Make Free Local Calls And Get $ 548.36 At The End Of One Year?
What? Get free local phone calls and then get $ 548.36 at the end of one year? Yes, that sounds too good to be true but that was the figure I got when I plugged in a modest average amount of $ 70 per month that I had to pay my telephone company for local calls into the savings calculator at the Ooma Telo official website. As I did not know the formula that the Ooma website uses to derive that figure, I decided to cross check it on my own to make sure that Ooma did not exaggerate the figure.
Is The Vendor Claims Exaggerated?
Here are the assumptions:
- I assumed Ooma Telo cost about $ 200. Some retailers sell it at a slightly higher price while others slightly lower, so I will just stick to $ 200
- I have to spend an average of $ 70 per month on local calls only via my p lain o ld tlephone s ystem (POTS) and totally replace my POTS with a V oice o ver IP (VOIP) telephone system like the Ooma Telo
- I am already subscribed to a cable connection so I will not include this monthly cost or the initial purchase of a modem or router as I am already using those for my internet access. This is because what I wanted to do is to compare the cost incurred if I were to switch from POTS to Ooma Telo; something like comparing apple to apple but in a very simple way
The justification is very simple. At $ 70 a month, it would have cost me $ 70 x 12 = $ 840 annually for my POTS. If the Telo cost me $ 200, then at the end of one year I would have saved $ 840 – $ 200 = $ 640. So it looks like the Ooma Telo's website calculation is more conservative by firing the savings at only $ 548.36 instead of $ 640.
Oh by the way, you may have noticed that I have conveniently forgotten to include the monthly call cost of the Ooma in the calculation, right? Well, I did not forget. This is because the monthly VoIP calls via Ooma Telo is actually free of charge!
However do note that Ooma restricts you to making 5,000 minutes a month of outbound calls with this Telo service and your additional calls above that are chargeable but at a very nominal rate. The reason for this restriction is to make sure that people like the call centers do not abuse the system as the system is meant for home, small business or SOHO.
By the way, you would have to pay much more than the $ 70 a month if you were to make 5,000 minutes of local POTS calls. Inbound calls are unlimited. You can also make international calls and they are extremely cheap with the Ooma Telo service.
How To Get Your $ 548.36 Or $ 640 At The End Of The Year?
So if you want to make it feel like buying Ooma Telo will result in you being rewarded $ 640 or $ 548.36 at the end of one year, then what you have to do is to start putting the $ 70 (or portions of the $ 70) as soon after the month that you have broken even with the purchased price.
For example if you had purchased the Ooma Telo at $ 200 and your average POTS bill is $ 70 a month, your breakeven point is the third month. You keep aside the $ 70 that you would have to pay your POTS service provider after the third month and then reward yourself with the money saved at the end of the year!
By the way, the higher your existing POTS bill is, the more you will be saving and rewarding yourself!
You Get Much More With Ooma Telo
Not only do you get rewarded with $ 640 or $ 548.36 at the end of the first year, you get to save even more on the second and subsequent year. You get the same features and functions as that of the first year except that in the second year, you just have to pay $ 1 a month regulatory fees to the authorizations. Here using the same $ 70 a month calculation, you will save $ 840 – $ 12 = $ 828 on your second and subsequent years.
On top of that, you get the following features as well:
- Crystal clear calls
- Very rare or no dropped calls
- Voice mail that you can access anywhere you have internet access
- A new number or port over your old number
- Easy to install
- Does not need a computer to make or receive calls
- Free local calls
- Very cheap international calls
- If you need a host of productivity features, just subscribe to Ooma's Premier service at only $ 10 a month
As such, switching to Ooma Telo is definitely a WIN for anyone all the way. Look at it from another perspective; you will be giving away $ 640 (or $ 548.36) on the first year and $ 828 on the second and subsequent years to your POTS provider if you do nothing.