Jean Eng Blog

Here’s the latest update on my number porting with Ooma that was scheduled for completion tomorrow 2/10/09, here’s how it went down:

Around noon time today, I get a call from my mom on my cell phone that she tried to call the house number several times but was met with a busy signal. Knowing that my number was getting ported over tomorrow, I just assumed that they were working on it today. I hung up with her after promising to look into the situation.

I checked my 2 line cordless phone that had the landline as line 1 and my ooma line as line 2 to find that both lines were active with dial tones. I then proceeded to call my landline number with my ooma line and was met with a busy signal. I tried it again with my cell phone and got another busy signal.

Next I tried to call out with my landline to my ooma line so I could see the caller id display and the call went through and with the proper caller id name and number, so I concluded that verizon still had my number there.

I went to the ooma forum to see if anyone else had a similar experience and how it concluded. I remember reading awhile back that someone was porting their number and didn’t have phone service at all during the transition and that calling their number resulted in wrongful routing where some stranger picked up the line. I couldn’t find that particular post but I was searching for some answers which eventually led me to post my own question.

Hours went by and I would periodically pick up the phone to see if one of the lines was dead but both still active by late afternoon.

Then around 7pm, I checked my email and saw an email that came through around 6:30pm telling me that the request for my ooma lounge login has been successfully changed to the number I was porting and to use that number to login from now on.

Excitement abound! I quickly tested my two lines again and both had dial tones still but then I used my ooma line to dial my cell phone and it showed my landline number instead of the ooma line number!!

I then hooked up my ooma hub to the line I had already prepped the other night to connect to the phone junction box for the entire house. Easy as pie! Now I have my home phone number on my ooma line and all the phones in the house work just like it did before! Incoming and outgoing works perfectly and the sound quality is A+++

I know I have mentioned this numerous times in previous ooma posts but it really is stellar! Our Verizon phone line almost always had a buzzing sound, often times it sounded really loud when I answer a call that I would have to call the person back or have them call me back just to get a clearer line. I never knew if it was wiring in my house or outside but I’ve had Verizon come out to check it before and they said there wasn’t enough noise to warrant a fix. Perhaps they checked it on the off chance that it was an ok call.

After hooking up ooma to the existing wires in my house, it is clear to me that the problem with the landline buzzing noise was not due to my internal wiring but is an external Verizon issue. There is absolutely no noise on the line now no matter which phone we use in the house, most being cordless phones too. If I pick up the phone and just press one number to listen to the noise factor on the line, I really can’t tell if the phone was on or off, it’s THAT quiet and noiseless! With my landline, I could do the same test and I would hear the buzzing sound easily, sometimes it would be louder and I have to hang up and try again.

Around 8:30pm I get an email from ooma telling me that the porting process is now complete which is a day ahead of their expected date. But by my count, my phone for whatever reason during the transition was not receiving incoming calls for roughly 6 hours. I’m not sure how many calls We’ve missed during that time but I guess if it was that important, they would call back tomorrow or find another way to get a hold of us.

I do have to mention that my mom tried to call the house around 3pm to see if she could get through. She told me that some guy answered the phone and she didn’t recognized the voice so she hung up. Whomever it was that picked up the line to our home number decided to call her back. My mom doesn’t understand English very well so after a few moments, the guy said “ok” and hung up. She figures it was ooma working on the number porting today. Who knows where our number got routed to all day long.

I am very glad that it’s working now….even though I think I’ve lost my ooma number for now. It is probably out there in a loop waiting to cycle out of my account. I’m still debating on whether I want to plop down the other $60 this year to get the premier service. I paid the $39.99 for the number porting but I read that if I sign up for the premier at $99.99/yr, they would waive the porting fee….so essentially, I would only be paying $60 for premier this first year…which also doesn’t start calculating until my 60 day trial period is over so it’s more like I get 14 months of premier at the going rate. I’m not sure if I really will have use for the premier services. I mean, they are awesome features but I didn’t have them before with my landline service so it’s not like I’m really going to miss them.

I’m really tempted but I like the idea of never paying a home phone bill again…well, for as long as ooma stays in business! Seriously though, our Verizon phone bill was around $50/mon. In about 5 months, I would break even on the upfront cost of the Ooma Core VoIP Phone System. If I don’t end up getting premier, I could also sell my Ooma scout unit on ebay or something. It is a cute device and if we use the phone like teenagers do in this house, I can totally see it be beneficial to have that instant second line. Right now, if someone was on the phone, we would just use our cell phones to make a call out, no big deal.

Anyway, I’m rambling. Right now the Ooma Core VoIP Phone System is $10 less than what I paid for it a month ago but the price fluctuates a tiny bit on amazon. Other than the minor hiccup today which was really no big deal, I would recommend this to anyone who is looking to reduce their home phone costs. It still is a gamble to see how long the company will stay in business but if they continue with their quality of service and offer deluxe features, maybe more people will jump on board and help propel this company forward. Hopefully they’ll work on their call center, that seems to be the biggest issue so far.

I am happy my number is ported over, tomorrow I am calling Verizon to make sure the close out my account, no more nickel and dime tactics with them.