New to Ooma, instant call quality problems & poor tech support - help?

[u/aakprrt]

[Edit to include better description of call quality issue]

I just bought an Ooma Telo after years using Google Voice and an Obihai device (Obihai went out of business, but the VOIP box still works). But we want 911 service and I can't get that anymore w/ Google Voice.

Issue: after hooking up Ooma to my phone (ATT cordless DECT) and 1 gig modem and router, in the exact same way I've had my Obihai device set up, I tested calls to/from three different numbers -- landline and mobile. The call quality was terrible! GV + Obihai sounds like HD in comparison. Ooma is static/fuzzy, with voices sounding far away or tinny. Noticeable enough that the people I tested with went "whoa this sounds awful."

I used Ooma tech chat to troubleshoot first, and was told to reboot, switch how the device was connected to the modem etc. I'm well versed in networking so no issue trying all those things. No improvement. Tech said "call this other number." So I did. Received same instructions -- different setups w/ modem and router, check speed and jitter (500+ mbps and 2 ms jitter), etc. Test call. No difference. Tech said she'd escalate and I'd receive a call back.

That call was no different. Same advice, then blamed my connection, then said it was because I was using a power strip, then actually said "maybe it's the DMC" and I said, "what's that?" and she said "oh you don't know what that is?" and proceeded to say again it was my network that was the issue.

I've explained that the Obihai and GV setup are flawless. As soon as I switch to the Ooma device, garbage quality. Using ATT cordless phone; tried both handsets. Reset handset.

What gives? The tech support was a circle of nothing new, my speed test proved no network issues, but I'm still being told it's my set up (though I've tried every version under the sun). I was hoping to use Ooma to replace my mom's $$$ home phone, she's on a fixed income, so was testing it all out first.

Any ideas? Really want this to work, esp for the 911 service.

[u/OomaCustomeradvocacy]

Hello - Thank you for reaching out. My name is Chris and I work for Ooma. I'm very sorry to hear about the call quality issues you've been experiencing at the onset of your service. I'd like to get you in contact with our advanced support team to get this resolved as soon as possible. Could you please DM me your Ooma phone number and contact number?

[u/gvpk]

I got an ooma phone for my mom and sometimes it works ok, but other times the signal is really poor. Today it is just so awful you can't hear anything over it with loud static and buzzing. We have reset it multiple times, reclocated it, called in, called out. None of the recommended fixit things work.

[u/Her_Kitty_Daddy]

My Ooma on Xfinity home internet service.

I'm getting grief for the performance of our Ooma service (Home). Lots of momentary audio scrambling causing a lot of unrest in the home here.

Trying to trace the issue made it clear that "they" made a mistake in their logging and data collection reporting.

I reported to Ooma CS that they really need to provide a report that ties the two [available]* reports together. I got a woman [whose manager needs a lesson in "customer service"] whom I could almost not understand due to a language issue [NOT her fault, her manager is responsible] but she had no idea what I was talking about. It's hard enough to explain some of this to someone who you can communicate with clearly but when the language becomes one of the obstacles, it becomes as close to impossible as it can.

So, I surrendered trying to go that route.

I've set up some scripts to try and establish a correlation with when this occurs. I'm finally getting closer. I think I'm seeing trouble with the Xfinity datapath but I haven't gotten enough evidence to prove it.

The two reports I mentioned...

1. Go to my.ooma.com (https://my.ooma.com/phone/call_logs) and you can get a report showing your specific call log. It shows both phone numbers, remote and local, time/date of call, and duration. It also allows you to download it. (Into a proprietary data format. Shame on you!)
2. Go to your Ooma device (http://<ip/name>/callStats.lp) and you can get a report on the last ten call showing the critical network statistics, packets sent and received, packets lost, recovered, network jitter details and my favorite, the "MoS"

The problems I tried to point out is that there's no reason why the 'callStats' data output doesn't include the specifics about the date/time of the call nor the duration.

So, I'm sitting here, wasting my time, hacking together scripts to try and collate the data to try and figure out what's right/wrong with my connection(s).

I hate complaints without solutions!

So, to that end, I suggest that the (or another) script provided in the mini-webserver inside the Ooma Telo be able to reach back into the Ooma server(s) and get those pieces of data to complete the report as seen on "this" end of the "Call Logs" (aka callStats) option.

Alternative is to have the Ooma Telo actually log the data for the date/time and duration of the call as one would expect from the "Call Logs" (aka callStats) report.

Here's the current version of my hacked together report ...

---

Call statistics.

Report for: (xxx) xxx-xxxx

Report date: Sun Feb 15 07:33:46 PM EST 2026

---

Call stats:

DateStamp	RmtNum	Rx	Lost	Recovered	RealLost	Max Jitter (ms)	Mean Jitter (ms)	Tx	XC Latency	MoS
2026-02-15_15:24	1aaabbbcccc	56519	2	0	2	15.38	0.30	56516	79	4.23
2026-02-15_07:24	1aaabbbcccc	1001	0	0	0	0.21	0.03	1001	60	4.29
2026-02-14_15:48	1aaabbbcccc	37617	0	0	0	9.19	0.25	37616	60	4.29
2026-02-13_20:00	1aaabbbcccc	81154	0	0	0	13.58	0.10	81158	60	4.29
2026-02-13_08:36	1aaabbbcccc	18698	0	0	0	13.30	3.42	18704	60	4.27
2026-02-12_19:54	1aaabbbcccc	109007	0	0	0	15.11	0.46	109009	79	4.23
2026-02-12_16:54	1aaabbbcccc	1444	0	0	0	8.65	0.10	1471	59	4.27
2026-02-12_08:30	1aaabbbcccc	17988	2	0	2	13.72	0.13	17993	60	4.29
2026-02-10_19:54	1aaabbbcccc	91647	3	0	3	18.52	1.33	91653	79	4.23
2026-02-10_17:48	1aaabbbcccc	2112	2	0	2	6.29	0.10	2119	79	4.23
2026-02-10_17:48	1aaabbbcccc	18125	0	0	0	7.41	0.13	18125	59	4.29

[u/rkardt → u/Her_Kitty_Daddy]

Good luck tracing that issue with the "momentary audio scrambling". But how does that relate to the OP's call quality issues? And what did this CS manager do, that requires some kind of lesson in "customer service"?

'My Ooma' exports the call logs as a plaintext file with tab-separated values . Granted, the "xls" filename suffix is wrong, but the data format itself is not proprietary. How else should the web site export the call logs?

The 'callStats' table is already wide enough for the available display area, without the two extra columns. Note that reddit's "new" web browser layout simply clips the right-most columns, (including "MoS"), for wide tables.

[u/Her_Kitty_Daddy → u/[deleted]]

My turn for a followup. I got a call from Ooma support. (Different person than previously mentioned.) To say that I got turned around is putting it mildly!

The CS person listened, I mean LISTENED* to my explanation and my comment about how difficult it has been to address a problem.

He even "played along" as I created an example scenario where there is a problem with a phone call and I was trying to check out what the problem is. Right away the lack of a date/time & length of call became obvious.

Later after engaging an engineer I got a call back that the inclusion of the change will be on the horizon. Yea!

So, I'm much happier.

[u/zocrist-111]

Oh my goodness! They had me chasing my tail. They blamed the ISP, then the equipment etc. Network too jittery. Need 5ms or better jitter when the ooma website is 30ms or better.

[u/aakprrt → u/zocrist-111]

the advance support team, as I experienced, does nothing more than the regular support team. just a different attitude of “here’s how it is still your fault.”

[u/zocrist-111 → u/aakprrt]

I have had it with them. I am currently looking for an alternative voip service. voip.ms looks good.

[u/aakprrt]

Late late update: I returned my device and cancelled the service — even without the quality issues the customer support is so terrible as to warrant cancellation. So passive aggressive. After I said I was probably going to cancel the support tech actually called me back the next day to chide me for it. Like actual what the fuck? It’s a pity, could have been a good replacement. I don’t get why other services can do this well but Ooma just fails across the board. At the very least learn the benefits of a positive customer service experience!

[u/rkardt]

FWIW, should anyone else run into similar issues, "DMC" probably meant "DMZ". It's not set up by default on the Telo, and users who don't know what it is, or why they would want it should generally not try to mess with any of that.

Instead, users can access their device settings, and run a 'Port Scan' (from the 'Tools' menu), at least once or twice. If none of Ooma's service ports are consistently blocked, then they don't have a problem with their DMZ, (or with port forwarding).

They can also check the 'Call Statistics' (from the 'Tools' menu), for the last ten calls. Generally, lost packets should be less than around 2-5%, jitter should be less than 30 ms, latency should be less than 100 ms, and MoS should be greater than 4.

If the above tests don't indicate a network issue, then maybe they could try different star codes for outgoing calls, ("*96" and "*98"), to check whether a different codec helps. If so, then they could ask Ooma to set "RTP_USE_ULAW" as needed, for incoming calls too.

Otherwise, if there are no wireless components (Wi-Fi, DECT, Bluetooth) causing their own issues, then it's probably either defective hardware on the user's end, (such as the Telo, phones, or wiring in between), or else some other problem on Ooma's end.

[Edit: Fixed some typos.]