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Is YMax magicJack a Scam?
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In a recent issue of the Retirement Millionaire, a retirement newsletter I’ve been checking out, they mentioned some frugal VOIP option I hadn’t heard of before. MagicJack is a USB based device that lets you make phone calls using your PC’s internet connection for $19.95 a year, or $1.66 a month. I currently use Skype as my VOIP service, in part because of weekly hour-long chats for the Personal Finance Hour, but that costs twice as much for unlimited US calling – $2.95 a month ($35.40, plus international fees because Skype is based outside the US).
I’m always looking for a good deal 
so I thought I’d take a closer look.
How Does It Work?
You buy one of these magicJack units (if you’re going to buy it, don’t buy it from Amazon because you can get it elsewhere for cheaper, I linked to them so you can read the 160+ reviews more easily) for around $40 and plug it into your computer. You then take your phone and plug it into the magicJack unit and viola, you have telephone service across the internet.
So what do you get for the $40? You get free service for the first year, which is normally $19.95, plus a phone number and unlimited local and long distance calls.
Risks
The product itself is not a scam but there are some significant risks you need to be aware of if you want to replace your regular phone service with magicJack.
Your computer needs to be turned on and your internet connection has to be active for you to make any calls. If you have a power outage or internet problems, you’ve just lost your telephone service. As for your computer, if you keep it in top notch condition, you probably will be fine. If you don’t, any slowdowns or blue screens of death are going to kaput your telephone capabilities as well.
In normal scenarios, that’s all fine. If you can’t make a call or have to reboot your computer, not a problem. However, in 911 scenarios, you might find yourself out of luck. If there’s a power outage, you can’t call out. Corded phones are powered by the RJ-11 phone lines, so in some power outages you can still call out (in an outage cordless phones are usually dead too).
Finally, the End User License Agreement for magicJack gives them the right to include advertisements. The Coffee Desk, in their review of Magic Jack, pulled up this gem:
You also understand and agree that use of the magicJack device and Software will include advertisements and that these advertisements are necessary for the magicJack device to work … Our computers may analyze the phone numbers you call in order to improve the relevance of the ads.
Hmmm…
Awards
It turns out that back on January 17th, 2008, PC Magazine named it an editor’s choice, saying “So simple it’s almost perfect, the magicJack is the best home voice-over-IP gadget I’ve seen to date. Excellent call quality, a workable set of calling features, and an amazing price make this little box the VoIP wonder to beat.” (link)
But that was almost two years ago, what about today? In looking at the reviews on Amazon, they run the gamut in star ratings. You have 50 5-stars and 59 1-stars… I think this 3-star rating by Double W sums it up: “MagicJack is a mixed bag. It will save you money, but you do get what you paid for.”
If you’re itching to check out another review, Matt at Steadfast Finnaces swapped out Vonage for MagicJack and shares his opinions. For him, it dropped the price of phone service from $300 to $20, not $35 to $20, so I’m not surprised to hear he was pleased.
For now, I’m going to pass. It’s not a scam but there are enough “yellow flags” (things I consider headaches, but nothing “bad” necessarily) that I’ll just stick with Skype. Since I have a cell phone, replacing Skype with magicJack doesn’t seem like a good value.
Have you used it? Know someone who does?
{ 67 comments, please add your thoughts now! }
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I went to Vonage earlier this year. The cost is lower than typical land line charges, but the connection is mediocre and subject to static.
Majic jack maybe even cheaper, but I’d be afraid the link would be even worse, and I don’t want to get any worse than what I have now.
Vonage definately beats land lines on balance, but it isn’t perfect and I don’t want to experiment much further. We only use our land lines for extended calls, otherwise it’s cell phones all the way.
As far as 911, every one in the house has a cell phone so problem solved there. Oh, and Vonage is fine for fax machines too.
Considering we’re all shifting away from landlines anyway, looking for the cheaper services makes sense even if the service is line is less than perfect.
I don’t know about magic jack, but I know for sure that Vonage is a scam. The service is mediocre, but the fraudulent part is that it is near impossible to cancel their service.
When I cancelled I think it took 6 months and many, many calls. Each time I was told that I was all set. But then they kept charging my credit card. When I called they said I had forgotten to call again to confirm my cancellation (which I was never told about) or other fake reasons why they couldn’t process my cancellation. After much aggravation and threating them with my lawyer wife they finally cancelled the service. Worst experience with any company I have ever had in my life. I would rather shoot myself then deal with them again.
I’ve used Vonage for 5 years. Their service was great. Cancelling prior to your contract commitment is always a bear. They offer more services than all the other VOIP and hard wire phone companies. They even had a Santa Line my kids called to leave a message for santa…great memories…now, they’ve even expanded to be able to be used on cell phones….I wish would had that before I switched to ooma.
sorry you had a horrible experience.
MagicJack is an aggravating piece of junk. It worked when it first came out and then bombs out all the time. People leave messages for me that never get delivered and there is no record for. Voice quality is horrible. Calls are dropped. Only works when computer is on. I tried it for a year and kept checking back hoping they had corrected the bugs but always a huge problem! It eats up your time and delivers merely aggravation. Check out all the negative reviews on Amazon!
Mel, this has been the reason for my hesitation with MajicJack. Sounds a lot like a cheaper version of Vonage, but we can push the frugal thing to our own detriment and we need to realize when we’re getting too close to that line.
Never used MajicJack, but your review is telling me why–thanks!!!
Ooma might be the compromise between Vonage and Magic Jack. The service reminds me a lot of Magic Jack, but you don’t use your computer. They have a stand-alone box.
I love Ooma. I got it in November 2008 so it has paid for itself already. The call quality is clear and I have had no problems. You will lose service if your power or internet goes out though. You can choose between free for life or a $10/month ($120/year) for premium features. Worth a look.
I agree with Mel….MagicJack is very aggravating. I don’t use mine at all and I don’t like the ad system.
Don’t you still need a real phone line for Ooma? and it acts like a peer to peer phone network and basically only eliminates long distance?
No, that is not correct. I have had Ooma since August 2008. I have never paid a cent to any phone company for a land line. You can use Ooma to call any number, anywhere (international calling requires you to add $ to your account, which is done online, and international rates are pretty cheap – similar to, but I think a little more than, Skype’s international rates for many countries).
Unless you are calling overseas all of these systems seem worthless.
I’ve used one form or another of VOIP including vonage, ooma, magicJack, skype, and google voice. all work great for me, and based on what I need. Not just in money savings, but in ease of use. granted most people don’t want to think about how a call should be place to reduce the cost I don’t mind thinking about it and reduce what I paid for, I do.
I had vonage for about 4 years, I dropped it to switch to ooma now (5 month going and loving it.) Awsome service along with my home alarm and direcTV – I did need to re-program the alarm pad to add a “pause” before dialing an event.
the trick to not loose phone service during any power outage is a battery back-up. my internet hub in the service panel has one (installed by Verizon) and my ooma and wireless phone are hooked up to another I bought for $50. never really tested it but according to the power consumption, I should be up for about 8-hours with the battery back-up.
The Majicjack has worked well, and most computers, set up properly, will not see a problem by being on 24-hour a day. a few “work-arounds” to save money?
sharing the phone number, length of call, or even the topics of my conversation with my frieds and family…sure knock yourself out…I mean if I was a spy maybe I would care…
Jim
“if you’re going to buy it, don’t buy it from Amazon”…just curious as to why not to buy it from Amazon
It’s more expensive at Amazon, you can get it elsewhere for cheaper.
i’ve seen the latenight infomercials but always thought no way. then when they say “available at best buy” I knew it wasn’t something I wanted to come within 100 feet of. ha
I tried it a few months ago and spent 3 hours on the phone with their tech support. COULD NOT get it to work. It was on a brand new computer too, so nothing technical wrong. Tech support couldn’t find any settings on my computer that would block it. It just would not work. I sent it back.
Apparently MagicJack is one of those things that’ll either work great for you from the start or just never work at all. There doesn’t seem to be much in between! LOL
We also had Vonage for years and it worked GREAT for us. Never any problems. We just canceled it though (due to unemployment) and only have cells now.
Check out this other blog. It started out with discussing cutting cable costs, but has broadened to phone service too. Very active chat over there today. Some good money-saving info.
http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2009/12/16/how-i-cut-my-comcast-cable-bill-by-33-without-losing-any-service/?cp=1#comment-213314
I’m also wondering about the “don’t buy it from Amazon” comment. Is it more expensive there, or is there another reason?
I am curious as to how we plug our phone into this viola.
I hate phones of all types. I went years without any phone , landline or cell. But I finally caved and added a landline with Charter. That lasted less then a year. I was paying 19.99 plus another $11 a month in taxes and fees. I thought about magicjack but found so many negative reviews I went with tracfone. I talk 20-30 minutes week on the phone at most so this is the cheapest for me. I still have never sent a text so that is something I don’t need.
I dropped the Charter phone and picked up 40 bucks a month. Funny thing, when I called to cancel the Charter phone they magically said I qualified for a reduced rate of $14.99 monthly. That just pissed me off more.
saladdin
That’s how they get you to reconsider, yet if you called to ask for a better rate they would respond with “you are not eligible at the moment.” Similar thing happened to my parents when dropping AT&T for a Comcast package deal.
I remember seeing this advertised in an infomercial quite awhile back. That alone was reason enough not to consider it for me.
Interesting to see it has survived to be around this long.
No snuggie for you?
Maybe if they could do a Slap and Chop, Snuggie, Magic Jack combo package….
I got a MagicJack for my family to call me internationally. My father is in the Caribbean and he uses it to call me in the U.S. all the time and also uses it to call my uncle in Canada.
I also used it to call the U.S. when I went on vacation since it was easy to call my friends in Texas using that than to make international phone calls.
I love the service because it is a LOT cheaper for him to use the Magic Jack than to use phone cards or to call directly. Now I would not use it here in the U.S. since I have unlimited calling on my cellphone….but it is great for international calling.
does your fathers phone number register as an american line with this service?
I have never used magic jack. We use Vonage at work and it is fine. The problem is usually your internet connection (I work in IT). We have a lot of bandwidth at the office so it is ok for us.
What really matters is your upload speed. These are usually a lot lower than the download speeds you see advertised from Comcast, AT&T, etc. If you are doing a lot of surfing, downloading, etc it will reduce the quality of the call a lot. People will sound choppy and broken up.
VOIP is a great technology if you have the bandwidth to handle it. Most basic (in other words cheap) DSL and cable internet services do not provide adequate bandwidth to allow you to call and surf at the same time. If you really want to use them then you need to increase your connection. There is no “magic number” that you should increase too. Look at the recommendations for VOIP on google or the provider’s website. Then contact your ISP to see if they offer a connection that meets those requirements in your area.
That said I am a skype fan. I like the pay as you go model. I don’t do a lot of calling using skype so it works for me. I don’t waste money every month when I don’t use it. I do 98% of my calling on my iPhone. I don’t have a land line at all. Working in IT and traveling a lot makes these the best choice for me.
Do what works for you! I hope my techie advice helps some of you having issues with VOIP.
- Foo
I don’t like the idea of leaving my pc on all the time while it gets flooded with advertisements. Does this mean that when you get home you have to go and close 30 popup windows?
No, not popups, delete cookies.
IE CacheViewer makes that pretty simple even if you are keeping some.
The advertisement is included in the magicJack main window. If the window were divided into thirds it would be 1/3 Advertisement, 1/3 keypad, and 1/3 call history. The add changes about once every 30 minutes. It isn’t anything like internet pop-ups your picturing.
Magic Jack is truly a very nice product…Only caveat I found was when I am connected through my work’s VPN, it does not seem to work…also, a high speed internet makes the quality much better..
I have had one for almost a year and if I had to do it again, I would have picked another solution.
The voice quality can change drastically. I have to follow this procedure every couple of days: 1) figure out the phone doesn’t work (answer doesn’t happen or is REAL SLOW), 2) reboot computer 3) Get the ‘you must insert magic jack’ message 4) format the magic jack thumb drive (built into the unit) 5) download the software called update.exe 6) execute the update. 7) re log into the magic jack site to activate the unit.
Would you rather have the phone ring more than 4 times before the magic jack voice mail system answers? TOO BAD…it will never happen. Want to use your own answering machine? Unless you set it to answer in 3 rings or fewer, you are out of luck. Want to change the voice mail email notification? Just rry…customer service will be happy to say they changed it…and it doesn’t happen. Go ahead and do it yourself…just don’t expect it to work. Yes, you might hear about hacks and I have tried them all, they don’t work or they work only for a while.
Customer service and features have gone from bad to worse and will not get better. The company is focused on selling and couldn’t care less about them after the sale.
A friend of mine has one since they first came out years ago, never had a problem saved over 50 phone bills so far!
John DeFlumeri Jr
Have used Vonage and Magicjack for international calling and both have worked nicely so far. No complaints.
JD – All the same downsides that you mentioned for MagicJack apply equally to Skype. They are not unique to MJ. If a VOIP solution is based on your PC, then loss of electricity, PC issues, etc. are all going to bork your phone service.
I think you should edit the article to clarify this as you might give the wrong impression.
Paul
I’ve used Magic Jack for about a year. Never noticed the advertisements. I think they show up in the MagicJack application window. No pop ups appear. Some friends originally suggested it since they have their own busines and can get their business line transfered to it. Use it mostly for teleconferences at home. Calls come in clear. Not sure how well I am heard on the other end. Did not know about the number monitoring though. That does make one pause.
One of my consulting customers is using one and seems to be very happy with it. He is the only person I know to be using one.
Mind you, he does live in a rural area, and some other folks I know who are friends of his complain that it is a long-distance call for them to reach him. (In the area in question, there are only two or three telephone exchanges that are a local call).
Personally, looking at it from a technological and engineering perspective, I want to see this device re-designed as a stand-alone device — plug it into your ethernet and some power and your phone and never mind the computer itself.
The reason I say this is twofold. First, it would take the computer (a potential unknown) out of the picture so blue-screen-of-death doesn’t become a phone outage.
Second, there are some of us out in the world who do not use Windows, and so the software that is burnt into the ROM on the Magic Jack will not run. Magic Jack is not for use with Mac or Linux machines, and I personally have a house full of Linux machines. Further, in my computer consulting work, I am trying to expand the user base of Linux, because I believe it to be a superior platform to Windows.
I might buy one when they meet the criteria of Linux compatibility or of platform agnosticism. Until then, I can’t recommend it in good faith as it conflicts with my other work.
Glenn,
I encourage you to check out Ooma, if you haven’t already. No need to run anything on your computer for the VOIP to run. I don’t work for Ooma, I’m a very pleased customer for the last 16 months.
Thanks!
That was all I was going to say, but apparently Bargaineering has some sort of a “lameness filter” that blocks comments that ar that short.
I just hooked up my MagicJack and it’s working fine. Previously, I had only a cell phone with 450 minutes/month and no land line. The MJ lets me talk all I want for only an additional $20 per year. Your PC does need to be turned on for MJ to work, something to consider if you’re thinking of using it to replace your land line.
Thanks for the info. Doesn’t sound like a scam but it sounds like it has all the same hassles of any other VOIP service, plus the ads. I’ll pass for now.
During hurricane Ike, the only phones we could get to work after a couple of days were the hardline phones (after the cellphone batteries were as good as dead). While it isn’t worth it most of the time, when the power is out and the roads are cluttered with debris it was worth every dime. So does it make sense to have a hardline? Dunno, but giving my wife peace of mind is definately worth the $25-$35 a month. And if we weren’t concerned about those times the power goes out for days/weeks…we would probably just use cell phones.
We’ve been using MagicJack and love it! I think the variations in call quality have to do with the quality of your internet connection. We’ve got Fios, so we’ve got really good call quality (since it uses the same lines anyway).
I use an old laptop for magicjack only. That way it doesn’t interfere with my regular computer or internet service, and I don’t really care what ads they put on, since I don’t see them anyway.
I’ve known several people who used other VoIP services (Vonage, Optonline) and left as soon as they could. I like that magicjack is cheap and easy, and having used it for over 2 months, I’m already making money on it (old service was $25/mth + taxes & fees), so if I felt I needed to move to another service, I wouldn’t feel like I’d thrown the money out the window.
It was easy to set up, although I strongly suggest doing all your computer maintenance before beginning the install process. Stupid Windows decided to download something in the middle of my install and I had to finish that, reboot, then install the magicjack again.
Used Skype for years and love it too, but in the end, magicjack was cheaper and easier for us. Reduced our 2-line phone bill by $1,180 a year.
This sounds neat. Can you use it for a dedicated fax line? Is there any VOIP service that can be used with faxes?
Apparently you can use magicjack for faxes, as long as you set things up the right way:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081123124509AARvqWD
Personally, I use a fax program and send everything via internet, but it’s nice to know I can send a regular fax if I need to.
I’ve successfully been able to use Vonage, Ooma, magicjack for this. I’ve never tried skype.
I was somewhat interested in MagicJack after seeing the infomercial, but didn’t know anyone who had used it. Seems like too much of a hassle after reading the comments. Thanks!
they have return poicy..dont remember it completely…but you should try it, definitely worth it.
@ Roofer for a summer
I had Vonage for years and the voice was always crystal clear, forwarding worked great, etc. I had zero problems with their service. We have a cable modem for our internet so maybe that was why? When I wanted to cancel, I called customer service and had it canceled within a couple of minutes. If I wanted a house phone again, that’s what I’d go with. It was just one of the services we cut or eliminated due to unemployment.
Compare that to MagicJack, which I couldn’t get to work even after hours on the phone with their tech support? Well, basically no comparison. Sure MagicJack is cheaper, but what good is it if you can’t get it to work?
Yeah I was debating too but ended up not doing it.
We use our Verizon Family plan for most of our calls but did not want to fully give up a home line. Majic Jack has been working fine for us but as others have said, I believe its all in the setup & connection. I have a 6-10 mbps connection and MJ is running on a dedicated PC by itself (phone server). Its a bare-bones system I put together with an old motherboard/CPU, 512 ram, 10 gig hd and a small 200watt ps. Working like a gem. If you try and use MJ on your main PC I can see where you would have constant resource issues/contention.
Magicjack customer service absolutely sucks. I used it for 2 months and worked well. Then I used it on win 7 new install, it uploaded automatically new software and screwed up the hardware. I spent months with customer service and they can’t do anything.
Save your money with these people.
Anytime MS changes operating systems, there are significant numbers of applications that won’t work with it. Given that it worked well before, but not with Windows 7, that’s probably your problem. I have no doubt that they’ll get it worked out, but it sucks in the meantime.
That’s one of the reasons I stuck the MJ on an old laptop here — no OS issues.
thanks for the info…i was planning to update my OS to windows 7….looks like i will have to wait a while till MS figures out ways to rectify issues.
I have found no issues and have used MJ on my old and new computers..
KC
I’ve bought the magic jack in Canada. Paid 60$ for it. It worked for a week, very spotty and dropped calls and then died. after numerous calls and complaints on my behalf they promised to replace it. They never did. I never got a phone call back. Never received a package in the mail. I left a message on their answering machine numerous times. AVOID AT ALL COSTS! This company is a joke.
i am also in canada, and bought the MJ for $40 CDN (the price is the SAME in the U.S. but in USD). i went home and plugged it in and it worked perfectly. paid an extra $10 when i registered to get a local canadian phone number and now my friends can call me as though i have a local landline. yes, your PC has to be on and yes, there is no 911 service in canada but those are minor annoyances. my pc was on all the time anyway save a weekly reboot. i dont doubt people have had issues with the MJ but i have certainly had none at all!
Hi. my name is Steve from Victoria BC. I’m glad to find a Canadian user of MagicJack. Can you tell me if all calls are free once you own the device. Even call to Europe for exemple?
Thanks Steve
Once the unit stops working, click on the menu button on the “soft phone” and select Help. You then have the choice of just going through countless FAQ’s or typing your question into the search box. Doing the latter does not answer your question but instead pulls up a number of FAQ’s for you to choose from.
There may be a few or several to choose from and they may be related to your question or have absolutely nothing to do with it, more often it’s the latter. If you keep at it long enough, you might actually get to a page that has buttons that proclaim an instant response from a live agent. One click and you will see that it’s a lie.
All you get is another list of FAQ’s to choose from and the same old search box to get other lists of FAQ’s with. The advertised Tech Chat and Live Agents are just plain lies. There is no phone number to call. There is no link to email to except for a publicity link and it is strictly for PR, not tech assistance.
In fact, Magic Jack has no customer service. I managed to get to an agent at Christmas and spent an unreasonable amount of time with two agents getting the “Error 9″ message replaced with the “Ready to Call” message. The next day I found that it was anything but.
Now, it is completely impossible to get any response and I can only conclude that the customer service staff has been let go. Why have customer service when you can just charge people for service and not provide it?
People who’ve only recently received their jacks may be pleased with things. I was. Now, “I’m mad as hell and not going to take it any more.” I paid for phone service and can’t get it nor can I contact these fly by night thieves and get what I paid for or a refund.
Magic Jack, in my honest opinion, is a company of lying thieves who should be prosecuted and imprisoned.
I tried using Magic Jack but it did not work for me. Their customer service sucks and you can’t call them. I tried to get my money back but still no word from them. I did file a complaint with the BBB.
I bought a magicjack just over a year ago and took it to my mother-in-law in South America. All of her calls to and from my wife are included in the annual rate. We have experienced a couple of technical issues but not overly horrible. Additionally, I have sisters-in-law in another state and those calls to and from south america are included too. So it has been an unqualified success for us.
I have another unit I use when I am traveling on business outside the country so I can call my wife and speak as long as we want. I simply unplug the hotel phone from the wall and plug it into the magicjack again, all included in the annual rate. We just re-upped for an additional 5 yrs. Great product. I recommend it.
Here is an important wrinkle you may not be aware of (and some specifics that MagicJack can’t / won’t answer despite 30 hours plus with their chat service). Where you live makes a difference n how well (or not well) your MagicJack works. This is similar to the dropped calls and voice quality cell phone issue most of us who live in rural areas are well aware of.
In a nutshell it’s quality connectivity over their network, similiar but not the same as those missing cell towers (all over the Midwest FYI).
Here is what I have faced in my attempts to get it working right at least 80% of the time (at roughly 40% currently and yes I am tech savvy). 1) Caller ID when I call my land line will show unknown or other area codes frequently. 2) Call quality outside my state to a large city works great….calls locally “suck” (and yes a land line connects to these numbers with no problem). 3) It can take from 10 seconds to 2 minutes (and more) to start ringing. 4) Of late I get a prerecorded message in Spanish that says the number is not valid (not true as it is on my call list – click and call) and half the time the call does do through. 5) Dropped calls come in three forms…..the call is lost like a cell phone, they can hear me but I can’t hear them and vice versa or it’s an every other word thing.
With respect to customer service the first issue (and very likely for some significant portion of the customer base) are problems with the computer (meaning yours). I have tried it on three different hard wired computers, received a replacement MagicJack, swapped out my modem and ALL the problems still exist (come and go). Plus have endlessly gone through their normal “fix it” routines ad nausea. And the coup de gra…..or what will shortly be the end of my not so Magic (jack) experience will be NO RESPONSE to their promise to look at their network (in Kansas), servers, etc and get back to me via email. Two strikes thus far and waiting for the 3rd promised reply.
So what’s the bottom line….(my opinion based on a lot of “chat” support homework)….if you live in a rural area and use it to call local numbers it will probably drive you to drink unless you have infinite patience, if you live in a rural area post a notice on a local bulletin board (meaning you want an opinion from neighbors) asking does it work reliably for local calls. Lastly, what is your time worth (or blood pressure) and are you at least a little tech savvy?
This is my personal experience….I own a computer sales and service business but I actually sold (small town) 5….of which I have refunded the money for 4 to date. Needless to say I do not sell them now…the customer issue is not worth the few dollars profit (to say the least).
Cost opinion….if you have someone you call a lot who lives where you can make a good call (remember the connectivity issues) it can (obviously) save you some money but if you depend upon it only (and more than likely live in a rural area) you might be better off with a cell phone, at least as back up). I have a pay by the minute cell phone (for on the road and in case I need to make an urgent out of the area call), a local number (with no long distance) and of course the Magicjack (until the subscription expires or they get back to me with a fix).
Are there other solutions……you bet….since most of us have computers….Skype to Skype is free, you can video chat with anyone using a variety of services (and looming around the corner are those great guys at Google – If you read between the lines don’t be surprised at what they might offer free in the not too distant future).
Good luck…..whatever your choice.
I Just don’t understand folks. its 40 dollars a YEAR!…. Its not going to be a complete replacement for your calls,… Use it as a add a line or for out of country calls, i use mine to call canada. works great as long as i’m not doing alot of downloading etc, the faster your connection the better the call. For the money i really don’t understand the hate for this product. 5 years ago one long distance call could cost 40 bucks, it is what it is and worth 100% of its cost.
Funnyness,
IF it works, it’s a great deal. Otherwise it’s a headache/waste of money.
I have high speed cable internet. I’ve been a PC power user for 20+ years. I can install/replace parts in a PC, wipe hard drives, install/reinstall Windows, etc. When I got the MagicJack, I started with a brand new PC, turned off the firewall, and spent 2 hours on the phone with their tech support trying to tweak both the PC and MagicJack. Couldn’t get the darn thing to work. I can get a satellite dish to work with cable, TiVo, and stream Netflix to through our PS3, but I couldn’t get MagicJack to function.
It would appear that whoever buys it has a 50/50 shot at getting it to work. If it works, great, you’re one of the 50%. If not, it’s just an aggravating waste of time. For anyone thinking about buying one, make sure you buy it from somewhere that accepts returns and save the receipt.
1. If you check my prior post (two up from yours) one issue can be where you live….if out in the “country” where bad carriers abound it can drive you nuts.
2. If you can’t return it. Give me a price. Can always use another. Tangoblue netscape.net
You fill in what’s missing.
I’ve been using one for over a year, the audio quality was usually poor & people often hung up on me because they couldn’t hear me. Plugging it into a USB hub as recommended didn’t help, although reformatting my PC (using Windows XP SP3) & turning off labor intensive apps while on the phone helped. What really helped (so far at least) was plugging everything into an APC UPS (ES 650) now it finally sounds like a REAL phone without having to turn any apps off while I’m on the phone.
I’ve been using MagicJack for 3 years and couldn’t be happier. Got rid of both my land-line and cell phone which saves about 3000 a year. Especially like the free long distance in North America, as most of my family is north of the border. Quality is great and compares quite favorably to Vonnage and Comcast Voice. However, there is one disadvantage which is not having telephone service when the computer is turned off although voice mail is taking messages. Also, your phone number is unlisted which can be good or bad. When Comcast is sending a weak cable signal (which is quite often) telephone service might not work and you may have to disconnect and reconnect to get it working again.
I think this may be a good option for kids vs using cell minutes.
Readers,
I am a deployed soldier and I use a combination of Magic Jack and skype.. for my uses Majic Jack is perfect as it gives me all the stateside calling i could ask for even on our sketchy sat-link broadband.
I skype with friends when they are at thier computers and its great too.
You owe it to yourself to try this product. For 39.95 ofr the Jack and the 1st year even if it doesnt cover all your needs you wont be out more than a movie night for the family.
I personnally wish this company all the best and am gratefull for the oportunity that it has given me.
KC
KOSOVO
To update my comment back in 05/18, I still have to turn off CPU intensive apps (mainly SETI@Hm, which I let run 24/7) & usually MJ works just fine. Judging from all the comments MJ & Vonage are hit-and-miss propositions, maybe what part of the US you live in affects the quality of service?