Ooma Telo VoIP Home Phone System

The telo base device itself works great and setup no problem. Its nice and clear and works perfect.

The handsets on the other hand, they setup and sync to the base no problem. I had no problem syncing them. However, they will not ring when someone calls or even show someone is calling. I tested this with my cell phone. I unregistered them and registered, went through various settings but nothing seemed to work. In the end, I hooked up 3 panasonic handsets that I got from a local walmart and those are working great with the telo.

I could not get the handsets to work no matter what I did and I am someone I would consider pretty good with tech and I have a lot of patience with trouble shooting. And man, I really wanted these to work.

If I were you, I would buy just the ooma telo and a different brand of handsets (phones) of your choosing, do not get the HD3 handsets, they do not work. I am not sure what the problem is. But the problem was definitely with the handsets and not the base.

Overall, I am happy with the telo base itself and phone service. I will also be happy with the amount of money I will be saving vs paying for a landline. Just disappointed with the HD3 handsets though.

worked exactly as advertised

Important details: we use an older (2018) Intel Macs on AtlanticBB/Breezeline.

We’ve used an ATT landline for years & have never had a cell phone or Internet phone; we’re probably the last GenXers in the US to even have a landline, & since we barely use the phone anyway, never felt the need to switch. However, ATT’s worsening service, horrible customer care, and persistent issues with our line finally drove us to look for other options. Ooma was recommended to us by folks on the Reddit sub for our city (r/Columbus).

I was a bit concerned over the bad reviews here, I admit, especially since health issues require us to have a reliable 911 ability. After going thru the entire setup process, I’m now puzzled; the biggest problem we had was entering our credit card info.

So, this is the basic Telo unit with three wireless/wifi handsets. Telo plugs into your modem/router, handsets’ bases need to be plugged into a power source & the bases connect over wifi to the Telo unit. We’ve currently got two of the handsets in use; third is being saved as a backup.

The setup directions (booklet & app) were clear and easy to follow: set up the account, plugged the Telo unit into the ethernet port of our modem/router unit & waited for all the updates to finish. That part took over an hour, mostly because our ISP had sent us new equipment the day before and THAT was having fits. Two reboots, one reset & a call to Breezeline support later, our Internet finally stabilized & Ooma’s Telo finished its updates. Plugged in the wifi handsets, waited for the handsets to download their updates, got the “welcome” call from Ooma, and much cheering commenced.

Our ATT line has been filled with static for the last couple months, ruining several important calls & making it hard for callers to hear us, too. As our first test, we had my elderly mother-in-law call us on the new temp number, and we talked to her on a perfectly clear connection on those wireless handsets while we walked around the apartment to make sure the connection held.

It’s a small apartment, roughly 600 sq ft, and the connection was clear & strong all thru it. We’re surrounded by tons of other Wifi points/home networks, but there’s no interference. We’re still getting used to all the options & menus on the handsets (old phone is just a simple handset attached to an answering machine), but the documentation & shortcut card have been easy to understand & follow so far, and our phone needs are pretty basic anyway.

the only major issue was getting the billing information entered in. For some reason, Ooma’s app, website, & automated phone customer-service refused to accept any credit card info from us. Bank showed no issue with the account, but didn’t show any declines or auth attempts from Ooma, either. Took two calls to Ooma Customer Service to resolve — first rep referred us to the automated phone line (no go); second call rep had to transfer us to an actual supervisor to manually enter the billing into our account.

Our old phone number finished its porting yesterday — took only a week & works great. I’m dreading the ATT cancellation call, but that’s ATT’s issue. I’ll add to this review after a month or so, after we’ve settled into and used Ooma a while. But so far? Impressed.