Ooma and Vonage Becoming Viable Drop-in Replacements for Land Line Phone
A growing number of residents in and around Dublin, CA are abandoning their AT&T land lines and switching to one of a handful of much cheaper Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) options on the retail telecommunication market. Each VoIP solution comes with its own set of advantages and limitations, and no one product is perfect for everyone. For some consumers today, the optimal solution may still be the land line. The key is finding the solution that best fits your family’s needs.
Some of the leading VoIP phone service providers today include Vonage, magicJack, Skype, and Ooma. For residents who have home monitoring systems that require land lines, none of these VoIP services can serve as a drop-in replacement for an AT&T land line unless the monitoring system can be upgraded to a model that uses a cellular line to dial out in case of emergency. For customers who are not limited by the constraint of a land line, the choices can be daunting. Of all the current VoIP service providers, the Around Dublin Team likes Ooma the best for its simplicity and cost over time.
Skype and magicJack dropped out of the running almost immediately, because both services require the computer to be on for phone service to work. While Comcast appears to offer a phone service comparable to AT&T’s land line, it was eliminated as a viable option due to its prohibitively high minimum monthly cost of $50. The cheapest land line service from AT&T is Measured Rate. AT&T Measured Rate customers in Dublin pay close to $20 after applicable fees and taxes a month and are charged per minute once usage exceeds the $6.75-per-month allowance. For consumers with free nights and weekends on their cell phones, AT&T’s Measured Rate service is sufficient for most telecommunication needs. Paying Comcast $50 a month for what is essentially a fancy land line service, therefore, seems more than a little bit excessive.
The decision quickly came down to a comparison between Vonage and Ooma. Vonage and Ooma will work with any standard telephone, but both services require a special phone box that needs to be plugged into the internet jack. The key difference between the two is that Ooma requires the customer to buy the box, but unlike Vonage, the service is essentially free after the initial purchase.
Ooma’s box retails at $250, but Amazon currently sells it for $200 with free shipping. Once the box is activated, customers will only need to pay the applicable taxes and fees associated with the line. In Dublin, the taxes and fees sum up to be $3.47, which consists of the Regulatory Compliance Fee of $1.59, 911 Service Fee of $1.59, and Federal Universal Service Charge of $0.29.
Vonage, on the other hand, requires no upfront cost, but the lowest level of service (Lite), which includes only 200 minutes of calling time to anywhere in the U.S., costs $10 per month. In less than 2 years, the cost of the Vonage Lite plan can pay for the Ooma box. The true value of Vonage is the $25-per-month World plan under which customers can place unlimited international calls to 60 countries.
While not even Ooma’s $10-per-month Premier plan can offer unlimited international calling, not everyone needs to place calls overseas regularly. For customers who only need to make occasional international calls, phone cards remain a cost effective solution.
The feature set of Ooma’s free basic service (unlimited U.S. calling, caller ID, call-waiting, voice mail) is somewhat limited especially when compared to that of the $10-per-month Vonage Lite plan. Features like three-way conferencing, enhanced voice mail, blacklists, etc. are considered “advanced” and are included as part of the Ooma Premier package, but for consumers who only need a basic service comparable to the traditional land line, Ooma is the clear winner.
Readers will be happy to know that you can transfer your current phone number to Vonage or Ooma. Vonage does not charge for the transfer, while Ooma charges $40. Either service will provide you with a new phone number for free.
Regardless of which VoIP option is ultimately selected, you will need to call AT&T to disconnect your service. If you live in the Tri-Valley, the number to call is (800)264-0002. In our experience, if you start with (800)288-2020, you have very little chance of getting routed to the right representative.
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1:28 PM on April 8th, 2011
I recently switched to Vonage. I live on the west side of town. If Comcast could just be more reliable then Vonage would be a much better option. But my home phone service is not reliable because Comcast is not reliable.
4:57 PM on April 8th, 2011
This is a random article. What does this have to do with anything in or around Dublin? Some postings are commissioned. That I get, but neither Ooma nor Vonage is based in the area.
5:12 PM on April 8th, 2011
I agree with you Anon. Just depends on which way the wind is blowing and what businesses Mr. Zukowski wants to promote. They’re usually tied to his “friends and family.” Sadly, that conflict of interest information is never disclosed… but you can usually tell, as they remove the ability to leave comments.
5:52 PM on April 8th, 2011
And on top of that, both companies have very low customer satisfaction level. Vonage is famous for terminatino fees, all kind of little scams. Quality wise all VoIP services are about the same. Even own Comcast triple-play has better satisfaction level than Vonage. There’re zillion 3rd party VoIP providers out there.
7:00 PM on April 8th, 2011
John,
I live in a condo complex where you buzz people in from the gate using your phone (press 9). Do you know if Vonage or Ooma would work for that or does it need to be the normal land line?
Thanks for your help and interesting article.
8:21 PM on April 8th, 2011
Hi Anonymous,
That’s a great question. Unfortunately, we don’t know enough about building intercom systems to give you a definitive answer. Here is a Yahoo! Answers thread about the subject:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100608065438AAjknYS
After you have discontinued your AT&T land line service, you should still have a dial tone to the phone jack. You just won’t be able to make phone calls. According to the best answer from this thread, as long as you can hook a phone up to the jack, you should still be able to buzz people in as before. We recommend that you do some research about your building’s specific intercom system before moving forward. Thank you.
12:26 PM on April 26th, 2011
I live in a condo and I have Ooma for over a year now (loveing it!), it works with the gate buzzer.
7:56 AM on April 9th, 2011
Nettalk rocks also. It surely beats ATT and it’s pricey landlines.
Tried Skype also but it’s limited.
9:13 AM on April 9th, 2011
What area all these people who give up land lines going to do when they need to call 911? That’s the only reason we keep a land line, because it could save your life and the emergency personnel will know exactly who we are and where to find us.
9:44 AM on April 9th, 2011
Hi Anonymous,
You are right to consider the impact of switching to VoIP on your 911 calls. We recommend everyone who is deliberating between a land line and a VoIP service to read this consumer advisory on the FCC website and see if the VoIP service is for you.
We also highly recommend Dublin residents who are on VoIP to register with the City of Dublin’s CodeRed Community Notification System. Of course, everyone in Dublin should already have the number for Dublin Police Services Dispatch Center, (925) 462-1212, programmed into his or her cell phone. Calling 9-1-1 on a cellular phone routes you to the California Highway Patrol dispatch center in Vallejo. They will then ascertain where you are and reroute the call to the local law enforcement agency.
7:00 PM on April 9th, 2011
Practically all VoIP services are wired directly to your local 9-1-1 dispatch and they know your exact address.
Sorry for ad, but I would recommend Lingo as most reliable with best customer support service. We’ve been using it for 8 years already. Besides, among big providers it has best international rates.
9:13 PM on April 10th, 2011
That service is call E911.
7:13 AM on April 24th, 2011
Was never able to get our alarm to work w/ Vonage…so back to AT&T. Anyone have any luck here?
7:57 AM on April 24th, 2011
Hi Anonymous,
Does your alarm company not offer a model that uses a cellular line to dial out in case of emergencies? For ADT, the service is called Safewatch® CellGuard®.
8:23 PM on May 8th, 2011
NO service for BayAlarm with VOIP. They claim it isn’t not reliable for their system.
10:04 AM on May 10th, 2011
The real question is, what is a good viable replacement for comcast/ATT when it comes to high speed internet around here??
12:49 PM on May 17th, 2011
I have comcast broadband and am also looking for an affordable replacement. Too bad Verizon LTE service has data caps otherwise they would be a great replacement.