We review products independently, but we may earn affiliate commissions from buying links on this page. Terms of use. Ooma Office (which begins at $199.99 for one base station and two Ooma Linx devices) is a cloud-hosted PBX service (Private Branch Exchange service) aimed at small businesses. The typical Ooma customer has basic telephony requirements, but still needs something that's a cut above what you'd get in an old-fashioned office or home phone system. But companies with a larger number of employees who are looking for a service with the latest communications and collaboration features or perhaps even call center capabilities should probably look elsewhere, like at our Editors' Choice cloud PBX service RingCentral Office (for Business).Those small businesses that don't need all of the latest communications and collaboration features, however, will find a lot of value in Ooma Office's more simplified approach. These are businesses that may not require the missing features, which include the call recording, intelligent call screening, and video conferencing offered by Vonage Business Cloud and Editors' Choice Intermedia Unite. While the company claims Ooma Office can scale to hundreds of lines, it's best-suited for offices with up to 20 employees who require their own extensions. Hardware Required A common criticism of Ooma Office is that customers must connect a base station to a port on a network router. Today, most major cloud PBX providers don't require hardware other than desk phones and, in most cases, even those are optional for organizations that prefer their employees use softphones or even their own mobile devices. That's certainly cheaper in some cases, though it can bring its own mobile management headaches in larger organizations. Nevertheless, given the simple and small footprint of the Ooma Base Station (4 inches by 4 inches by 1 inch, which is smaller than most 4-port routers), and the fact that the service otherwise functions like other cloud PBX offerings, the base station shouldn't be a deal breaker. This is especially the case if you're swapping out an old proprietary phone system with one that has a much larger hardware footprint. One caveat is that each Ooma Base Station can support a maximum of 20 dedicated users. Ooma Base Station While the company says there's no technical limit on the number of Ooma Base Stations you can install, once you get into having to install more than one base station, you'll need to evaluate the economics and your appetite for managing multiple units. In my evaluation, I only used one Ooma Base Station. Keep in mind that this refers to the limit on direct lines, not necessarily employees. If you have employees who share a common phone number or don't need one at all, then that will extend the upper limit. One noteworthy option with Ooma Office is the DECT 6.0 wireless radio built into the Ooma Base Station. The company offers a package with two Ooma Linx devices that have analog standard RJ-11 ports or you can buy the base station without Linx if you have no plans to use them. By plugging the Ooma Linx peripherals into any power outlet, customers can connect one analog phone or even cordless phone systems that support multiple phones connecting to that line. Ooma Linx Each Ooma Base Station lets you pair up to four Ooma Linx devices. If you want to add more, then you can purchase base stations. This is where you will need to do the math to see if the economics work for you. Installing the Linx is a trivial operation, so it's really about your budget and the number of phone extensions you need to connect. The Ooma package, priced at $199.99, comes with two Linx devices (it can be found less expensive through partners such as Amazon, which recently listed the package at $87.52). Each additional Linx device costs $49.99 and additional Ooma Base Stations cost $99.99. Setup Once you have your hardware, you need to configure it. First, you should create your account on their website here. The first thing you will notice is the choice to log in to the Administrators portal or the Users portal. Select the orange-colored "Activate Your Account" button (see Figure 1). Figure 1. To set up your service, select the orange "Activate Your Account" button toward the bottom of the Administrator log-in. Then fill out the fields in the activation screen with the basic questions including the base station ID, which you can find at the bottom of the device (see Figure 2). Then you plug in the base station and select "Go to Ooma Office Manager," which directs you to the Express Setup Assistant. Once the light at the bottom of the base station turns blue, you're connected. It usually takes under five minutes, but if a firmware upgrade is required, then it could take up to 30 minutes according to the company. Figure 2. Activate your base station by using the code located on the bottom of the device. The Ooma Base Station includes an Ethernet cord to connect to your router. Once the light at the bottom of the base station turns blue, you will know it's connected to the network. The Express Setup in the Administrators portal lets you easily assign users to extensions. During the user setup process, you can designate an analog phone plugged into the base station, the Ooma Linx device, a mobile application (Android or iOS), and one of four Internet Protocol (IP) phones offered by Ooma. You can also set permissions to forward incoming calls to an external number. The management console also shows each user's ability to access the Conference Server bridge and virtual fax send-and-receive capability provided with the service (see Figure 3). Figure 3. Administrator setup of each user extension, the virtual receptionist, ring groups, and other features. In the setup process, administrators can create ring groups such as sales or finance. You can set it up to have all extensions in a group ring simultaneously or sequentially (see Figure 4). Advanced options let you determine whether to send a caller to voicemail or to transfer the call to another extension after an administrator-defined number of rings. Defining which extensions to include in a ring group is intuitive. Figure 4. Ring group setup is intuitive. While Ooma Office supports Direct Inward Dialing (DID) for letting employees call one another's own in-house phone numbers, those calling your company's main line can have their calls directed by the Virtual Receptionist (Figure 5). You can set up your menu of choices, such as to access a ring group (for example, sales or finance), choose an extension, or access a company directory. Once you map these choices out, you can type a script that will automatically greet callers with your menu options. The Virtual Receptionist in Ooma Office is synthetic-sounding but adequate, and offers you the choice of a male or female voice. Remember to include commas for pauses in your script for a more natural greeting. If you prefer that your callers are greeted with a human voice, then you can pre-record it and upload it. In either case, the Virtual Receptionist greeting is easy to set up and change at any time. Figure 5. Virtual Receptionist setup. Configuration Options Each user extension includes a dedicated phone number, a separate virtual fax number, and access to the Conference Server. Administrators can determine whether to give employees access to the virtual server. The $19.95 per-month per-user cost also includes the ring groups, Virtual Receptionist, and free number porting, which you can initiative during the setup process (Figure 6). Figure 6. Porting of existing numbers is included and easily performed through the setup process. Users can opt for multiple unique local phone numbers with different area codes at a cost of $9.95 each per month. Toll-free numbers are also available starting at $15. Each user can make or receive calls from either the Cisco or Yealink IP phones offered by Ooma, analog phones (wired or cordless) connected to the Linx or to the Ooma Base Station, and one mobile phone client. While administrators can give users access to all of these simultaneously, every user is limited to one of each device type. That's unfortunate for those who might have multiple mobile phones or for those who want to use their tablets as well. However, the service does offer call forwarding to any land or mobile number. It would also be nice if there was an app for Macs and Windows PCs so people can use their desktops or laptops as their phone. The web client does let users initiate phone calls by inputting or pasting the number and selecting the device to be used for the call (Figure 7). Figure 7. Ooma Office doesn't have a Mac or PC client, but you can initiate calls from your desktop, laptop, or any web-accessible device. User Experience If you want your users to have IP phones at their desks, then you can choose from the entry-level, 2-line T21P E2 from Yealink (for $69.99) or the more functional T23G from Yealink (for $99.99), which Ooma provided for this review. The T21P E2 has two-line keys for up to four simultaneous calls and four soft keys, while the T23G can support three lines and up to six simultaneous calls. Ooma also offers three Cisco phones: the SPA 303 (for $109.99) with three lines and support for six simultaneous calls, the SPA 504G (for $129.99), and the four-line SPA 504G, which can handle up to eight simultaneous calls. Ooma also offers the CP860 from Yealink (for $399.99) for conference rooms. The quality of the Yealink T23G test unit was adequate. However, if you have executives who want higher-end desk phones with color displays, then you can go with the Digium D-60 (available from Digium for $139) or the Cisco SPA525G2 (available from Intermedia via Costco for $245). Granted, many small business users may not be that discerning or looking for the complexity and cost of those higher-end options, but it's nice to have the option. Like many cloud PBX services today, users who don't require a desk phone can use all of the capabilities in Ooma Office on their mobile phones and many of the capabilities on their analog phones. Key Features In addition to the features already noted, Ooma Office offers on-hold music, call transfer, extension-by-extension dialing, call reports, and the ability to create call routing rules based on defined business hours. Despite lacking the extra bells and whistles that its rivals offer—often at a higher price tag—the limited options appear to be translating into fewer potential issues to rattle customers. Perhaps that's why Ooma Office recently topped PCMag's Business Choice Awards for the fifth year in a row. Ooma is unapologetic that its cloud PBX is designed for the smallest of small businesses. During a May 22, 2018 quarterly earnings call, Ooma President and CEO, Eric Stang, reiterated that, while the company will add a few features to Ooma Office this year, don't expect enterprise features to appear. By year's end, Stang doesn't anticipate needing to add any new functions to Ooma Office. "Part of its elegance is it curates what you need and does in a simplistic way," Stang told investors during the call. "You can do it yourself, install it, and use it. If we try to make it much more than that, we'll muddy it up." Now, the company doesn't need to muddy it up with Ooma Office, following its March acquisition of Voxter, which offers a Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS) that is more focused on enterprise users. As a result, the company is now renaming its Ooma Office group "Ooma Business," which will consist of the two offerings (the company also has residential communications and home security business lines). What its low-end Ooma Office lacks in pizzazz, it makes up for as a practical phone service for the smallest of businesses. The base station requirement shouldn't be a showstopper, especially if you have 20 or few dedicated lines. A high-end IP phone option and a softphone support for Macs, Windows PCs, and tablets would be welcome additions. But if simplicity is key, and since the company requires no contract, the only downside risk is the nominal cost of the base station. Even if you purchase Ooma's IP phones, they are SIP-compatible so you should be able to port them to another cloud PBX provider in the future. Bottom Line: Ooma Office is a suitable cloud PBX option for small businesses with modest requirements. It has a basic feature set that might not appeal to power users who want a rich set of collaboration capabilities, but they're not the target audience for this service anyway.

weiterlesen: RSS Quelle öffnen