My experience... STAY AWAY!!!!!

Problems using My Ooma? Ideas on how we can make it better? You’ve come to the right place.
murphy
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Re: My experience... STAY AWAY!!!!!

Post by murphy » Sat Dec 11, 2010 2:49 pm

huggybear wrote:See, that's where I fail. I had No idea I had to call anyone. I tried to use the suggestion & i didn't work. My husband returned the modem/router about an hour ago. You all know so much about this stuff & I'm the one who used to use 3 cent stamps. :P
Thanks again so much anyway, for trying to help me.
I also remember 3 cent stamps and going to the movies for 10 cents and gasoline cost 25 cents a gallon.
Customer since January 2009
Telo with 2 Handsets, a Linx, and a Safety Phone
Telo2 with 2 Handsets and a Linx

huggybear
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Re: My experience... STAY AWAY!!!!!

Post by huggybear » Sat Dec 11, 2010 4:16 pm

Thanks, but as I said, my honey already returned the thing & with blizzard warnings for the next couple days it's not going to happen. I simply cannot devote all these hours to a tool that should work for me not me for it.
Thanks so much.

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lbmofo
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Re: My experience... STAY AWAY!!!!!

Post by lbmofo » Sat Dec 11, 2010 4:53 pm

Whenever you have time. Give it another try.

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lbmofo
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Re: Re:My experience... STAY AWAY!! & ibmofo idea

Post by lbmofo » Sat Dec 11, 2010 11:37 pm

nn5i wrote:
lbmofo wrote:huggybear, when you install a new modem, you'd need to call your internet service provider and have them provision your new device.
That's sound advice; the ISP must know the information printed on the label of the modem (usually the MAC address). You can't simply buy a new modem and plug it in. Well, you can, but it won't work.

Aside from being sound advice, though, it makes my teeth itch. When did provision become a verb with this meaning? From the actual verb provide we get the verb provision, which is the act of providing, or by extension (and almost always in the plural) the thing provided. Thus when one provides food, the culinary items provided are provisions, and among those whose language skills are deficient one has provisioned the recipient, which is awkward enough. But when one registers the hardware address of a device, one is not providing anything to the device; similarly, in another usage I have recoiled at, when one distributes a name-and-number correspondence among caller-ID data bases, calling it provisioning is execrable English. Alas, many engineers lack language skills.
I was using the word "provision" in this sense: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisioni ... ovisioning :)

WayneDsr
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Re: My experience... STAY AWAY!!!!!

Post by WayneDsr » Sun Dec 12, 2010 7:55 am

I bought a new modem a few months ago. I have dsl. The modem was plug and play. They're made that way now.
Plugged it in, waited until it was done connecting, turned on the router and I was connected at full speed.


I too remember 3 cent stamps, 20 cent a gallon gas..... That's no excuse! :)

Wayne
ooma customer since January 2009
ooma hardware: core (hub/scout) and Telo
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lbmofo
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Re: My experience... STAY AWAY!!!!!

Post by lbmofo » Sun Dec 12, 2010 10:47 am

WayneDsr wrote:I have dsl. The modem was plug and play.
So you didn't have to call DSL customer service to let them know you had new modem? I wonder if this is the case for all DSL providers now?

WayneDsr
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Re: My experience... STAY AWAY!!!!!

Post by WayneDsr » Sun Dec 12, 2010 12:35 pm

lbmofo wrote:
WayneDsr wrote:I have dsl. The modem was plug and play.
So you didn't have to call DSL customer service to let them know you had new modem? I wonder if this is the case for all DSL providers now?
No. Put the modem in line, let it analyze the connection and off it went. ActionTech modem.

Wayne
ooma customer since January 2009
ooma hardware: core (hub/scout) and Telo
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Davesworld
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Re: My experience... STAY AWAY!!!!!

Post by Davesworld » Sun Dec 12, 2010 6:14 pm

WayneDsr wrote:
lbmofo wrote:
WayneDsr wrote:I have dsl. The modem was plug and play.
So you didn't have to call DSL customer service to let them know you had new modem? I wonder if this is the case for all DSL providers now?
No. Put the modem in line, let it analyze the connection and off it went. ActionTech modem.

Wayne
Many of them already have a built in list of values to check for most if not all providers. It was trivial to plug a Qwest branded Actiontec into a Verizon line and connect. The qwest firmware was very bridge friendly. The actiontecs work great as a dumb modem connected to a good router. The westell 7500 worked well in this mode too.

It's pretty rare for a recent dsl modem to have compatibility issues with the DSLAM.

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nn5i
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Re: Re:My experience... STAY AWAY!! & ibmofo idea

Post by nn5i » Sun Dec 12, 2010 7:33 pm

lbmofo wrote:I was using the word "provision" in this sense: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisioni ... ovisioning :)
Yes, I knew that. I meant no criticism of you; but some illiterate, inarticulate engineer coined that usage, and for that may his soul rot. He's perpetuating a bad name for all engineers, and I'm an engineer. The usage has become common in certain narrow technical jargons, but still it's execrable, and still it makes my teeth itch.

But I see that it sounded as if my criticism was of you. Deign to accept a humble apology.
.

CloaknDagr
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Re: My experience... STAY AWAY!!!!!

Post by CloaknDagr » Sun Dec 12, 2010 8:10 pm

There are a few different types of DSL connection from the modem. If you're DHCP then that's the easiest and all you have to do is put the wires where they need to go and turn the power on. If your connection uses PPPOE then it's a little more work, but still all done at the customer end and not the ISP end. It's possible on all DSL connections to get a modem that's not compatible so it's a good idea to check the specs on the one you're replacing before you buy a new one.

If you're using cable (DOCSIS) then it's a whole 'nother critter. The cable company provides service according to the MAC address on your cable modem. You can buy a compatible modem and call them up, give them the MAC address (printed on the label) and off you go. But nothing is going to work until they tell their system that your MAC is an authorized address. MAC btw is a unique identifier to all network adapters, which is what a cable modem is at it's core anyway.

I'm on my third year with Ooma, but I'm an MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) so yeah, I guess I get the nuts and bolts of the whole thing and I'm way past happy with my Ooma. It took a little tinkering and tweaking to get it dialed in to work through my firewall ( I have a real, SonicWALL firewall, not a home router that pretends it's a firewall) and that was a little frustrating but more because I couldn't actually talk to anyone at Ooma that understood my technical questions than anything else. I got it figured out in short order and I'm happy as can be with the service with a few minor, niggly, nit-picky things that aren't worth mentioning. I wouldn't want to go back to POTS, that's for sure. Ooma saves me a bundle every year, even with the two line Premium subscription.

Before Ooma I was going to go with the offering from my cable internet provider for telephone. What killed that deal was their installation garbage. I actually ordered the service and the installer showed up at my door, I don't consider those guys "tech's", they're wire monkeys. I told him, "Ok, good to see you, drop all of that gear right there and I'll take it from here". He didn't like that idea and called the office. I got on the phone and told them whatever they were installing wasn't going to connect to MY network unless I put it behind MY firewall and installed it myself. They wouldn't go for that so a couple weeks later I was on Ooma, been happy about that ever since.

Ooma should do what Dell does and contract out to people like me to do installations and trouble shooting. They'd have to pay us but they'd have a lot more happy campers using their system. All I really worry about is that Ooma doesn't go out of business and leave me holding a useless pile of gear.

So, if any of you are having a bad experience and you can't solve your problems, I'll be happy to buy your Ooma equipment at a deep discount. I'd say you'd be better served to get it working right though, call support, use the forums, etc. If you want this to work and you want to save this kind of cash, then you have to be committed to making the effort. TANSTAAFL as my ol' buddy R.A. Heinlein used to say, "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch", but Ooma comes as close as anything I've ever seen, and I've seen a thing or two.

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