Why can't any Ooma call the 570 area code? (Pennsylvania)

[kdmc69]

Oh oh. I spoke too soon!

I just tried my Verizon landline and the Ooma a few times on a similar phone number (off by a single digit in the last four), and it failed on the Ooma but worked on the landline.

1-570-897-8200 (failed yesterday, fixed by Ooma last night, works today)
1-570-897-8300 (failed just now)

Sigh.

I'm confused why "I" have to test every single phone number on the planet in order to ensure that the Ooma can route to it?
Don't they test these things with automation tools?

I just tried the number and it connected twice with no problems. I'm in NC.

[rocksockdoc]

Bad news.

I just called Ooma Customer Support at 888-711-6662x1x3 and asked for the third tier after providing the ticket number 130625-000298.

I got a person named "Carol" who said she didn't have any ID number because she didn't work in the call center.
In contrast to the helpful and caring attitude of all the other support people, she was not understanding at all!

She said the problem was due to my jitter (which I admit is high, and has always been high) on my 10Mbps/5Mbps broadband link. I kept telling her that other phone numbers were having the same problem but she kept saying (broken record style) that 'we're not testing the other numbers now, are we?".

It was frustrating to get the concept to sink into her head that a good support person listens to the customer and doesn't jump to hasty conclusions, such as my jitter being the cause of everyone else not being able to connect to certain telephone numbers.

In addition, she clearly did not understand that we Ooma users can't be testing every single number we call just so that we can trust that the Ooma can make the call (when my Verizon landline, T-Mobile cellphone, and my friend's Vonage VOIP connect every single time). She says she trusts Ooma and that is that.

Hmmmmm.....

It was soooo frustrating to talk to this support person that I asked to speak with her supervisor, and she immediately said he wasn't there (his name is apparently Roy, and he's the Director of Support). I don't believe he wasn't there - so - I will need to call back to speak to him directly (or to make an appointment to visit him in Palo Alto).

Anyway, the single most useful technical information that came out of that phone call was apparently the small phone company "Commonwealth" is what all these destination numbers in Pennsylvania are using. In addition, Carol did state that we *do* have to report each and every phone number that doesn't work, to Ooma.

Yikes.

Does anyone else see how serious this is that we can't trust Ooma (when we can trust Vonage, Verizon, and T-Mobile, at least for these numbers I just dialed these past two days)?

[rocksockdoc]

I called Ooma back at 888-711-6662x1x3 and provided the support ticket 130625-000298.

A Marienne (no ID # she said) was kind enough to understand what I wanted, and she tried to find a support manager for me to talk to about this problem; but she, in the Philippines, was not able to contact a manager at the Palo Alto HQ (it is only 8:15am here in California so I might need to wait for them to get through their admittedly crowded commute).

Marienne suggested I send an email to "info@ooma.com", but I assume that will be filled with spam, but she said it goes to HQ in Palo Alto (which is only a couple of miles away so maybe I'll just drive there to see if I can solve this problem personally).

Anyway, asking to speak with level 3 again, I got "Ray, ID# 025272, who said he was only level 2 support; so I asked him to transfer me over to level 3 support. Vince #5712 answered. He kindly transferred me over to a supervisor, Erin, #001899, who said he'd get a message over to Roy who would call me back.

I'm trying to push Ooma as a Vonage replacement for my friends and family; but they rightly object that you can't trust Ooma if they have to test every call that doesn't connect with another service provider (which, so far, will always connect).

So, I see three problems, only one of which is technical:
MINOR: My friend and I (and probably everyone else) cannot make calls to a certain telephone number from Ooma
IMPORTANT: 3rd level of support should be better than what I received today (this is probably fixable)
SEVERE: Ooma apparently expects us, the users, to test each and every phone number we plan on calling (this is the real problem, and it's a business problem - not a technical problem).

Any advice?

[rocksockdoc]

Here's what I wrote to info@ooma.com ...

Subject: Need Business Escalation (not technical escalation!) of Ooma ticket 130625-000298
To whom it may concern,

I'm trying to push Ooma as a Vonage replacement for my friends and family; but they rightly object that they can't trust Ooma if they have to test every call that doesn't connect.
These other service providers *always* connect when the Ooma does not:
Vonage, Verizon landline, T-Mobile cellphone, AT&T cellphone.

So, I see three problems, only one of which is technical:

1. I (and probably everyone else) cannot make calls to certain telephone numbers from Ooma.
2. 3rd level of support should be better than what I received today (this is probably fixable).
3. Ooma apparently expects us, the users, to test each and every phone number we plan on calling (this is the real problem, and it's a business problem - not a technical problem).

I live near Palo Alto so I would be happy to make an appointment to visit one of your representatives to underscore the point of the third, most important, matter.

I'm told that Ooma expects us to test every number we call with another more reliable service provider.

Please tell me that is not the case!

(And tell me that Ooma actually is doing that testing - just like Vonage, Verizon, AT&T, & T-Mobile do).
Thanks,

[rocksockdoc]

I received an email from Ooma just now saying:
Date: 06/26/2013 09:12 AM
Subject: OOMA SUPPORT [Incident: 130625-000298]
Our carrier has asked for a retest at this time.
If you are still experiencing an issue, please contact us so that we may resume our troubleshooting efforts.

So, I called the Ooma support number 888-711-6662x1x3 again.
Toni answered and transferred me to level 3 support.
I got Carol again, so, I kept it as brief as possible.

Carol said "the carrier rerouted the call", so now I should test it.
I did test it, and it now worked.

There must be a better way.

[lbmofo]

rocksockdoc, Ooma has numerous carriers handling call traffic for them. In cases like yours where some destinations are not reachable at times, you report and Ooma would work with relevant carrier(s) to resolve the routing issue. Don't think these are number by number type of fixes but rather based on geographics (rate center or group of rate centers perhaps). So the fix Ooma just did for you likely included a whole bunch of numbers and not just the ones you had issues with. The reason they want customers to report datetime/number called is so that Ooma can pin point where the problems may reside. Why they want you to test after they think they fixed it is so that they can get confirmation on the fix.

[dbarronoss]

My guess is it's a lot like everything else that you know a lot about. Things from the outside look smooth and easy...but someone in the know realizes how haphazard and shoddy it really is. I (maybe being very pessimistic) tend to think much of human accomplishment is like this.
IE, the networks are crud (I'm generalizing from my computer tech background)...

[Akai]

Rocksock I'm with you. My wife was not able to connect to my ATT cellphone two days go. She kept getting busy signal. This is a bit disturbing as she needed to speak to me. She ended up calling from her cell. OOMA corrected itself today, now my cellphone rings. I just hope that this is not a chronic problem. I too can't recommend OOMA to my friends at this time.

[mrbill16]

You may have run into the Rural Call Completion issue as noted by the FCC. Check this link: http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/problem ... ural-areas

I too cannot call a specific Town (518-827-xxxx) using Ooma, but can connect via cell or land line telcos. I have a support request in, but don't expect a response, so I filed an FCC form 2000B. I'll see if that helps. Other than this issue, Ooma has been fantastic. I'm on my 3rd year.

Update: I did receive a call from Ooma, but was at the telephone number that didn't work, so I couldn't forward the call. They have now fixed the problem. Thank you Ooma customer support.

Update 2: I spoke too soon. Still cannot call the 518-827-xxxx number. It seems to be the Rural Call completion problem as outlined in the FCC document I referenced above. Yes, it is an Ooma issue. Read the FCC document completely. They advise contacting the originating carrier to resolve the problem. Ooma must subscribe to a least cost routing company to handle their calls. To save money these company's don't connect to high cost rural telcos.

[beerman1957]

Why are you blaming OOMA for routing issues they have no control over? It's an issue with the local TELCOM especially in rural areas where FCC obviously doesn't police. I would actually report the routing issue to the FCC so they can investigate the local TELCOM.

I have had my OOMA TELO since they came out and never ever had a problem, so I sold them to 3 others who also never have a problem. I suspect OOMA is doing a good job trying to resolve routing issues. They don't have billions of dollars like ATT or Verizon.