Trying Magic Jack

[kfowler]

My phone deal with Comcast recently expired so I decided to give Magic Jack a try. If you're not familiar with the commercials, its a small box you plug into your USB port and then plug your phone into. Note, you have to have your computer on all the time for it to work. I've had VOIP for years so I already had my house wired so that all lines can run through a single VOIP box.

Magic Jack costs $40 for the box and includes one free year of service. After that it's $20 per year ($1.67/month). You can buy five years for $60 ($1/month). It includes voice mail, call waiting, caller ID and some other features.

So far I have to say I'm pretty impressed. It was very easy to install and only took a couple of minute. Unfortunately you cannot port over your old number yet but they do let you pick your own number for a nominal fee.

I had read some negative comments about sound quality but for the most part, it sounds exactly like a land line. About 1 in 10 calls I've made, the connection does not seem very good and the voice drops out. If I hang up and dial again, it seems to clear it up.

Overall, it's certainly not as reliable as standard VOIP or a land line. However for $30+ in savings every month, I willing to accept the short comings. I think it's a great alternative if you have a cell phone but would still like the convenience of having a home phone.

[Sharp Square]

I have been thinking of trying the Magic Jack also , but i have read alot of mixed reviews from various places so have put it off some. But seems like it atleast worth trying it out for the minimal investment and possible savings. Thanks for the info and review , think im going to give it a try.

[Greg]

I have one, it works great but I live in an area where the area code for my number isnt available so I only use it to make calls as it didnt give me a local phone number. I can make all the calls I want to any other land line phone for free but if someone wants to call me then it will be long distance to them. They are constantly adding area codes but they dont have mine yet. I will change my number when they do as they said you can do this once for free. I live in southern illinois and waiting for them to get the 618 area code. Its easy to set up, you have to have either a dsl or cable internet connection and just connect it to your phone and connect the other end to a usb port on your computer and it automatically sets itself up once it detects a high speed internet connection. It sounds just like a normal home phone. I use it a lot to make calls to businesses and a couple family members because I get poor signal inside my home with my cell and I wont use as many minutes to make calls to land lines. Its definitely worth the $20 a year to me for the convenience of being able to use my home phone without paying $30/month just a have a phone line.

[ITBs2k]

Yeah my family has 3 MagicJacks. One in bermuda, thailand, and here in Orlando. We set them up all with the same area code here in Orlando and can call each other for no extra charge. Definetly saves us a ton of money.

[mdrengl]

As long as you install the MagicJack software on XP, everything seems to work just fine. When I first got the MagicJack, I installed the software onto Vista and also installed the corresponding software update to be compatible with Vista. The software would freeze. Interestingly, the computer would run just fine even though the MagicJack software would remain frozen until I hard-booted the computer.

The support for MagicJack was less than helpful during this process and refused to send a replacement or a refund for the product.

Hopefully this was just a rare occurance, as the concept of MagicJack is fantastic and seems to be cheaper than Skype. After finding a laptop with Windows XP, my family was able call and be called from across the world with no additional fees. It certainly beats international phones and their horrific rates. And as long as you can live without carrying a phone around with you at all times, the savings are astounding.