VoIP community has some good news to share after the bad news that arised due to the sudden brust of SunRocket, Just within 3-4 days after the death of SunRocket comes the launch of Ooma, a new Internet telephone company. Life must go on !!
Ooma, the newly launched VoIP service, uses a routing system similar to the peer-to-peer sharing data community online to allow normal phones to bypass call costs.
Ooma Inc. announced an innovative consumer technology dedicated to transforming home telephony from being service-oriented to device-oriented and delivers a new way of calling that brings significant long distance cost savings to consumers. The ooma™ system provides a better phone experience, by enabling unlimited U.S. domestic calls via a broadband connection to any wireless or wireline phone number. A nationwide invitation-only White Rabbit BETA program also begins today and general availability of the ooma device is scheduled for the fall of 2007.
To use the ooma service, consumers needs to buy the ooma Hub for $399. Except this one time charge There are no monthly bills when you use the Ooma service. You just buy an Ooma Hub, a small device that looks like an answering machine. You plug it into your Internet connection and attach a phone, and you get free, unlimited domestic calls, local or long distance, as long as you keep your Ooma.
Each ooma system comes with a suite of innovative features including:
- Instant Second Line™ – gives users access to a second line in their home, with no installation or new phones
- Broadband Answering Machine™ – combines the power of voicemail with the convenience of the Internet and ease-of-use of a traditional answering machine
- ooma Dial Tone™ – delivers unique tonality through an audio interface, creating a new dial tone
- ooma Lounge – provides consumers with the ability to manage their voice mail and call settings online
Ooma will combines the VOIP and regular phone service. If you keep your standard phone service, Ooma uses your current phone number. And, if you dial 911, it always places that call over the traditional phone network. During an Internet outage, the device seamlessly switches to use the regular phone service, but you still pay no fees to Ooma.
So you need to pay your local phone company an monthly fee to maintain your base service and one time fee to ooma and enjoy unlimited calling with 911 service. Hope this makes sense.
Ooma works using the peer-to-peer Internet system popularized by file-sharing sites. Each Ooma box is part of Ooma’s network. The box in your home, for instance, might carry someone else’s phone call, though you can’t hear that call, and this doesn’t interfere with your own ability to make and receive calls whenever you want. In my tests, the Ooma didn’t seem to affect the speed of the Internet connection used by our computers.
To build its network, Ooma will be seeding the country with 1,500 boxes over the summer. These will be provided free of charge. But the only way to get one, if you aren’t on the initial list, is to know somebody who has one. Each recipient gets three tokens — redeemable for a free Ooma — to give to others.
I will write an review Ooma service in coming days and will discuss the technology behind the Ooma, Wacth this space for more detail.
If you have any ideas/ views on Ooma, then leave your comments below..
More to explore on ooma:
Read Interview of Andrew Frame, the CEO of Ooma
0 Responses to “Ooma Puts Unlimited Phone Calls in a Box: Peer-to-Peer Telephone Service?”