Ooma unboxing

Well everyone, the DHL man just dropped off my Ooma delivery.
Below is the unboxing of the contents.

Plus, there is a shot of the much sought after White Rabbits.
Ooma even included 3 stamped envelopes so I may mail the White Rabbits to a worthy person. Very thoughtful.

I was told it was shipped on the 24th and to excpect it by the 31st. Very nice to receive it for the weekend and a lot of potential road test time!

I'll be installing the device and will let you know how it performs.

















Nice design work making the Scout unit look like the main unit's little brother.








The ever sought-after White Rabbits!

The box is on the way

I received an e-mail from Ooma that my box was on the way.
I was supplied with a DHL tracking number, plus an approximate delivery date of the 31st.

So, it looks like I'll be a White Rabbit after all.

Stay tuned for the un-boxing!

Contacted by Ooma

Yesterday, I received an e-mail from the folks at Ooma, wanting me to "complete" my signup by telling them my local phone carrier.
You remember from my previous posts, that I had done this and told them I had a cableco digital phone.

I reaffirmed this in my reply to them and let them know that I still wished to be a White Rabbit.
I advised in my reply that I would be willing to either wait until the landless line units were shipped in September, or would accept delivery of the unit they have available now and swap it out in September.

So, I will let you know if they still regard me as a rabbit or as roadkill.

Here's a picture of their device

I like the looks of the design. Very sleek. Very simple.

Now, if the company can deliver.

I am somewhat skeptical of the company, in that they list Ashton Kucher as their Creative Director. I'm thinking he'll be doing vids and othe ads for them. William Shatner is not listed as a Creative Director for Priceline. .
Why not list him as a paid endorser?
In that vain, I'm betting Ashton is being given stock in lieu of pay, ala Shatner. It worked for Capt. Kirk.
When Priceline went public, his stock was worth millions.
If Ooma takes off, Ashton could be laughing all the way to the bank.

Ooma launches with White Rabbit beta test.

Ooma launched today with their White Rabbit beta test.
Ooma is getting a lot of action in the blogs of Om Malik and Mike Arrington .

You intrepid blogger has been posting to both of their blogs and was fortunate enought to be selected as one of the White Rabbits.

Ooma is seeking to differentiate itself from the rest of the VoIP field by offering free calls...yes, FREE.
However, there is one small difference. Their gadget that allows you to make these free calls is $399. Plus at present, you must have a landline at your place of installation (our house) for the service to work.
This seems to be contrary to the reason for switching to VoIP.
The company replies that this box gives you the "best of both worlds....the cost savings of VoIP, plus the reliability of a POTS line. This seems to me to be a way to supply 911 without having to actually supply it.
Your local landline would be doing that.
On the face of it, the Ooma box seems to be a "designer level" Analog Telephone Adaptor (ATA) with a POTS pass-thru. These are available for $100 or less online.

Doing the math, it would seem that a large portion of the $399 is actually going toward paying for those "free" calls.
Now, don't get me wrong. If you amortize the cost of this device out for a few years, it is less expensive than Vonage, et al.
However, given the recent demise of SunRocket and other firms, one might have a hard time putting all there eggs in a brand new basket.

I'll be offering my evaluation of the unit when it arrives. More as the story develops.