{"id":20911,"date":"2011-03-22T13:50:30","date_gmt":"2011-03-22T18:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?p=20911"},"modified":"2011-03-22T13:50:30","modified_gmt":"2011-03-22T18:50:30","slug":"techbite-a-nifty-way-to-make-free-internet-calls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/techbite-a-nifty-way-to-make-free-internet-calls\/","title":{"rendered":"TechBite: A Nifty Way to Make Free Internet Calls"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/stevewp.jpg\" alt=\"steveb\" class=\"attachment wp-att-7167 alignleft\" \/><\/p>\n<p>By Steve Bass<\/p>\n<p><b>Ooma: Free Internet Calls<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ooma.com\/products\/ooma-purevoice\" target=\"_blank\">Ooma<\/a> is a<br \/>\nsure-fire winner for letting home users make free calls<br \/>\nwithin the United States and pennies per call overseas.<\/p>\n<p>Pick up the phone and you&#8217;ll hear a familiar dial tone<br \/>\n(not that anyone dials anymore; heck, few people under 30<br \/>\neven get what that means). And once you&#8217;re connected, the<br \/>\nvoice quality is remarkable &#8212; as good as your landline &#8212;<br \/>\nand better if you call another Ooma user<br \/>\n[http:\/\/www.ooma.com\/products\/ooma-purevoice].<\/p>\n<p>Costco sells the Ooma for $179; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B002O3W4LE\/?tag=pibmug-20\" target=\"_blank\">Amazon&#8217;s<\/a><br \/>\nprice is closer to $200. You can connect your existing<br \/>\nlandline to Ooma &#8212; corded or cordless &#8212; or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B002O3W4LO\/?tag=pibmug-20\" target=\"_blank\">buy Ooma&#8217;s<br \/>\n$49<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ooma.com\/products\/ooma-handset\" target=\"_blank\">cordless handset<\/a><br \/>\n.<\/p>\n<p>I have lots of disclaimers, though, things for you to<br \/>\nconsider before sending your landline to the landfill.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ooma Telo with handset<\/p>\n<p>Have a Static IP? Oy Vey<\/b><\/p>\n<p>If you have broadband &#8212; DSL, cable, or fiber &#8212; and a<br \/>\nsimple setup, say, a run-of-the-mill router, Ooma will<br \/>\nwork perfectly. I tried installing it at a neighbor&#8217;s<br \/>\nhouse and Ooma was up and running, and I was talking, in<br \/>\nabout 20 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>If you have a complicated system like mine, with multiple<br \/>\nrouters, switches, and &#8212; this one&#8217;s important &#8212; a static<br \/>\nIP address, Ooma will also work perfectly &#8212; eventually.<br \/>\nBut you&#8217;ll have to tweak and fiddle, reconfigure and<br \/>\nunconfigure, and do a little Irish jig while standing on<br \/>\none foot and whistling Dixie.<\/p>\n<p><b>Let&#8217;s Get Technical<\/b><\/p>\n<p>For those of you technically-minded: Ooma wants the prime<br \/>\nlocation &#8212; right after the cable- or DSL-modem &#8212; instead<br \/>\nof letting the router have the spot. That way Ooma gets<br \/>\nthe best, highest-bandwidth signal; all the other devices<br \/>\non the network are next in line.<\/p>\n<p>That arrangement&#8217;s fine if your router&#8217;s using a dynamic<br \/>\nIP address and DHCP<br \/>\n[<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Pro tocol\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Pro<br \/>\ntocol<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s more complicated when your router is set up with a<br \/>\nstatic IP [<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/IP_address\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/IP_address<\/a>]<br \/>\naddress. Ooma insists on having that static IP address &#8212;<br \/>\nremember, it&#8217;s first in line &#8212; and the router is treated<br \/>\nas just another device on the network, and must revert<br \/>\nback to DHCP.<\/p>\n<p>As a work-around, I connected the Ooma directly to the<br \/>\nrouter, making it now, unhappily, second in line. The<br \/>\nvoice quality wasn&#8217;t nearly as good as it could be, until<br \/>\nI spent another hour changing the router&#8217;s QoS settings<br \/>\nand opening selective ports. Then I tried the Ooma and the<br \/>\nvoice quality was superb.<\/p>\n<p>My total investment? Four hours of diddling. I had to<br \/>\nkvetch and e-mailed a senior Ooma tech person:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Here&#8217;s my conclusion: Average users with a simple<br \/>\nbroadband configuration may not have any setup problems.<br \/>\nBut the task of setting up the Ooma with a static IP<br \/>\naddress means reconfiguring the router; ultimately, it&#8217;s<br \/>\nexceedingly time consuming and a far more difficult task<br \/>\nthan an average user can &#8212; or should &#8212; handle.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Her remarkably frank reply:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Your analysis is pretty much correct. Ooma isn&#8217;t for<br \/>\neveryone and those with a more complicated network can<br \/>\nfind it problematic if they do not have the full knowledge<br \/>\nneeded to make each device co-exist happily or wish to<br \/>\nmake the necessary changes to their environment to make<br \/>\nthe system work.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Those that do invest the time typically get it up and<br \/>\nrunning, but for the most part, the more devices they have<br \/>\nin line, the more room for error they leave.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As a simple residential product, it may not be up to task<br \/>\nfor the small business user who has a mildly complex<br \/>\nenvironment.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><b>Some Before-You-Buy Ooma Decisions<\/b><\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re still reading, and still intrigued, you have<br \/>\nsome things to think about before you purchase the Ooma.<\/p>\n<p>During the online activation process, you can move your<br \/>\nexisting phone number to the Ooma. It costs $40, but it&#8217;s<br \/>\nfree if you purchase a one-year Ooma Premier<br \/>\n[<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ooma.com\/premier\/features\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.ooma.com\/premier\/features<\/a>] $10 per month<br \/>\nservice. That&#8217;s a smart idea if you plan to disconnect<br \/>\nyour landline. (Click the link above to learn about<br \/>\nPremier&#8217;s terrific features.)<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, if you plan to keep your landline, Ooma<br \/>\nwill give you a new local number that&#8217;s used exclusively<br \/>\nfor the Ooma. <\/p>\n<p>Whether to use the Ooma with your existing landline or cut<br \/>\nthe cord with Ma Bell can be a difficult decision. The<br \/>\nadvantage of keeping the landline is you always have a<br \/>\nhard-wired connection, critical if you need to call 911.<br \/>\nThat&#8217;s because if the Internet goes down (and when does<br \/>\nthat ever happen?), or your power goes out, Ooma won&#8217;t<br \/>\nwork.<\/p>\n<p>I want to emphasize that. If you rely solely on Ooma and<br \/>\nan Internet connection, your link to 911 ends when the<br \/>\nconnection ends.<\/p>\n<p>With a landline, and an old phone that doesn&#8217;t need power<br \/>\nto operate, you have the assurance of a phone connection.<br \/>\nYour other option, of course, is to have an inexpensive<br \/>\nmobile phone handy. <\/p>\n<p><b>Ooma: Keep Thinking<\/b><\/p>\n<p>There are a bunch of other issues to consider, things that<br \/>\na buyer making what I think is a significant technology<br \/>\nchange, ought to know about. Unfortunately, Ooma&#8217;s site<br \/>\ndoesn&#8217;t always make this information easy to find.<\/p>\n<p>* The Ooma has a built-in answering machine and the<br \/>\n  device needs to be located near your Internet modem. So<br \/>\n  unless you&#8217;re using Ooma&#8217;s cordless handset<br \/>\n  [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ooma.com\/products\/ooma-handset\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.ooma.com\/products\/ooma-handset<\/a>], you&#8217;ll have<br \/>\n  to go to that location to check for messages.<\/p>\n<p>* Ooma suggests that if you have a home alarm system<br \/>\n  that uses a phone line, keep the landline.<\/p>\n<p>* Read the Ooma FAQ<br \/>\n  [<a href=\"http:\/\/ooma.custhelp.com\/app\/answers\/detail\/a_id\/135\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/ooma.custhelp.com\/app\/answers\/detail\/a_id\/135<\/a>]<br \/>\n  if you use a fax.<\/p>\n<p>* Unless you subscribe to Ooma Premium<br \/>\n  [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ooma.com\/premier\/features\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.ooma.com\/premier\/features<\/a>] service ($120 per<br \/>\n  year), you&#8217;ll need to pay monthly taxes and fees. Mine<br \/>\n  calculated to a little over $40 per year, making the<br \/>\n  premium service &#8212; and its extensive features &#8212; almost<br \/>\n  worth the money.<\/p>\n<p>* Ooma includes their premium service for two months and<br \/>\n  then, and oh-how-I-hate-it forces you to opt-out in<br \/>\n  order not to pay the $10 per month fee.<\/p>\n<p>* They limit you to 5000 outgoing minutes<br \/>\n  [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ooma.com\/blog\/2009\/10\/08\/oomas-unlimited-home-   phone-service\/\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.ooma.com\/blog\/2009\/10\/08\/oomas-unlimited-home-<br \/>\n  phone-service\/<\/a>] per month, a number I don&#8217;t think most<br \/>\n  people will use. Not a problem unless you&#8217;re running a<br \/>\n  call center.<\/p>\n<p><b>My Take on Ooma<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The Ooma is a fine product with excellent voice quality<br \/>\nand nifty features. if you can do without a landline and<br \/>\nhave a cheapo mobile phone for backup, Ooma can probably<br \/>\npay for itself in a couple of years. I encourage you to<br \/>\nbuy and try one from a store that will let you return it<br \/>\nwithout penalty. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.techbite.com\/\">Sign Up for more great TechBite content here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/techtalk.pcpitstop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/stevewp.jpg\" alt=\"steveb\" class=\"attachment wp-att-7167 alignleft\" \/><\/p>\n<p>By Steve Bass<\/p>\n<p>I found a<br \/>\nsure-fire winner for letting home users make free calls<br \/>\nwithin the United States and pennies per call overseas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":66012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142],"tags":[396,397,398,399,400,278,4879],"class_list":["post-20911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-techbite","tag-dynamic-host-configuration","tag-dynamic-ip-address","tag-free-internet-calls","tag-ooma","tag-static-ip-address","tag-steve-bass","tag-techbite"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>TechBite: A Nifty Way to Make Free Internet Calls<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Steve Bass I found a sure-fire winner for letting home users make free calls within the United States and pennies per call overseas.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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