# Magic Jack



## Daniel A. (Mar 20, 2011)

I'm in Mexico till the end of March and have been using a friends MagicJack I'm impressed with it and will be back down in the fall for six months I plan on getting one for my next trip.

Really convenient to have.

What do others think of the MagicJack ?


----------



## Kail (Feb 7, 2012)

I love ours. We had the original MagicJack and it worked well enough but I hated having my PC on all the time. I upgraded to the MagicJack Plus (or Pro, whatever) when it was on sale and couldn't be happier. After the initial cost, we're only paying $10 a year for a Canadian number. The call quality is pretty good, I've never noticed any issues. My girlfriend tells me that sometimes a call will get dropped but she isn't sure if it is our end or not. 

I would recommend it for sure, especially since you can take it with you when you go on vacation.


----------



## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

I have had one since 2008. It works best if you are close to a US concentration point because they have their own network there. So calling from Vancouver to Toronto is always great (because they hop on in Seattle and hope off in Buffalo). From PV where we live, it depends on the network traffic in Mexico. Sometimes perfect. Other times just hang up.

We have friends here who had Vonage and gave it up for 2xMJ because it is so much better. Also better than Skype. And there are apps for Android and iPhone that enable you to use them wherever WiFi is available. Incoming calls ring on all three. And you get 3 outbound lines with just one MJ number.


----------



## brad (May 22, 2009)

kcowan said:


> We have friends here who had Vonage and gave it up for 2xMJ because it is so much better


I'm curious about this: do you mean better because it's cheaper or better because it works better, has more features, etc?

I've been using Vonage for years and am happy with it, but would be open to other options as long as they offer the one killer feature Vonage provides that I can't do without: a virtual local phone number in another location. All my clients and colleagues are in Washington, DC, and with Vonage I have a DC phone number so they can ring me for the price of a local call (free) but I pick it up here in Montreal. We are considering adding another local number in France so my girlfriend's mother can call us for free, but our plan includes unlimited international calls so we generally call her and can talk for hours without worrying about the bill.


----------



## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

If you have a cell-phone at home, I think MagicJack is pretty good. 

It's free for calls anywhere in Canada and the US; has call waiting/voicemail & other features. I have never had to use 411/911, so I'm not sure about these.

I even downloaded the MJ app. on my mobile device.

As per 'concentration point' kcowan, I'm not sure about that as I have received calls from as far away as the Philippines and the connection was crystal clear. I have made calls to as far away as China with equally clear connections.

Prior to the MagicJack Plus, any connection, even local, would be problematic if you were downloading at the time of the call, but other than that, the MJ is pretty magic, especially for $10/yr. 

International rates, if not made with MJ via both ways, are very inexpensive as well, unless you're calling Antarctica/Cocos Island/Easter Island/San Marino or some other uninhabited or extreme point on Earth [calls to mobiles is more expensive than 2 landlines].

http://www.magicjack.com/action/international?firstChar=A


----------



## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

Magic Jack works, but it's kind of like the mutual funds of voip. It's popular thanks to lots of marketing but it borderlines a scam and there are better options out there.

The business model of Magic Jack seems to be targeted ads and data mining as much as it is voip. At first you couldn't even uninstall Magic Jack, and there are claims of background software tracking info and who knows what. For the same price or less you can get better providers out there with far more useful settings and options and no ads. They may not be as plug-and-play as Magic Jack (you have to copy/paste an address or 2 into a software program to set it up...) but you can use any software, app, phone, computer you want. You don't have to pay for any hardware unless you want to etc.

Overall I prefer a setup like voip.ms because it's Canadian and they put more of their resources into quality service than marketing campaigns. It works wherever the internet works.


----------



## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

Hmmm. I'm debating whether I should bother switching to voip.ms. I currently spend $120/yr on voip. voip.ms should cost me under $40/yr.


----------



## brad (May 22, 2009)

The problem with voip.ms is that their site is so impossibly geeky that 99% of VOIP users would probably walk away intimidated. It's full of acronyms and terminology that ordinary people aren't familiar with: DID, call termination, PSTN, etc., and after spending 20 minutes reading through their site I still have no idea how it works or how I would get it set up. They need someone to provide a user-friendly front end so it's as simple as "plug this device into your router and plug this wire into your phone, and you're all set." That's all most people can handle.


----------



## mrPPincer (Nov 21, 2011)

Couple of noob questions
If I were to switch to using VoIP instead of an old-fashioned land line, would people in my rural area have to pay long distance rates to phone me?
And could I port my old phone number?


----------



## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

brad said:


> The problem with voip.ms is that their site is so impossibly geeky that 99% of VOIP users would probably walk away intimidated. It's full of acronyms and terminology that ordinary people aren't familiar with: DID, call termination, PSTN, etc., and after spending 20 minutes reading through their site I still have no idea how it works or how I would get it set up. They need someone to provide a user-friendly front end so it's as simple as "plug this device into your router and plug this wire into your phone, and you're all set." That's all most people can handle.


It pretty much comes down to choosing an area code, downloading a program/app, copy/paste 2 lines (they have step by step instructions and live chat) But I see what you mean about their website

If you want a simpler website you could just pick one of the many voip.ms resellers, but you will basically just pay more for less


----------



## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

I wonder if it's deliberate: cater to geeks, who are less likely to have big customer service requirements. Segmentation!

mr pincer: Outside people will not notice any difference between a voip or traditional land line. If your number is local, it will still be a local call. You can even port your existing phone number.


----------



## mrPPincer (Nov 21, 2011)

I've been trying to wrap my mind around this for the last couple days.
I haven't found any simple user-friendly guide yet, but I'm intrigued with the idea of free phone service, and the possibility of getting a smartphone without a service plan for using a home VoIP setup for remote phone service over the internet.

I had been studying this thread started by kyboch
http://canadianmoneyforum.com/showt...rs-for-unlimited-North-American-phone-service

He had a nice setup using an obi device, freephoneline.ca, and googlevoice
I'm not sure if it's still possible to set that up because that was well over a year ago, and I've learned that Canadians have been having some trouble trying to set up googlevoice since then.

*I think I'd sooner set up with something from inside Canada anyways, but Google Voice does seem to have some nice features


----------



## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

My husband and I are both geeks and we had some significant issues setting up our voip.ms service for our home phone line. We were able to solve them via customer chat for the most part. I don't think we ever fully sorted out voicemail notification (getting the red light on our phones to blink when there's a voicemail, and to stop blinking after we delete the voicemail). We thought we had it, but last night we got a voicemail, and I deleted it - an hour later the red light was still blinking although there was no new voicemail. It seems hit or miss. 

We found the default settings that voip.ms started out with were not correct for a few things. Like, the time for the phone to ring before going to voicemail defaulted to some ridiculously large amount of time - this was one that customer chat helped us figure out. But really they should set the defaults to something that makes sense. 

Anyway, now that we have it set up, we're happy with it, but the first week was painful. Lots of googling and finagling and trial and error.


----------



## mrPPincer (Nov 21, 2011)

andrewf said:


> If your number is local, it will still be a local call. You can even port your existing phone number.


I didn't see my home town (or a nearby) one on VoIP.ms' list of Canadian cities that can be ported to VoIP.ms, but I think it should still be doable, if not with them, then with another setup.


----------



## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

http://www.canadadids.ca/

wondering if this is a voip reseller ?


----------



## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

brad said:


> I'm curious about this: do you mean better because it's cheaper or better because it works better, has more features, etc?


Both. The call quality is more consistent. And you can choose any number. Ours is in Poway CA.

The friends ran the two services in parallel for 2 months and whenever MJ had a problem (and they will just like any VOIP) so did Vonage. No downloads or streaming of video should be competing on the Internet link.

They also have an excellent online chat for tech support. Another friend had some problems with his setup in Vancouver and it took about 2 weeks to get it solved. But he is a demanding somewhat geeky user.

So I would suggest that you spend the $50 and get another number. Try it out. If it works, it will pay for itself in a couple of months.


----------



## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

i contacted them, they don't do residential. Their target client is a small business with 3-50 lines ie DIDs.

any small business owners out there who might be interested? their website looks like they are young, growing, based in canada, serious, efficient, low-cost & smart.

hmmn they don't give his name, but one of the 2 co-founders is obviously that well-known former Nortel chief of their optical division here on nun's island, montreal, quebec. He was - is- a brilliant canadian electrical engineer. This entrepreneurial company must be his swansong as he nears retirement.

http://www.canadadids.ca/

if my needs were bigger, i'd check em out.

(signed)
tarte branchée


----------



## mrPPincer (Nov 21, 2011)

I did go to their site and out of curiousity I checked to see if a number in my area could be ported, even though I'm residential, but the exchanges in my area weren't available through them, not a good sign so far for me, but there may yet be a company out there that does port from more rural areas.


----------

