I’ve written about Ooma and my fondness for the “buy it once and never pay for calls again” system numerous times. At CES last year I got to see the Ooma Telo system and, subsequently, I had the chance to review it. At CES they also previewed many of the new services they planned to roll out during the year. That rollout started in April, and then in June they released an iOS app for making Ooma calls on the go.
Now another key feature previewed in January is available — Ooma HD Voice. Ooma HD Voice is, quite frankly, the clearest connection you will ever hear over a phone. Ooma HD Voice is
the first residential phone service to support high-definition voice technology. Compared to conventional telephones, Ooma HD Voice doubles the audio frequencies transmitted to deliver a richer, more natural sounding conversation to calls between Ooma Telo customers.
An Ooma Telo Handset or HD compatible telephone is required to support Ooma HD Voice but if you have one you will notice the difference. If you don’t, check out this demo over on the Ooma site. It might finally convince you to get an Ooma also. Me? I love it!
The full release follows.
Ooma Sets Industry Standard for Sound Quality with availability of High-Definition Voice Technology
Ooma HD Voice Delivers Natural, Life-Like Voice Quality
Palo Alto, CA — October 6, 2010 —
Ooma, Inc. today announced that High-Definition (HD) Voice, the latest component of Ooma PureVoice™ technology, is available on its award-winning Ooma Telo system. This marks the first time consumers can enjoy telephone calls in HD, further enriching the calling experience for those wanting a superior home telephony experience.Ooma raised the bar on voice quality with the introduction of Ooma PureVoice technology in April, delivering excellent voice quality over substandard or overloaded Internet connections. Now, with the addition of Ooma HD Voice, Ooma Telo users can experience phone calls with twice the fidelity of a standard phone line when calling another Ooma Telo user. Beginning today, the HD Voice update will automatically roll out to all customers with an Ooma Telo.
“Telephone call quality is an area of technology which has yet to evolve since the 1960s – before many of us were born,” said Richard Tehrani, CEO of TMC. “Thankfully, VoIP allows call quality to improve drastically and Ooma’s decision to focus on this area of the market is impressive as it allows Ooma Telo users to take advantage of their leading-edge HD call quality at a reasonable cost. This focus on the sound of phone calls coupled with Ooma’s relentless addition of new features are two reasons to consider the company’s products for your home or business.”
“There’s a clear difference in the way our customers experience phone calls with friends and family using Ooma HD Voice,” said Jim Gustke, Vice President of Marketing at Ooma. “As consumers we demand the highest resolution viewing experience on our TV’s – now it’s time to expect the same from the telephone. Ooma sets the benchmark with its Ooma HD Voice offering, enabling rich, life-like sound quality.”
Ooma PureVoice HD Technology is now composed of five key components:
Ooma HD Voice: Ooma is the first residential phone service to support high definition voice technology. Compared to conventional telephones, Ooma HD Voice doubles the audio frequencies transmitted to deliver a richer, more natural sounding conversation to calls between Ooma Telo customers. An Ooma Telo Handset or HD compatible telephone is required to support Ooma HD Voice.
Additional components of Ooma PureVoice HD that were previously announced include:• Advanced voice compression: Ooma uses an advanced voice compression algorithm that reduces bandwidth consumption by 60 percent over standard VoIP technology and is more capable of withstanding packet loss without degradation. This leaves customers with more bandwidth for all other online activities and increases the likelihood that voice traffic will be delivered properly by an ISP.
• Wire-speed QoS: Even though Ooma uses only a fraction of the bandwidth of standard VoIP technology, preserving voice quality requires that those packets arrive on time. The Ooma Telo prioritizes voice packets without slowing down the rest of a customer’s network. This way, customers can enjoy crystal clear calls even when uploading video clips, for example.
• Adaptive redundancy: Packet loss is the enemy of VoIP – it can cause voice to sound stuttered or garbled. The Ooma Telo detects packet loss on Internet connections and automatically sends redundant packets to boost the clarity of phone calls.
• Encrypted calls: Ooma takes privacy seriously. We use the same encryption technology to protect conversations that governments use to protect classified data. This makes Ooma even more secure than the traditional landline.
For more information and to listen to the difference of calling with Ooma PureVoice HD Technology versus other services, go to: www.ooma.com/purevoice.Availability
First unveiled and demonstrated at CES 2010, Ooma PureVoice HD Technology is now available to customers with the Ooma Telo and Ooma Telo Handset. The Ooma Telo and Ooma Telo Handset are available at Ooma authorized resellers including: Best Buy, Datavision, Fry’s Electronics, J&R, Micro Center, and leading online destinations including Amazon, BestBuy.com, Buy.com, Costco.com, Dell.com, JandR.com, NewEgg.com, OfficeDepot.com, PC Mall, Provantage, Shop Harmony, Staples.com, Sears.com, K-Mart.com, Tiger Direct, RCS, Nebraska Furniture Mart, B&H Photo and Walmart.com.
About Ooma, Inc.
Founded in 2004, Ooma offers a consumer electronics device that provides free, U.S. telephone calling and advanced telephony services to its global base of customers. Ooma delivers exceptional call quality with its exclusive Ooma
PureVoice™ Technology and the reliability of traditional phone service at a fraction of the cost, in a sleek and innovative design. Ooma is available at more than 4,000 leading retailers and online destinations. For more information, go to www.ooma.com or blog.ooma.com.
Related posts:
Ooma Releases Ooma Mobile for iPhone- Neat Idea… but It Will Cost You
Ooma Rolls Out Cheap iPhone VOiP Plan
Ooma Ups Their Game, Adds Value (and Reasons) To Owning The System
Ooma Updates and Gets Even Better
ooma Free Home Phone System Gets Unboxed
Native Union’s Curve Twin Handset Perfect for Multi-Device Professionals
Pingback: Ooma, Inc.
Pingback: Dave Ainley
Pingback: Arvind R.