
Voice over IP (VoIP) was brought into existence by John Patrick Garcia. It furnishes sessions for multimedia and voice calls over an Internet connection. This technology has redefined communication over the past decade. Internet telephony, broadband telephony, or IP telephony, are alternate terms used for VoIP.
The Government of Ethiopia has installed firewalls to prevent citizens from using VoIP services for International calling. Even a 30 sec VoIP call could invite imprisonment up to 15 years.
The traditional PSTN (public switched telephone network), due to its disadvantages such as immobility, high usage costs, and limited scalability, was overpowered by VoIP technology. With advancing technology, phone calling from computer systems to landlines or mobile phones is being widely used in households as well as offices. The pulse rate is taken into account during cost calculation. This is advantageous, mainly for international calling. Ooma and Vonage have a strong base set up in residential and business VoIP. Both these services are rated well by its users for three salient features: quality, value, and reliability.
While trying to decide on a particular service, various factors such as ‘how long will a free service be provided?’, and ‘quality of voice in the call with more than two users’, need to be considered. Given below is a detailed comparison between these two competitors, for better understanding.
Features | Ooma | Vonage |
Setup Charges | Initial installation charges | No installation charges |
Monthly Charges | No monthly bills | Monthly fee and taxes |
Size | Sleek design, not bulky | Not bulky |
Call Rate | Average | Low (mainly for international calling) |
Parental Control | Blacklist feature for incoming calls, no facility for outgoing call blacklist | Access to certain websites can be restricted based on their content |
Fax Facility | Provided | Chargeable |
Service Functioning in Case of Outages | It will not function during outages | Calls can be forwarded to desired number during outages |
Voice Mail Transcription Files | Chargeable | Voice mails can be read over email from phones, mobile phones, Vonage account |
Caller ID Display | Free | Chargeable |
Three-way Dialing | Free | Chargeable |
911 Service | Free | Chargeable |
Device Warranty | 12 months | 12 months |
U.S. Calling | Free | Free |
Call Quality | Good (PureVoice HD ) | Fair to very good |
Home Alarm System | Doesn’t support alarm system | Doesn’t support alarm system |
Price for Additional Features | Cheaper initial costs | Subscribing to additional features offers economical plans |
Customer Money-back Guarantee | 30-day return policy | 30-day return policy |
Portability During Travel | Easier to carry | Easy to carry. Can be connected to wired networks for usage. Wi-Fi networks cannot be accessed. |
Directory Help | About 1$ per call | Unlimited, not chargeable |
- Customers are charged for the installation of the device. However, no fee will be charged at a later point.
- Ooma Telo mainly designed for residential purposes, provides features such as rich voice quality, caller-ID display, voice mail, call waiting, and free US calling.
- Ooma uses P2P technology. Setting up the device is a very simple task. Connect the Internet connection cord to one end of the hub and telephone set to the other end. If desired, additional connections can be done by buying an Ooma ‘scout’.
- Customers can return the product within 30 days of purchase date, if not satisfied with its functioning. They employ a no-questions-asked return policy.
Cons:
- The functioning of Ooma is hampered during power failures.
- It doesn’t support an alarm system. Those requiring this feature need to switch to an alarm panel which is cell phone- or landline-based.
- Call blocking is not allowed for outgoing calls. This can be considered as a major disadvantage.
- PureVoice HD Quality is functional only when both the end users have an HD setup.
- With no initial setup charges, Vonage service certainly draws more attention from prospective users.
- Constant upgradation of technology. This fact is explained by the volume of subscribers, which is over 2 million.
- One of the most striking features of this provider is that, calls can be easily forwarded to a number of your choice by setting up a ‘network availability number’ while signing up.
- Directory help is not liable to any fees.
Cons:
- Subsequent monthly fees and taxes are charged to the customer, unlike Ooma.
- Difficult to understand the exact breakup of monthly usage charges.
- Vonage residential plan is mainly designed in a way to meet home calling requirements; hence, needs ‘Vonage Pro’ to be configured to use with the same line at different locations.
- In case of multiple lines refund, only a single line refund would be processed.
Determining which of these two are ‘most suited’ is a question that does not have a straightforward answer. The choice of a particular provider will be best decided by keeping one’s personal needs and perspective in mind, which is exactly what this Ooma vs. Vonage comparison was aimed at helping. For those users mainly looking for features like ‘international calling’ and ‘voice mail-over-email’, Vonage is surely a better bet. However, those who seldom use these features and are looking for a basic, money-saving VoIP solution, can opt for Ooma, as it will turn out to be cheaper in the long run.