#6 - Signing Up with OOMA

Signing up with OOMA was our first financial commitment in the direction of leaving Comcast TV and Comcast Voice.

The Basics:

1. I ordered an OOMA VOIP Device from bestbuy.com and picked it up at our local store an hour later. $80. Easy.
2. With the device's unique Activation Code in hand, I created a new account on the OOMA website. As part of the process I selected a phone number in my local area code for the new device.
3. I plugged the device in and tested it. Incoming calls worked right away, but I heard an error message every time I tried an outgoing call.
4. Frustrated by the error messages, I initiated a chat with OOMA tech support via their website. They responded withing a few minutes, and quickly diagnosed and fixed the problem. "Are you dialing 7, 10, or 11 digits for your outgoing calls?" When I responded 10 digits, he made an adjustment to my device's settings, and outgoing calls immediately started working. Apparently the device's factory settings expect something other than 10 digits.

Leaving Comcast Voice:

1. With that basic functionality in place, I purchased one year's worth of OOMA Premier service, which includes the cost of porting our permanent landline number from Comcast to OOMA. ($40 if you don't buy the Premier service.)
2. I submitted via the OOMA website my formal request to port the phone number. OOMA's website states that this can take up to a month to complete, but user comments state that it usually takes only a few days.
3. Two days later, I received a message from OOMA letting me know that the number porting is scheduled to be effective tomorrow.