OOMA - Few Concerns
OOMA is yet another VoIP startup that offers unlimited free domestic US calls. It seems promising and it is already covered by TechCrunch and few other places. However, I have few questions that appear to have not raised elsewhere.
OOMA uses peer-to-peer technology to route the calls (similar to Skype). One of the features of OOMA is that instead of using normal telecom interconnection and termination, it uses other user’s normal phone line to terminate someone else’s call (if available). This makes me wonder:
- Most importantly – will that be legal? Wouldn’t this fall under commercial usage rather than resident usage and violate usage terms which phone companies are certainly not going to like and may object.
- What about caller ID? If a call is routed through my phone line, called party will see my number in their caller ID instead of actual callers. This may have serious privacy concern, for example, I could be held responsible for someone else’s crime.
- Security, wouldn’t it be easy to listen to calls routing through my phone line – phone tapping is not new and OOMA may make it just simpler.
- What will a user get for letting OOMA use their phone line for routing other subscriber’s phone call?
It would be interesting to see how OOMA addresses these concerns.
Upate: here is an interesting claim from OOMA that called party will receive the actual caller party’s ID and not the intermediate one. Any one with telephony/ss7 knowledge knows that caller id is purely controlled by the exchange and it is technically not possible to spoof OR insert caller ID by a CPE (for example, OOMA box). Again no details from OOMA and appears to me as a phony claim or a technical breakthrough – readers can decide.
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Why Ooma is a security risk…
I think Ooma will not work, especially in the USA where people are so afraid of terrorists. Would you borrow your phone to Al Qaeda for their next announcement? No? But you might be doing it with Ooma, without even notice. Out of the same reason Jeff…..
Ooma, ooma, ooma… a collection of links about the buzz…
Late last week there was quite the buzz in the VoIP part of the blogosphere about “Ooma” a new company with $27 million in funding that claims to “transform telecom services” and let you “make local and long-distance calls anywhere…
Good questions. And how about:
- How does the Hub to Scout communication work on the same wire as DSL?
I can’t wait for OOMA to answer these questions (truthfully).
Time for some answers:
Q: Is this commercial usage?
A: the ooma customer whose device is making the call is not selling the call or the device.
Q: Caller ID?
A: a) when a call is terminated through another user’s ooma Hub, caller ID is suppressed.
Q: phone tapping … ooma may make it simpler
A: there are many devices that make wire-tapping easier; unauthorized wire-tapping is never-the-less a felony
ooma has developed technology that detects attempts to listen-in to a call and prevents other ooma subscribers from listening to your calls (so it is more difficult, not simpler)
Q: what will a user get?
A: all the advantages of the ooma service: Broadband Answering Machine, Instant Second Line, free domestic calling, landline-911, etc.
Q: Security?
A: ooma is designed for quality and security from the bottom up. ooma fully supports CALEA and can inform authorized LEAs of the true origin of any call placed through the ooma network.
Q: does the Hub to Scout communication work on the same wire with DSL?
A: yes.
[…] Peck from OOMA tried to answer some of the questions which I raised in my earlier post. Jeff, thanks for your time reading and answering the questions. However, IMO answers appear to be […]
Thanks Jeff for the comments. See my latest post for analysis of the answers.
http://blog.motiwala.com/2007/08/02/ooma-concerns-more-insights
Seems that the mad buzz about OOMA in July has already died down. Is this the average attention span of those doing the blogging, or has everyone realized that this service can’t be successful and gone on to looking for something else?. Anyone putting up the $399 for a unit?
With the recent demise of http://www.sunrocket.com/ (where a good number of pre-paid subscribers got burned), there might be very little willingness to pay for VOIP upfront (in particular to a non-established player …)