Anyone use Magic Jack?

[hermetic]

This supposedly supplies telephone service through your DSL or WiFi. My neighbor has it but he never really uses his land line. Just for answering service sometimes.

I need to call people who don't have computers and it looks like it works, from what I read at their website. http://www.magicjack.com/useHome.html

Thoughts? Opinions?

Thanks.

[PoliticAverse]

1. If you are willing to make calls using your computer and a headset you can make calls

for free (US and Canada) via Google Voice.

You can also get a stand-alone product that works with Google Voice (eliminating the need for a computer):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004LO098O
http://www.obihai.com/

[hermetic]

2. My computer

is 10 yrs old, running XP. I have a lot of trouble connecting to any Google thing. My Gmail is always telling me it can't connect, I get 5 error codes. I like what the Magic Jack offers and it's way cheaper than what I am getting through Century Link, which I plan to dump tomorrow. Found a better wifi service but I need my phone. CrappyLink is the only phone service where I live. So I was just wondering if anyone had any experience with this thing, that I never heard of before the other day.

Thanks for your reply. Appreciate it.

[PoliticAverse]

3. Magic Jack gets mixed reviews...

See the Wikipedia page on Magic Jack for more info on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MagicJack

I would consider the Obihai stand alone device (no computer required) used with Google Voice a better option.
http://www.obitalk.com/obinet/

Using the Internet for making phone calls is known as "Voice Over Internet Protocol" ("VOIP" for short)
you can find more info on it by searching (including some good explanatory videos on Youtube).

[hermetic]

4. Thank you

I will definitely check that out. Would still, though, like to hear from anyone who has used the Magic Jack.

Gotta consider all my options.

[PoliticAverse]

5. Speaking of "all options" if you have a cell phone (activated or not) with WiFi...

you can use it with Google Voice as a free "WiFi Phone".

For an example:

[bananas]

10. Some other options are Ting and Republic Wireless.

They are inexpensive cellphone services with unlimited wifi calling.

You can read about them in the pcmag article in this thread from last year:

"The Best Cheap Prepaid Phone Plans You've Never Heard Of"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101695576

edit to add:

Ting's website: https://ting.com/
A wikipedia article on Ting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ting_Inc.

Repubublic Wireless: https://republicwireless.com/
wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_Wireless

[bananas]

6. The new magicjacks don't need a computer

They have 3 connectors: a standard phone jack, an Ethernet port, and a USB connector. Included is an Ethernet cable and a USB power supply and a USB cable.

You can plug the magicjack into your router and plug your phone into the magicjack and use it like that.

If you plug it into your computer, it installs an app that lets you use your your mic and speakers or headset.

You can also download an app to your smartphone which lets you use your smartphone as a magicjack phone using WiFi or cellular data connection.

The main downside is it only lets you talk for an hour, then it may hang up. This can make it impossible to get through to government agencies and utility companies that put you on hold for an hour, because it will hang up while you're still on hold.

[Egnever]

7. I think magic jack can now connect directly to a router

But if you are going to try to connect it through your machine you are going to have nothing but trouble with it from the description of what is going on with your machine.

If you can connect it directly to the router you should be fine if not you will have nothing but trouble with it until you get your machine fixed.

[hermetic]

12. Yes, thank you

I just got my new wireless service hooked up and bought a router from them and it has the slot for the Magic Jack so I think this is all going to work just fine. I appreciate your input.

[bananas]

8. Just follow the instructions in this video

This is the video I used to guide me through installation and registration,
the person who made it doesn't work for magicjack:

He embedded that video on this web page:
http://mjcheck.low.li/2014/09/magicjack-go-registration-activation/

His website has a bunch of other good information on magicjack.

[bananas]

9. I got one last year, but I don't use it much.

I have a landline and cellphone, I saw some magicjacks on sale half-price so for $25 I figured why not try it out. (They were normally $50, the price has gone up a little since then).

The call quality is good, as good as the landline bundled with my cable tv and internet, and much better than my cellphone.

I mainly use it if I'm on hold and want to make a second call. It's useful enough that I registered for another 5 years (which was only $100, I think that's gone up slightly too).

There are two reasons I wouldn't depend on it for a main phone line:

1) I read on some message boards that it sometimes hangs up after an hour or 90 minutes. This aooarently is to save them money in case the phone accidently fell off hook. But some people said they couldn't reconnect to the same number for several minutes. I don't know if this is still an issue or not.

Here's a couple of links, these are a few years ago, things may have changed:

2011: "Dropped calls after 90 minutes"
http://www.phoneservicesupport.com/dropped-calls-after-90-minutes-t10905.html

2012: "60 minutes per call or 20 calls per day limit"
http://www.phoneservicesupport.com/60-minutes-per-call-or-20-calls-per-day-limit-t12677.html

2) There are some blocked exchanges. Apparently there's some kind of carrier war between phone companies similar to the net neutrality issue on the internet. Some rural phone companies charge more than magicjack wants to pay, so that location is blocked. And that may be happening with skype and google voice also.

Read here:
"Should I give a magicJack for Christmas? VoIP provider wars…"
Published December 23, 2014
http://mjcheck.low.li/2014/12/should-i-give-a-magicjack-for-christmas-voip-provider-wars/

[hermetic]

13. Thanks for he video

The magic jack should be here Monday. After considering all the possible drawbacks, I decided it was really just what I needed. I get to try it for a month free, so there is also that going for it. Appreciate your input and the links.

[mockmonkey]

11. I have Magicjack Plus

I have cable internet and it's connected to my router. I don't know how well it will work with DSL. I have really crummy old phone lines in this apartment so DSL didn't work so well for me so I had to get cable.

When setting it up you need a computer at first. When making a call you have to dial 1 and the area code even for local calls.

I don't make many calls and the only real problem I've had is when I needed to activate a new bank card with a series of numbers and with the MagicJack it couldn't activate as if it didn't understand what was being sent through my phones touch tone.

I had to talk to a real bank person on the phone to get the bank thing to work. Later I realized that I had to connect the Magicjack to my computer to get anything that needed a number response (push 1 for English ect) to work. I also can not access my phone messages when hooked up to the router since that also needs a series of numbers entered.
I get my messages from a website that I had chosen during installation. My Magicjack is a few years old so maybe they've fixed these glitches.

Sound quality is no different than when I had a landline. I talk on the phone maybe once a week. The upside is that I took a new phone number (the number is for the next town over) and since I am very careful about giving my phone number out I never get any annoying calls from fake charities, pollsters ect. My number is not listed anywhere.

If your internet is down your phone doesn't work. My internet has gone down maybe once a year for a few hours each time. I kept my landline at first just to make sure the Magicjack would work for me. I think you can take your Magicjack with you if you travel with your laptop, but I don't, so I have no experience with that.

I was spending about $480 a year for TDS Metrocom and now pay about $60 a year with Magicjack. I have been buying the 6 months option, it would be cheaper for me to buy a longer term.

[hermetic]

14. Thanks for all the info

I think I can live with all that. I don't use the phone a lot, except for long distance calls so I think this will be a good deal for me.

My thanks to everyone who replied in this thread. You all really helped me a bunch.