Magic Jack

To many ads? Support ODJT and see no ads!
Is anyone here using Magic Jack for phone calls?
Please tell me the pros and cons.
Thanx

Ask Jon... I think he told me he was using one to call me from.... we got disconnected a couple of times and there was a clicking sound I could hear on my end.... but then he was using Canadian internet... could have been moose making all that noise.
 
I have one...

Call clarity is so-so at times. Better with a hard wire than wireless. Works well with both XP/Vista. Great Price! I don't use it for my main business line, just for fun.

The voice mail service alone is worth the $19.95 a year. Emails you your incoming messages. You can retrieve them by calling your number with a PIN# also.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Lou
 
I have one also the biggest reason is because I wanted the voice mail. I'm using in for our voice over phone line. I have only done a few of them. But its nice to have it for the brides or who ever if they want it. Plus you get a phone line out of it. Quality for phone line is OK quality for voice over is just as good as any other phone line because its not using my system but an answering system. It sends it to me in email as a wave file. I enhance it as much as I can with software and I just let brides know if that do it that its phone quality nothing more.
 
The only thing with Magic Jack over other VoIP services such as Vonage, Packet 8, etc is your computer has to be turned on to use it. That's the only thing I didn't like about it. A buddy of mine has one, I've used it a few times it's okay nothing spectacular the only thing I really noticed is sometimes it took a little longer than usual to connect when dialing out.

Other than that, if you're going to be talking to other people that have computers I'd recommend buying a Skype phone that connects to via USB and you use it just like a regular phone but talk to Skype contacts for free, you are able to buy minutes for regular phone calls and have a incoming number.

If you don't like the idea of having to run your computer all the time (like me), I'd look into Vonage or your local Cable co's VOIP service if available.
 
at 20 dollars a yr I get less dropped calls than the local cell phone companys. I just have to realize not to take my home cordless outside its range in which I drop the call. Some line noise on the odd call but that is to be expected as Vonage had similiar issues. MOst of the time people cant tell the difference from the clarity of cell or Jack quality. Thanks to Cleveland Scott I looked into this almost a yr ago. They are offering me a renewal of 59 dollars for the next five yrs. I might pay what I paid monthly for land line services for five yrs. I use a second one for dedicated fax out.
 
Well Bill you got me thinking of about it and I just bought a Skype plan which allows unlimited outgoing calls to the US & Canada for $2.95/mo with it I got a free incoming number voucher for a year but they charged me $30 for the incoming number for some reason I have an email into support. If they fix it, which there is no reason they shouldn't, I cannot see not paying $2.95/mo for unlimited calls.

I cannot stand talking on the phone much because of my stutter but I have to break that habit. Anyway I'm planning on doing that with VoIP so I don't have people calling the house phone at all kinds of odd hours, that would get me a frying pan over the head real quick. :sqerr:

I wanted to go the Magic Jack route but everyone I've spoken to raves about Skype, if I'm going to be tied down to a computer as a I would with the Magic Jack I misewell do so with a decent program. Magic Jack's front end is really ugly in my opinion.
 
That was the best gut buster of the day

Now that was funny Ron!! good thing you havent shared your mug as an avatar LOL.:sqwink:BHB!!BHB!!
You have your photo as your avatar and you're calling Magic Jack ugly?:sqeek:
 
My magic jack has been great. Like Dan, I didn't like having to keep my computer on 24/7....so I bought an HP thin client. It's basically a small computer with no fan or hard drive, just flash memory. HP designed them for companies that wanted internet kiosks. They didn't really go over that well, so they were selling very cheap on the internet. I bought mine for $60. After I set it up, i took off the monitor...so it's just a little box silently sitting there giving me free phone service. Very pretty!!


In my house, it's possible to have a few computers, a wii console, my satelite TV, a blockbuster movie video box and the magic jack all fighting for bandwith on my network.

I got a signal booster that prioritizes bandwith to VOIP to avoid choppy calls. about $30

I was looking into skype when I came across the magic jack. I decided to give it a try because i was going to have to buy a skype phone or just use the computer headset.

With the Magic Jack, for $39 I could try it and send it back if it didn't work. For some reason, I couldn't get it to load on my desktop, but it worked great on my one laptop. But while trying to figure out how to get it to work on my desktop, I found out about the thin client.

If anyone wants to hear how it sounds, call me or Jon.

my MJ number is 216-759-0690. If I am not at home, I'll call you back.

Is it perfect? NO. Is it worth it? Very much.


FYI, if you are getting much better sound from a wired phone than a wireless, it's the phone, not the service. That goes for any service.

I have a wired phone with a few wireless handsets throughout the house all connected the the MJ. No difference.
 
Im still in setup mode which has been side stepped with tons on my plate at the moment but I am pretty sure its going to work. If not I wont keep the second one active.
 
My Magic Jack arrived today.
So far I like it.
Reception is as clear as my landline phone.
People on the other end say they cannot tell it's not my wired phone.
I like the way messages are recorded and sent to my e-mail address.
Most likely will keep it after the trail period.

Thanx for all the input.
 
I use the magic jack every day for a couple hours to talk to my wife, other than the occasional drops and static I have saved hundreds of LD charges. Really nice when traveling international as you can take it with you.

Al