Viability of Ooma - Questions

[GMOOMA]

Duffy, I wouldn't worry about the health of Ooma. Even if a VoIP company folds, customers are allowed a window to port their numbers out to another company (example Sun Rocket).
viewtopic.php?t=10670#p74119

sunrocket is not the ideal example.. regulators had to get involved for many to port their numbers and for some, it took several weeks to several months to port out... many of whom went to Vonage while they were the cheapest alternative at the time (and had a decent track record of stability). vonage is no longer cheap, infact they're in some cases MORE than cableco voip service when you factor in taxes & fees.

number porting is much more evolved probably BECAUSE of the demise of sunrocket that things SHOULD go much smoother than in the past. please read the about page of NPAC; number portability administration center, they are part of the process and probably at least in part WHY it costs $40 to transition a number. while they're probably not happy about having responsibility to transition millions of numbers virtually overnight.. they most likely have 'disaster contingency plans' in place for the folding of voip companies. http://www.npac.com/the-npac/about

as you can see, the federal gov't had it's hand in ripping this power from telcos decades ago when cablecos got into the telecom business, so it's quite natural to deal with 3rd party (non-telecom) vendors these days.

Ooma will likely be around for quite a while.. voip companies with any sort of good reputation are not fly-by-nights and have doomsday plans should the company go belly-up.. surviving the credit crunch of 2007-2009 was a good indicator of a stress test.. many famous companies got dessimated when credit dried up because their wealth DEPENDED upon credit and revenue from paying customers. The ooma business model is much more lean and mean-- afterall they sell a product and offer free calling.

Try buying a twinkie today.. for lots of tomorrows, OOMA will be making and recieving calls.. The longer Ooma survives & grows it's customer base, the more it's in the best interest of the federal government to see that they survive rather than have NPAC deal with millions of irate phone customers who may have to resort to writing nasty letters to congress people.

[octogeek]

Please help this new user. Why is it important to be concerned about losing a phone number? My thinking is, if I get a new number, I notify all concerned. If I lose my original number is it really that big of a deal? Okay, if I'm working and need business cards and stationary, it is a big deal. But if it's just family and friends, is it important. This question is asked with sincerity. Perhaps I'm missing something. I'm using AT&T. If I cancel my phone service but keep my DSL, will I retain my phone number?
Many thanks,
George

[murphy]

If you have had the same number for a long time you get attached to the number.
I have a number that I have had for 50 years.

You would have to ask AT&T but I am fairly certain that a DSL line has to have a number for billing purposes even if it can't be used to make phone calls.

[lbmofo]

Please help this new user. Why is it important to be concerned about losing a phone number?
I'm using AT&T. If I cancel my phone service but keep my DSL, will I retain my phone number?

Like murphy says, some people want to keep using their number so no need to tell everyone that their number has changed. Perhaps an old friend you haven't heard from for years and years may still be able to reach you if you have the same number.
As for your AT&T number, if you want to keep it, don't cancel your phone account. You need to do a number port from Ooma. Once Ooma finishes your number port, your AT&T phone will be cancelled but your DSL service will also go dwon until you have them start your DSL service up again. Lots of people would make sure they get "dry loop" DSL beforehand (phone service and DSL service separated) before they do number port so they don't lose DSL service when port completes.

[jduffy]

Please help this new user. Why is it important to be concerned about losing a phone number? My thinking is, if I get a new number, I notify all concerned. If I lose my original number is it really that big of a deal? Okay, if I'm working and need business cards and stationary, it is a big deal. But if it's just family and friends, is it important. This question is asked with sincerity. Perhaps I'm missing something. I'm using AT&T. If I cancel my phone service but keep my DSL, will I retain my phone number?
Many thanks,
George

Easy to answer why the numbers are so important. First, I have had the home number for 22 years. Most of my family and friends have it memorized. Many businesses have our number. Changing all that is a nightmare quite frankly.

Second, the other number is a home office. That number is printed on cards, stationary, etc. I could not even know all the people I have to notify that I had a new number. Reprinting cards and stationary is expensive and takes time.

I went through the SunRocket collapse. But even before that happened, to minimize the issues that might occur from a company folding, I had the home number with one service and office number with another. So when SunRocket collapsed, I only had to port the home number. Luckily, that went easy for me.

To minimize the danger of porting numbers, I ported the home number to Ooma. Then I went through the process of porting my office to T-Mobile, then to Google Voice. That port to GV actually finished this morning. The second Telo will arrive tomorrow so I can do the Telo GV set-up. So I will have both lines if you will with Ooma, but not both numbers. I feel more comfortable with that arrangement and can still take advantage of Ooma for both lines.

In any case I wish Ooma would disclose how well they are doing. I think showing a lot of success to the public gives them a feeling of comfort and thus wanting to join the Ooma service in even greater numbers. That's the marketing/sales guy in me.

[turbo9]

I understand that they have been in business for a few years now, but that could be because they continue to get VC funding and if they cannot generate a profit, the VC funding may stop and then they could go under.

If this is true, then you should have no fear. If a VC, assuming they scrutinize the financials like a good VC would do, decide to invest millions of their own money in Ooma, we all should feel pretty comfortable putting down less than $200 to get in on the party.

[richalger]

I just finished a chat with an Ooma representative through Ooma.com. She says that they have expanded in Canada and currently have 550,000 customers. That sounds pretty viable.

[Larry Lix]

I just finished a chat with an Ooma representative through Ooma.com. She says that they have expanded in Canada and currently have 550,000 customers. That sounds pretty viable.

But not 550,000 customers just in Canada. They are advertising on TV shows regularly here but not one person I have mentioned it to has ever heard of it, before I bring it up. Bell wants out of wired services as a losing venture and are doing the dirty on their customers the same as other companies have done. With the rates and gouges that Bell has been pulling on their customers expect Ooma sales, in Canada, to continue. Vonage has survived fairly well, so far, except that their $9.95 service is now over $34 in Canada.

Wait until the Canuckistani government (CRTC etc.) gets involved. I see no 13+% HST taxes on the Premier service yet. Everything here gets HST taxes; energy, gasoline, women's hygiene products, and phone services. Expect some increases as costs hit the bean counters and tax people over the next few years. Right now enjoy the cheap. Either way Ooma will survive for at least half a dozen years IMHO. HCI

[richalger]

I think she meant that the 550,000 was a total customer number. Not just Canada.

[lbmofo]

Not sure how accurate any of these numbers are but a little over 3 years ago, it was roughly 100K.
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