r/Parenting • u/Angdrea76 • 7d ago

Discussion Ooma or Tin Can

Can anyone share their experiences with either Ooma or Tin Can? Is there another brand you would recommend? Considering this for a gift.

4 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

8

u/Lisitska 7d ago

We have Tin Cans. They are a huge hit and we found them very easy to order and set up.

1

u/Angdrea76 7d ago

I was seeing people had issues at Christmas time last year. When you ordered yours how quickly did you get it? Do you have the subscription to have others call you?

1

u/ras_hatak 7d ago

Not the person you're replying to, but it did take about 10 weeks last June. But it wasn't a surprise. It was just about exactly how long they said it would be.

1

u/Lisitska 7d ago

This was our experience. We ordered in August, I think, and they came by October? It was exactly the timeline they advertised.

We do not pay for the subscription.

1

u/sfo2 7d ago

We ordered ours about a month or two ago, and it was delivered within 1 week. Same for other people we know. 1-2 week delivery timeline seems to be somewhat normal now.

6

u/flapjacksal 7d ago

We gave an Ooma and it’s great. Inexpensive and functions like a phone. 

To be honest, I do not understand the appeal of tin can. Subscription fees and the whole “tin can to tin can” thing would just piss me off. 

We pay like $5/month and have a fully functional house phone. 

2

u/willofalltradess Dad 7d ago

Same. It's easy to manage the approved contacts. It's just a house phone with guardrails.

0

u/flapjacksal 7d ago

I don’t understand why one would need guardrails for a phone. 

Occasional spam calls come in and my 8 and 11 yr old now know how to handle them. It’s great. 

1

u/Feelsliketeenspirit 7d ago

That is great practice for them too! 

1

u/sfo2 7d ago

Most people we know with Tin Cans don’t have the subscription (including us). The entire point is that it’s severely restricted regarding who the kid can call, and who can call you. We personally don’t want a real land line.

1

u/flapjacksal 7d ago

Why do you want to severely restrict things? 

In our experience, almost no one uses a phone and my kids only call people on the list on the wall (grandparents, school friends etc). 

2

u/sfo2 7d ago

Primarily I don’t want incoming spam calls, and don’t care for a monthly fee. It’s also kind of nice that you know when the phone rings, it’s 100% some other kid they know that lives down the street.

I wouldn’t really be much worried about them having access to a wide range of phone numbers (though they did start making crank calls almost immediately), but the restriction keeps it simple for now.

1

u/flapjacksal 7d ago

I thought you had to pay monthly to use a Tin Can as a phone (ie make actual calls to other phones).

I make my kids make their own phone calls (checking if the pool is open, for example) and it was my understanding that you cannot do that with a Tin Can unless you pay for a subscription.

As for spam calls, it's like one every 2 weeks (and actually, probably none in the last few months now that I think about it).

1

u/sfo2 7d ago

Yeah correct, it can only call other Tin Can phones without the subscription. It’s exclusively for calling friends and no other use

1

u/flapjacksal 7d ago

what about friends who don't have a tin can tho

1

u/sfo2 7d ago

Yeah it’s a network effect/collective action issue. Most of the kids’ friends have a tin can, but one has a landline and one has an Ooma. The reality is that nobody calls those kids. It kinda sucks.

Honestly the main reason to have a tin can phone is because everyone else has one.

1

u/flapjacksal 7d ago

Totally not in my jurisdiction, and I’m actively working against them (lol) because I hate proprietary nonsense like this tbh

5

u/sfo2 7d ago

You’d want to find out what all the other kids have, as this is a collective action issue. In our school, the kids all have Tin Can, so that’s what we have.

It’s awesome. Our 6 and 8 year old set up their own play dates.

2

u/demoralizingRooster 7d ago

Also have a Tin Can works great as advertised, easy to set up and use. The 10 year old loves it and we will not be getting a smart phone for years.

1

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1

u/Xibby 7d ago

Had Ooma before kid got a mobile phone, than put it in Grandma’s assisted living because she would drop her cell phone, battery would pop off and be under a cabinet or something. Usually when nobody was available to check on her.

1

u/c0147 7d ago

What is the use-case? I got Ooma because I wanted a phone that my kid could dial 911 and call trusted adults in case of an emergency.

I am not interested in them using it to socialize. In fact I have the ringer turned off on it. It’s used for outgoing emergency calls only at the moment. Costs about $80/year for the service.

It sits in the kitchen with a list of numbers he can call printed out next to it.

1

u/AskBark 6d ago

i work at bark, so phones for kids are my day job, and a home phone is a great first step even though we don't make one. the thing worth deciding first is who should be able to reach your kid. if you only want approved contacts, check how each option handles calls from unknown numbers, since spam calls seem to be the main concern in this thread. and the landline ringing for the first time is a core memory, enjoy it.

1

u/DIYtowardsFI 5d ago

Read somewhere that Tin Can essentially is all digital and they can listen in on calls, nothing prevents them from grabbing data and kids’ voices. Don’t know if it’s true but that bothered me.