Home Phone/residential VOIP suggestions
Sep 9, 2019, 1:35 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Central Mass
Programs: Independent
Posts: 4,829
Home Phone/residential VOIP suggestions
Who do you use for your home phone? I don't get reliable cell service at home, so need a regular phone. I want to get away from Verizon/AT$T. Looking for suggestions on who you use, as I would rather not deal with Charter any more than I have to. Reality is I don't use it for much now, but will make the occasional phone call to Canada and the UK.
Sep 9, 2019, 1:41 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: ORD
Posts: 14,230
Buy an ObiTalk and use it with Google Voice. GV service is free, and calling UK is like 1 cent/min.
If you don't otherwise use the phone wiring in your house, just plug the Obi into a phone jack in your house and it'll provide phone service on all of them.
If you don't otherwise use the phone wiring in your house, just plug the Obi into a phone jack in your house and it'll provide phone service on all of them.
Oct 28, 2022, 3:06 pm
#5
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Somewhere in Florida
Posts: 2,616
So it's 2022... has anyone's recommendations changed? Due to Hurricane Ian, CenturyLink's physical plant and buildings were destroyed, so it'll be at least a year before they can provide service, if they bother to at all.
Any thoughts from the Ooma crowd out there? The Ooma LTE setup looks appealing to me, as all of the land-based telcos fell flat on their face in this storm, while the cell carriers did pretty darn well.
I know I recommended ViaTalk in the past, but I'm thinking some sort of cell adapter to POTS jack would be ideal.
Any thoughts from the Ooma crowd out there? The Ooma LTE setup looks appealing to me, as all of the land-based telcos fell flat on their face in this storm, while the cell carriers did pretty darn well.
I know I recommended ViaTalk in the past, but I'm thinking some sort of cell adapter to POTS jack would be ideal.
Oct 28, 2022, 9:17 pm
#6
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 2,912
I use Ooma. My only beef is that the head unit build quality isn't very good. The service itself is great. But the head unit is made out of cheap plastic which degrades into that sticky faux rubber crap that is a dust magnet. But then again, it really just sits where it is since I rarely use my landline. It's just to maintain my legacy number so I don't have to change any accounts.
Nov 18, 2022, 2:04 pm
#7
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Somewhere in Florida
Posts: 2,616
Followup: I went with Ooma LTE. So far, so good. Shipping from their website's a bit slow and they didn't automatically send a tracking #, but once the unit arrived everything worked as expected.
The LTE setup is a little ungainly, as the LTE modem stick connects directly to the back of the Ooma box. They include a 90 degree USB connector for this. It's too bad the LTE modem doesn't have a separate antenna which could have made this setup a bit better. I could probably buy a USB extender cable if need be. BUT, it does work and do the job. After setting up the account, the Ooma box came to life quickly with a temporary number. I put in the information to port my Centurylink # out the same day. 1 week later the port completed. I'm pretty sure Ooma LTE uses the T-Mobile cell network. I've been through multiple hurricanes in different locations around Florida, and in my experience T-Mobile seems to be the best at keeping the lights on after a storm. The LTE Ooma package also includes a backup USB battery pack to keep it powered, which is nice.
The LTE setup is a little ungainly, as the LTE modem stick connects directly to the back of the Ooma box. They include a 90 degree USB connector for this. It's too bad the LTE modem doesn't have a separate antenna which could have made this setup a bit better. I could probably buy a USB extender cable if need be. BUT, it does work and do the job. After setting up the account, the Ooma box came to life quickly with a temporary number. I put in the information to port my Centurylink # out the same day. 1 week later the port completed. I'm pretty sure Ooma LTE uses the T-Mobile cell network. I've been through multiple hurricanes in different locations around Florida, and in my experience T-Mobile seems to be the best at keeping the lights on after a storm. The LTE Ooma package also includes a backup USB battery pack to keep it powered, which is nice.