Dumb Newbie Question

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BuddhistHippieChick
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Joined:Fri Jul 20, 2012 6:26 pm
Dumb Newbie Question

Post by BuddhistHippieChick » Fri Jul 20, 2012 7:10 pm

Hi!

I just today got my Ooma Telo and I have a few dumb questions.

I was on Vonage for like 18 months and I was flooded with jerks looking for the previous owner of the number Vonage assigned to me (bill collectors). Gaaaah!!! I owe no one anything, anywhere. But it was me who was being griefed by the vampire$.
That was a huge reason why I decided to dump Vonage.

Anyway. The other thing that drove me insane was I was also flooded with calls from parasite vermin scammers calling from Jamaica and Africa telling me I had won a Mercedes or some such nonsense.

Is there a way to blacklist ALL calls from outside of the US? Or block all calls from Jamaica and Africa?

Or does the Ooma blacklist already have all those scums blocked?

Also, how do I make sure my number stays unlisted? I know with AT&T you had to PAY to have an unlisted number! :x

If I put my new Ooma number on the DNC list am I essentially waving a red flag to the scums that troll the DNC list and flaunt it?

Caller ID. When I call people around here it shows up on their caller ID as "Out of Area" rather than showing my name.
It does show my new number but it won't show my name. How can I fix that? I did enter my name during the setup procedure.

When I go to my.ooma.com it tells me "Inbox is currently unavailable, please try again later" I don't know how to fix this.

As for my voicemail, I just want to have a default recording that tells people to leave a message. I don't want to record a personalized message. Is that possible? If I just do not record a message to be played to callers will the system provide a default one?

QoS. I have TWC Road Runner and I think it's like 12m/20m down and 1m up. I think it gives me high speed for a few minutes then slows down which is just stupid. Anyway, I was talking to my friend earlier and it sounded like she was talking to me through a 100 feet of garden hose. It would get better then get bad then get better again. Like ocean swells.. I checked the Telo configuration for QoS and it was at 384 up and 0 down. I have since changed it to 400 up and 1000 down. But that kbps thing confuses me because there's like K and k and M and m and I dunno.. I have the Telo between my modem and my lan and I want it to give priority to phone calls. But I just don't know what I should set it to because of that kbps stuff.

Also, when I'm not using the phone, will the QoS release that bandwidth back to me for normal use? Does it only take bandwidth when it needs it or does it just set that aside and it's gone all the time?

And I guess last thing, I have an iPhone that I would love to use as an extension phone to the Telo. I see there is a blue tooth thingie you can get. Would that let me use the iPhone as if it were a handset to the Telo? I have a stupid AT&T cordless phone but I can't plug earbuds into it at all. It's too small to hold on my shoulder like old 70's type phones. With my iPhone I can plug the earbuds in and stick it in my pocket and walk around and hear really well. Most of the time like with my friend and my boyfriend I use Skype on my iPhone but a lot of people I talk to don't have Skype and never will.

I saw there is an Ooma app for the iPhone but that is not what I want. That's insane to pay X per minute just to use my iPhone here in my own house. But if I can use it either by WIFI or Blue Tooth as a Telo handset, that would be awesome.

Sorry for so many stupid questions but I figured I might as well drop the whole big bomb all at once and hopefully won't have to be a perpetual annoyance..

Thanks!! :)

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lbmofo
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Re: Dumb Newbie Question

Post by lbmofo » Fri Jul 20, 2012 11:33 pm

BuddhistHippieChick wrote:Hi! I just today got my Ooma Telo
Welcome.
BuddhistHippieChick wrote:Is there a way to blacklist ALL calls from outside of the US? Or block all calls from Jamaica and Africa?
Since these guys call from US numbers, can't tell where they are calling from. Currently, Ooma blacklist is based on specific numbers.
BuddhistHippieChick wrote:Or does the Ooma blacklist already have all those scums blocked?
Maybe a lot of them.
BuddhistHippieChick wrote:Also, how do I make sure my number stays unlisted?
Ooma assigned numbers are not listed (maybe there are exceptions, such as listing of previous owner, but not listed is the norm)
BuddhistHippieChick wrote:If I put my new Ooma number on the DNC list am I essentially waving a red flag to the scums that troll the DNC list and flaunt it?
Maybe, maybe not. But I know porting a number will trigger spam calls. Not sure about DNC. Probably. I have an Ooma assigned number that rarely gets spam so hold on tight and don't do anything like DNC to draw attention.
BuddhistHippieChick wrote:Caller ID. When I call people around here it shows up on their caller ID as "Out of Area" rather than showing my name. It does show my new number but it won't show my name. How can I fix that? I did enter my name during the setup procedure.
Give it a couple of weeks. More info: https://www.ooma.com/app/support/outbou ... am-display
BuddhistHippieChick wrote:When I go to my.ooma.com it tells me "Inbox is currently unavailable, please try again later" I don't know how to fix this.
Give it a few hours. Most of the time, it is pretty fast but sometimes, for a few, it takes a while. Call customer service if it doesn't fix itself by tomorrow.
BuddhistHippieChick wrote:As for my voicemail, I just want to have a default recording that tells people to leave a message. I don't want to record a personalized message. Is that possible? If I just do not record a message to be played to callers will the system provide a default one?
Yes. Pick up your phone and press the "play" button on your Telo and follow the prompts. More info: https://www.ooma.com/app/support/ooma-voicemail
BuddhistHippieChick wrote:QoS. I have TWC Road Runner and I think it's like 12m/20m down and 1m up. I think it gives me high speed for a few minutes then slows down which is just stupid. Anyway, I was talking to my friend earlier and it sounded like she was talking to me through a 100 feet of garden hose. It would get better then get bad then get better again. Like ocean swells.. I checked the Telo configuration for QoS and it was at 384 up and 0 down. I have since changed it to 400 up and 1000 down. But that kbps thing confuses me because there's like K and k and M and m and I dunno.. I have the Telo between my modem and my lan and I want it to give priority to phone calls. But I just don't know what I should set it to because of that kbps stuff.
Usually want to disable the download QoS by setting it to 0. If you want to set your upload QoS to 1Mbps, then the Kbps number would be 1000. Your internet quality maybe bad. Here are some posts for your reference.
lbmofo wrote:"Optimal Setup" posts for your reference:

If after Router - viewtopic.php?t=12403

If before Router - viewtopic.php?t=9536#p66155
lbmofo wrote:Take a look at this Voice Quality Issues thread for your reference: viewtopic.php?t=10023
BuddhistHippieChick wrote:Also, when I'm not using the phone, will the QoS release that bandwidth back to me for normal use? Does it only take bandwidth when it needs it or does it just set that aside and it's gone all the time?
Only when on phone.
BuddhistHippieChick wrote:And I guess last thing, I have an iPhone that I would love to use as an extension phone to the Telo. I see there is a blue tooth thingie you can get. Would that let me use the iPhone as if it were a handset to the Telo?
No. That's so you can put your iphone near Telo so you can answer cell phone calls using home phones or Telo handset. Maybe you can consider one of these to plug into the Telo as well: viewtopic.php?t=9042#p63031

BuddhistHippieChick
Posts:4
Joined:Fri Jul 20, 2012 6:26 pm

Re: Dumb Newbie Question

Post by BuddhistHippieChick » Sat Jul 21, 2012 8:07 am

lbmofo wrote:
BuddhistHippieChick wrote:Hi! I just today got my Ooma Telo
Welcome.
BuddhistHippieChick wrote:Is there a way to blacklist ALL calls from outside of the US? Or block all calls from Jamaica and Africa?
Since these guys call from US numbers, can't tell where they are calling from. Currently, Ooma blacklist is based on specific numbers.
BuddhistHippieChick wrote:Or does the Ooma blacklist already have all those scums blocked?
Maybe a lot of them.
BuddhistHippieChick wrote:Also, how do I make sure my number stays unlisted?
Ooma assigned numbers are not listed (maybe there are exceptions, such as listing of previous owner, but not listed is the norm)
BuddhistHippieChick wrote:If I put my new Ooma number on the DNC list am I essentially waving a red flag to the scums that troll the DNC list and flaunt it?
Maybe, maybe not. But I know porting a number will trigger spam calls. Not sure about DNC. Probably. I have an Ooma assigned number that rarely gets spam so hold on tight and don't do anything like DNC to draw attention.
BuddhistHippieChick wrote:Caller ID. When I call people around here it shows up on their caller ID as "Out of Area" rather than showing my name. It does show my new number but it won't show my name. How can I fix that? I did enter my name during the setup procedure.
Give it a couple of weeks. More info: https://www.ooma.com/app/support/outbou ... am-display
BuddhistHippieChick wrote:When I go to my.ooma.com it tells me "Inbox is currently unavailable, please try again later" I don't know how to fix this.
Give it a few hours. Most of the time, it is pretty fast but sometimes, for a few, it takes a while. Call customer service if it doesn't fix itself by tomorrow.
BuddhistHippieChick wrote:As for my voicemail, I just want to have a default recording that tells people to leave a message. I don't want to record a personalized message. Is that possible? If I just do not record a message to be played to callers will the system provide a default one?
Yes. Pick up your phone and press the "play" button on your Telo and follow the prompts. More info: https://www.ooma.com/app/support/ooma-voicemail
BuddhistHippieChick wrote:QoS. I have TWC Road Runner and I think it's like 12m/20m down and 1m up. I think it gives me high speed for a few minutes then slows down which is just stupid. Anyway, I was talking to my friend earlier and it sounded like she was talking to me through a 100 feet of garden hose. It would get better then get bad then get better again. Like ocean swells.. I checked the Telo configuration for QoS and it was at 384 up and 0 down. I have since changed it to 400 up and 1000 down. But that kbps thing confuses me because there's like K and k and M and m and I dunno.. I have the Telo between my modem and my lan and I want it to give priority to phone calls. But I just don't know what I should set it to because of that kbps stuff.
Usually want to disable the download QoS by setting it to 0. If you want to set your upload QoS to 1Mbps, then the Kbps number would be 1000. Your internet quality maybe bad. Here are some posts for your reference.
lbmofo wrote:"Optimal Setup" posts for your reference:

If after Router - viewtopic.php?t=12403

If before Router - viewtopic.php?t=9536#p66155
lbmofo wrote:Take a look at this Voice Quality Issues thread for your reference: viewtopic.php?t=10023
BuddhistHippieChick wrote:Also, when I'm not using the phone, will the QoS release that bandwidth back to me for normal use? Does it only take bandwidth when it needs it or does it just set that aside and it's gone all the time?
Only when on phone.
BuddhistHippieChick wrote:And I guess last thing, I have an iPhone that I would love to use as an extension phone to the Telo. I see there is a blue tooth thingie you can get. Would that let me use the iPhone as if it were a handset to the Telo?
No. That's so you can put your iphone near Telo so you can answer cell phone calls using home phones or Telo handset. Maybe you can consider one of these to plug into the Telo as well: viewtopic.php?t=9042#p63031

Oh wow! Thank you for all the help!

I wish I could figure out how you did all those replies like that, I guess my browser won't let me do that. :(

Anyway, thank you so much..

On the QoS thing, I went ahead and set it for 500kbps up and 1000kbps down because when I'm talking I don't care about the internet, I want a high quality conversation.
I can't really do two things at once anyway.

I put the Telo as the first thing connected to my cable modem then my LAN and WIFI are after it. It was my understanding that this is the best way to assure a quality phone call.
When I had my Vonage I had it connected that way and it worked well. The phone calls were always clear and trouble free. I liked the audio quality of Vonage, I just was dissatisfied with the serious lack of options and no ability to block calls.

Anyway..

I called my new number from my cell phone and I got a default recording that repeated my number and said no one could take the call now. It then went to voice mail, I left a test message. That's perfect! I don't want to change that at all, that is exactly how I want it to be!

I see the light flashing on my Telo for voicemail now. I can play the voicemail through the Telo and that's cool with me. But, when I go to https://my.ooma.com/inbox I still get the "Inbox is currently unavailable, please try again later".. :(

Image

Image

Image

I tried to go through the "Setup more Features" link and it tells me I can't access the voicemail for 10 minutes. But that's the same thing it told me yesterday. So it's just hung in a La-La-Land loop and won't pass go. :(

As for the iPhone and all that, I do not want to use my Ooma as an extension to my cell phone, I want it the other way around. So I won't be using that at all. I don't want the Ooma app on my iPhone either, that serves no purpose for me and would be counter-productive and defeats the purpose of having the Ooma at home. I do not travel so it just does nothing for me.

I did some checking around and I found a headset that will link up with my AT&T wireless phone.

http://www.amazon.com/AT-TL7600-Cordles ... B0019M7DD0

That's about as good as it's going to get I suppose. And there's always Skype which I've been using with a few folks. My best friend has it and it works perfectly on her phone but my boyfriend has a very cheap, very bottom of the line Virgin Mobile Android phone and Skype sucks on it. Plus he refuses to use earbuds so I get horrible echo and his phone reboots like 10 times an hour. But now that I have "unlimited" Ooma I can call him and use my new headset (when it gets here).

I guess for now I'll just have to sit and wait for things to start working right.

Thanks.. :)

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lbmofo
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Re: Dumb Newbie Question

Post by lbmofo » Sat Jul 21, 2012 8:26 am

If your Ooma voicemail is still not setup online, call Ooma customer service to report it and have them fix by calling 1-888-711-OOMA.

If you have 1Mbps up from your cable internet service, I'd set your upload QoS to 800 Kbps instead of 500.

Check out what it is from http://speedtest.net

I'd also turn off download QoS by setting it to 0.

If you haven't bought that item from Amazon, let me know and I'll send you a 30% off coupon code (direct buy from AT&T). Make sure that headset is compatible with your cordless system: http://telephones.att.com/att/index.cfm ... ductID=233

BuddhistHippieChick
Posts:4
Joined:Fri Jul 20, 2012 6:26 pm

Re: Dumb Newbie Question

Post by BuddhistHippieChick » Sat Jul 21, 2012 6:27 pm

lbmofo wrote:If your Ooma voicemail is still not setup online, call Ooma customer service to report it and have them fix by calling 1-888-711-OOMA.

If you have 1Mbps up from your cable internet service, I'd set your upload QoS to 800 Kbps instead of 500.

Check out what it is from http://speedtest.net

I'd also turn off download QoS by setting it to 0.

If you haven't bought that item from Amazon, let me know and I'll send you a 30% off coupon code (direct buy from AT&T). Make sure that headset is compatible with your cordless system: http://telephones.att.com/att/index.cfm ... ductID=233

I do not understand the logic to setting the QoS of the incoming to zero. That makes no sense to me at all. I set it to a high number because I want to be absolutely assured that I will hear the very best quality possible. It initially was set to like 384/0 and while talking to my friend she sounded pretty bad. The quality was like a sine wave going from really good to really poor and back again, throughout the entire time we spoke. I was very disappointed. She said however that I sounded just fine the whole time.

I see several times people have said to set it to zero but my question is WHY?? That simply does not make sense to me! :?

Oh and thank you for the offer but I had already made the purchase a few hours before I posted.
But I bought a used headset. Amazon listed it as "Used: Like new condition" and it was %50 cheaper than a new one.
With Prime I got it for $54. That included taxes and free 2 day shipping.

I hope that it isn't messed up, I've since read that it's possible to lock them to a phone and if the base station dies you can not unlock it to use on another base station and have to send it back to AT&T. So I may have goofed.


I called the toll free number about my voicemail but it says they are closed. :(
I guess I will have to wait until Monday..

Thank you.. :)

murphy
Posts:7554
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Location:Pennsylvania

Re: Dumb Newbie Question

Post by murphy » Sat Jul 21, 2012 6:40 pm

Your download speed is high enough that QOS is not needed. Setting it to 0 turns it off.
The default is 0 down and 384 up. Those are the specs for a DSL connection not a high speed connection.
The upload QOS should be set to about 80% of your measured upload speed. You are not reserving that much for a phone call. You are telling the Telo how much is available for other connections after it takes what it needs for a phone call.
Customer since January 2009
Telo with 2 Handsets, a Linx, and a Safety Phone
Telo2 with 2 Handsets and a Linx

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