My Relationship with OOMA gets Complicated

I’m having second thoughts about OOMA.

As I’ve written here before, I’ve had OOMA phone service for home land line for 2 1/2 years now and have been pretty happy with it.  I’ve even upgraded to OOMA Premier to stop phone spammers… But our relationship is getting testy.

First Incident – As I wrote in my Review of OOMA Telo Home Phone Service, neighbors and local businesses using Cox Digital Telephone cannot call the house.  In one particular instance the business using Cox Digital Telephone was the Water Utility.    Mrs. Gubmints missed payment on a monthly paper bill, so the Water Utility gave our house a call on our land line.  OOMA/Cox told them our ‘Number was Disconnected or Not in Service’, so the Water Utility naturally figured we had abandoned our house.   They sent the service truck out to shut off our water, padlock the meter, and placed a red Danger Tag on the meter for some added humilitation/inconvenience  (I guess they figured since the lawn was in good shape and that the house appeared in decent condition that the failed phone call was just a ruse).

So, long story short, a series of unfortunate events kicked off by OOMA (or Cox Cable) denying local inbound phone calls to our home got our water shut off and cost us a fine/fee to get it restored.

Second Incident – Grandpa GubMints decided to take OOMA for a spin after his Cox Bundle jumped by $35 per month.  Grandpa Unbundled, keeping Cox Internet, DirecTV for TV, and OOMA Telo for phone service.    Last Sunday his buddy phoned the house asking for a ride to Church- But instead of getting hold of  Grandpa GubMints, he heard the voice of Lily Tomlin telling him our phone was disconnected:

So, faithful readers, we now know that it’s not just an isolated incident-  It’s not just me purchasing a faulty OOMA Telo box.

If your’e a Cox High Speed Internet customer using OOMA Telo, you need to be aware that your friends and local businesses using Cox Digital Telephone cannot reach you on your OOMA land line.   Make sure you give them an alternate phone number so they can reach you.  And God Help You if you’re relying on your OOMA Land Line to receive a Reverse 9-1-1 Call to alert you to about wildfires approaching your neighborhood.

Will I keep OOMA?  Time will tell.  I’m not going back to a 3-Letter Phone Company, and I’m not going to pay the Cable Company $40/month for a land line.  I’ll likely start sniffing out Vonage or consider switching my ISP next time there is an internet rate hike.

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