Magic Jack

[My_Two_Cents]

Anyone have any experience with this internet phone service? I'm tired of $35/month through my cable provider plus the $15/month in taxes and fees. We hardly ever use our home phone, and have lived with cell phones in the past. For $20/year, I can live with occasional connection problems, but are there any other issues I should be concerned with? Is there a better internet phone company/plan out there?

[mikejet]

The difference between Magic Jack and other internet phones is that Magic Jack works through your computer and not your router. So if your computer is off so is your phone. With others is the computer is off the phone still works.

That's the main reason I haven't gotten it yet. Vonage or other companies might be better depending on your needs.

[JimShaw]

I have it and have been testing it for awhile now. It seems to work pretty good. I will be cancelling my land line soon to use MagicJack 100%.

MagicJack costs 19.95 a year or 59.99 for 5 years. That is all you pay. Not like regular phone companies that quote a price then afterwards, there is another $20 a month in taxes added on.

Vonage is about 24.99 a month if I remember correctly.

[My_Two_Cents]

Originally Posted by JimShaw

I have it and have been testing it for awhile now. It seems to work pretty good. I will be cancelling my land line soon to use MagicJack 100%.

MagicJack costs 19.95 a year or 59.99 for 5 years. That is all you pay. Not like regular phone companies that quote a price then afterwards, there is another $20 a month in taxes added on.

Vonage is about 24.99 a month if I remember correctly.

Thanks, Jim. The taxes added to phone usage are just ridiculous. I don't think most people realize just how bad they are. For the price, it's certainly worth giving M-J a try.

[JimShaw]

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

Thanks, Jim. The taxes added to phone usage are just ridiculous. I don't think most people realize just how bad they are. For the price, it's certainly worth giving M-J a try.

That is what I thought.

I have also tested it with all the wireless phones that I now use in my home and it seems to work great.

[PS3+HDDVD OWNER]

I have the Magic Jack at my house, and love it to death. Comcast keeps bugging me to add their home home service, and it'd only be a few dollars a month to add it to my current servies but i simply refuse to add it. The magic jack includes your first years worth of service for $40 plus tax. Really a great product, imo. My wife loves it and hasn't had any problems. We even took it with us on our honeymoon to mexico and made several calls back to the US with no problems at all. Excellent product in general.

I've noticed DECT 6.0 phones tend to work best with the magic jack, but maybe its just me. We had used an older cordless phone at first and it seemed to get some interference from my desktop computer right next to it. Since i bought my new Uniden DECT 6.0 cordless phones, no such issues.

[steve_dave]

Something you can do with Magic Jack that you can't do with most other VOIPs, is you can take that device with you as PS3+HDDVDOwner stated.

So as long as you can get an internet connection, you can make calls back home from anywhere in the world for just the $19.99 a year. Its great for business users as they can stay in touch with family at home without paying high long distance fees.

[crackinhedz]

Originally Posted by mikejet

So if your computer is off so is your phone.

Voice mail.


My mother bought me the Magic Jack, granted Ive only used it a few times...its a nice product. Quality of the phone call vs. normal phone is the same in my opinion.

[Sylin]

Originally Posted by steve_dave

Something you can do with Magic Jack that you can't do with most other VOIPs, is you can take that device with you as PS3+HDDVDOwner stated.

So as long as you can get an internet connection, you can make calls back home from anywhere in the world for just the $19.99 a year. Its great for business users as they can stay in touch with family at home without paying high long distance fees.

Actually Vonage, along with a few of the other major providers, offer a USB key-style device you can take with you when you travel. A family member has it and loves it.

We use Vonage at home, and at a few companies we own. Never had a problem with it, but I've been tempted by the MagicJack at 1/15th the annual price. Glad to hear it gets such glowing reviews here.

I'm always wary of Vonage, because I keep reading reports about their financial struggles, which might mean a hike in price or a drop in service at some point.

A few questions about MagicJack:
1.) Can you fax through it, with a conventional fax machine?
2.) In the TV infomercial, the device looks HUGE, like someone could easily snap its connector when plugged into a PC. Is it that fragile?

Actually, that raises another concern... it's only 1 jack in 1 room, so no ability to have multiple phones in different rooms, eh?

[JimShaw]

Originally Posted by Sylin

Actually Vonage, along with a few of the other major providers, offer a USB key-style device you can take with you when you travel. A family member has it and loves it.

We use Vonage at home, and at a few companies we own. Never had a problem with it, but I've been tempted by the MagicJack at 1/15th the annual price. Glad to hear it gets such glowing reviews here.

I'm always wary of Vonage, because I keep reading reports about their financial struggles, which might mean a hike in price or a drop in service at some point.

A few questions about MagicJack:
1.) Can you fax through it, with a conventional fax machine?
2.) In the TV infomercial, the device looks HUGE, like someone could easily snap its connector when plugged into a PC. Is it that fragile?

Actually, that raises another concern... it's only 1 jack in 1 room, so no ability to have multiple phones in different rooms, eh?

Fax? I haven't tried

Device is small, maybe 1"x2"x1/2"

I plug the jack into my base unit and all the wireless phones work

[quest88]

Originally Posted by Sylin

Actually Vonage, along with a few of the other major providers, offer a USB key-style device you can take with you when you travel. A family member has it and loves it.

We use Vonage at home, and at a few companies we own. Never had a problem with it, but I've been tempted by the MagicJack at 1/15th the annual price. Glad to hear it gets such glowing reviews here.

I'm always wary of Vonage, because I keep reading reports about their financial struggles, which might mean a hike in price or a drop in service at some point.

A few questions about MagicJack:
1.) Can you fax through it, with a conventional fax machine?
2.) In the TV infomercial, the device looks HUGE, like someone could easily snap its connector when plugged into a PC. Is it that fragile?

Actually, that raises another concern... it's only 1 jack in 1 room, so no ability to have multiple phones in different rooms, eh?

I set one up for my dad and put a phone line splitter for his fax. It works just like any normal phone line, sends and receives faxes without a problem. As for the size it's about the size of an normal wifi dongle.

[JimShaw]

Originally Posted by quest88

I set one up for my dad and put a phone line splitter for his fax. It works just like any normal phone line, sends and receives faxes without a problem. As for the size it's about the size of an normal wifi dongle.

Fax, great. I will give it a try.

[Moefiz]

Another question:

What internet service are you guys using.I have Verizon right now and I can't get the internet service without the phone plan.

[phlydude]

probably most people have some sort of cable service

There are provisional DSL providers that may be able to get you service on VZ network without you having VZ phone service. Check something out like this: http://www.dslreports.com/psearch?b=...y+Phone+number

[dereksworl]

Originally Posted by phlydude

probably most people have some sort of cable service

There are provisional DSL providers that may be able to get you service on VZ network without you having VZ phone service. Check something out like this: http://www.dslreports.com/psearch?b=...y+Phone+number

what is this exactly? is this a list of DSL providers in which phone service is not required for internet?

[JimShaw]

I am getting ready to cancel my Verizon. I have already talked to them. I will save $20.00 a month in phone service and then about $14.00 in taxes. That equals to about $420.00 a year less $19.99 for MagicJack. That's $400.00 a year in savings. $400.00 more each year to purchase Blus. Love it.

[JimShaw]

I just tried to fax and yes it did fax.

It would not send a fax when the fax machine was set up as "Fine" but it did fax as "Standard"

[phlydude]

Originally Posted by dereksworl

what is this exactly? is this a list of DSL providers in which phone service is not required for internet?

dsl reports web site has been around for a decade or more...it is a place that in the infancy of higher speed internet, you could determine if you were eligible for DSL (or even ISDN) services and calculate things like distance to your phone company's central office (CO) and get reviews and speed tests.

The link I gave you is to see who is offerring DSL in your area...many of the listings may be dead ends as DSL isn't exactly brand new technology and some of those companies may not be doing new subscribers or may be dead. The only way you will know whether phone service is available is to call them and do a little research on each of them...

I am not advocating any of the providers listed there, I am just giving you something to use to get started on losing your phone company

[Lord_Stewie]

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

Anyone have any experience with this internet phone service? I'm tired of $35/month through my cable provider plus the $15/month in taxes and fees. We hardly ever use our home phone, and have lived with cell phones in the past. For $20/year, I can live with occasional connection problems, but are there any other issues I should be concerned with? Is there a better internet phone company/plan out there?

have 3 of them. Parent are always traveling over seas and it does come in handy. its worth the money.

[b0bby]

Originally Posted by JimShaw

I just tried to fax and yes it did fax.

It would not send a fax when the fax machine was set up as "Fine" but it did fax as "Standard"

bumping an old thread...

so im interested in this product for my dad's small business office. currently we have vonage + wifi bridge in order to use fax and occasional phone. the office is leased in a building where the landlord provides secured 10mbit wifi although i would prefer not to use vonage with wifi. the problem is sometimes the wifi bridge (linksys wifi gaming adapter) sometimes drops signal and faxes are inconsistent. it may be that this wifi bridge is crap although i've never bought another one to compare it to.

if i cancel vonage and go with magic jack all i would have to do is hook it to a PC and have the PC on 24/7 to have a steady fax line? does anyone have experience with voip + wifi bridge with good success? ethernet to the router is much better im sure but isn't available in my case.