 162
You get 5000 minutes per month.


Vonage costs $22 per month (in my experience it's higher than that) or 264 per year.
You get 500 minutes per month.


Year Ooma Vonage
1 412 264
2 574 528
3 736 792
4 898 1056
5 1060 1320

After 5 years you have saved 260 which is more than the cost of the Ooma hardware.
Your break even point is between 2 and 3 years.
Customer since January 2009
Telo with 2 Handsets, a Linx, and a Safety Phone
Telo2 with 2 Handsets and a Linx

RobinWyman75
Posts:17
Joined:Mon Apr 12, 2010 1:33 pm

Re: Overall Cost of OOMA

Post by RobinWyman75 » Sun May 02, 2010 6:20 am

frenchcamp49er wrote:First off you do not need the premier plan, so your numbers are off, if you buy the unit, you would it you be paid off in 12.5 months, using your numbers. Still even using your numbers the device would be paid off in 21 months not 84.
The reason why I used the Premeir fee is because Vonage already includes those options in their basic services which I like and want (i.e. call forwarding in case of outage) for example.

22$ for vonage (which includes "premier" features with basic service) vs OOMA (estimate tax/fees to be about 10$ since there is no info on how much the "taxes" will be "if someone has this info please provide"= 3 dollars diffence between the two services.

OOMA device cost is 250$, if I divide 250$ by 3$ per month savings I get 83 months or roughly 7 years.

Correct me if I am wrong!

RobinWyman75
Posts:17
Joined:Mon Apr 12, 2010 1:33 pm

Re: Overall Cost of OOMA

Post by RobinWyman75 » Sun May 02, 2010 6:26 am

murphy wrote:$250 for Ooma hardware
$120 per year for Premier
$3.50 per month for taxes (estimate)

First year costs 250 + 120 + 42 = 412.
Second and subsequent years cost 120 + 42 = 162
You get 5000 minutes per month.


Vonage costs $22 per month (in my experience it's higher than that) or 264 per year.
You get 500 minutes per month.


Year Ooma Vonage
1 412 264'
2 574 528
3 736 792
4 898 1056
5 1060 1320

After 5 years you have saved 260 which is more than the cost of the Ooma hardware.
Your break even point is between 2 and 3 years.

No the taxes are not included in the 3.47$ charge, please research this cause this was not what was presented to me when purchased. The "taxes" are not included in the 3.47$ charge which I believe is deceiving. There should be a note that the taxes are coming in the future. I was informed of this by one of the moderators. So the 10$ is an estimate from my prior taxes on Vonage. Unless someone from OOMA can give specifics on the taxes this is what I am using.

Also, I dont use the phone that much, as I would imagine a lot of OOMA users are similiar. So the 500 minutes on the Vonage is way more than I ever needed (avg use 150 minutes per month).

So in my scenerio a low usuage phone user the OOMA seems to be not much savings.

Also, the 500$ plan is 22$ with taxes I can provide you with the bills.

murphy
Posts:7554
Joined:Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:49 pm
Location:Pennsylvania

Re: Overall Cost of OOMA

Post by murphy » Sun May 02, 2010 6:38 am

There are currently three fee plans.
The original purchasers of the hub and scout combo pay nothing.
The hub only from Costco and the Telo prior to April 1 pay $11.75 per year.
Telos activated after April 1 pay according to the following calculator

http://www3.ooma.com/tax_calculator.php

Enter your zip code and it will give you a break down of the monthly fee.
Customer since January 2009
Telo with 2 Handsets, a Linx, and a Safety Phone
Telo2 with 2 Handsets and a Linx

RobinWyman75
Posts:17
Joined:Mon Apr 12, 2010 1:33 pm

Re: Overall Cost of OOMA

Post by RobinWyman75 » Sun May 02, 2010 7:28 am

murphy wrote:There are currently three fee plans.
The original purchasers of the hub and scout combo pay nothing.
The hub only from Costco and the Telo prior to April 1 pay $11.75 per year.
Telos activated after April 1 pay according to the following calculator

http://www3.ooma.com/tax_calculator.php

Enter your zip code and it will give you a break down of the monthly fee.
Doesn't include state tax.
This is the response I got from moderaqtor.

Hello,

Currently, Ooma is absorbing the state & local taxes if any. Once we implement state & local taxes in our system, they will be passed on to the consumers if applicable.

frenchcamp49er
Posts:167
Joined:Thu Jan 08, 2009 8:42 pm

Re: Overall Cost of OOMA

Post by frenchcamp49er » Sun May 02, 2010 9:52 am

Well it seems like your making every excuse not to get the ooma, if you think you can save money elsewhere then that is where you should go. I have been completely bill free for about three months now and I have Premier Lifetime withe the Telo.
Not trying to be an ooma fan boy, but if you think vonage or anything else is a better buy than stick with it.
Customer Since: January 2009
Ooma Hardware: Ooma Hub/Scout; Telo 04/02/10
Ooma Service: Premier Lifetime (Since December 2009)

Groundhound
Posts:2711
Joined:Sat May 23, 2009 9:28 am
Location:Atlanta, GA

Re: Overall Cost of OOMA

Post by Groundhound » Sun May 02, 2010 10:17 am

Your premise is, to be charitable, somewhat distorted. You pick the cheapest Vonage plan and compare it to the most expensive Ooma plan, using call forwarding on network outage as the single justification for the Ooma plan and ignoring the fact that the Ooma plan is a two-line, two-number plan and one that includes 10 times more per month minute limit that the Vonage plan you cite. You use the highest full retail price for Ooma's upfront cost and apparently did not include any startup cost for Vonage. Furthermore you simply make up numbers for Ooma's state & local taxes that are not currently charged. Really, if you want to stay with Vonage, just do it - no reason to waste everyone's time with "fuzzy logic".

sfhub
Posts:348
Joined:Fri Jan 22, 2010 6:22 am

Re: Overall Cost of OOMA

Post by sfhub » Sun May 02, 2010 11:00 am

murphy wrote:There are currently three fee plans.
The original purchasers of the hub and scout combo pay nothing.
The hub only from Costco and the Telo prior to April 1 pay $11.75 per year.
Telos activated after April 1 pay according to the following calculator
My understanding is all Hubs and Telos which say $11.75 on the packaging pay that regardless of activation date.

I think the early April (silent) cutoff was for products that said monthly fees on the packaging.

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