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Ooma began as a company whose vision was to bring voice communication into the digital age. The Ooma Cloud is their hosted cloud service that provides easy-to-use phone services through your computer and mobile devices. They offer home phone services, business phone lines and even voicemail solutions so you can manage all of your communications from one interface. Are they really worth it?
Ooma is a VoIP phone service that uses the internet to provide phone services. Ooma has a free trial for new customers, and it also offers cloud-based voice recording for free. Read more in detail here: how does ooma work.
The voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) business phone system from Ooma provides small enterprises with reliable communication options. For solopreneurs and small teams, Ooma offers a free plan. Ooma’s premium plans grow with your organization, combining a broad range of phone services and unified communications, with monthly per-user price beginning at $9.99.
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Overview of Ooma
For small companies, Ooma boasts a slew of handy calling capabilities, particularly after you subscribe to the Ooma Office tier. It’s an excellent choice for solopreneurs and small teams looking for a free solution, as well as small to medium enterprises looking for a scalable VoIP solution with enhanced calling and unified communications features, according to user evaluations.
For What We Recommend Ooma
Ooma is a wonderful scaling option for startups and small companies. The service is basically free at its most basic level, with members just paying for hardware and any related taxes and fees. As a result, it’s a good option for solopreneurs. It’s simple to upgrade to subscription plans as your company expands and add additional calling options and unified communications solutions.
When Should You Use Ooma?
- When you’re looking for a free or low-cost VoIP service: Ooma Basic, while being classified under residential plans, is an excellent free business calling option for solopreneurs and small enterprises. You may call anywhere in the United States with the Basic service, and all you have to pay is the cost of the Telo device plus taxes and fees. It also works for organizations with remote staff and solopreneurs who want to keep personal and professional conversations separate. This is why the company is regarded as one of the top VoIP services for usage in a home office.
- When you need a toll-free number to make your business seem larger: A number with an 800 prefix helps even solopreneurs look national when clients call. Plus, with international calling, your company may quickly communicate with prospective worldwide partners without paying high expenditures. Learn why Ooma is one of the finest VoIP companies with free 800 numbers on our list.
When Ooma May Not Be Right For You
- If you have worldwide customers: Ooma does not supply international phone numbers, despite having outstanding international calling services. Clients from other countries will need to call you on your local or toll-free phone number. When compared to a company like MightyCall, which offers foreign numbers in many places, this makes it more costly for them to call you. Alternatively, have a look at our roundup of the best VoIP for international calls.
- If you want to start a contact center, follow these steps: There aren’t as many call or contact center capabilities with Ooma as there are with companies like 808. While departments may benefit from simultaneous ring groups, there are no call monitoring options, notwithstanding Talkdesk’s contact center option. While voice and analytics are helpful, the finest contact center as a service (CCaaS) providers accomplish this far better in most circumstances.
Pricing for Ooma
Pricing for Ooma tiers include five plans to choose from. The first two, Ooma Basic and Ooma Premier, are considered residential plans. All tiers provide unlimited calling within the U.S., but you need the Premier plan or a business plan to call nearby territories like Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. Companies needing unified communications as a service (UCaaS) features will find them primarily in the highest-priced Enterprise tier.
Check out our small company guide to UCaaS if you’re interested in learning more about what a UCaaS solution can do for you. It truly emphasizes some of the important capabilities that UCaaS providers give, as well as the advantages for your company.
Features of Ooma
Ooma makes it reasonably simple to locate the corporate communication and collaboration solutions you need. While it may be off-putting for some to pay the most expensive plan in order to obtain access to UCaaS services, Ooma’s inclusion of Options for International Calling in every tier is a significant benefit. Furthermore, the Enterprise plan’s cost is equivalent to the basic and lower-tier packages of certain other providers.
Here’s a rundown of some of Ooma’s noteworthy features:
Beginning with Ooma Office Pro, make and receive calls using Ooma’s desktop software.
Featured Calls
Many essential business phone system functionalities are not supported by the Basic package. However, if you reach the Office tier of Ooma’s business plans, your firm will have access to numerous critical features and capabilities. Here are a few to think about:
- This “parks” the call so that the agent may rapidly swap devices or transfer it. It seems like you’re on hold for the caller while you’re in call parking.
- Employees assigned to the same department may have incoming calls routed to the whole group via ring groups.
- Music will play when calls are transferred, and you may choose what music to play.
- Virtual receptionist: A virtual receptionist, also known as an auto-attendant, is a call routing mechanism that routes calls to certain extensions or departments when clients hit the appropriate keys for each department. Audio menus are used to accomplish this.
- Call transfer: This feature enables you to rapidly transfer calls to other devices and coworkers. This is done by simply pressing the transfer symbol on the mobile app, and it is also accessible on IP phones with a simple button push.
- Virtual fax, also known as e-fax, simulates conventional faxing while still utilizing VoIP to eliminate the need for a large equipment. This is usually done with PDF files, and you may transmit several PDF files as a single fax using Ooma. For faxing, Ooma assigns each user a unique number.
Support is provided at no cost.
The phone assistance given by Ooma Care is substantial. Agents are accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, which is advantageous if things go wrong at inconvenient times. Customers in the United States and Canada have the option of submitting a ticket through the website or chat, as well as phone assistance.
Porting is completely free.
If you sign up for one of Ooma’s business plans, you may move your current phone numbers in for free. While transferring your number may take a few days, this is mainly due to the prior carrier, according to Ooma.
Options for International Calling
Ooma members enjoy a variety of international calling choices, even at the Basic tier. The following is a graphic representation of Ooma’s worldwide calling plans:
Ooma provides a variety of international calling choices. You may make calls in up to 70 countries on a case-by-case basis for relatively low prices, or you can make unlimited calls in up to 70 countries. This is competitive with other well-known international VoIP providers like as 88, and provides possibilities for organizations wishing to grow into new markets.
Extensive Hardware & Software Support
Customers may choose from an excellent selection of IP phones from Ooma. Grandstream makes Ooma phones, like the 2603 IP Phone, which provide a range of helpful capabilities including five-way conferencing and high definition (HD) audio.
Ooma, like other VoIP companies such as RingCentral or Nextiva, offers softphones and smartphone applications for calling. This is especially valuable for companies with a growing number of mobile agents. They may dial from several linked devices, and they’ll miss fewer calls thanks to features like simultaneous ring.
Agents may use the applications and hardware to contact consumers, receive and send SMS text messages, and transmit files through multi-media service (MMS) messaging. You may even make brief calls to another device if necessary.
Ooma’s omnidevice capabilities is available on mobile, desktop, and IP phones.
UCaaS Features
While the first three levels of users will only have VoIP calling choices, the Ooma Office Pro subscription unlocks unified communications services. This includes the ability to do video conferences and one-on-one or group video chats. The platform’s video conferencing contains all of the most useful functions, including:
- Sharing a screen
- Scheduler for meetings
- Integration with Google Calendar
- Chat
- Participant who is silent
- Capability to use a password
- Dial-in numbers that are toll-free
- Calls are recorded.
Ooma’s video conferencing software can be used on a laptop.
The number of participants rises from 25 to infinite at the Enterprise tier, allowing organizations to effortlessly expand as their requirements develop. Other UCaaS capabilities include team messaging, which allows teams to swiftly communicate about deliverables and meeting schedules, and presence, which displays team members’ availability.
Ring with Multiple Devices
With Ooma, employees can use a softphone on their laptop, an IP phone at their desk, and the smartphone app on their Android or iOS device. Ring with Multiple Devices sends a call to the employee on all of their devices simultaneously, so it’s far more unlikely for them to miss a call. While features like remote call forwarding from other providers let agents receive calls on the device they want, this may be simpler and more effective for remote agents or reps on the go.
Dialing in 7-Digits
The seven-digit dialing capabilities of Ooma is very handy for companies making long-distance calls inside a local region. When calling in a local region, seven-digit dialing enables you to dial simply the number without the area code. While this was formerly a standard component of traditional landline systems, it is now uncommon in small business VoIP services. When phoning local establishments, this effectively saves time and effort.
Alternatives to Ooma
Ooma locks some key features like video conferencing and team chat behind its highest tiers and doesn’t offer international phone numbers. So while it’s a top VoIP provider for small businesses communications, it might not be the best one for your business. Here are some noteworthy Alternatives to Ooma to consider:
*Price is based on a single user. RingCentral’s monthly cost per user reduces to $19.99 for two to 20 users, $17.99 for five to 19 users, and $14.99 for 20 or more users. Unlimited international calling to 14 countries is included in the X2 plan, while unlimited international calling to 48 countries is included in the X4 and above plans.
If you want more information about other options, check out the six best Alternatives to Ooma. Our expert review provides a more in-depth comparison of the key features and strengths of each provider.
What Users Have to Say
Most Ooma reviews from users align with our expert evaluation. Ooma customers generally use it as a small business solution for calling, and many opt to pay for the Office tiers to access the various Featured Calls included. In general, the support system and service uptime available from Ooma garner some of the highest accolades from customers.
At the time of publishing, Ooma has the following average ratings on these prominent review sites:
Many consumers like how handy the virtual receptionist is for their company, according to Ooma evaluations. The program is said to be straightforward and simple to use, with a robust set of functions accessible to users. Furthermore, regardless of tier or number of users, clients believe the cost to be quite reasonable. Unexpected costs, on the other hand, were a source of dissatisfaction for some clients.
Ooma’s customer service is praised by users for being great, with knowledgeable and kind representatives, yet receiving a response through SMS text assistance might be delayed. Furthermore, when you have a slow internet connection, the Android app seems to be clumsy and difficult to use.
Conclusion
According to Ooma reviews, it’s a terrific solution for small organizations with a range of communication requirements, and the fact that it scales well is a big plus. Most people think that it’s also a simple solution to set up for anybody wishing to migrate their communications to the cloud. Ooma is a strong competitor because to its ability to call, text, and collaborate. While an uptime guarantee would be good, most users seem to find the network to be dependable.
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The “ooma phone service” is a new business telephone service that offers free domestic long distance, low rates for international calls, and no contracts. The Ooma Review found the Ooma Phone Service to be the best VoIP solution for small businesses.
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