The Best Internet Phone System Gets Better
The best internet phone system - Ooma - got better today.
The Best Internet Phone System Gets Better
Jonathan Takiff, Daily News Columnist
The best internet phone system – Ooma - got better today.
Cited by the “leading consumer product testing magazine” (Consumer Reports) for the highest quality and value of its voice-over-internet phone service, Ooma today started selling a new Ooma HD2 handset piling on extra features. Snazziest is a two-inch color screen that shows the picture of a caller in the user’s contact list when the phone rings. (Images and contact information can be imported from Facebook, Google, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Outlook and Mac AddressBook. )
In fact, any wired or cordless phone system can be plugged into the core Ooma Telo base station - a $199 item that comes with free domestic calling forever. Users just pay about $4 a month in taxes, pennies per minute for overseas calls and whatever your internet service provider charges. Ooma hopes you’ll bump up to its' Premium service for a second phone line and other perks.
The branded Ooma handsets ($59.99) produce better wireless range and higher quality (less compressed) audio when communicating with other Ooma phone users. Ooma handsets also offer one-touch voicemail access, intercom and baby monitoring features. And the HD2 handset likewise improves on its’ predecessor with more easily swapped rechargeable AA batteries and a port for connecting a wired headset. (Bluetooth headsets can be used with an accessory.)
Also launched today is the Ooma Linx – a $49.99 cordless phone jack. Once plugged into an AC outlet the device lets you easily connect and use any phone, fax machine, or other telephony device (like a house alarm system) with the Ooma Telo base station/service. The only downside - Linx claims one of the four wireless digital signal paths available with a Telo, leaving three (max) for HD2 handsets.
