Product Review: Majicjack

[hunknhot 1067]

I have been searching for something that I can take with me on my travels that is a virtual phone, that works anywhere in the world, and that allowed me to call Canada within a reasonable cost.

 

I have gone through Skype, etc.. and have never found them to be reliable, it sometimes feels like the old long distance that has a two to three second delay.

 

I resorted to paying ridiculous rates on my cell or hunting down international phone cards. Both were very nnoying and expensive.

 

I had seen the ads on TV about magicjack and through why, not, it's only $40.

 

I picked one up, it's small, about half the size of a blackberry. It plugs into your computer. You sign up and they assign you a phone number, you can choose from about 20 mnumbers. You pick the area code. there is a $10 surchage for Canadian area codes. Here is the great thing. It gives you dial tone. You can plug in any phone that has a cord, I have been plugging in phones from my hotel rooms but I also bought a mini corded phone on ebay as Europe and Asia sometimes have different phone connectors. VM messages get sent to your email where you can listen to them off your computer or you can call VM mailbox free. Free call forwardng etc..

 

It has worked great even with weak internet connections. People can call me and I can call them with no long distance charges. I have a 514 number. When I am in Australia or France, they just dial the 514 from Canada and it ring just like I would have been in Montreal.

 

A nice little gem. I bought a few more and will be sending them to family and friends I chat with around the world. For basically $40/year I can call Spain or they can call me unlimited.

 

Thought I would share.

 

Could be a great alternative for SPs to use versus prepaid cells.. and "streamline your communication expenses"... I almost sound like an ad.

[lil.ms.summers 122]

This sounds amazing to me ....can u PM me for some more info I would want to get one for my mom...I pay rediculous longdistance prices & rates..so annoying ur right ...

Thanks for the heads up

& ya u do sound like a sales rep. lol lol ;)

 

S.S

[BownChickaBown 4829]

My knock against MajicJack is that you have to leave your PC on the whole time or calls won't get thru - plus, I do not think they have reliable 911.

 

There was something else weird about it that I didn't like, but I forget what it is now. In the end, I concluded it wasn't as 'majic' as I thought or would like it to be.

 

By all means, anyone with a MJ - please let us know the pros/cons.

[hunknhot 1067]

Absolutely.. I wouldn't use it as a primary line but the value is:

 

-Great second line

-Portable anywhere in the world, take you are code with you.

-VM goes to email

-Free long distance in North America

-Less than 40$/year.

 

Needs to be plugged in all the time but when it's not you can just forward the calls or get VMs.

[mod 135639]

We use Vonage at the office and it works great... so good that I use it for my home lines now as well. It's free long distance and packed with features that are all INCLUDED in the price!! (No paying extra for voice mail, call waitting and all the other stuff). It also has a feature to ring your cell phone or land lines all at the same time and if your internet connection drops it defaults to your cell phone (or land line)!

 

The sound quality is perfect (a couple years ago when we first started it had some bumps and hiccups but those are gone and it works like a land line - just as clear and dependable)

 

We have a box at the office with two lines we use for outgoing calls (and a whack of bell lines for incoming calls and backup in case the internet goes down) we also have a vonage thumb drive that you can use on any laptop anywhere to make or receive calls. You can also set up virtual numbers in other cities very cheap as well.

 

I have nothing bad to say about vonage and you do not need your computer to be on 24/7 to receive calls on it as the box does all the VOIP work without the use of a computer.

[A***** A***** 510]

We use Vonage at the office and it works great... so good that I use it for my home lines now as well. It's free long distance and packed with features that are all INCLUDED in the price!! (No paying extra for voice mail, call waitting and all the other stuff). It also has a feature to ring your cell phone or land lines all at the same time and if your internet connection drops it defaults to your cell phone (or land line)!

 

The sound quality is perfect (a couple years ago when we first started it had some bumps and hiccups but those are gone and it works like a land line - just as clear and dependable)

 

We have a box at the office with two lines we use for outgoing calls (and a whack of bell lines for incoming calls and backup in case the internet goes down) we also have a vonage thumb drive that you can use on any laptop anywhere to make or receive calls. You can also set up virtual numbers in other cities very cheap as well.

 

I have nothing bad to say about vonage and you do not need your computer to be on 24/7 to receive calls on it as the box does all the VOIP work without the use of a computer.

 

Interesting about the call quality, I have a friend with vonage, and sometimes the call quality is not that great, but I guess that all depends on a variety of circumstances.

 

I use shaw digital phone, and don't have any complaints at all:grin:

[Guest Ou**or**n]

As a product MagicJack seems fine. As a company however they leave much to be desired. They were in the technical press a lot the past few months over a lawsuit they brought against Boing Boing for them pointing out some questionable terms in the EULA. The case got tossed and MajicJack had to pay Boing Boing's court cost's to boot.

 

http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/magicjack-sues-boing-boing-gets-bounced-out-of-court/

[ottanon 2930]

I have replaced my phone service and only use a magicjack. It has voicemail and will email you the message so you can get in almost anywhere. You can also call forward it so you can keep your main or cell phone number private.

 

 

 

QUOTE=BownChickaBown;118529]My knock against MajicJack is that you have to leave your PC on the whole time or calls won't get thru - plus, I do not think they have reliable 911.

 

There was something else weird about it that I didn't like, but I forget what it is now. In the end, I concluded it wasn't as 'majic' as I thought or would like it to be.

 

By all means, anyone with a MJ - please let us know the pros/cons.

[mod 135639]

Interesting about the call quality, I have a friend with vonage, and sometimes the call quality is not that great, but I guess that all depends on a variety of circumstances.

 

I use shaw digital phone, and don't have any complaints at all:grin:

 

It would all depend on your internet connection.

 

With vonage you can log into your account and turn down the bandwidth (Reducing the call quality of course - pretty much any VOIP system has this ability so I suspect majicJack has it too).

 

They all use your internet connection speed and if you have a crappy connection the call will degrade... if you have a crappy VOIP line chances are it has nothing to do with the VOIP company... it's more likely a low quality internet connection.

 

It could be a cheap low bandwith "high speed" account, it could be a crappy connection running from your house to the box on your street, it could be the node you are on is overloaded. If you using Satellite internet, wireless internet (Antenna on your roof like WiMax) it will not work properly due to latency or if you use a crappy switch/Router for instance it will cause problems as the router will chop up data packets or lag the bandwidth to share with the other computers.

 

If you have someone downloading in the other room while you are using it and you max out the bandwith (speed) it will be crappy too.

 

I have a 8MPS down and 500kbs UP internet connect at my house and I can play online games and use vonage with no issues.... I could even stream a movie as well at the same time (but most home internet high speed connections are 6mbps or lower down and 128-256k up so its easy to max those out (Especially the UP bandwidth when playing online games).

 

If you are thinking of running VOIP check your internet connection first. I use this site. http://myvoipspeed.visualware.com/

 

As long as your in the green on both sides your good to go and should not have any issues.

[hunknhot 1067]

Get a magijcjack and forward the line.

Unless you cell already has unlimited incoming calls and you want to put that phone number out there..

 

Otherwise, this is a wonderful, and cheap alternative. Personally I also love the emailed voicemail messages.

 

 

 

I have replaced my phone service and only use a magicjack. It has voicemail and will email you the message so you can get in almost anywhere. You can also call forward it so you can keep your main or cell phone number private.

 

 

 

QUOTE=BownChickaBown;118529]My knock against MajicJack is that you have to leave your PC on the whole time or calls won't get thru - plus, I do not think they have reliable 911.

 

There was something else weird about it that I didn't like, but I forget what it is now. In the end, I concluded it wasn't as 'majic' as I thought or would like it to be.

 

By all means, anyone with a MJ - please let us know the pros/cons.

[Vikingman 100]

PrivNum: http://sites.google.com/site/myprivnum allows you to get a phone number in many places in North America (or apparently optionally in other countries by request). When people call this number, it gives them the option to just leave a voice email, or to ring your regular phones (You specifiy which phones, eg: your cell and landline). When you call your PrivNum number yourself, you can enter a secret code that then allows you to place calls anywhere in the world - rates look low (eg: <1cent per min in Canada, and pretty low in most other countries too). Sure beats getting robbed by your cell provider for LD charges! These outgoing calls have your PrivNum number as the calling line ID, so no-one ever sees your permanent number.

 

Payment can be via paypal or CC, and you just put a balance in your account and as you use it, it just draws-down against available funds. You can even set up PrivNums in multiple cities. Funds are in $US, but that is not so bad these days!

 

Probably best of all - instead of giving your real number out to everyone, you give your PrivNum. If a creep starts to bug you, you can add them to a block list, or change your number completely without having to deal with cancelling/changing your real number. Would seem useful especially to SPs!

[hunknhot 1067]

That looks pretty good as well. I'll check that out. My MJ is working great by the way. I am still pretty impressed by it, it's delivering as promised.