For the record, I don't sell Ooma or Vonage. However, I don't think that is really relevant at all as long one is willing to post their analysis and allow people to comment. I think you will find that instead saying "RIP Ooma?" and representing most of us you simply said "Ooma Intl doesn't make sense *for me*" the responses would have a different tone matching your initial post.debonas wrote:Allo, I dont sell ooma . I dont sell vonage either. As a user I just put out my thinking for others who have usage patterns like me. This forum is for information sharing. There is no reason to be abusive.
I will take the approach of calculating the first year and future year difference and see how many Intl minutes this buys you using a calling card.
Basically if your monthly rate doesn't include taxes and "fees" you can expect to pay 25% or more above advertised prices.
I have no doubt $24.99 (or $25.99) works out to $31-$35/mo after taxes and fees depending on your area.
Ooma is $11.75/yr after taxes and fees starting 2nd year (with no international plan)
Vonage
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1st year
Current website promotional pricing $14.99 x 6 + $25.99 x 6 = $245.88 * 1.25 (taxes and fees) = $307.35
Future year
Regular pricing $25.99 x 12 = $311.88 * 1.25 (taxes and fees) = $389.85
Ooma
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1st year
$199.99 Telo equipment fee (current Amazon pricing with free shipping, no sales tax), $0 taxes and fees
Future year
$0 equipment fee, $11.75/yr taxes and fees
Comparison
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First year difference (Vonage - Ooma)
$307.35 - $199.99 = $107.36
Future year difference (Vonage - Ooma)
$389.85 - $11.75 = $378.10
Using that $378/yr ($107 first year), you can buy a PIN-less calling card (just dial access #, then intl #, no need to enter PIN) with
o ability to use from any phone
o *$0* maintenance fee
o *1* second billing increments
o no expiration (must use once every 12 months)
and pay the rates (*after* taxes and fees) listed below to the 72 countries/territories included in Vonage World. I took a very competitive large player in the calling card world and assumed they have optimized their rates reasonably well for most countries. I just took the landline rates for simplicity because Vonage *excludes* cell phones whenever the rates are significantly higher than the landline rates. Some countries the cell phone rates are actually less than landline while other countries cell phones are much higher (5x or more) than landline.
You'll notice that almost all the countries are under $0.060/min (again *after* taxes and fees) and most are in the $0.040/min or less category. There are a few odd men out like Iraq, South Africa, and the crown jewel of the Vonage World plan, Kenya at a whopping $0.120/min
Unless you are calling Kenya, Iraq and South Africa all the time, you will be covered at $0.060/min or under, so that $378/yr would buy you *at least* 6,300min/yr (with essentially *no* expiration and 1 second billing increments), 1,780min in the first year.
Most of Europe is sitting at $0.030/min or under giving you *at least* 12,600min/yr (3,566min first year). Personally I think most people would be covered at $0.040/min or under giving them *at least* 9450min/yr but I list all the rates for folks to decide for themselves.
Keep in mind, since there is essentially no expiration (as long as you use once every 12 months), your unused minutes essentially roll over into the next year. I think many people will be better off with Ooma and a calling card than with the Vonage World Plan. If they are calling Kenya all the time though, then Vonage World Plan might make sense.
You can actually get significantly less per minute rates if you are willing to deal with maintenance fees and higher billing increments, but I don't think those are really worth it unless you make long calls and are a high volume caller so I chose the higher rates and reasonable usage rules for comparison.
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$0.015
Guam
$0.020
Australia, Canada, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland, Singapore, Thailand, United Kingdom, US Virgin Islands
$0.025
Andorra, Argentina, Brunei, China, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Saipan, South Korea, Spain, Sweden
$0.030
Belgium, Chile, Estonia, Hong Kong, Hungary, Malaysia, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, Taiwan
$0.035
Iceland, India, Venezuela
$0.040
Brazil, Croatia, Guadeloupe, Japan, Jordan, Romania, Russia, Slovakia
$0.045
Austria, Bahamas, Peru, San Marino, Slovenia
$0.050
Bahrain, Czech Republic, Finland, Georgia, Latvia
$0.055
Dominican Republic, Macedonia, Malta, Mexico, Turkey
$0.060
Bulgaria, Colombia, Macau, Zambia
$0.065
Iraq
$0.075
South Africa
$0.120
Kenya