The foregoing was my comment on April 17, 2009 following the major outage that occurred four days earlier. I continue to stand behind my comment. I have experienced a couple minor interruptions is service since the big one on April 13, but nothing so significant that I can even remember it at this point. So far, Ooma has exceeded every expectation I had when I acquired my first system. I currently have two separate systems operating. Both are near flawless. I have such confidence in the product that I gave five Ooma systems to friends and family members for Christmas.oomg wrote:Yes... Bravo... Bravo... re: customer expectations. I couldn't have said it better myself. However, I don't quite agree with the statement "that this [ooma] is not intended to be a business-class service and that some residential service interruptions are inevitable."WayneDsr wrote:Well said, Clynch!
Wayne
I have seen a number of users on this forum comment about using ooma for their business, and IMHO it is a viable business-class service at least for a small business. For my part, I originally intended to use my ooma strictly for residential, but have decided to hog one of the lines [assigned to a Scout] to record all incoming messages for my business which is run primarily from my home (althugh I do have a separate office as well). Having the ability to access my business messages from the lounge works great for me. Likewise, if I am working on a project and don't want to be disturbed, I press the VM button and turn down the lights on the Scout, and don't worry about any disruptions.
Of course, as WayneDsr and I have suggested on multiple occasions, any VOIP user must (or at least should) develop a contingency plan. Having had a backup plan in place, I suffered nothing more than a minor inconvenience during the service disruptions that occurred on the 13th. Whether the contingency plan relies on cell phones, a basic landline, 2-way radios, alternate VOIP, or otherwise, depends on the needs or desires of individual as well as the configuration of his particular system.
Nevertheless, Bravo...Bravo!
Having said all that, I haven't forgotten that it is important to have an emergency backup, whether cell service or alternate POTS. I suppose even a MagicJack would work well enough as a backup unless there is an internet outage. Above all else, don't hesitate to report an outage (even if only suspected) and be patient. Thus far, the Ooma crew has managed to resolve most, if not all, technical issues.
Given the number of Ooma users, it is far from clear that the problems accessing toll free numbers was, in fact, system wide, but then again, not everyone dials toll free numbers every day. I was one of those who suggested a brief status report during any outage. I'm not quite sure if that has continued since I have not had any need to resort to it, but will nevertheless expand on that concept; suggesting that a separate forum be established where outages can be posted. It would also help if each person on the forum would identify his or her general location (e.g. City, State, Zip Code or???), so that it could be determined whether any outage is limited to a locality, or is more widespread.