New competition -- OOMA

[TheHardy]

TV ads cropped up about a week and a half ago about a "new" service ... Ooma, new to Canada ....

http://ca.ooma.com/

Some more competition in this VOIP sector ... anyone with information on who they are, who they are using to provide their PoPs? Any reviews? I know they are more expensive than FREE, but with this new connection fee for 'charged' calls, FPL is no longer quite as attractive as it once was -- unless there is a large expansion in the ratecenters that are included as FREE $0.00 calls ....

Just my two cents!

[Red89GT]

Ooma is not exactly free. They nail you with "taxes and fees" and their ata unit costs more than FPL.

[TheHardy]

Ooma is not exactly free. They nail you with "taxes and fees" and their ata unit costs more than FPL.

I never claimed them to be free, but thanks for bringing that up. I didn't want to put too much about the competition into this thread, but their monthly fee for basic runs about $4/mo for ALL of Canada, not just select cities/metro areas. I am unsure of their ATA cost, but it is at retailers like London Drugs (Metro Vancouver) -- if I am in one soon, I will see what I can find price-wise and for propaganda.

With FPL's new "connection fee", if users are placing a lot of toll calls within Canada, then the $4 monthly fee which would include ALL of Canada could be offset a lot more quickly than a mere $0.02/min usage, depending on your calling pattern. I know PERSONALLY, most of my calls are 3 mins tops, unless it is a protracted call. Therefore, I would be paying just as much in connection as usage. $0.12 per call cancels out $4 in 34 calls -- 1 per day on average, less if you have shorter calls, which is common these days too.

Couple that with the NEW cell providers offering Canada-wide LD, and all of a sudden FPL's main attraction of the expanded calling area suddenly does not shine so brightly.