By RACHEL KONRAD, The Associated Press
The Washington Post, Thursday, July 19, 2007; 12:46 AM
PALO ALTO, Calif. -- A Silicon Valley startup wants to shake up the telecommunications industry with a $399 gizmo that provides free, unlimited domestic phone calls for homes with broadband Internet service.
Ooma Inc. will also offer a free second line, conference calling, voice mail service and an online "lounge" where users may change their preferences or get voice mail in an e-mail format. The company will start selling the devices Thursday with an invitation-only offer to select U.S. residents.
The company _ backed by $27 million in venture capital _ eventually hopes to crack the home-based and small-business niches. Engineers are working on a system that forwards calls to cellular phones.
"It's nothing like anything a carrier can do currently," CEO Andrew Frame said. "Once you own the box, you don't have to pay ooma anything in the future."
Frame and other executives assume, of course, that their company won't meet the same fate as other startups going up against telecommunication veterans.
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