Despite the recent catastrophes faced by standalone VoIP providers Vonage and SunRocket (News - Alert), VoIP appliance and service provider ooma is introducing a $399 “Hub” device that consumers with broadband can use to make unlimited free domestic phone calls.

Ooma is relatively new on the VoIP scene. The Silicon Valley start-up’s peer-to-peer VoIP service works over broadband and also connects calls over traditional telephone lines. With the company’s small, in-line “Hub” device, a user can convert their broadband connection into a phone line and make free peer-to-peer calls nationwide, as well as calls over the PSTN. They can do this while keeping their traditional phone service. International calls are subject to low “VoIP-like” rates.

The system uses proprietary code and therefore is not based on open standards, such as SIP. However, unlike Skype (News - Alert) (which also uses proprietary code), which requires both caller and recipient to be using it and works best on a computer, ooma is designed for use with regular home phones.

Ooma recently received $27 million in venture capital and is ready to start distributing its “Hub” to consumers. The company has already distributed 1,500 beta units of the device, which have handled 325,000 calls.

On Wednesday, ooma will launch an 80-second advertisement on YouTube (News - Alert), produced by its “creative director,” Ashton Kutcher, the "That 70's Show" star who is apparently serving as a company spokesman.

Kutcher wrote in an e-mail to the Associated Press that ooma (News - Alert) "opened my eyes" to technology's power.

"Ooma is the future. I would be blind not to see that," he wrote. "We can remove the space between people and become closer to one another. That's the ultimate opportunity."

Ooma is also offering a “Scout” device which allows a user to expand the VoIP line into two separate lines. The ooma system is being offered at introductory price of $399 for each ooma Hub device and $39.95 for each ooma Scout device.

The ooma system offers unlimited U.S. calling and premium features, including the ooma Instant Second Line and the ooma Broadband Answering Machine, with no additional monthly fees. In 2008, when the introductory pricing period expires, the ooma Hub device will carry a suggested retail price of $599.

“We are thrilled to begin selling to the public via the ooma Web site," said Andrew Frame, ooma founder and CEO, in a press release. "With the launch of our consumer sales channel, we now have the ability to deliver ooma systems directly to consumers and provide online support and product information. Consumers across the country will gain access to a digital voice appliance that enables individual ownership of home phone service."

Consumers who have tried the beta version of the service have so far responded favorably to it:

"Having relied on my cell phone for my long-distance calls for years, I can appreciate the convenience of ooma," said ooma customer Annie Nguyen in the release. "Now instead of making my long-distance calls from my cell phone with questionable service reliability, I just pick up my home phone, listen for the ooma dial tone and make the call. ooma has really brought me back to using my home telephone."

"I'm not a very technical person - rarely am I the first one to adopt new technologies," said Ann Jones, another ooma customer. "In the case of ooma, though, the benefits were evident right away. I'm saving a significant amount of money each month on my phone bill, I get the added benefit of the Broadband Answering Machine and Instant Second Line, and the entire process of setting it up was simple."

For more information, visit www.ooma.com.

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Patrick Barnard is Associate Editor for Customer Interaction Solutions magazine and Assignment Editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit Patrick Barnard’s columnist page.