Anyone have magic jack?

[sipowicz]

I finally ditched my monthly phone bill and set up the magic jack...works pretty good and I can use my existing wall jacks....just set it on my modem and run the phone line into my house jack. Lots of cool features too...I can answer calls to my home phone on my cell phone with their smart phone app and I can even take the jack with me anywhere in the world, pop it in a usb port on a computer and make and recieve calls to my home phone number...it even emails you when you get a voice mail so if you are out, you can get them on your cell phone. My old bill was 50 bucks a month...i bought five years of service for 100 plus the cost of the jack...which was 75 bucks. Only thing you will need to buy is a router if your modem only has one ethernet port on it. But those are pretty cheap now too...

 

[carpriver]

we ditched the wired phone a few years ago, we just use our cell phones now. We have smart phone with internet abilities. so we always have the phone with us and access to the internet when we travel. might cost more then the jack but it suits our lifestyle. We had AT&T with the internet package, it was supposed to be unlimited internet but when I went over some magic amount of data the service got slower. They got suit for that practice. I got tired of their games.

 

[sipowicz]

Same here...I hated ATT and ditched them after they lied to me about a long distance savings plan...afte that, my phone was with my cable company...but I got tired of paying them for a phone I don't use all that much anyway...

 

[kwselke]

I tried one of them that plugs into a USB port and it worked great. My issue was if I drop my land-line service my DSL service cost would increase. I do recommend the magicJack, especially if you are a cell phone only home. Wired service is still the most dependable. After Hurricane Ike I had no power, no water, no cell service, but I had one wire to the wall phone and it worked most of the time.

 

[jack the toad]

One thing that didn't happen to me but occurred locally was unless properly set up by phone company, E911 calls won't show your address but it comes up to the 911 operator as some other address.
Or that was what was determined when a 911 call was shown as address several miles away that belonged to phone company.

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

I used MJ. I was hesitant to buy it online and get stuck with something that didn't work well, so I bought the unit at RadioShack for $39 which included 2yrs service. If I didn't like it I could return it within 30 days and get my money back so I figured why not. To my surprise MJ worked as advertised. Great product.

The wife and I use smart phones with unlimited data and all, and if I want to make a call with a computer I can use GooglePhone. Not as good as MJ because there is no inbound calls (well sometimes that's good ), but GooglePhone is free.

 

[sipowicz]

One thing that didn't happen to me but occurred locally was unless properly set up by phone company, E911 calls won't show your address but it comes up to the 911 operator as some other address.
Or that was what was determined when a 911 call was shown as address several miles away that belonged to phone company.

Just called 911 and checked. Address shows up.

 

[rags]

Can you keep the phone number that you currently have? Great thread because I have often wondered if these were "snake oil" w/wires.

 

[sipowicz]

Can you keep the phone number that you currently have? Great thread because I have often wondered if these were "snake oil" w/wires.

that's where they get you a little...it cost 10 bucks a year to keep your old number...I kept mine..it's still way cheaper than a land line.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Is that anything like magic beans??????

 

[bricker]

Is that anything like magic beans??????

Yeah, I thought this was going to be a beanstalk thread, which was going to evolve into a caliber discussion for beanstalk giants. I think I'm hanging around here too much.

 

[DesertFox]

Don't forget the cost of the electricity to keep you computer running 24/7 so that your Magic Jack will "save" you all that money... More like shift it from your phone bill to your power bill.

 

[sipowicz]

Don't forget the cost of the electricity to keep you computer running 24/7 so that your Magic Jack will "save" you all that money... More like shift it from your phone bill to your power bill.

No. My MJ is hooked straight into the modem, which is always on anyway.

 

[BobC357]

I would willingly give up my landline if I could. I have international calling rates lower than calling a city 60 miles away. However, MagicJack, Vonage, cellular services and such are just soooooo much more that it isn't even reasonable. With family in Europe, we call frequently so, for now, I'm stuck. If other services ever get international rates within reason, I'll drop it for sure.

 

[THEWELSHM]

I sent one home to the UK with and American phone programmed with a local number. I also had a friend send one to his marine son based over seas.

Out come my wife speaks to her family in UK for $0 as its a local call, also a whole bunch of active duty Marines got to call home for grattice

I personally use vonage Voice over IP for 9.99 a month unlimited calls. The way to go for me.

thewelshm

 

[sipowicz]

I would willingly give up my landline if I could. I have international calling rates lower than calling a city 60 miles away. However, MagicJack, Vonage, cellular services and such are just soooooo much more that it isn't even reasonable. With family in Europe, we call frequently so, for now, I'm stuck. If other services ever get international rates within reason, I'll drop it for sure.

For international, we use Skype on the computer or net2phone. Net2phone is pretty cool...It's about 2 cents a minutes to most of the world...you just dial a local number, then the number you are calling. You can also call international from your cell phone at no additional charge.

 

[wuluf]

Is that anything like magic beans??????

I ate those and had magic....never mind..

Sent from my HTC One X+ using Tapatalk 2

 

[DesertFox]

No. My MJ is hooked straight into the modem, which is always on anyway.

Is it your modem or your router? If it is your modem, you're using a land-line to do VoIP - why not just do the land line?

Plus, your router (or modem) may not be consuming 100w like a computer but is still consuming energy, adding to your usage/bill... The phone company picks up the tab for the voltage running across the copper pair for a land line, which is why it works even when the power is out - by far the biggest drawback for any VoIP solution.

 

[OLDGUN64]

nope

Don't forget the cost of the electricity to keep you computer running 24/7 so that your Magic Jack will "save" you all that money... More like shift it from your phone bill to your power bill.

get magic jack plus--no computer needed

 

[Wee Hooker]

There is also a system called Uuma. It's the same concept as majic jack but reportedly has better quality. It also has a one time fee to get your number switched over. We are looking at both systems now as Vonage is costing me $30/mo which is all of $1/call when I average out it's minimal use.