FierceVoIP hooks up an ooma Hub

FierceVoIP hooked up an ooma Hub over the weekend to check out the device-based VoIP service unveiled over the summer. Device-based VoIP is nothing new, as the folks at PhoneGnome and magicJack generously reminded us when ooma hit the scene with celebrity panache (spokesmodel Ashton Kutcher is ooma's creative director).

Click to view a larger image...

Device-based VoIP promises free domestic calls for the price of the gear, and the price of the gear appears to reflect the packaging. magicJack is a $40 USB device; PhoneGnome a $100 router; and ooma, a $400 designer box with a GUI that a relatively unambitious trade hack can figure out.

The elementary interface is one part of ooma's twofold conceit. The other is presentation. It arrives wrapped like a Tiffany crystal fruit bowl, only more secure. Do not get a manicure before unsheathing the ooma. The black box requires an unladylike amount of prying, shaking and tugging, but that's pretty much the most difficult part of set-up.

Like Dell Computer, the user manual writers at ooma went to the Ikea school of pictography, plus they added primary colors.

The ooma Hub is cabled via Ethernet between the computer and the DSL modem into ports respectively marked "home" and "modem." It takes its own phone line, which involves plugging a splitter into the DSL wall jack and running a line to the Hub connection marked "wall." Plug it into a "power" source and a "phone," and turn on the computer.

I run a Dell 8300 Dimension with too much junk operating in the background, so it took a few minutes for the computer to realize what just happened. I couldn't get an Internet connection at first, even though network access appeared normal. Internet Explorer couldn't find it, and neither could the Hub, which employs a color-coded blinking diagnostic pattern on the aforementioned eight-button GUI. A simple repair command produced the desired result.

The next step involved configuring the answering function via simple prerecorded voice prompts. You record your name and your answer. You don't push a 50-digit secret code to hear it again, indicate your acceptance, select it to be your voice mail answer and then exit the system. Name and answer: That's probably worth $40 right there.

ooma promotes owning your dial tone, but takes the idea a bridge too far with the dial tone itself. It sounds like a canned fanfare that settles into the usual mechanical hum. The first time is kind of different. The second time, annoying. After that, grating. ooma had a few thousand beta testers on this thing. Did they all drink the Kool-Aid? If I wanted a fanfare, I'd hire a dude with a trumpet.

I did encounter one obstacle I'm sure was anomalous. I didn't have a phone number. You need a phone number to access your account online. It also comes in handy for incoming calls. I couldn't find it anywhere. Not on the packing ticket, in the directions, the box, the materials. It wasn't in any of the set-up e-mails. I finally had to call my cell phone to figure it out.

Over all, the ooma does what it says it does--provides phone service. It doesn't take an engineering degree to set it up. The audio transmission seems as good as a land line on both ends. Is it worth $400? (It was originally supposed to launch at $600 and drop to $400 as of next year, but Steve Jobs gooned up that strategy.) The price is subjective to how much time a person spends on the phone and where their talk targets are. A reticent individual with an adequate cell plan probably doesn't need one of these. A telecommuting professional might find it pretty useful.

Related Articles:
Find out what ooma's chief told FierceVoIP
ooma versus PhoneGnome ... Read all about it
PhoneGnome chief talks with FierceVoIP Read it here
VoIP spawns device start-ups Report