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EdFromOhio
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- Review count1
- Helpfulness votes50
- First reviewNovember 21, 2011
- Last reviewNovember 21, 2011
- Featured reviews0
- Average rating5
- Review comment count1
- Helpfulness votes1
- First review commentDecember 14, 2016
- Last review commentDecember 14, 2016
- Featured review comments0
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- Answer count3
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- First answerDecember 14, 2016
- Last answerDecember 14, 2016
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EdFromOhio's Reviews
This hub works with your high-speed Internet and your home phones to deliver VoIP phone services and supports up to 4 Ooma Telo handsets. With easy setup, you can enjoy unlimited U.S. calling and low international rates.*
Customer Rating
5
Impressive unit considering the service is free
on November 21, 2011
Posted by: EdFromOhio
from Niles, Ohio
If you're looking at this, you're likely looking at alternatives to your land line phone. If that's the case, you're on the right trail.
After getting the latest AT&T phone bill with yet another increase in prices, I started looking for alternatives. I mean $82 for phone and "pro" level Internet access is significant. So I went to BestBuy and picked up this Ooma device and brought it home. On speedtest.net, my DSL feed showed 2.74mb download and 374kb upload. Hooking up the Ooma device was painless and within about 3 minutes, I had my new phone number to test things out with.
In doing some testing, there was a noticeable delay. It's similar to the delay most get on a cell phone, but this was bit worse. After doing lots of research, I came to the conclusion that my internet feed was too slow. Even with the delay, I decided that $38/month for my landline phone was too much, so I started proceeding with the "port" process to transfer my home phone number to Ooma. Then I hit a speed bump - if you have DSL and a landline phone on the same line, you need to call the phone company and have them separate your Internet connection to a "dry loop" so it won't get dropped when the phone company transfers your phone number.
I figured if I'm going to go through all that trouble and still be stuck with slow internet speeds, it's time to just throw AT&T completely out. I checked around and subscribed to RoadRunner's "up to 10mb/s" product. They came out a week later and hooked things up, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I often get over 30mb/s download speeds and 960kb/s upload speeds. We tried Ooma again and the delays were greatly reduced.
The day after they installed the cable Internet feed, I continued with Ooma's phone porting process. Just 5 calendar days later (including a weekend,) my number was switched over with no hassles at all. Voice quality is great.
They tell you to put the Ooma "in front of" your router (which means between your modem and your router.) That will work with most homes, but not mine since I have some inbound traffic. So I have mine set up behind the router and even replaced my very old router with one that understands QoS packets (a Linksys wireless router with Tomato firmware.)
I don't think that most people will need to go through that much trouble, but I wanted to tweak it to be "just right" in my home. It is working fantastic for us, and I'm looking forward to saving over $40/month now and yet have an internet connection 13 times faster than I used to have.
Here were some cons that I found along the way:
*There are no handsets with this device and some of the "advanced" functionality only works with their handsets, and their handsets aren't the greatest. They're expensive and they feel cheap.
*For good voice quality, you need a good Internet connection. From what others have said, it should be a download speed of 6mb/s or more and an upload speed of 512kb/s or more.
*Ooma's technical support cannot answer more advanced questions and they made no effort to find out. They just kept pointing me to sites others made which did not address the very specific technical questions I had. I had to find out myself using trial-and-error methods.
*There are no handsets with this device and some of the "advanced" functionality only works with their handsets, and their handsets aren't the greatest. They're expensive and they feel cheap.
*For good voice quality, you need a good Internet connection. From what others have said, it should be a download speed of 6mb/s or more and an upload speed of 512kb/s or more.
*Ooma's technical support cannot answer more advanced questions and they made no effort to find out. They just kept pointing me to sites others made which did not address the very specific technical questions I had. I had to find out myself using trial-and-error methods.
With that extremely long write-up, the summary is: If "almost as good as your normal phone" is acceptable, then this is for you. The web page for setup couldn't be much more simple, and everything is extremely easy to set up.
In my case, the $38/month portion of my phone bill was reduced to $3.47/month (you still have to pay for 911 service and taxes.) Ooma's service is free, but Uncle Sam still manages to get his money.
What's great about it: Easy to set up, good aesthetics, good voice quality.
What's not so great: Initial expense can cause some pain. Requires a fast internet connection. Can be issues if you have DSL and phone.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Ease of Use
5
Features
5
Performance
5
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EdFromOhio's Review Comments
This Escort Max 360 0100024-2 radar detector features USB connectivity, a smartphone app and connection to the DEFENDER database to provide you with up-to-date, real-time alerts. GPS AutoLearn technology isolates real signals from false alarms.
Overall
3 out of 5
3 out of 5Did Not Live Up to Expectations
By SusanB
At first I was in love with this radar detector, because of the capability of letting you know what direction the radar was coming from. I did a comparison with my 10 year old Beltronics 965. I had both attached to the dash at the same time. The big problem with the escort is it has too many false alerts and it was very annoying. When you have the escort connected to the cell by Bluetooth, it picks up the current speed limit in the area you are driving and also shows you your current speed and lets you know your going over the limit. But if you are talking on the phone on the car whenever it gets an alert it comes over the speakers and interrupts the call. Both radar detectors did pick up the same signals. The reason I was interested in the escort was the ability to let you know the direction the radar was coming from. Over time the escort is supposed to learn which alerts were false and over time would diminish. I used it for more than thirty days and the false alerts seemed to increase. In my opinion the escort is not worth the money with all the false alerts and because of this, I returned it. I will continue to use my old faithful Beltronics until escort comes out with something new and improved or I read that they have corrected the issue.
EdFromOhio
Niles, Ohio
December 14, 2016
If you were using both detectors at the same time the entire time, you were likely picking up the emissions of the other detector which were then deemed false alarms. Almost every radar detector emits those frequencies to increase the Doppler effect, and thus why you should only run one at a time. Now if you turned off the Bel and still getting the false alarms, then I'd agree that there's an issue.
+1point
1of 1voted this comment as helpful.
EdFromOhio's Questions
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EdFromOhio's Answers
This Escort Max 360 0100024-2 radar detector features USB connectivity, a smartphone app and connection to the DEFENDER database to provide you with up-to-date, real-time alerts. GPS AutoLearn technology isolates real signals from false alarms.
Does it work for commercial trucks too . I know it's illegal to use device like that in a truck . But if it works ?
If you have a 12 volt source, it will work. But as you stated, it is illegal to use in a commercial vehicle in the United States.
9 years, 5 months ago
by
EdFromOhio
This Escort Max 360 0100024-2 radar detector features USB connectivity, a smartphone app and connection to the DEFENDER database to provide you with up-to-date, real-time alerts. GPS AutoLearn technology isolates real signals from false alarms.
I have a Rocky Mountain Radar RMR-8RDS It is getting older. It is hard wired front & rear I have been protected & no tickets in almost 3 years. It offers rear protection from Radar also. Will this Escort max 360 offer rear protection & what range?
If you're happy with that detector, then you'll be amazed by this one because Rocky Mountain Radar is known for not living up to their hype.
And the "360" in the product name isn't just a model number. It offers 360° of protection. Read up on the specs and other literature, and it will likely answer a lot of your other questions.
And the "360" in the product name isn't just a model number. It offers 360° of protection. Read up on the specs and other literature, and it will likely answer a lot of your other questions.
9 years, 5 months ago
by
EdFromOhio
This Escort Max 360 0100024-2 radar detector features USB connectivity, a smartphone app and connection to the DEFENDER database to provide you with up-to-date, real-time alerts. GPS AutoLearn technology isolates real signals from false alarms.
Laser Function... Going to guess this detector only detects Laser Function once a laser device/gun is activated. Hence you are caught unless a vehicle in front of you gets laser zapped and the detector detects that activity. Is this a correct assumption?
You are correct. And given the more narrow band of light the newer guns are using, you might not get an alert at all.
9 years, 5 months ago
by
EdFromOhio