Ooma Forums

So, old time Ooma core owner, new HD3 handset customer. I’ve had the 3x HD3s for about a week now. I like some things about them and dislike others. All in all so far I think I preferred my Panasonic phones. The phones stay on the chargers and have received minimal intermittent use. Upon initial setup they had to do a software update, which mildly surprised me as I was not aware the phones did so. The update was quick.

Some issues:

- I often see the battery indicator warning of a low charge, but when I put it back on the charger it will sometimes read 100%, and sometimes 50%. Multiple phones. I’ve reinserted the batteries multiple times. The phones sit on the chargers when not in use. Is sitting on the chargers using up too much juice?!

- Today all of my phones got another software update (how often is this needed?). ALL of the phones were tied up during this excruciatingly slow process, so far an hour and counting!! One is slowly downloading the update, while the others are ‘Waiting to Start’. I have a good internet connection and speed (60Mb). Big problem! I cannot make and I assume receive phone calls during this process. What if I need to dial 911?! What if I have an important call to make/receive? Nope, can’t do it.
Ooma needs to 1) give the customer the ability to pause the update, 2) schedule phased updates for late night/early morning, by time zone, 3) NOT tie up all phones. Make the update unique to each device, not take over the entire system until complete. This is poor programming, and/or a disregard for the customer.

- Must use Ooma Contact list for programmed/stored numbers, which does not support star codes. I use the star codes to determine which line is used to make the call. Phone number one for family/friends, phone number two for all others. If I can’t store prefixed phone numbers on the phone (ala Panasonic) then don’t force me to use 10 digit only in the online Contact list.

Our apologies for the slow update. This issue has since been fixed. Normally the upgrade only takes 5 min.
The HD3 currently has 3 charge levels so it's easy to reach 50%.
We have an open enhancement to add support for both prefixes and postfixes.

It's not possible to do this option:
3) NOT tie up all phones. Make the update unique to each device, not take over the entire system until complete

because it would mean making the base firmware work with arbitrarily old phone firmware.

I'm wondering about how long the HD3 update should take.

My original (5-6 year old) Telo wouldn't get a dial tone, so I purchased a new Telo Air 2 with the HD3 handset.
Customer service transferred my account, so everything is working, but this handset has been updating for at least an hour. It's been showing "waiting to start" for more than 20 minutes. Is that normal?

Editing to add: I finally pulled the batteries out for a few minutes, then replaced them and plugged the HD3 back into its cradle. It took about 8 minutes to erase, download and reboot.

So now having gone through several of these software updates I view this as a big negative on purchasing Ooma Handsets. I have three now and it is completely UNACCEPTABLE to have my entire phone system down for 1-1.5 hours each time. Having one phone at a time impacted but still being able to send and receive phone calls from the other handsets would be acceptable, but being essentially disconnected from service for the duration is ridiculous.

On two of the occasions I NEEDED to use my phone system, but was unable to due, likely, to an upgrade of minor importance. If updates happened once or twice a year it might not be so bad, but it’s seems frequent and unnecessarily impactful. Had I known Ooma updates were as bad as Microsoft I would not have purchased the Ooma handsets.

Ooma needs to give its CUSTOMERS the ability to pause/postpone updates, especially if they last more than a couple of minutes.

So, Ooma no response on this issue? The way you handle updates is a problem.

I am having the same issue. the problem is not resolved. My Phones have been ofline for over 3 days. I have taken the batteries out and reset the phone with no sucess. Now one of my phones is in a costant erase upgrade cycle and will not stop after 24 hours. Very disappointed in the phones. having my entire system off line multiple times and not being able to recieve phone calls defeats the value of the phone. One would argue that the avaliablity of services is down udring this time. Looks like Ma Bell has a better service after all.

I just got my first HD3 and the software update took about 15 minutes tops.

Just got 2 HD3 phones. After linking it started downloading on one of the phones. Got to 45% fast then stalled for over an hour. While calling support who said to take out the batteries ... it went to 46% so I waited. After 5 1/2 more hours it had gone up to 48%. I took out the batteries and waited 30 seconds. When I put them back in both phones starting alternating saying upgrading please wait - then comes on erasing please wait and goes up to 100% then other phone starts doing it, then second phone starts doing the erasing again then other phone does the erasing ...As of now they are still alternating the erasing. Going to bed and will see if in the morning anything has changed. (Hope so!)

Rather than try both at the same time, maybe just leave one powered off and see if the other will fully update. Then if that works, turn on the other one.