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MagicJack

4K views 22 replies 13 participants last post by  hedley 
#1 ·
Ok, some of you know I work for one of the traditional telephone companies. But that hasnt stopped me from checking out cell phones, cable phones, and now MagicJack.



Ok, I am tempted because the calls are free and after you buy the jack, the calls are only 19.99 a year. So I picked one up from Radio Shack today. The purchase price was $39.99 (an extra $20) for the jack itself. Ok, still, thats cheap, especially since Radio Shack was giving out $10 off coupons with purchase - Now I can buy a headset they say! LOL

I got home and just plugged it in. It auto downloads the software automatically on my XP desktop and the Vista laptop. I just followed the instructions on the screen, and registered and got my phone number. The voice mail sucks, but thats fine. Really didnt expect it would be any good. There is no custom messages at all. Ok fine. I called my mom and it failed the first time. Hung up and tried again and it worked. Caller ID works. I guess it would be nice to call 411 for free. And I get to save some minutes off of my T-Mobile prepaid when I call relatives.

Call Quality? Meh ... Not at all like a landline (of course I knew it wouldnt be) but not even close to a cell phone either. Not horribly bad on delay, But quality was a bit broken even with a decent high speed connection. But still, usable for sure.

My rating: 4
 
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#4 ·
no obviously if you lose your internet connection you have lost your phone line.

The good news is if you travel allot like I do I set up my laptop in the hotel room and dont get charged for using the hotel phone, also my number comes with me.

I have not tried a MJ on a public internet service like a library computer yet, but I dont think it would be a problem.
 
#6 ·
I used one when I was an over the road trucker to fax, it worked great. I could also use it as my home phone that travels.

I did eventually give it up though, it was sometimes spotty.
 
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#10 ·
Skype is free with PC-to-PC, but if you are wanting to make calls to a phone from you PC it does cost.

2.99 a month for calls in US and Canada

$7.99/month a month for unlimited calls across North America

then they got prices for calls world wide and what not.

You can also utilize on smart phones by downloading the app or purchasing a phone with Skype included.

Apparently they got it for TV now.
 
#17 ·
It works perfect.
1-needs it's own pc which never gets messed with or shut off.
2-I have to keep it open in a second virtuawindow so that it never interrupts me as I only have one pc.
3-It does not like it if you do anything else with your connection-like downloading.
4-If you use hibernate, the pc actually shuts off but when started back up, you don't need wait for it to load as it's already loaded. Reboots excluded.

Other than that, the 20/yr is nothing to be able to talk 24/7 365 to any usa phone from anywhere in the world. Would be something I'd give to every soldier, that and a mic.

Lately though the POS has been exiting for absolutely no reason. I try to leave it on all the time which for me is unnecessary. I won't even have used it and I come back later and it is not running-pita pos. But hey it was only a 20.
 
#20 ·
Anyone got any experience with the Ooma? We are thinking of dumping Verizon as they are charging us $65 a month for our landline. We have a Comcast VOIP phone that we never use other than to give it out to places that we think will just use it for sales calls or sell it to those who do. We don't answer it (actually we can't because we don't even have a phone connected to it. so it's always on silent.

Anyway, the questions I have is about being listed in the white pages (both print and online and about porting my number).

The advantage of the Ooma is that it is standalone and yourr computer does not have to be on for it to work.

My question is will a Magic Jack number or an Ooma number get published in the white pages?

Can you keep your old land line number?
 
#21 ·
MJ is not published and they were supposed to offer a deal wherein you keep your number for a fee but I have never seen it yet. Also MJ does NOT work with fax numbers. Believe me I tried.
If you have a voip phone you can use free google voice numbers till the end of the year and it will act just like a landline-for free. Not sure about faxing though. That ooma is cool but it costs what, $250. MJ can be stuck in your pocket and carried anywhere.
 
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