UPDATE to Ooma Phone System (Internet based) from 20 Feb 2018--911 Test and Special 4 DAY Price

So, I found a great buy on the Ooma at Costco -- with built-in Wi-Fi and a handset--it's a relatively good deal at $89.  Go to https://www.costco.com/.product.100404941.html?&EMID=B2C_2018_1008_4DaysOnly

 BUT 4 DAYS ONLY--ENDS OCTOBER 11--that's WEDNESDAY!!!

Ooma had a learning curve and has a few idiosyncrasies but all in all has been reliable (more so than the previous AT&T Base station and much less expensive).  When our very reliable and advanced Rural internet system has an outage (very infrequently and doesn't last long) we use a T Mobile Hotspot which is really useless for most internet--except mobile--usage.  It has perhaps 9 mBs Download and has deteriorated to barely 1 mbs Upload--so be aware of the future of all these 4G cellular hot spots.  We use it only as a backup also due to high cost of monthly usage and cap on usage is insanely low--but so is AT&T, Verizon, etc.

911 TEST:  Due to a neighbor's issues with using 911 with a cell phone, decided to test the Ooma, and our 2 smartphones as to whether  or how fast they connected to 911 and showed our correct phone number and location to the 911 Operator in our County.

We were pleasantly surprised at these results:

Ooma with our backup T Mobile hot spot--after a number of rings, reached County Emergency system--reported back the correct phone number and location (Oooma also sends emails for 911 alerts) 

Oooma with our regular Broadband Wi-Fi service--After fewer rings than with the T Mobile Hotspot, also reached the County Emergency system, which reported back the correct phone number and location as above.

AT&T Samsung Smart Phone--after several rings (fewer than with the Ooma), reached 911 County Emergency operator who reported back correct phone number and same location as above.

T Mobile LG smartphone--after only 1 ring, reached the correct 911 County Emergency operator who reported back correct phone number and location.

 This needs to be qualified by not knowing whether we would get the same results in another location away from home, as sure that cell tower pings, etc may affect location, etc.  

Phones themselves seem to make a difference (brand, settings). Ooma is portable, but prefer not to have to take a bulky Ooma, home phone along when more compact cell phones do the same thing--including calls on wi-fi.  

We rarely use our prepaid cell phones at home and when on the road and take the T Mobile Hotspot (we were grandfathered into the $10/month for 2 gB) and use the Ooma app, Hangouts, Google phone to make calls).  Guess what!  We pay less than $50/year for the prepaid Cell usage--both phones!