Good Bye USCIS/NVC and Magic Jack Plus???

[brian_n_phuong 193]

We've never been a fan of the MJ because it is unecessary.

Why pay for all that when you can use Skype and Chikka.com for free?

Hey, if it is free, then it's for me!

on Skype ! The quality keeps getting better and better. They should have it perfected by the time my fiance is here and i no longer need it ! ohhhh, wait, relatives !!

[chicagoman 0]

I hate magic jack. alway got disconnect. the signal it's so bad.

I use OBI100 or OBI110, and give one in Vietnam, setup as google talk voice, Unlimited Incoming and outcoming any USA cell or landland phone numbers. no monthly and yearly fee, no contract.

mydivert.com... VoIP-In Virtual Numbers(SIP DID/DDI Virtual Numbers-saigon phone number)-setup on my OBI device in USA €9.50/month Unlimited Incoming Calls from any cell or landland phone number in Vietnam.. no contract.

[Dan_P 5]

I hate magic jack. alway got disconnect. the signal it's so bad.

I use OBI100 or OBI110, and give one in Vietnam, setup as google talk voice, Unlimited Incoming and outcoming any USA cell or landland phone numbers. no monthly and yearly fee, no contract.

mydivert.com... VoIP-In Virtual Numbers(SIP DID/DDI Virtual Numbers-saigon phone number)-setup on my OBI device in USA €9.50/month Unlimited Incoming Calls from any cell or landland phone number in Vietnam.. no contract.

my obi wasn't as stable as my ooma. still, for the price, certainly worth it. note that Google voice is only guaranteed free until the end of this year, though, it may continue free next year, Google hasn't said a peep either way.

[confusedasheck 21]

Last time in Vietnam, the original magic jack worked OK to call back to the US. There was a buzzing noise during the whole call, but 80% of the conversation was understandable. This was from a cheap local hotel, which had a worse connection than my fiancee's house, which I never tried calling from. I'll have to experiment with that the next time I'm there.

I've also found that the quality of magic jack differs if the person you are calling is using a normal land line versus one that uses VOIP (like those that go through the cable company). The quality of VOIP is worse.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

I brought my wife a Magic Jack and a cheap phone on my second trip to Vietnam about 3 years ago. When my wife came to the US two years ago she gave the Magic Jack and the phone to her daughter, who still uses it to call us almost every day.

Looks like the only real difference between the original Magic Jack and the Magic Jack Plus is the addition of an ethernet jack, which allows you to connect the MJ+ directly to a network device like a router or cable/DSL modem. This allows you to use it without having to go through a computer.

[brian_n_phuong 193]

I've also found that the quality of magic jack differs if the person you are calling is using a normal land line versus one that uses VOIP (like those that go through the cable company). The quality of VOIP is worse.

Magic Jack does use VoIP; all Internet based voice traffic must be packetized into IP packets which is essentially how VoIP works. What retracts from the voice quality of one VOIP carrier to another is the latency or delay of the Voice Packets going from Point A to Point B. Mainstream VoIP pay-for-service such as Vonage, MagicJack, and to some aspect Skype have large bandwidth "pipes" and huge servers to minimize delay. Free Skype (PC-PC), WhatsApp, and other free VoIP carriers use a "Best Effort" method of delivering packets in which the quality is dependent on how heavily ( measured in # of users) that their system is being used.

The VoIP carriers also insert markers called QoS "Quality of Service" into each VoIP packet, and when the system gets over loaded the "Pay-For-Service" VoIP calls get priority through the network, while the packets for the free calls get stuck in line with kids downloading movies.

Edited January 22, 2012 by brian_n_phuong