Magicjack

[Monty]

Anyone here use Magicjack? What's your opinion of it?
I'm considering the new version that doesn't a computer.

 

[tokyotank]

I personally dont have it but my brother is an IT geek and he swears by his. I keep meaning to look into it but I keep coming here instead.

 

[PenMan1]

Monty:
I've been using MagicJack since its beginning. It works well. NOT on a level with hard wired land lines, 8X8 VoIP, or Vonage. But, equal or greater than Skype, Google talk, etc.

My neighbor has the newer Magic Jack plus witch requires no computer. His works even better.

 

[PenMan1]

The beauty of the new "plus" is that with a UPS (battery back up) and a regular old style telephone, the phones are still operational (with cable Internet) when summer storms here knock out electricity (frequently).

 

[Carl Fisher]

Bought one, tried it, it now sits in a bin of unused computer junk. I personally could not hold a conversation that didn't have digital artifact sounds, low volume or just general bad connection. I get on average 6Mbps download speeds so it's not internet connectivity.

We had used vonage for approximately 4 years and it was as clear as a land line. We decided to start cutting monthly expenses so I gave MJ a try to have an emergency phone in the house for the kids. We now are cell only.

As noted above though, some swear by it so YMMV

 

[bensoelberg]

I used one when I was selling life insurance as my business line. It worked fine. The only time I had any trouble with it was when I was making calls in the office and 3 other people were also using Magic Jacks, then there was interference.

 

[kevrob]

I have used one and love it while traveling. I set mine up at home so it had a local number. When I travel I will use it for long distance calls - specifically international calls. I took it to Egypt a few summers ago and it worked great. I was able to call home free of charge and my wife could call me using a local number for her. It dropped the call a few times, but overall sound quality was no different than a cell phone (in my opinion). Keep in mind this was also on suspect internet lines. The place we stayed in Al Fayyum Egypt had put in their wireless internet connections for us the day we arrived.

 

[76winger]

I just switched to Magic Jack Plus from cable supplier phone service. So far it's worked pretty well, although I occasionally have to power-cycle the little box if I pick up the phone and there's no dial tone.

All voicemails left are forwarded to my email account as well.

And the one thing that kept me from trying MJ sooner is that with the new version you are able to switch your current number over to it for an additional $20. I didn't want switch without that feature and loose the phone # I've had for almost 30 for my home phone.

 

[Rob73]

I have one as a business line & never had any problems with the call quality. Sounds just as clear as my land line. I"m not to much of a fan of their driver software though. With as much money as that company makes I think they could hire some better programmers. If I was to buy a new magic jack today though I'd probably purchase the new one that doesn't need the computer.

 

[Monty]

I'm thinking about the one that doesn't need the computer.