The Cost of Connection

If I asked you what you spend every month on communication and data services, could you answer how much you spend? I'm talking telephone, whether you have land line, mobile or both, television (cable, satellite, or over the air) and Internet. Do you wonder "Am I paying too much for what I get?"

Maybe you're like me, and you look at the cost of cable, and you feel like you are going to swoon? Or the monthly price of a cell phone, not to mention a second line and optional data plan.

What options you have available to you depends on where you live. For instance, at both our previous house and current, we lived outside of area where DSL Internet was available, meaning we knew we would be paying for cable Internet. Before we moved, we were paying $68 for a higher tier Internet connection with basic cable, plus $28 for a landline phone, and $15 a month for two prepaid Tracfones renewing every month. That totaled $111 a month.

Then last summer as we were getting setup in our new house, we came across a VOIP (Internet Phone) system known as Ooma. We did the math, and figured out that our almost $30 a month could pay for the Ooma in about 8 months which happened last spring. We brought it home, dumped our line with AT&T, and downgraded our Internet speed from the higher tier to the value tier (about 3Mb/s), realizing we could save more money since we almost never used the highest speed. Our new cost with these changes are Ooma phone: $0, Internet and cable: $47, and prepaid cell phones (2 phones, 1 year & 800 minutes/phone): $17. Grand total: $64 a month.

You are probably wondering how the Ooma system works, and what are the Pros and Cons of the Ooma. I have the Ooma plugged directly into the cable modem, with my wireless router plugged into the Ooma Core. The basic Ooma system includes free local and long distance calling for up to 5000 minutes a month, which comes to over two and a half hours a day on the phone. Caller ID and Call Waiting are included. The Ooma works with an ordinary phone, and it has a voice mail system, which will answer calls if you choose not to take a call while you are on another call. Ooma, by using the power of the Internet to cross International lines, is able to get you International Call rates at pennies per minute, or less.

The only problems you might have with the service are losing your phone service in a power outage (probably not a concern if you have a cell), and occasionally you may notice some odd sounds from the digitalization of your phone service. We've noticed less of this as the service has matured. New users do have to pay taxes such as the 911 access tax and other minor fees totaling a few dollars a month.

Ooma has the ability to upgrade to premium service for $10 a month to add extra features like a second phone line, ringing your cell when somebody calls your home number, or getting a phone number local to somewhere else in the country, for instance where your kids are attending school. Then they can call without using their cell minutes or paying long distance.

For me personally, I was always counting the minutes we were using on long distance before we got the Ooma, even though we never racked up more than $3, but now calling long distance is never a concern.

If you are like lots of other young folks today that are using your cell as your only phone, you are probably over paying compared to using the Ooma plus your cell. With Ooma at home, you could get a plan with much lower minutes, by using the Ooma phone line minutes to help you conserve your mobile minutes.

If this is something you might be interested in, check out the Ooma website, or head over to Amazon to see reviews and features list they have.
If you are interested in premium features, better quality sound, or a phone that has buttons giving you access to Ooma features while you are away from the base, you might check out the Ooma Telo.