My sister uses it and I have one as well. End-to-end latency is around 0.5-1 seconds (compared to something like 0.25 seconds for Shaw Digital Phone), and it's very cheap for local calling ($4/month). The quality is good, but not great -- it still sounds a bit like a Skype conversation, but subjectively it's better than any other VoIP phone I've ever used/heard. 911 support is built in when you register (it asks for your address), so as long as you don't move it should be okay for that (you can update via the web site). I don't know how it works if you have an alarm system.
The Ooma box itself can be wired internal to your network (ideally with QOS) or act as a bridge between your modem and router. It uses OpenVPN to connect back to the Ooma servers and uses next to no bandwidth (a few hundred MB/month with heavy use, as I recall). The box also acts as an answering machine or something, but I don't use that part. I think mine came with some kind of bluetooth dongle, but I haven't used it.
One thing is that whenever you pick up the phone you hear an "Ooma jingle" for a second while it establishes a connection. You don't really get the classic dial tone either.
Oh, and the Ooma "Prime" service (or whatever it's called) that cost $10/month lets you manage a personal blacklist of phone numbers using their web portal. As in, this jerk face telemarketer number that keeps calling will just get a "line disconnected" message and you never hear a thing. With that you also get a list of common spam numbers that are automatically blocked, which works nicely. Other VoIP companies do the same thing and honestly I don't know why it isn't a standard feature for all phone services.
Last edited by Bob; 12-27-2013 at 12:37 PM.
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