Magic Jack, Anyone?

[neenuh 0]

Yay! Thank you for all your responses!

It was my dad who told me to look into MJ. He got interested in it when he found out it would only cost $20 a month for unlimited calls to the Philippines. So I checked it out. I'm not really after call logs. I just want to be able to call my family without it having to cost so much.

ShaneJean, you mentioned that for the calls to be free, both parties would have to be using MJ, yeah? Does that mean two MJ subscriptions? And which one is it really, $20 a month or $20 a year?

Aside from it relying on high speed internet connection, what are the other limitations of using MJ?

[Raeka 0]

it's per year... now they have an offer $50 for 5 YEARS!.. wow.

Yay! Thank you for all your responses!

It was my dad who told me to look into MJ. He got interested in it when he found out it would only cost $20 a month for unlimited calls to the Philippines. So I checked it out. I'm not really after call logs. I just want to be able to call my family without it having to cost so much.

ShaneJean, you mentioned that for the calls to be free, both parties would have to be using MJ, yeah? Does that mean two MJ subscriptions? And which one is it really, $20 a month or $20 a year?

Aside from it relying on high speed internet connection, what are the other limitations of using MJ?

[marivicandshane 0]

all of my relative has magicjack . even in the US so that they wont spend any of their minutes if they need to talk to us here in PI, very satisfied.

[/quot

yes, thats all true..count me in.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

We have found the best and cheapest (free) way to communicate to my wife's family back in the Philippines by using Yahoo Messenger with voice chat and web cam. Although your internet speed can affect the connection, the voice quality is really good (better than most phone cards), plus you can see them on the web cam.

Even if your family doesn't have internet, you'd save money in the long to pay for them to have internet so you can chat with them using Yahoo Messenger.

Edited March 28, 2009 by Mister Fancypants

[strega 1]

We have found the best and cheapest (free) way to communicate to my wife's family back in the Philippines by using Yahoo Messenger with voice chat and web cam. Although your internet speed can affect the connection, the voice quality is really good (better than most phone cards), plus you can see them on the web cam.

Even if your family doesn't have internet, you'd save money in the long to pay for them to have internet so you can chat with them using Yahoo Messenger.

I have magic jack and it offers also call fowarding, so i can receive my magic jack calls via my cell, FREE!! my amore also has magic jack, he can call to US for free to my Magicjack number and it fowards to my cell. Its great

[-B&T- 1]

We have found the best and cheapest (free) way to communicate to my wife's family back in the Philippines by using Yahoo Messenger with voice chat and web cam. Although your internet speed can affect the connection, the voice quality is really good (better than most phone cards), plus you can see them on the web cam.

Even if your family doesn't have internet, you'd save money in the long to pay for them to have internet so you can chat with them using Yahoo Messenger.

I have magic jack and it offers also call fowarding, so i can receive my magic jack calls via my cell, FREE!! my amore also has magic jack, he can call to US for free to my Magicjack number and it fowards to my cell. Its great

[one...two...tree 2,762]

We have found the best and cheapest (free) way to communicate to my wife's family back in the Philippines by using Yahoo Messenger with voice chat and web cam. Although your internet speed can affect the connection, the voice quality is really good (better than most phone cards), plus you can see them on the web cam.

Even if your family doesn't have internet, you'd save money in the long to pay for them to have internet so you can chat with them using Yahoo Messenger.

I have magic jack and it offers also call fowarding, so i can receive my magic jack calls via my cell, FREE!! my amore also has magic jack, he can call to US for free to my Magicjack number and it fowards to my cell. Its great

I'm skeptical about Magic Jack and I'll explain below. Yahoo makes their money from their banner advertisers. I'm not saying Yahoo should be the only cheap option to communicate with family abroad - I believe the MSN Messenger also has voice chat with web cam.

.....

From a Magic Jack customer:

Lets start off by saying Please save yourself the head ache DONT BUY this product. The entire infomercial looks and sounds great but they dont tell you upfront is that its really not a 30 day trial but rather a 15 day trial cause after 15 days they charge your credit card like they did mine.

They dont tell you that if you ever have a problem you WILL NEVER speak to a live representative, cause the company does not have a telephone.

They dont tell you that they are going to redistribute your personal information to other customers in their database like they did mine

They dont tell you that if you wish to send your product back it will take them 45 days to issue you a refund.

They dont tell you up front that in order to have 24/7 phone access your computer can not go into hibernation or be shut off, imagine if you have an emergency at night time when your computer is usually off and dont have access to a phone,? or if you have a burglar and need to contact the police?

When you do call 911 they dont tell you that your actually speaking with a internet computer and not that of your local police department which by the way you have to be sure you give them all kinds of information Home address, name, phone #,etc) before they even dispatch anyone out to your home.(I dont know about you guys but I have small children, who are to young to memorize this information, and trust them to know that in a hectic situation/emergency thay are going to be able to assist this internet operator to get some help in time? I mean what if something ever happened to mommy or daddy and they needed the police but didnt know the information because their to young 5,yrs old?

They dont tell you that you can not make any phone calls that require you to input #s such as if you call your bank and have to input your ss# good luck because every number you press is multiplied by 2 try inputing your account # ssi# or anything that is requiring verification data of you, sorry you can't so if the company your calling does not have a customer service rep while peek hours your out of luck.

They dont tell you that you have to dial your area code to make phone calls within your own city, so to call your next door neighbor you must first dial your area code.

They dont tell you that you can not be on your computer doing work because every time someone in your house picks up the phone or a call comes in a box pops up which you have to minimize, and yes you have to minimize it for every call going out or coming in , trust me its a pain especially when your spouse work is done primarily on the pc, try wrting a word,power point,excel, while every 10 seconds you have a box popping up on your working screen, now you can take care of this problem by simply unplugging your phone, thus eliminating anyone in the home using the phone, or receiving calls, but hey atleast you get your work done without any annoying boxes interupting you.

They dont tell you that once you connect the magic jack to your computer, your going to be using up your systems resources, & have to update all your pc's direct x functions, so if your not a computer garu your in trouble, or you can just call their tech support and speak with someone who can walk you through the process.... oh no wait sorry they have no live person you can talk to if you need any customer assistance or tech support you have to go online and chat with them. by the way good luck getting somone to log in to the chat area to assit you, lets just say that if its less then 2 minutes your one of the lucky ones.

I dont know about you folks but I wish someone would of told me all this before I spent my time and money buying this product cause now the end result is that I have no product as i sent them back and I have no money cause they have yet to date to issue a refund, and I cant speak with no one cause oh yeah there's no phone # to call the company , corporate or eitherwise. In cloing i hope i was able to save someone the ordeal and head aches I have gone through with this company, I just hope I get my money back, i'll keep trying its now been 18 days and counting since I spoke, sorry chatted with a customer service rep. If you do purchase this product I wish you all the luck , but i'm sure I will be reading more posts about this great $20 a year phone service, I guess its true what my dad always told me if something sounds to good to be true 9 out of 10 times it usually is.-Iaz Family, Las Vegas Nv Good luck!

XXX family

Las Vegas, Nevada

U.S.A.

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/320/RipOff0320581.htm

[Tsup2 0]

I bought a magic jack last month with their 30 day free trial. I returned it because the call quality and reliability were no good. It would occasionally work well but very unreliable. Alot of times the party on the other end could not here me. Google Magic Jack and you will see the problems others have had with this product. Customer service is non existent.

[edp333 9]

We have found the best and cheapest (free) way to communicate to my wife's family back in the Philippines by using Yahoo Messenger with voice chat and web cam. Although your internet speed can affect the connection, the voice quality is really good (better than most phone cards), plus you can see them on the web cam.

Even if your family doesn't have internet, you'd save money in the long to pay for them to have internet so you can chat with them using Yahoo Messenger.

Mister Fancypants, are you using the Philippine ( Singapore I believe) YM for compatibility?

We have problems with audio on one side or the other when using different versions of Yahoo IM.

[Joyce/Jeremy 0]

Hi ALL,

Ive found this thread very interesting because Ive been looking into MJ. Right now we use skype which at first gave us a lot of droped calls but now with its newest version we dont see that problem plus we can use the video calls to see each other and its free. But Ive been looking into what would be the best option for us once she moves here and wants to stay in touch with her family in the PI. So I was wondering is it worth switching from skype and if so why? Also Ive read reviews that the software that you instal for MJ can lead to problems on you computer is this true?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

We have found the best and cheapest (free) way to communicate to my wife's family back in the Philippines by using Yahoo Messenger with voice chat and web cam. Although your internet speed can affect the connection, the voice quality is really good (better than most phone cards), plus you can see them on the web cam.

Even if your family doesn't have internet, you'd save money in the long to pay for them to have internet so you can chat with them using Yahoo Messenger.

Mister Fancypants, are you using the Philippine ( Singapore I believe) YM for compatibility?

We have problems with audio on one side or the other when using different versions of Yahoo IM.

Nope. It could be your sound card (or there's). You could buy your family members a brand new computer and still save money in the long run.

[SJ1819 2]

Hi ALL,

Ive found this thread very interesting because Ive been looking into MJ. Right now we use skype which at first gave us a lot of droped calls but now with its newest version we dont see that problem plus we can use the video calls to see each other and its free. But Ive been looking into what would be the best option for us once she moves here and wants to stay in touch with her family in the PI. So I was wondering is it worth switching from skype and if so why? Also Ive read reviews that the software that you instal for MJ can lead to problems on you computer is this true?

No. Not at all. There is NO software need to be installed for MJack. Just plug-in the device (twice the size of a thumb drive) and it's self boot to install and you just have to set your state and city/town for your MJack's number.

[notmrshamiltonnow 0]

I just want to ask if anyone here has heard of or is currently using Magic Jack?

Your feedback or review will be much appreciated.

Thanks!

I don't currently have one, but I know two families who do. they LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!! the only problem I've seen is that one of the families that has it, sometimes there is some type of feed back in the conections, but that could be their internet conection, not the magic jack . I will be getting one real soon.

[SJ1819 2]

I bought a magic jack last month with their 30 day free trial. I returned it because the call quality and reliability were no good. It would occasionally work well but very unreliable. Alot of times the party on the other end could not here me. Google Magic Jack and you will see the problems others have had with this product. Customer service is non existent.

Costumer service IS existent. 4 months ago (i think) my MJack did not work at all. I tried to unplug and plug it back in the USB port but it did not read my Mjack. I thought it was my USB port acting crazy. So as a computer technician i checked my computer and there's nothing wrong with my USB ports. My fiance and I did a troubleshoot & reboot with the help of the customer service agent. That day my MJack worked.

[Alan and Noemi 0]

We use Magic Jack a great deal, as does my sister-in-law Singapore and my Parents. None of us have ever had any real problems. Is it as robust and perfect as a regular phone?.... No. Is the service acceptable to talk to your loved ones? - probably. It may not be a great replacement for your long distance service, but as a $20 addition to talk internationally, it cannot be beaten.

Some people have reported problems with their Magic Jack. The truth is that Magic Jack is only as good as your internet connection. It will not work well with dial-up (too slow) or with Satellite (like Directway... there is signal delay (called latency) between the earth and the satellites). If you are running a wireless network, then that may also affect your call quality, though with a good signal and proper network this works just fine. If you have reliable broadband or DSL, you will probably get excellent service from Magic Jack. If you don't, your only out $20.

Magic Jack does not require software, but it does require the installation of a driver. If that fails, you can get the software driver from the Magic Jack web site, as I did. This means that if you download the driver, you can take you Magic Jack with you and use it on a different computer... i.e. the Magic Jack itself is registered with the servers, not the computer!

It not error free, as VOIP technology is still in its infancy. We may drop one call in 10... then just redial and all is fine. That seems a small price to pay for unlimited talk time.

As for dialing from other countries, well.... Magic Jack only lets you dial to the US and Canada for free. However, once you have a Magic Jack... it IS a US number (in the area code of your choosing). Therefore, all Magic Jacks can call each other as they are all considered US numbers.

Sometimes, we use Magic Jack for the audio and Yahoo Messenger for Video, as the audio in messenger is lacking due to the sketchy routing of the data packets. Magic Jack uses their own servers for routing which makes their connection more robust. We have found this combo makes an excellent video phone.

We love it!

Alan & Noemi