Ooma VOIP service?

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GW208
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Ooma VOIP service?

Post by GW208 »

We recently switched from ATT VOIP service to Ooma and have noticed an issue with the service. If we call a company and get into a phone tree where we're prompted to press various keys, quite often the key presses are not recognized. We are using Panasonic cordless phones and have tried pressing the keys longer but that doesn't help.

Has anyone else with Ooma home phone service run into this problem and found a fix for it?
dcabler
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Re: Ooma VOIP service?

Post by dcabler »

Been using Ooma for over a decade with Panasonic cordless phones with no issues.

Did these phones previously work when you used a landline?
Also don't forget to disconnect your wiring from the telephone network. For us it was a junction box on the outside of our house. We simply had to unplug a cable.

Cheers.
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mjg
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Re: Ooma VOIP service?

Post by mjg »

Going on memory here - used Ooma many years ago. If I recall, sometimes it was slow to fully complete the entire connection - had to speak a couple of words before the other party could hear me. So, when you get an automated voice answering the phone, you can try saying several words right away when it answers, ie while it's making its spiel, and see if that helps make you keypress tones get through.
enad
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Re: Ooma VOIP service?

Post by enad »

We have been using Ooma with cordless Panasonic phones for nearly 10 years and have not encountered any issues.
kinless
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Re: Ooma VOIP service?

Post by kinless »

My folks have had Ooma with their landline going on 2 years, and they're experiencing issues with callers not hearing them (voice going in and out) so it hasn't exactly been reliable.

This could be due to the box receiving wirelessly. The website support pages recommend hooking up the box to a hard ethernet line as a passthrough between cable modem and router. If that's not possible, go into the router and open up certain ports that may improve data transmission. I have yet to troubleshoot and try either of these things since the box/phone is in a separate room from the modem/router. But they mostly use cell phones and the service is free so haven't really prioritized it.
Topic Author
GW208
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Re: Ooma VOIP service?

Post by GW208 »

dcabler wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 1:36 pm Been using Ooma for over a decade with Panasonic cordless phones with no issues.

Did these phones previously work when you used a landline?
Also don't forget to disconnect your wiring from the telephone network. For us it was a junction box on the outside of our house. We simply had to unplug a cable.

Cheers.
Yes, these phones worked fine with our ATT VOIP internet landline. Calling in and out works okay with the Ooma VOIP internet landline, it's just the key presses required to navigate phone trees that is a problem.

There is no wiring for our phones other that the ATT fiber internet service.
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windaar
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Re: Ooma VOIP service?

Post by windaar »

We've had Ooma for a few months. The caller ID did not work at all and after trying unsuccessful fixes they suggested trying a different or new phone. Our Uniden phones were at least 15 years old. I got new Panasonics for not much on Amazon and everything works fine now. So maybe try a new phone?
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enad
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Re: Ooma VOIP service?

Post by enad »

GW208 wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 3:41 pm Yes, these phones worked fine with our ATT VOIP internet landline. Calling in and out works okay with the Ooma VOIP internet landline, it's just the key presses required to navigate phone trees that is a problem.

There is no wiring for our phones other that the ATT fiber internet service.
On the Ooma forum, user writes on Mon Jul 25, 2016 8:30 am: Ooma Touch-Tone problems | pg 3

Just got this from Advanced Troubleshooting, and IT WORKED!!! Thank-you!
Was your phone connected to the Ooma device directly? If it is,

1. please unplug it for the mean time.
2. Reboot the Ooma device by unplugging the power on the back of the Ooma, wait 3 minutes before plugging it back on.
3. Once the Ooma device is on BLUE status, please reconnect your phone to have a dial tone.
4. If all else fails, please try connecting a different phone to your Ooma.
Topic Author
GW208
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Re: Ooma VOIP service?

Post by GW208 »

enad wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 4:53 pm
GW208 wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 3:41 pm
On the Ooma forum, user writes on Mon Jul 25, 2016 8:30 am: Ooma Touch-Tone problems | pg 3

Just got this from Advanced Troubleshooting, and IT WORKED!!! Thank-you!
Was your phone connected to the Ooma device directly? If it is,

1. please unplug it for the mean time.
2. Reboot the Ooma device by unplugging the power on the back of the Ooma, wait 3 minutes before plugging it back on.
3. Once the Ooma device is on BLUE status, please reconnect your phone to have a dial tone.
4. If all else fails, please try connecting a different phone to your Ooma.
Thank you for finding this, unfortunately it does not work for us. I followed those instructions and then called AT&T to get into their automated phone tree and it's still hit or miss if the key presses are recognized.
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GW208
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Re: Ooma VOIP service?

Post by GW208 »

windaar wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 3:48 pm We've had Ooma for a few months. The caller ID did not work at all and after trying unsuccessful fixes they suggested trying a different or new phone. Our Uniden phones were at least 15 years old. I got new Panasonics for not much on Amazon and everything works fine now. So maybe try a new phone?
Our Panasonic phones are probably at least that old so I guess I could try a new phone although caller ID works fine on our phones. Have you had to navigate a phone tree at least a few times with your new Ooma service yet and it's worked okay? The savings over ATT are quite good so we would like the Ooma to work for us.
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windaar
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Re: Ooma VOIP service?

Post by windaar »

GW208 wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 6:06 pmHave you had to navigate a phone tree at least a few times with your new Ooma service yet and it's worked okay? The savings over ATT are quite good so we would like the Ooma to work for us.
No I have not; just suggesting that a new phone solved my problem and it might for you too. It cost me $48 to find out and the new phone was returnable. Hope it works out for you! BTW in the rare cases when you will be faced with the "phone tree" scenario couldn't you just use your cell phone for that?
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meebers
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Re: Ooma VOIP service?

Post by meebers »

I know that my ooma/panasonic phones will only dial a number if only one phone is "on line". As soon as the dialing begins, another phone can participate.
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Metsfan91
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Re: Ooma VOIP service?

Post by Metsfan91 »

GW208 wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 1:32 pm We recently switched from ATT VOIP service to Ooma and have noticed an issue with the service. If we call a company and get into a phone tree where we're prompted to press various keys, quite often the key presses are not recognized. We are using Panasonic cordless phones and have tried pressing the keys longer but that doesn't help.

Has anyone else with Ooma home phone service run into this problem and found a fix for it?
Yes. It happens to me sometime where I have to enter long account number...I been using Ooma since last April. I use Ooma cordless handset. Voice quality is great.
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Topic Author
GW208
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Re: Ooma VOIP service?

Post by GW208 »

Metsfan91 wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2025 2:42 pm
GW208 wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 1:32 pm We recently switched from ATT VOIP service to Ooma and have noticed an issue with the service. If we call a company and get into a phone tree where we're prompted to press various keys, quite often the key presses are not recognized. We are using Panasonic cordless phones and have tried pressing the keys longer but that doesn't help.

Has anyone else with Ooma home phone service run into this problem and found a fix for it?
Yes. It happens to me sometime where I have to enter long account number...I been using Ooma since last April. I use Ooma cordless handset. Voice quality is great.
That's kind of what we're seeing. Single key presses mostly work except for the pound key. Where I ran into the problem was trying to access my health care account. The account number is 8 digits and it is never recognized.
Have you found a reliable work around?
Botnang
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Re: Ooma VOIP service?

Post by Botnang »

We've had an Ooma with Panasonic handsets for a long time and no issues. On one of the Ooma forums I saw a suggestion to dial *99 prior to the call (which is nominally for faxing) to turn off the compression Codecs but it was a very old post...but can't hurt to try it.
Diluted Waters
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Re: Ooma VOIP service?

Post by Diluted Waters »

We've had Ooma for almost two years and have not experienced the problem(s) described here. We don't have Panasonic phones but we do have various brand-x touch tone phones and have never had a failure working through a phone tree.

Our land-line service is disconnected at the telephone network interface and the Ooma box is plugged into the modular jack in the house and is hard-wired via Ethernet cable to a network switch, which is hard-wired to the router. Our ISP is Starlink.

Hard-wired to the network, when able, is almost always going to be better, usually much better, than WiFi.
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runner26
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Re: Ooma VOIP service?

Post by runner26 »

enad wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 4:53 pm

On the Ooma forum, user writes on Mon Jul 25, 2016 8:30 am: Ooma Touch-Tone problems | pg 3

Just got this from Advanced Troubleshooting, and IT WORKED!!! Thank-you!
Was your phone connected to the Ooma device directly? If it is,

1. please unplug it for the mean time.
2. Reboot the Ooma device by unplugging the power on the back of the Ooma, wait 3 minutes before plugging it back on.
3. Once the Ooma device is on BLUE status, please reconnect your phone to have a dial tone.
4. If all else fails, please try connecting a different phone to your Ooma.
Glad I saw this today. My ooma a bit ago was making a horrible noise. Hard to communicate. I remembered seeing this in the AM, tried it, and it cleared the problem.
enad
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Re: Ooma VOIP service?

Post by enad »

runner26 wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2025 9:17 pm
enad wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2025 4:53 pm

On the Ooma forum, user writes on Mon Jul 25, 2016 8:30 am: Ooma Touch-Tone problems | pg 3

Just got this from Advanced Troubleshooting, and IT WORKED!!! Thank-you!
Was your phone connected to the Ooma device directly? If it is,

1. please unplug it for the mean time.
2. Reboot the Ooma device by unplugging the power on the back of the Ooma, wait 3 minutes before plugging it back on.
3. Once the Ooma device is on BLUE status, please reconnect your phone to have a dial tone.
4. If all else fails, please try connecting a different phone to your Ooma.
Glad I saw this today. My ooma a bit ago was making a horrible noise. Hard to communicate. I remembered seeing this in the AM, tried it, and it cleared the problem.
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Metsfan91
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Re: Ooma VOIP service?

Post by Metsfan91 »

GW208 wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2025 3:57 pm
Metsfan91 wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2025 2:42 pm

Yes. It happens to me sometime where I have to enter long account number...I been using Ooma since last April. I use Ooma cordless handset. Voice quality is great.
That's kind of what we're seeing. Single key presses mostly work except for the pound key. Where I ran into the problem was trying to access my health care account. The account number is 8 digits and it is never recognized.
Have you found a reliable work around?
I use cellphone to get around this problem.
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mrmass
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Re: Ooma VOIP service?

Post by mrmass »

GW208 wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2025 3:57 pm
Metsfan91 wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2025 2:42 pm

Yes. It happens to me sometime where I have to enter long account number...I been using Ooma since last April. I use Ooma cordless handset. Voice quality is great.
That's kind of what we're seeing. Single key presses mostly work except for the pound key. Where I ran into the problem was trying to access my health care account. The account number is 8 digits and it is never recognized.
Have you found a reliable work around?
It's a DTMF issue. It happens from time to time with voip services.

https://forums.ooma.com/viewtopic.php?t=21914
meebers
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Re: Ooma VOIP service?

Post by meebers »

This is a recent problem with the increase demand to use 2fa. Yesterday I requested a phone number change due to the majority of providers give you a choice to verify of voice or phone. Neither one works for me. "Phone" does not necessarily mean voice call but they try to send a "text" to your land line (phone). I used my OOMA voip phone number and was refused service due to they do not support "voip" connections. Tried Google voice, same refusal. Did not want to but had to use my cell phone. I "think" my cell phone spam calls will increase due to its exposure.
:( OOma as a phone service has been 99% reliable.
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Metsfan91
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Re: Ooma VOIP service?

Post by Metsfan91 »

mrmass wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2025 5:50 am
GW208 wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2025 3:57 pm

That's kind of what we're seeing. Single key presses mostly work except for the pound key. Where I ran into the problem was trying to access my health care account. The account number is 8 digits and it is never recognized.
Have you found a reliable work around?
It's a DTMF issue. It happens from time to time with voip services.

https://forums.ooma.com/viewtopic.php?t=21914
Thanks. I'll try suggestions posted on that forum... Seems promising.
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