Smart Tech Makes New VoIP Products No-Brainers

In fact, when you sign up for Ooma, Ooma will contact your local phone company and remove some of the premium services that you are currently paying for: call waiting, voice mail and three-way calling. These features are all free with Ooma.

So, for example, when you make a call, Ooma checks to see if it's a local call, and if it is, the call will be routed through your phone line. If it's a long-distance call, it will be routed to an Ooma peer-to-peer network that searches for a hub within the receiver's calling area.

The long distance call then gets routed over the Internet to the hub, and the receiver's local landline would terminate the call. Another feature of note here is the ability to call 911, because calls are routed through a local phone company.

Ooma provided me with a stand-alone model, with a local phone number different from my current one, and it set up without a hitch. Clarity and connection times were comparable to other VoIPs. To add other phones, you'll need to purchase a Scout device for $40.

Keep in mind that Ooma is a new company, and some of you may remember the quick rise and fall of Sunrocket, but the Ooma business model stands a much better chance of survival, given that your number stays local.