Is MagicJack any good?

[Lurch]

I had one once but had problems with it. Am thinking of trying another one. They may have the problems ironed out by now.

I now get Vonage VoIP broadband phone, with 100 free minutes per month to USA and Canada. I just tried to call an 800 #, it rang once, then I got a busy signal. I HATE it when that happens.

 

[daves87rs]

Haven't tried it...

 

[newtoncd8]

Originally Posted By: Lurch
I had one once but had problems with it. Am thinking of trying another one. They may have the problems ironed out by now.

I now get Vonage VoIP broadband phone, with 100 free minutes per month to USA and Canada. I just tried to call an 800 #, it rang once, then I got a busy signal. I HATE it when that happens.

Been using magicJack since Oct 08 .. no major issues. I just renewed for another year. It isn't always the best, but for $1.70 a month, it works pretty well. I still don't like having to leave a computer on to get calls.

Another option is http://www.nettalk.com. They ship you a pre-configured mini-ATA and you simply plug it into the router and voila. I just tried the service and they have some bugs to work out, but when they do, it has potential.

 

[Lurch]

I'm tempted to give MJ another try. The $1.70 a month price sure sounds good. Vonage is better, but still has bugs.

I'm not into making many calls anyway, so I may be just as well of with MJ and for less cost.

My Vonage price per month is only about $14 but with MJ I think it would be about $20/year. If I'm not mistaken, MJ has unlimited local and long distance calls.

 

[newtoncd8]

Originally Posted By: Lurch
I'm tempted to give MJ another try. The $1.70 a month price sure sounds good. Vonage is better, but still has bugs.

I'm not into making many calls anyway, so I may be just as well of with MJ and for less cost.

My Vonage price per month is only about $14 but with MJ I think it would be about $20/year. If I'm not mistaken, MJ has unlimited local and long distance calls.



The only catch is a 120 minute call limit ... but, you can simply call back. They do have a threshold where if you go past 3000 minutes (pretty sure that is the limit) in a month, they reserve the right to cancel the service or at least warn you about overuse.

 

[SecondMonkey]

Skype is WAY better, and they don't have the constant, annoying, lying, snake oil selling greasy salesman type advertisements.

 

[Lurch]

Originally Posted By: Curtis Newton


The only catch is a 120 minute call limit ... but, you can simply call back. They do have a threshold where if you go past 3000 minutes (pretty sure that is the limit) in a month, they reserve the right to cancel the service or at least warn you about overuse.


Oh, OK. Thank you for refreshing my memory on this.

120 minutes a month would be plenty for me.

 

[rshaw125]

I have the Vonage world package. works very well. But with taxes etc the monthly bill is just over $30.
I have been looking at Ooma. Nettalk looks similar.

 

[Lurch]

Will look into Skype too, which I know little to nothing about.

 

[OilNerd]

It's good enough that I couldn't tell someone was calling me on one until they told me!

FAX machines aren't supported, though some models may work.

 

[macdole99]

ive been using magic jack over a year now. havent had any real problems with it. sometimes the call quality isnt the greatest but for the price you really cant beat it.

 

[el_zorro]

I have had a magicjack for almost 2 years and I use it mostly when I am travelling overseas and want to make personal calls. It works great for these and then I dont have to worry about running up the company phone bill and can talk as long as I want. It is considered a US/Canada call when you use it to call another US/Canadian number from a foreign country. They also have really good US to international rates to land lines (like 2 cents per minute to most places).

The quality is really good even from places like Australia. Most hotels I have stayed in that have decent internet connections provide really good quality. It is ok for home use mostly as a 2nd or 3rd line or when your teenagers are hogging all of the the other phones. You do have the problem of plugging it into a PC and the USB connections wear out over time so leaving it plugged in all of the time is probably the way to go. Unless you figure out how to wire it into the house wiring and share it, it does not serve as a replacement for all other phones in the house.

Overall a good deal and no issues as all so far.

 

[hpichris]

Just don't hope for customer service. It doesn't exist with MJ

 

[Gary Allan]

Originally Posted By: hpichris
Just don't hope for customer service. It doesn't exist with MJ


Ah ..customer service by MaharaJah - I see.

 

[hpichris]

Might as well be.

 

[Oldmoparguy1]

I've been using MJ for about 6 weeks now. Seems to work ok, but there has been some issues. Power outages for one, and a very old d-link router that gets confused once or twice a week. I just bought a new router and will install it in a day or so.


I put MJ on the old laptop for 2 weeks, but it can't stand to be powered up continusly, It's ok for a while then locks up, so had to pull it off and reinstall on the desk top PC.

Voice quality is very good. When it starts breaking up, it's time to reboot the router.

I expect that I will keep it unless something bad happens.

Anyway, so far so good.

YMMV

 

[SecondMonkey]

Originally Posted By: Curtis Newton
The only catch is a 120 minute call limit ... but, you can simply call back. They do have a threshold where if you go past 3000 minutes (pretty sure that is the limit) in a month, they reserve the right to cancel the service or at least warn you about overuse.

Unlimited calling!.....until you hit the limit.

Seriously, you can get just as good or better service from a bunch of companies, that don't practice such ridiculous and deceiving advertising practices.