For years you have heard Charlie talk about the benefits of ditching your landline for an Ooma Telo device. Ooma is basically a free service (besides the nominal taxes/fees you have to pay) that takes the place of existing landlines using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol).
I decided to get my own Ooma Telo and share how the process of setting up the device was from unboxing to set-up.
Not being a born “techie”, I am always a little hesitant at trying newer things that involve that part of my brain. But, my wife and I are trying to continue to trim expenses where we can (cable is next!) and the landline seemed like a logical step.
All in all, I'd say the whole set-up process took me about 10-15 minutes. What actually takes the most time is waiting for the device to “boot-up” (about 5-10 minutes). It's very easy.
Here's the 4-steps to set-up an Ooma:
Step one
After unboxing, you first need to activate your Telo (so Ooma can register / find your device). You'll do this by first locating your activation code which is printed on the bottom of your Telo. When you find that, you'll go to www.ooma.com/activate and go through the series of steps to get your device registered. It's fast and easy.
Step two
The next order of business is to find the ethernet cable (which comes with the Telo) and attach it to the ethernet port on the back of your device and an open port on your router.
Step three
Then we're going to connect to the telephone by grabbing the telephone cable (from your phone) and attach it to the back of the Telo's phone port.
Step four
Let's power up the Telo by using the included AC adapter and hooking it up to the back of the Telo and your nearest power outlet. The Ooma will quickly start booting itself up. It will display a red blinking light as it works to get the device up and running. This could take anywhere from 5-15 minutes (it took about 10 minutes for my Telo to activate). You'll see a constant blue light showing when it is ready to go.
Go ahead and make your first call!
The neat thing about the Ooma is that you can log-in to myooma.com and take a look at incoming calls, voicemails, your bill and other handy information. If you stick with their basic service, you'll likely be paying under $5 for the monthly taxes / fees that are mandatory (you can see what you might be paying if you switched to the Ooma). Otherwise, you can get their Premiere service that comes with more features for $10/month extra.
So far, I love the new device and have actually hooked up our fax to the Ooma too (which was the main reason we were hanging on to the landline).
Love to hear how yours is working (if you own one) and if you plan to ditch the landline too?
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2 Comments
so you still have to have an internet provider to install ooma.
as i have my internet provider and phone service with the same co
makes little sense to switch.
Hi John
So, I would recommend that you check and see what your phone bill is every month vs. what it costs to have an Ooma device (which goes through your internet). For me, it costs $5.03/mo. This was much cheaper than my landline I had w/ my other provider. Sometimes its hard to see what you are paying for these services as everything is bundled.