I have always hated my cell phone. Okay, maybe not always, but probably 95 percent of the time. I can hardly ever hear it ring (If it even does ring. We are still debating that.) I changed the ringer to be the loudest, most annoying one possible, but I just don't hear it when I'm in a noisier place — which is weird, because I always seem to hear other peoples' cell phones.
And, because I don't answer my phone, I get a lot of phone messages and I hate that, too. I hate checking phone messages on my cell phone. I hate logging in and putting in my password on the tiny keyboard. I finally changed my outgoing message to tell people not to leave messages, that I will see the missed call and just call them back.
I pretty much just kept the cell phone for emergencies — calling 911, AAA, ordering a Papa Murphy's pizza (mostly the third one) — but now I can do that on my iPad with Ooma. Yes, you have to have an Ooma box and Ooma account, which I have had for almost two years, but you buy the box and that's it; no monthly phone bills. I used Vonage for four years before I got the Ooma, and the Ooma paid for itself after 10 months.
With Ooma on my iPad, I can now make phone calls by dialing the number on its giant dialing pad (at x2 size) and talking "to" my iPad with it's built-in microphone. If I'm in a noisy place, I use these Ifrogz EarPollution Plugz with Mic that I got from Amazon.com for about $15.
I can't receive phone calls on my iPad with Ooma, however, but the Ooma people say that is coming. I don't really care, though, because with TextFree Unlimited, people can get hold of me any time. An annoying rooster tells me that I have a new text message (yes, I chose the rooster), along with a push notification on my iPad. I almost always hear that rooster. If not, I can see a bright red number on the TextFree icon when I check my iPad. It's right on my home page. I like TextFree better than other services I've tried because they give you an actual phone number that people can text, not an email address.
Besides all this, TextFree sends me an email whenever I get a text message, and in addition to a regular phone message on the machine at home, I have Ooma set up to also send me an email with the phone message attached. Last but not least, I can always go online to the Ooma website to check phone calls and messages. There are so many ways to contact me that no one can ever say they can't reach me.
All this works through Wi Fi, naturally, but if you have an iPad 3G with the AT&T data service (I pay $14.99/month for the 250MB), you can do your phone calling anyplace with cell service. I had to call my son the other day to tell him to let the dog in because a lightning storm was heading his way. Even my dog loves Ooma on my iPad.
Ooma phone calls cost 1.9¢ per minute for domestic calls, which is less than cell phone minutes in many cases, but if you have the Ooma Premier account — and I do — you get 250 free minutes every month. I have the Premier account because I like having two lines — one for my sociable daughter; being able to screen incoming calls; and pushing the button on the Ooma box to send all calls to voice mail. That last feature is worth $100/year alone.
Put the iPad 3G, the Ooma iPhone app, and TextFree Unlimited together, and I don't need my cell phone anymore. It's been almost two months since I used my cell phone — didn't even renew the cell service. Suck it, cell phone!
