Anyone here use Magic Jack?
- Thread starter RAMA
- Start date
No experience with this particular product, but for any VOIP product, you'll need to make sure your broadband connection is rock solid and that nothing like bittorrent or other super internet intensive programs are running on your LAN. Do those things and you should have a quality voice connection free from dropouts, jitter, and the like.
Magic Jack is ad supported, and it used the very phone numbers you call to tailor the ads to you. I'd be wary, it's basically adware!
How do they work that? You have to listen to a add before you make a phone call?
No, the actual MagicJack program displays ads. My wife has never said anything about hearing them on the phone.
And what Alpha Geek said is true. You need a good Internet connection. Nothing really fancy, but low latency is an absolute must or you'll have a hard time with it.
And what Alpha Geek said is true. You need a good Internet connection. Nothing really fancy, but low latency is an absolute must or you'll have a hard time with it.
Ah so you have to keep the computer running to make use of the thing? Sort of defeats some of the savings then.
It works by way of your Internet connection, so yes, the computer must be on.
sounds like it's going to catch people by them not realising the cost of running the computer. AFterall you can get a VOIP phone or ATA adapter to with your exist phone and another VSP.
Then there are people who leave their computers on all the time in the first place.
Indeed!
yeah I know - I have an Atom bases system than runs Trixbox for my VOIP account back in Australia though now I'm having to pay my own bills I'm sort of dreading keeping my servers running
But for the most part the people who don't that aren't usually the sort of people who'd go to some-one like Phone Jack.
And to give a comparison to their pricing I have two VOIP services.
My Australian one (allows people back home to call me and vice versa) cost me $AU10 a month, Australia wide a call is $.18. Calls to cell phones are $.30 per minute - there are also cheaper rates. Calls to the U.S and Canada are 6c per minute.
In Canada we have a Cogeco for phone, data, tv.
The phone bundle we're on is $44 per month plus taxes and provides
* unlimited local calls
* unlimted calls accross Canada and the U.S
* Call waiting, caller ID, voice mail, visuall call waiting.
Well, there are SIP and IAX aware ATA boxes that can provide phone connectivity in your home via a remote SIP provider. Also standalone phones.
As long as you're running a broadband connection with a wired router, either of these would allow a user to have a VOIP account and make calls without the PC running.
I'm running trixbox as well, and have a few ATAs and phones around the house. My SIP and PSTN termination is through vitelity, fairly inexpensive and can provide you with a "real" phone number.
As long as you're running a broadband connection with a wired router, either of these would allow a user to have a VOIP account and make calls without the PC running.
I'm running trixbox as well, and have a few ATAs and phones around the house. My SIP and PSTN termination is through vitelity, fairly inexpensive and can provide you with a "real" phone number.
Well, there are SIP and IAX aware ATA boxes that can provide phone connectivity in your home via a remote SIP provider. Also standalone phones.
As long as you're running a broadband connection with a wired router, either of these would allow a user to have a VOIP account and make calls without the PC running.
I'm running trixbox as well, and have a few ATAs and phones around the house. My SIP and PSTN termination is through vitelity, fairly inexpensive and can provide you with a "real" phone number.
I haven't tracked ATAs but are there that many that support IAX2 though?
both my VOIP accounts give me a "real" phone number though I can't terminate the Cogeco one with Trixbox as the cable modem has an ATA and at the moment I don't have an FXO card.
Not alot, but some do.
Atcom AG-188 is one, it's sometimes available on Ebay (How do you pronounce "Ebay" in pig-latin??) FXS only, no FXO port.
Atcom also makes an FXO card that is supposed to work with Trixbox, their version of the X100
Atcom AG-188 is one, it's sometimes available on Ebay (How do you pronounce "Ebay" in pig-latin??) FXS only, no FXO port.
Atcom also makes an FXO card that is supposed to work with Trixbox, their version of the X100
I tried it and I returned it. I spent a few days playing with it, downloading software, trying to get it to work. At best, it worked unreliably, and the line was not clear.
The device is part flash drive and part adapter to attach a telephone to a USB port. When I aquired mine an existing phone number could not be transferred to the Magic Jack service, therefore someone wanting to drop their conventional line would have to change phone numbers. The software is designed to automatically installed and or run when the device is plugged into the USB port. Your adapter can be taken to any computer with an adequate broadband connection and still receive calls to your Magic Jack's phone number. When the device isn't running on a computer your account can forward your calls to a conventional phone line, forward calls to your cell phone or record voice mail on Magic Jack's servers.
My device won't run the software automatically when I plug it in. Magic Jack's front line chat advisor wasn't able to help. I was quickly transfered to a supervisor when I indicated that I would need to return the device. The supervisor had my equipment working in a couple of minutes. I have to run the software through a Windows XP shortcut. I think that particular problem might be a consequence of my unconventional OS boot disk letter (it's not C: ).
The touchtone pad on the phone I use doesn't work with the Magic Jack. That's the result of the polarity on the Magic Jack being opposite the standard (verified by a tester). Most late model phones have added circuitry that makes that reversal irrelevent. I can still dial with the computer's keyboard or by clicking the virtual touch pad on the screen.
My device won't run the software automatically when I plug it in. Magic Jack's front line chat advisor wasn't able to help. I was quickly transfered to a supervisor when I indicated that I would need to return the device. The supervisor had my equipment working in a couple of minutes. I have to run the software through a Windows XP shortcut. I think that particular problem might be a consequence of my unconventional OS boot disk letter (it's not C: ).
The touchtone pad on the phone I use doesn't work with the Magic Jack. That's the result of the polarity on the Magic Jack being opposite the standard (verified by a tester). Most late model phones have added circuitry that makes that reversal irrelevent. I can still dial with the computer's keyboard or by clicking the virtual touch pad on the screen.
Robert, a quick trip to radio shack for 2 telephone modular jacks, a bit of wire, and 1 additional modular phone cord could fix your polarity issue. Just swap the red and green.
Similar threads
