Thursday, March 24, 2011

Ooma equals Free Phone


As 2011 began, I am sure my long time readers know I sat down to do our annual "family" exam of our finances. We do this each year to ensure that our expenses are as low as they possibly can be, so that we are not just continuing to pay bills because they happen to be there.

What is important to look at? Everything! We pull our checking statement out and go through every payment we make over the months to see what we can reduce. This includes, but is not limited to: auto insurance, home insurance, electricity/gas, TV, telephone, internet, life insurance, cell phone bills, groceries, garbage, etc.

You will find, your family can lower their expenses for the year by hundreds and hundreds of dollars or more! If you haven't called your providers yet, now is the time! Read here on how to get your cable lowered if you use cable or satellite. You can do this with other providers as well: telephone, internet, garbage, etc, if you have competition for these services.

Today, I wanted to share how we saved $480 this year and have FREE telephone. We were paying approx $40 for our telephone each month ( this was just telephone and our internet is on top of that ) and added up to the $480 annually.

One of my readers wrote me early last year to tell me about Ooma. I had never heard of it, but I decided to test it for everyone. And, boy am I glad I did. We have been using it since last year and loved it. So, we decided to cancel our telephone from Cincinnati Bell and move exclusively to Ooma. We have had no problems except wondering where our monthly phone bill went?

Ooma is a box you buy that works like VOIP, or companies like Vonage. It connects through your High Speed Internet, so you do have to have this service already.

What I like about it?

  • It is FREE ( depending on your state, you may owe state taxes. )
  • I was able to port my old phone number over
  • You can connect it so all your wall phones, cordless phones, etc work
  • It comes with many additional services: Free unlimited long distance in country, Free voicemail, Free caller ID, Free Call waiting, etc
  • It has 911 capabilities
  • It is as clear as my home phone and no one has noticed a difference
How do you get it? I bought mine thru Amazon and it does cost $200 approx. They give you a 30 day money back guarantee. When we looked at our phone bill, we figured after 5 months at $40 we had paid $200. So, after 5 months our phone bill would then be free. We decided to try it.

You can go here to see current prices on Amazon.

You can also read about Ooma on their website here or go to Best Buy and buy through them, but they do seem to charge more than Amazon.

My recommendation and what we did:

1. Look at your current phone bill to see how long until you paid $200 and it would be free for you.

2. Order it and install it IMMEDIATELY so you can use the 30 day money back guarantee to see if you like it. We installed it only to ONE cordless phone and used that phone to call people. We did not want our home phone number shut off until we tested it.

3. After 30 days, if you decide to keep it then port your old phone number over. Otherwise, return it on time to get your money back.

4. Once your old phone number is ported over, then connect it to all your phones in the house.

To have free phone month after month, we have been ecstatic. The savings to us year after year is huge. I hope this new company will help your family also save as much as us.



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43 comments:

Anonymous said...

So glad you're back!

Amanda said...

Thanks for the info!!

So glad you are back!

Kathy H said...

Made my day that I saw your e-mail/newsletter, glad your are back to blogging!! You were missed!

Mary Beth said...

You're back! Hooray!!! And with a great, money saving topic, too. Was so glad to see your blog pop up in my e-mail.

Michelle said...

Wow, really missed you! Please say you're back to stay!

Nancy said...

YAY!

Alicia said...

Yay!!! Thanks!
Good to see a post from you!!

Anonymous said...

I have been using Ooma for 5 months now and saving a ton of money.

Whitney said...

Wow! You came outta nowhere- I had to do a double take. I hope you are back to blogging for good.

Amy said...

Welcome Back :)

Anonymous said...

Yay!!!!!!! So glad your back :) Woot Woot!! Celebrate good times, er "blogs"......come on!

Carrie @ Moneysavingmethods.com said...

Thank you for so many nice welcome back comments. It is going to be slow going, I am sure, but I will try and post as I find worthwhile savings/earnings.

Ardy...so glad you love Ooma, too. Are you the reader who wrote me about it last year? I couldn't find the email from the reader to name them in the post....if not you...whoever it was...THANK YOU! We love having no phone bill.

Diana said...

I'm glad you're back, too! Wow!

Anonymous said...

OMG! I am SO glad you are back!!! I was starting to worry about you! (I will admit, I was even trying to track you down to make sure you were okay...)

Janet

Ginny said...

Surprised to see this post, welcome back!

Glen said...

Costco also sells the Ooma Telo

Anonymous said...

Carrie,
On a lark I clicked on your blog to see if by chance you were back - OMG what a pleasant surprise!!!! Your appreciative fans have missed you. I will definitely be back on a daily basis.
Mercedes V.

MoneySavingEnthusiast said...

Never heard of this. Just curious about 911 capabilities. that is the one reason I won't ditch my landline. My town gets bad cell phone reception so I've kept the fossil phone in my house.;0)

Carrie @ Moneysavingmethods.com said...

Hi Moneysavingenthusiast,

Your 911 service does not change from the phone you have now.

Here is their write up on 911 services.

http://ooma.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/60/session/L3RpbWUvMTMwMTA2NzQ2OS9zaWQvMWtpUVRQcGs%3D

Anonymous said...

We have been using OOMA for a few years now and are very happy with it. We have saved TONS of money!!

SOINSPIRED said...

We are still enjoying our Ooma. I love the free long distance phone calls as well. We have had Ooma for about a year.

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Super Amazing Savings said...

That's a fabulous idea/deal! I don't use a home phone service and have one free cell phone and one that's less than $50 per month. If I had known about Ooma years ago I would have definitely switched.

I need to definitely make semi-annual appointments with myself to review all of my bills. Every time I get something in the mail that talks about reduced rates I never have time to consider it or feel like looking into it. Having a set date would alleviate that problem. Great post.

Kelli said...

This is somewhat like the magic Jack and I only paid $35 for it at Walmart and never have to pay anything again. I love it!

Green Mountain Realty said...

Great stuff here, so glad I found this, I will be visiting you here often, thanks.

Anonymous said...

When it comes to savings and loans you have to be very careful on how you act as you might come into dangerous surprises! Being able to adopt simple savings techniques could be a first step into success.

Jill said...

Is that a "state" specific item? Not a bad deal as long as you put up the $200 ahead of time. Thanks for posting.

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its really WOW.. :)

Karl B said...

You can also use an OBi110. It does the same thing. I have had mine for three months, and LOVE it.

Mary Bennett said...

we've had Ooma since 2007 or 2008. We spent more than $200, I think we spent about $400, but our monthly phone bill was more than %100 per month so it didn't take long for us to break even. I've found that the phone clarity is directly equal to how good your inteernet supplier is. Our is not very good, so sometimes the reception isn't too clear. Free makes the inconvenience bearable.
MaryB
PS I'm pretty sure I wrote about OOma a few years ago on my blog.

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Great post, thank you!

Cecilia said...

Great ideas! I have been trying to find different ways of saving money. I just got into an accident, and in addition to getting structured settlement loans, I am going to try budgeting.

Jody said...

carrie are you done updating your site? I use to follow you regularly. just curious, thanks!!

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