Review on 📞 Ooma HD3 Handset - Cordless Phone with Picture Caller-ID, HD Voice Quality, and Compatibility with Ooma Telo VoIP Free Internet Home Phone Service by David Bowens

I bought three of these phones, one from Revain and two direct from the OEM (who had a small discount on two packs ). I replaced an old Panasonic DECT system that worked fine. But I wanted to try Ooma's gear. Overall I was happy with the service, one of the first I used. Phones have some neat features that I won't go into here because others have already done so. I will list the items I don't like as others may be equally concerned. The first question concerns firmware updates. They have been frequent and the customer has no control over when or if they occur. To make matters worse, updates take over your entire phone system and render all hardware unusable for a period of time. These updates take 1-1.5 HOURS each time. So even though I have three phones, I can't make or receive calls for long periods of time and I have no control over them. I've had several situations where I needed to make/receive a call but was blocked. THIS IS COMPLETELY ILLEGAL. I contacted the company through their forum but received no response. If I had to call 911, I would have been out of luck. The company has to make the system work if you have multiple phones. And the client should be able to determine when updates are acceptable. Despite Ooma's claim, I don't find the call quality on these phones any better than what I was hoping for on my old system. Also, I think the audio through the speakerphone is actually worse than my old system. Using the speakerphone is the main feature I use. Ooma wants you to mount their base in front of any local router in your internet connection to "improve sound quality". This is not secure and should not be requested. Also, they use old technology on their ethernet port which limits your internet speed. Your new hardware should use at least Gigabit Ethernet. I think incorporating some features into their base is a nice improvement. But in general I regret buying these phones because of the issues mentioned. It's a shame because I enjoy my other experiences with the company. Unfortunately I cannot recommend the purchase of this device. Update: I remembered another annoying issue that I hope the OEM will fix. Ooma (premier) is a two-row number system. For years I have used one number for friends/family and a different number for everything else. My Panasonic system allowed me to add a line code prefix to the stored number for each contact to ensure I was using the specific number to call. If you're using Ooma phones, you're forced to use their (in my opinion insecure) online contact database, which strictly enforces 10-digit dialing and leaves you no choice as to which line to use. Not at all what I want. I also contacted the company via the forums regarding this and received no response (the forum is moderated by the company). Let's either add prefixes or program which string to use for each saved contact. They could do both, but they haven't yet shown a move that would satisfy them. There seems to be a rudimentary attempt to select which line to use, but you obviously need to assign a handset a specific number, which is not at all acceptable.