Comments on: What is MagicJack?

By: Florine A.

Florine A. — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:30:09 +0000

Can someone call 411 and get my phone number if I switch to Magic Jack? I am the only person left in my nuclear family, and I want anyone in my extended family to be able to find me and call me if they want to.

By: Bill C

Bill C — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:21:22 +0000

Ooma is the superior web phone service, high startup costs about $200, free forever thereafter. Superior quality
Magicjack is great for travel from net/notebook

By: Mike W.

Mike W. — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:55:26 +0000

I thought I’d add this little bit about fax support. MagicJack does not officially support fax transmissions however with some tweaking can be made to work. Here’s where it gets interesting. Software based fax programs seem to work fine using a modem regardless of the OS, and all of the voice features as well. However, for some reason using an actual fax machine will not work properly on XP (Vista untested) but works perfectly in Server 2003. Officially Server 2003 is unsupported with only XP and Vista listed, not sure about Windows 7.

If anyone has any ideas why fax support may not work on XP and how to fix it I’d love to hear them. Hope this helps someone and sorry for the long post.

By: pam

pam — Fri, 29 May 2009 06:49:05 +0000

We have it… found that it works better with Windows XP than the VIsta software. We sent it to family in Algeria. They use it to call other family around the US. Sometimes the phone quality is bad, loses/drops call, but overall a good deal for us as all we have is cel phones…no land line. We use it to call friends that are not on our same provider network. It’s a great way to save on our cel phone minutes.

By: Internet Finds for May 12th to May 13th | OwensDomain.com

Internet Finds for May 12th to May 13th | OwensDomain.com — Wed, 13 May 2009 20:41:45 +0000

[...] Magic Jack apparently works. – Professed Geek Chris Pirillo recently tested the hot infomercial item, the Magic Jack. They promise cheap phone calls for life. It apparently works very well. May be a great alternative to having a skype phone or a landline phone. [...]

By: Javalen

Javalen — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:32:53 +0000

I brought it, worked with rough static occasionally, got worse, traded in for another one, did the same. The quality inbound was fine, but everyone complained about not being able to understand me. They wouldn’t refund my money because I bought it from Radio Shack, which is fine, but they wouldn’t even trade it out, or give me support because it was simply up to the vendor, not the manufacturer. Their customer service really does suck. I use it just for voice mail.

By: John P Walker

John P Walker — Fri, 08 May 2009 07:24:54 +0000

Chris,

I’m a confirmed fan of MagicJack. We use it in our office in the Philippines to keep in contact with our U.S. clients. It works great as long as our internet connection is stable. But I am confused about you saying it is free. We just extended our subscription for another year for 19.95. There are other options available. Still that is very cheap for such a service that you can carry with you anywhere you have a broadband connection.

By: nickjuly4

nickjuly4 — Fri, 08 May 2009 06:47:45 +0000

It’s okay for a second phone line or for a portable number to use when traveling, but I don’t think it would be good to use it as a primary phone.

When I tested it out I noticed the following things about it that I didn’t like:

- Three way calling is Incoming Only. You can only start a 3 Way Call if someone calls you while you’re on the phone with someone else, however this feature is kind of useful since I always wanted to be able to start 3 way calls if someone calls on caller waiting, but I still want to be able to make outgoing 3 way calls as well.

- No incoming caller ID name. When a caller calls your number it only shows their phone number, no caller ID name, and for blocked calls it shows up as “Anonymous” with number “_ _ _ – _ _ _ – _ _ _ _”

- No outgoing Caller ID Name. When you call someone from your Magic Jack phone number it shows as “Out of Area” or “Name Unavailable” for the Caller ID Name.

-International calling is NOT free. They mislead you by saying “Free International calling” on the package when they actually mean that if you take your Magic Jack to another country you can call your family and friends in the US, but that doesn’t mean you can call numbers in that country for free.

-Voice quality can by choppy at times. Sometimes the voice quality can be choppy at times even with cable Internet like I have.

-Calls sometimes don’t go through. Sometimes when calling someone the program will just not place the call at all until the program is reset. The program can be quite glitchy at times and needs some bug fixing and updating.

-Free 411 is just 1-800-FREE-411. Another misleading thing is that they say “Free 411″ when all they do is connect you to a Free 411 service that anyone with any type of phone can access for free, even Skype.

Although, I did like when you put someone on hold that it actually plays real hold music. lol xD

By: system001

system001 — Fri, 08 May 2009 05:53:47 +0000

let people know to add a shortcut to magicjack in their startup folder. if you do not you will have to go to my computer and start it from there.

By: Mukund Chiplunkar

Mukund Chiplunkar — Fri, 08 May 2009 04:07:25 +0000

I had purchased and used magicJack during my stay in US for a few months. Thereafter I brought it back to India and regularly use it from here thru PC interface. (You don’t necessarily need a corded phone for the Jack to work!!) I call my friends/ relations in US as though I am calling locally. Real cool.

By: D Lowrey

D Lowrey — Thu, 07 May 2009 21:47:24 +0000

Thought about going this route as well…until I started reading many more negative reviews about the service. These range from double billing you for the yearly service charge…excessive charges on whatever credit or debit card you would use for service…no way to get hold of anyone if you have questions or problems….plus too many more complaints than I can remember.

After reading just a small number of complaints which pulled up in Google…decided it was a great idea from the wrong company.

By: Dan B

Dan B — Thu, 07 May 2009 01:14:48 +0000

The thing I don’t like about Magic Jack is that you must keep your computer up and on-line 24/7. If your computer crashes, you’re without a phone. Putting all you eggs in one basket does not give me a warm fuzzy on this type of phone system regardless of the price.

By: Sangueffusor

Sangueffusor — Thu, 07 May 2009 01:11:11 +0000

Free? I thought there was a yearly subscription fee.

By: Dennis

Dennis — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:56:43 +0000

That should be thing, not thong. Dam rented fingers!

By: Dennis

Dennis — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:55:29 +0000

Hey, Chris! Where ya been? This thong’s been out for a good while, so much so that it’s being sold in WALMART here in Illinois. I could not believe it.

Wonder what the oomo folks would think of this. *grin*