Pricing for Ooma Premier

[scottlindner]

The annual tax exemption only exist for a very few people that purchased Ooma when it was at its original full bone retail price of $400. Most current customers do not fit into that category.
Scott

It states:

$11.75 Annual Regulatory Fee in Years 2 and on (not applicable to current customers)

That doesn't mean the $400 folks. I bought mine of ebay for about half, but since I've had it for several months, I assume I'm covered under "current customers".

I asked this question several months ago and one of the Ooma mods answered the question bluntly. I'll have to dig around for it.

Scott

[scottlindner]

Interesting changes. Some Pros and Some Cons. But it looks like most of the negative changes (paying for Voice Mail, Paying for Phone Support, paying the regulatory fees) do not apply to current customers. Glad I purchased about a month ago.

If incoming DTMF is fixed I think this is an awesome change. If you want *just* a telephone line, you can get that with Ooma Telo and use your existing answering machine. I think they are moving in the right direction if you ask me.

Scott

[bw1]

But the potential for pushing away new customers is what worries me. Still a good deal, but not a GREAT deal, and that will cause problems for people trying to justify the initial $250 cost.

http://www.voipo.com/ (standard SIP based VOIP provider) is now officially cheaper than Ooma with Premiere and equipment is free, and pretty much has the same feature list (with exception of future features like Google Voice.)
I'm am and have been a very happy Ooma customer and fan, but I have to consider this when recommending a low-cost VOIP phone service replacement to people. For that matter myself as well when renewing.

Based on this: http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r231080 ... r-Renewals the $99 per year promotion will be ending soon and Voipo won't be very cheap at $199 per year plus $36 per year for regulatory recovery fees.

[Big Boy Laroux]

Just a heads up. from the slickdeals thread, someone called ooma support 3 times and was told each time that basic voicemail is still included (and you do not have to have premier). So there is definitely conflicting info.

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showpost.p ... stcount=51

[georget99]

I activated my hub on September 9 so I'm still in the 60 day Premier trial. Doesn't that qualify me as a current customer?

But, the premier option on my account is showing $119.99. The $20 difference isn't a huge deal, that hardly bought me 2 weeks on my former Verizon service, but naturally, I'd prefer to not have to pay it.

[Bobby B]

Some of the wording on the blog post is convoluted -- we're working on updating it (It even confuses me and I work here!). We'll also be sending an email out to all customers today.

To sum up the pending revisions, we're introducing a new service tier called "Ooma Basic." This tier has everything "Ooma Core" has but excludes a few items:

• Phone Support (after your Premier trial concludes)
• Voicemail
• Caller-ID Name Look-up (Caller-ID Number is still included)

"Ooma Basic" also includes an annual $11.75 regulatory recovery fee (rrf), which is waived for the first year. Hub-only products purchased in Costco B&M stores (but not Costco.com) also have this $11.75 rrf. This fee does NOT apply to customers who have purchased an Ooma Core Hub/Scout product bundle. If you're unsure what you have, just take a look at your product packaging - it will mentions all the services you get with the product without any Premier subscription.

"Ooma Basic" is going to be included with all new Telo systems, so that when the Ooma Premier trial expires, the system will be downgraded to "Ooma Basic" If you upgrade your Ooma Hub to an Ooma Telo, your account settings and services will transfer over to the Ooma Telo (including any Premier subscriptions and exemptions from the rrf).

Just found a blog entry that explains lots of changes in the T&C's and pricing:

http://www.ooma.com/blog/2009/09/30/hello-ooma-telo/

If I'm interpreting this correctly, current customers will be able to renew at $99.99/year. It's not entirely clear to me if current customers will be subject to the regulatory fees.

[mezzy316]

The way I read it, the features that will be excluded with Ooma Basic (CID Name, Voice Mail, Phone Support) will still be included for "existing customers". It also says that "existing customers" won't have to pay the $11.75 fee. Is that correct, Bobby B?

As someone that just started with Ooma, I would be extremely upset if those features that were promised to me when I signed up were suddenly taken away.

[bw1]

The way I read it, the features that will be excluded with Ooma Basic (CID Name, Voice Mail, Phone Support) will still be included for "existing customers". It also says that "existing customers" won't have to pay the $11.75 fee. Is that correct, Bobby B?

As someone that just started with Ooma, I would be extremely upset if those features that were promised to me when I signed up were suddenly taken away.

Which product did you purchase, the Ooma Core with hub/scout or Ooma hub only from Costco B&M? I assume you didn't get the Telo.

[niknak]

I agree, although the fee is not much, it is the princile that what I read about ooma caused me to purchase it and then I find out the rules have changed..the new pricing structure should apply to New Activations...don't change the rules after the game starts!!!

[mezzy316]

The way I read it, the features that will be excluded with Ooma Basic (CID Name, Voice Mail, Phone Support) will still be included for "existing customers". It also says that "existing customers" won't have to pay the $11.75 fee. Is that correct, Bobby B?

As someone that just started with Ooma, I would be extremely upset if those features that were promised to me when I signed up were suddenly taken away.

Which product did you purchase, the Ooma Core with hub/scout or Ooma hub only from Costco B&M? I assume you didn't get the Telo.

I purchased the Ooma Core hub/scout combo from Amazon.