Can my phones display "new voice messages" from the Ooma Hub

[lbmofo]

That is my setup exactly....Hub upstairs in office with my router, and I want to setup the Scout on the kitchen wall next to the wall mounted kitchen phone. Before I setup the Scout 2 questions..1- Is the voice quality off the Scout a known issue, even though Ooma recommends this setup, and why? (from poking around the forums sounds like it is) and 2 - Would I get around this issue by splitting the phone line so 1 line goes to the Scout and 1 line goes to my phone, therefore I would not be technically using the phone off the Scout?

The quality issue people reported has to do with outgoing voice when using phone connected to the "phone" port of the Scout. Scout's "phone" port communicates to the Hub (via Hub's "wall" port) through HPNA (Home Phoneline Networking Alliance) protocol so it is understandable if the quality is not as good compared to phone connected directly to the Hub's "phone" port.

OR would it be best to split the signal from the source and put all the Scouts on the L2 lines in my house and keep the phones on L1? Using this...

What is the best setup to ensure high voice quality?

Unless you have a need to assign your 2nd number (if Premier) to the Scout (private number to the Scout), you don't need to connect a phone to the Scout. You can use a splitter to combine the "wall" & "phone" ports of the Hub and feed the combined signal into a wall jack to distribute your dialtone and HPNA. That way, all jacks in your house, you can either plug in a phone or a Scout or both (using a splitter). If you have a fax machine or Dishnetwork receiver or something like that connected, you can use an ordinary DSL filter to filter out the HPNA signal from the device; for fax machine and Dishnetwork receiver and such, don't forget to dial *99 to force G.711 codec vs ooma's default iLBC. Here is how to distribute dialtone throughout the house.

[Davesworld]

The only reason why I don't like the Ooma Hub or the Scout for pressing the "play" button is that it is A) kinda tinny sounding compared to our other phones' speakers

If by "tinny" you mean it isn't loud enough, the Ooma Hub should have a volume knob on the side somewhere.

Tinny means exactly what it is. Kind of an upper midrange strident sound rather than full bodied hence tin can sounding. Tinny sound has nothing to do with decibel level.

[Davesworld]

It's possible if your phones support the VMI protocol (Voice Message Indicator). I've only seen that in business type desk phones. I have three desk phones that have the capability and it works.

So if I look for phones that have VMI protocol (will Amazon be alright?), I can buy those phones, and they will detect when Ooma Voicemail has new messages?

Do you recommend any models in particular?

Actually most cordless phones now whether or not they have a built in answering machine have a VMWI icon that shows on the lcd of the handsets and even displays "1new voice message" etc. My Vtechs and AT&T DECT phones all do it and I never have the built in answering machine on. They are all less than a year old. Three years ago it was a different story. The only disadvantage of getting a set with a built in answering machine is that such bases usually don't have a VMWI light on the base itself but the handsets all display the icon and sometimes statement as to how many messages you have. I often rant about why the US market is flooded with phone systems with built in answering machines (more so than any other country) when modern voicemail that can be accessed anywhere is offered by just about every phone service. I guess people haven't quite caught on that answering machines are very 20 years ago.