Comments on: Ooma - Will Blow $27 Million

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 07:06:06 +0000

Just to detail one more reason why OOMA can’t work, at least not how they have apparently envisioned it.

The available material says that they would route a call to one of their boxes (hubs?) of a user in the same area code as the intended destination, as if the entire NPA is alway “toll-free”. This just isn’t the case in most of the US. They would have to mainntain a data base for every rate center telling what exchange codes were “toll-free” from that exchange so they don’t try to make a “toll call” from the unsuspecting user’s phone. (Does anyone at OOMA even know what I am talking about? Ever heard of a “rate center”?)

And if they inadvertantly try to make a call through a user’s land-line to a number that is toll, but of course fail to start with a “1″, will OOMA’s box detect the intercept announcement or tone that comes back, recognize that it misrouted the call, and try a different route? I bet not.

By: Edward

Edward — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 18:41:34 +0000

In February, I met with Andrew Frame and innocently asked him what “ooma” means? Was it “object of my affection?” No! The startlet became indignant and proudly asserted that he “pulled it out of his ass,” then dismissed me. Guess I won’t be getting a white rabbit.

By: Ed Prentice

Ed Prentice — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 15:32:10 +0000

Punked? For $27Mil! It’s not a record, of course, but a tidy sum. If this lasts as long as SunRocket, I will be surprised. The reality distortion field around this will not carry it anywhere. Interesting to compare to the original Free World Dialup, but that was TEN years ago and a fun experiment. –Not a mainstream attempt at anything. There aren’t enough early adopters enchanted by a fairy tale to carry this to the dump. I will be watching at Weird Stuff Warehouse for boxes of White elephants, I mean, Rabbits. Hard to believe I am trying to be restrained, but I have been on this road a long time. Insert quote from Abe Lincoln here. You know the one. You can fool some VCs or analysts all the time, or you can fool all VCs or analysts some of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time. Good luck with this game plan.