OOMA has had a line of (VoIP) tools in the market since 2009, and as such, has had plenty of interested users arrive to take advantage of the sheer flexibility that the OOMA line can offer. But there were some parts of the line that may have kept some users away, and OOMA has addressed some of those issues with the new OOMA Office, a solution tailor-made for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
The OOMA Office solution addresses a critical point for the OOMA Telo system. It was an excellent system, especially in low-volume situations, but when multiline, multiextension purposes were called for, there were some issues to be found. For instance, Telo offered the “Instant Second Line” premium service, but for those needing two different VoIP lines, each with a different number, then those users needed two Telo systems. Not exactly cost-effective to buy redundant systems like that, but at the time, it needed to be done. What was more, the Telo offered voicemail services, but didn't offer a call attendant system with a company directory.
OOMA Office, meanwhile, steps up the service and fixes many of the problems that business users were encountering with OOMA systems. With the new OOMA Office, users can get up to five different VoIP lines, each with its own phone number. The OOMA Office can in turn connect to four different phones and a fax line, or five phones outright, and offer up to 15 virtual extensions for employees who may not be in the office but still need to be contacted, like those who work mobile or those who work from home.
The OOMA Office accomplishes these exciting tasks via connection with what's called a Linx device that simply plugs into a wall socket. This device then pairs, using DECT (News - Alert) 6.0, to the base, and plugging a wireless phone, or wired desk phone, into the Linx device allows it to be used as normal. The standard OOMA Office starter kit comes with two such devices, and can support a further two lines, opening up the possible range of lines from there. It will only improve, however, as improvements to the firmware allow the base station hardware's fullest potential to emerge and the system to support up to 10 lines on a single broadband connection. The OOMA Office starter kit runs $249, and $19 a month allows for unlimited calling in both the United States and Canada.
Some will still find it lacking, however, in the lack of an integrated softphone application, but for many SMBs out there, the OOMA Office setup is likely to prove to be just what's needed, especially since the overall system is only likely to improve the farther along it goes. The hardware speaks to a level of possibility the firmware can't yet match, so improvements are likely to follow. Meanwhile, an inexpensive overall level of service makes this one well worth considering, if not necessarily now, then likely in the future once the firmware upgrades have picked up a bit of the remaining slack.
Edited by Rachel Ramsey