There is no doubt that the MagicJack has caused a huge uproar in the VoIP world over that last couple of years. Some people rant about a “Magic Jack Scam” while others claim it’s the greatest invention since sliced bread. One thing seems unanimous among users, it’s not best to rely on Magic Jack USB device as your only phone source.
I decided that I would add another post on the Magic Jack phone device since the first post has well over 100 comments. If you do not find enough feed back on this post then grab a cup of coffee and check out our original post on Magic Jack Reviews. Those interested in cutting costs on their cellphone bills should also look out for Ymax’s newest product to hit the shelves some time this spring. It’s called the FemtoJack and will allow you to route cellphone calls through your computer just like the Magic Jack allows you to do with landline calls. If you would like more information then feel free to check out our FemtoJack Reviews article.
I just picked up a Magic Jack and set it up on both my Desk top computer and my Laptop .. this has got to be the most amzing product ever.. i love it! on my Desk top it did not run as well as on my laptop .. on my Desktop it has some cutting out and was not working too well .. but on my Laptop it runs very nice and smooth . voice quality is excellent and very little cut out . its like using a land line honestly. amazing. and so easy.
Below are actual Magic Jack User Reviews.
I feel this has to do with the Desktop machine specs . as i’m running the same operatiing system on both machines Windows XP Pro. you need at least Windows service pack 3 installed to run Majic Jack. there are alot of variables that determine call quality. Machine speed , USB port speed , Ram , internet connection quality .. so i was using the same internet connect .. local high speed wireless service. my Laptop has a 2 gig (2000 mghz) processor speed , 500 meg ram. .. my Desktop isn’t as fast as my laptop and was the cause of the cutting out and poor voice quality.
Desktop specs – 1 gig processor , 300 meg ram . maybe a lower speed usb port on that machine too. so that combination did not work good for the MagicJack .. with the Laptop tho its excellent. and i would highly recommend it.
I have been using the MJ for about 2 1/2 yrs now, would I trust it as my only source of phone service…NO…but it does work sometime’s well other time a little crappie but it works none the less……One thing that bug’s me a bit is in their TOS it states that if you use the magicjack 20 times more then the average user they can (and will from what I have read in other complaint blogs) shut your free sevice down and offer you a pay by minute plan…almost forgot to mention that they wont tell you what the average usage is, not even if you get one of their service reps. in the chat room,s…..which by the way the customer service sucks “all canned answers to your questions”, kinda odd, a phone company without a phone number to get help !………Good thing is it can and does save you a lot of cell phone minutes, more then 20 dollars worth….
Free Local/Long Distance Calls
100% Risk Free – Try Before You Buy
We moved 8 months ago and were debating whether to get a home line since we both have cell phones. I got a Magic Jack and have been using it as a home line since then. I have experienced some problems – early on, they were worse. On some calls it would drop syllables – like a cell phone breaking up – on other inbound calls, the person could not hear me but I could hear them. I haven’t really experienced that lately. Often when I pick up to dial, I get no immediate dialtone. I hang up once or twice and get a dialtone. No big deal.
I like being able to receive voicemails in my inbox. If you are the type of person to let your calls go to VM anyway, and/or like to be able to get your home voicemails while at work this may be a plus.
I am using a 3-handset Uniden wireless system. I plugged the base system into the MJ, and have the other handsets elsewhere in the house (the other 2 do not require phone jacks). This works very well. I was also pleasantly surprised that the Caller ID function on my phone does display incoming and missed phone numbers from MJ! I never used Caller ID before, but now that it’s free, it’s a nice bonus.
I am running this on an extra older PC that we don’t use much. My kid plays computer games on it sometimes but otherwise it’s for MJ. We made sure that MJ launches automatically on restart in case of shutdown, we have it running on some kind of lowered power mode, and I suppose we could shut it down it at night to save even more power. I don’t want calls at night anyway, and we have our cell phones for emergency calls.
100% Risk Free – Try Before You Buy http://www.magicjack.com
MJ user for 2 years. I’m in Canada and it’s great. The product is fine! It’s the users who screw things up! If you’re running your MJ on a Commodore 64 or an Apple IIe the sound quality isn’t going to be pleasing. Simply put; buy a nice new computer with the money you’re going to save and MJ will work fine. Mine always does! If you disagree please read this again and again until it makes sense. I see complaints against MJ call quality as an IQ test and, quite frankly, some of you have bigger problems than poor quality calls. Still having problems with your MJ? Plug it into a computer that was built in the past three years and call someone who cares but they probably won’t like you because you complain too much.
Love mj!!!!! I use it in my business we have 4 mjs in our office. So glad I could fire land line service I used to pay 2,400. Per year for 2 lines, now I pay 54. for 4 lines per year. Love love love it.
I have to say have had a few problems but it works great 90% of the time.
We’ve had Magic Jack for about a year. It wasn’t bad at first, but we had problems with it on our XP Computer. Now it is hooked to a brand new computer with 6 G of Ram running Windows 7. We had so many problems with it on the new computer that I researched and found a software update from Magic Jack for Windows 7. (Please note that there is no automatic updates for Magic Jack)) The problems have not been resolved. The Phone constantly cuts out or disconnects entirely. Our internet connection speed is 12 times faster than our old DSL connect so I know it’s not our connection, and it can’t possibly be the computer. If anyone asked me whether they should get Magic Jack I would tell them that if they want it just for the savings on long distance calls, it would be fine. However if they want this as their main home phone, forget it because you spend more time trying to verify if the other person is still there than you spend on talking. Very sorry we went with this. No amount of savings makes up for the constant irritation of dropped calls.
I have had MJ for about 3 yrs. A few very minor bugs but it does work fine.
You do need a decent computer thought. I would recommend not running it on anything less than a P4 with 2 gigs of RAM.
For $20/yr I’d recommend it. However faxing with it can be iffy.
Be prepared to pay $20 to port your number to magic jack, then when the service becomes terrible, be prepared to pay $31 to port your phone number away from magic jack. Its garbage.
I’ve been using MagicJack for a year since I got rid of my house phone. The first couple months I had an older slower computer (750 MG memory, I.3 ghz cpu) and it did all the things mentioned here. Then 8 months ago I bought a new fast computer. 2.7 ghz cpu with 4 gb memory. MagicJack works like a charm now. I just paid the $69.95 to get it locked in for 5 years. So now it cost me $69.95 total for 5 years use of long distance and local calling, caller ID, voice mail and I call Ireland a lot because I have a lot of family there, since my mother was born there. It cost me less then 2 cents a minute. If you have a complaint get a faster computer with more memory, then even with the cost of the computer you will easily make it up with the phone savings over five years. You’ll end up getting the computer for free.
Magic Jack is junk.
It COULD work. It SHOULD work.
But… nope
I had mj and about every 30 seconds would get a pause for about 1-2 seconds. You are always saying what, or the people you are trying to talk to are.
So I bought another one. It worked great! For a week. Same thing. Now about 3 months in it won’t work at all. So I tried “customer service”, they have none. Read the reviews. They terminate the session when they are stumped.
So I tried to get my 9 months activated on the first magic jack. Not their policy. Not, they can’t do that, it isn’t their policy. So I am out my money. Not the 19.95 they advertise, but 39.95 for the device and a year. And they laugh all the way to the bank.
There are shortcomings, power outage, computer must be on, etc. But for the money it sounds good. And it worked (for a while) well enough that a reputable company COULD DO IT.
Even if they raise the price a little to get a device that will last, its plausible!
Magic Junk only wants your money. So go into it knowing you are taking a $40 chance!
Been using Majicjack for 3 months now. Only problem was that some calls had minor interference, but nothing serious. Definetely worth the money! Only have to keep a cell phone for emergency purposes. For all the other people on here just complaining about Majicjack all I can say is that your problem is probably with your internet connection or your pc…hey if you don’t like it or can’t figure it out, then don’t us it!
I can’t call numbers in my own area code.
My vmail password doesn’t work anymore
The rest of it works fine.
Pleas help or fix it.
Thanks
Been using a jack for 2 years with varying degrees of quality. Still worth the money for personal calls. Wouldn’t use it for business. A good trick for incoming is to forward incoming to a landline. Caller gets the saving and the jack is out of the loop.
Value play that cant be beat. We have been using magicjack for 4 years now with minimal problems. We have cellphones and use magicjack instead of paying for a landline at $25 X 12= $300 per year. Voice quality is fine for our needs. Customer service is subpar but never need it except for some ordering delay. Once we got it in our hands, no problems. Nowadays can pick up in many drugstores or big box retailers. Setup is easy but helps to be a bit computersavvy as their computer may have a usb port conflict, low power usb port, or may be using wireless phones or routers or some software that may prevent it from running otherwise works like a charm. I know folks who use it when they travel overseas or in the US (no problems). have not had to try 911 but every voip provider has some 911 disclaimer and depends on your internet connection.
Good purchase especially if you have cellphones already, suggest not to use this on a homebound person who needs 911.
Simply said; it doesn’t deliver…anymore. I’ve had the MJ for a couple years now. 1st, my contacts “disappeared”. After searching some forums, it turns out MJ started hosting the contacts (or address book) on their own server instead of on your local PC. When they made the change, apparently folks lost their contacts. No way to back the contacts up any more, either, since they are hosted on MJ servers. WTH? That was a bad move.
About 4 months ago, I renewed my subscription for one more year. Thank goodness I didn’t go for the full 5 years – no sooner had I renewed my subscription, the quality went down, down, down. Now, for those of you out there who are going to blame me, or my Internet connection, I can tell you, nothing changed. The connection keeps “cutting out” – sometimes, so bad, that it makes conversation impossible. It’s ruined a couple of business meetings of mine, since I have no land line. I’ve spent two entire days trying to troubleshoot the connectivity issues, with no luck. I could go into detail about trying to resolve the issue with port forwarding, QOS, etc, but I’ll spare you the gory details. There’s not many normal home users who know of such things, but I do, and I still couldn’t get MJ to make a clean connection any more. I’ve tried MJ on three different PCs, with the same results: nada. The cutting out and breaking up audio quality makes the MJ now USELESS. I have noticed, however, my luck with the quality is better during “non high traffic” hours. During normal daytime hours, the quality is horrific, even with my bandwidth being 5.8 megs down according to speedtest dot net. I read in one forum something that made sense: Magic Jack’s servers/network have become overloaded with new customers over the last year, and they are doing nothing about it. That seems to be the only thing that makes sense any more as to the horrible quality, when it was once great over a year ago.
Oh, someone else had mentioned about “tones” during conversations – yeah, that’s always happened. Even when the MJ worked, occasionally there would be a “tone” as if the person on the other end was hitting a key on their cell phone, even though they didn’t. Only I could hear it, the other person couldn’t. It would happen maybe 5 times during a 10 minute conversation, nothing horrible.
You get what you pay for. I’m now forced to kiss ATT’s patootie and get a land line from them. BOOOOOO!!
Please wait for a site operator to respond.
You are now chatting with ‘Carol’
Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK43609713802X
Carol: Hello, how may I help you?
Tani: For last 2 weeks unable to receive calls on magic Jack from any cell phone. I have rebooted the computer, unplugged USB jack, uninstall and deleted the Magic Jack from computer still same issue, I can call out but no one from cell phone can call my magic jack
Carol: One moment please…
Carol: Do the callers can hear a message?
Tani: Yes, The same old message, You carrier routed this call improprly” like 2 month ago when you were having the same issue
Tani: Your phone carrier has routed this call improperly and identified it as a local call when this is a long distance call. To complete this call contact your carrier or call 305-848-8288 and at the dial tone enter the number you are trying to reach.”.
Carol: You need to tell the caller that heard that message.
Carol: They need to call their local provoder.
Tani: I am the caller I cannot call my home Magic Jack from my cell phone and I am the one who is getting this message
Tani: I already called Verizon Wireless and have them created the ticket
Carol: Please call your cellphone provider.
Tani: So means, you cannot do any thing?
Carol: yes, because the problem is in their end.
Tani: “We are aware of the problem and sorry for the inconvenience. VZW is properly routing the calls. If you [the customer] have further concerns about your magic jack service, you need to contact magic jack.”
Carol: Tell them that you want to speak with the translation department.
Tani: This is the response I got from Verizon Wirless
Carol: Okay.
Tani: What Okay???
Carol: Maybe they still fixing the problem on Verizon end.
Tani: for last 2 weeks? Seems you don’t even know, what is the problem and hwo to fix it. Did you contact your technical support department?
Carol: Yes, and they told us that magicjack is working good.
Carol: And told us to tell you to call your Provider.
Tani: How ane when did you las contact with them?
Carol: Just now.
Tani: Is there any toll free number for your technical support department or your public relation department?
Carol: This is what they instructed.
Carol: No, because we only do chat support here.
Carol: If you are getting a message stating “Your number is being identified as a local number when it is a long distance number”, you need to call your long distance carrier and tell them to route your call properly.
It is a good example that you get what you pay for. The price is great for unlimited local and long distance calls.
However, there are some annoying issues. While on a call, the sound is clear but intermittent. I rarely have a conversation without missing some of the words.
In addition, there are many times when I call a number which results in an odd tone similar to a busy tone, but if I call the same number using my cell phone, it connects without a problem. When I contacted customer service, they said it was an area not covered by Majicjack.
For the money, I’ll keep Majicjack as a secondary line only.
I have been using the Magic Jack going on my second year now. When I first got it I thought it wasn’t so good. I found out that the reason was because I was using wireless internet. Once I actually hard wired my modem to my computer the difference was astounding. When I was using the wireless internet connection the conversation would drop in and out (almost like a cell phone). After hard wiring my internet access, it became as good as ANY monthly telephone service. I will never pay monthly for telephone service again. This is the best little invention since ..well… I don’t know what was as great as this…but it’s awesome!!
Magic Jack Customer Service SUCKS!!!! They want to get your money, but I am finding more and more that once a technical problem or a billing issue arises, you can get NO satisfaction from the Live Chat associates. I just spent TWO hours on an online chat while one idiotic, incompetent technician after another tried to fix the problem, during which time the MJ device broke, like literally broke. The USB pin / part of the device broke off and I subsequently found out that they debited my bank account WITHOUT My consent for the replacement device. Spent another hour speaking to an associate after find out that my money was taken without my permission, and she insists that I have to pay for the replacement device. What poor customer service and PR!!!! I think the actual product when it works, is very good value, but I’d have to say, after today, the company no longer has my support!
I see a lot of complaints because people don’t understand VoIP technology or what MJ really is. If you dedicate an old machine to MJ and properly setup QoS on your router it works great. I purchased the five year plan after using for about six months as my home office line.
There is a slight delay sometimes, which I’m trying to work out using router settings and changing the priority of the MJ process in Windows. But it is certainly tolerable. I wouldn’t recommend running multiple MJs at this time. Remember that you only have so much bandwidth, and the more calls your are on, the more you eat it up. Also, if you do a lot of streaming or P2P uploading, have a slow to moderate ISP, don’t bother with MJ. Nothing is free. But if you have the proper infrastructure, MJ does work just fine.
CANADIAN version. DO NOT BUY!! The connection beeps all the time to the point you are frustrated and the people at the other end cannot hear you. I have tried to resolve this problem to the point of giving up. They tried to manipulate from my computer. They could not fix the problem. Save your money, go to skype – but this system is not Canadian ready.
For the first year I was happy with MJ but sfter I resubscribed I found I could not call contacts in Alaska. When I complained (4 times with no solution) I was asked for the phone numbers I’d tried to call. All I was told was that a report would be submitted. No one ever contacted me. On the last contact I discerned that all the numbers I could not connect with were ATT subscribers and ATT was asking exorbitant fees for use of their phone lines. This leaves me without the ability of calling my family and I have no choice now but to subscribe for long distance service with my regular phone company. So why do I need magic jack? Especially since they have been unresponsive to my complaints.
Just got magicJack as a second land line. It works surprisingly well; just as advertized. However, I did notice choppy calls whenever I was downloading large amounts of data while I was also on a phone call. Choppiness stopped immediately whenever I stopped downloading data. I would recommend this device as an outstanding value for $20 a year and use it when not simultaneously downloading data.
Do not buy this product. Magic Jack does not work well. Your computer must always be on, never in sleep mode and never in windows update. Anytime anything happens to disrupt the data stream to your computer, Magic Jack will shut off,. Also, the constant running of the Magic Jack program itself, interferes with the normal operations of your system. Their customer service is non existent, so if you buy this thing, you’re on your own. Finally, and this is a big one, Magic Jack will NOT, I repeat, WILL NOT honor their so – called money back guarantee. If they can, they will find a way to deny your request for a refund.
Have had my MJ for 6 months and have just disconnected my land line. For $20 a year, it’s a real deal! Bought mine from Radio Shack, brought it home and was up in 5 minutes. I’ve got it connected to my wife’s laptop and to six phones through 2 bases. No problems with clarity 98% of the time. Sometimes have to hang up a couple of times to get a dial tone, but for the price, who cares. We have cell phones for emergencies like power outages and such. I have recommended it to all my friends.
I just found out any call coming into my magicjack are charged to the caller as long distance unless the area code AND prefix are the same..I have an Idaho area code (208) my Calgary Alberta area code is 403..if My next door neighbour calls me its longdistance .I asked mj twice because I thought there was a mistake with the first person ,so I got on the chat line again with an expert who I requested and yes it was confirmed ..If I get a Alberta area code for $10.00 callers still need to have the same prefix …unbelievable..So what good is this thing??? Only to call out on or else your callers are goping to be mad at getting longdistance charges from a few blocks away ..Lucky me I have time to send it back for a refund …
Took 5 hours to hook up! everybody sounds like a bad robot, all I hear is vowels sometimes. and I cant call some area codes!! Caller I.D. is a joke all you get is the phone number no name! and you cant set the number of rings before it goes to voice mail so if you are not near the phone and cant get to it in 4-6 rings too bad hope you know every ones number by heart so you can see who it is, I guess you get what you pay for.
I was really excited to get a magic jack and thought how great it will be to save so much money on my phone bill. Unfortunatly, I cant even talk on it the majority of the time because the person on the other end says that I sound like I’m under water. Definately a bad idea to get this thing. Dont waste your money! Terrible product!
I have had the Magic Jack for almost 2 years and finally gave up on it. It worked fairly well for the first 6 months but then I started having trouble reaching MN Area Codes, especially my local Area Code.
After many sessions with their techs on their only real time support method, each time ending with one of their “top 10 techs” insisting that an “engineer” will E-Mail me soon with the repair details, the end result was several area codes being unreachable and never an E-Mail with the status. One Tech told me however that they stopped supporting some Area Codes but did not know why.
Pros: Low price, relatively easy setup/connection, softphone with directory/911,speakerphone support, caller ID,
Cons: PC must be on to work, Jack reloads on every startup which takes a couple of minutes and sticks a progress window in the middle of the screen which prevents use of the PC, does not support faxing, doesn’t support all Area Codes, you may not be able to get a local number so that people calling you from a local number will have to pay for a toll call, poor connection success/quality on many calls, no telephone support, don’t know how/if cancellation process even works.
Summary: The product has good possibilities but they need new management who is interested in getting the bugs out of the product and greatly improving customer service. I have worked with hundreds of tech supports over the last 18 years and this is by far the worst. (I just recently tried out the Nettalk jack which is similar but does not require a PC. It was incredibly simple to install which takes about 5 minutes, including registration. So far almost every call has gone through and ALL Area Codes work. The sound quality has been very good in spite of my only 128/256kbps DSL line. Also fax calls worked every time I tried one. The telephone support has been pretty good also.)
My MajicJack with a Canadian number works superbly, with no real problems that a reboot won’t handle. Bought a small computer to keep the number up 24/7, and disabled the automatic Windows update as well to ensure no break in dial tone overnight. The product works well, is unbelievable inexpensive to use and the talk quality is superb; however, on line service is horrible. It makes a great second line. But if anyone has a problem, they are definately on their own. They REALLY have to do something about service quality. But I have to say overall, this device is the best invention after the wheel !! In the business world, you definately don’t get something for nothing, but this comes prettyclose…
I had no problems with set up, it was easy. No phone number problems either. One thing to note, the faster your broadband connection is, the better quality. 5mb to 7mb download speed, very good. 3mb download, not that bad. I have been using it for years now with the five year plan which was like paying for four years and getting the fifth free, and this has saved me a ton of money! One thing I am concerned with is the new FCC rules where internet providers can ration their service. I’m curious if this is going to affect people like me using internet phones like the MJ…Even with this concern, I highly recommend the product!
I’ve been using it for a year now and it worked like a charm…I don’t know why so many people are saying it is not working. A few friends of mine used MJ and none of them have issue.
Well I must admit that there is much more negative written about magic jack then positive but in my case it seems to be working for me. I bought it and plugged it in and it loaded. At first I was using a wireless internet connection to a dsl router and it dropped some words and was very choppy to the point of not usable. After I connected to my router with a wired connection it was completely clear and worth the money. I paid the additional 20 bucks for a normal telephone number because the one they offer with purchase of the unit uses an asterick in front of the number and at the end which would only confuse people trying to call you. So they do offer the first year of service with the initial purchase but the number would not pass as a normal number. It was worth it to shell out another 20 bucks to get a number in my local area code.
I have had no problems making or recieving calls since I installed it. My service is high speed dsl. For the money it works great as all my calls are clear and the person on the other end can hear me clearly with no interuption.
Just make sure you are using a wired PC.
This is not worth the money. I have had one problem after another and I have had it for approximately 3 months. I can’t always hear people, people’s voices break up when they are talking, it doesn’t always ring like it supposed to, the voicemail doesn’t always work, and just recently people have gotten a message saying the “number is disconnected” when they call. It is not a problem with the phone I am using either, because the phone worked fine when I was not using it with MJ. Also, don’t let thecute add with the little girl and the puppy dogs lead you to believe that is some family company who cares about customers – the customer service is obviously outsourced, it’s really hard to get a hold of anyone, and they don’t know what the problem once you finally get a hold of someone. Save yourself the hassle and the wasted money and DO NOT BUY a MAJICJACK.
Just received MJ. I could not get it working. It seems the error concerns allowing firewall to access MJ. No mention in their web site, unless you go to advanced users. I think from other reviews I will be returning
Overall, not worth the money – can’t always make calls, can’t hear people and people break up when they are talking and voicemail messages don’t go to email until at least a week after I get them. I’ve only has this for 2 months.
Support is terrible! It’s Big waste of time! No real help! They hang up on me each 2 min. and i had to start that garbage again. Just throw it away if you have to “chat” with them.
Make sure if you talk a long time on Magicjack that you hang up before you talk for 1 hour.Just hang up and call back and you should be ok!
I have Magicjack and my calls have been very clear lately!
awful. service used to be extremely bad – no tech support; numbers could not be reached – just didn’t go thru; quality awful; loud ear piercing noises in the middle of calls. Went back a year later and quality improved, but service still awful. just signed up for int’l calling, which was no bargain over calling cards, but made it possible to use my mj phone and cell. except they didn’t know how to explain how it worked and twice I used it and was charged by my local phone company. first time I got no access code – they never sent it. When I got charged $2/min by local carrier, I looked up MJ website, and found that I hadn’t read instructions carefully and they didn’t do what they sd and never sent the access code. They never denied that. Got it the second time around. First time they left a digit off; second attempt they had no idea what numbers I should call in what order. Finally I got the call thru – with their instructions – and I still got charged $2/min by local carrier. MJ unable to tell me what I did wrong – except they accused me of not following their instructions. Wrong. DO NOT USE THIS FOR INT’L CALLING.”
Had the same problem getting MJ to transfer my number to Vonage. Will definitely be contacting the FCC, cc’ing MJ on the letter. Anyone interested in a class action?
Made the HUGE mistake of ordering 2 Magic Jacks after watching infomercial….Ordered 2 by phone and upgrade to 2 5 year premium plans….was charged $344.93 today, 3 days after ordering product. Haven’t even received it, and was told by eChat operator (strictly eChat customer service offered) because I used a Visa debit/credit card , and not only was I charged before I have received it, I was overcharged $100, and told it will take 3-5 days to credit me…When I complained and said that was not acceptable, they “disconnected” our eChat…You gotta be kidding me!! I believe this is FL based, Chinese run, and they think like all other countries think, Americans are stupid and will buy anything. Well, I bit and got stung. Horrible company.
Do not waste your money. If it looks too good to be true it probably is. I was initially hopeful, only to have more problems than it was worth. Now it simply will not work and the online assistance says the prob is on my end. Hmmm…
Ripoff. I had Magic Jack for 3 weeks. They shut down my account for making 51 calls. Every Magic Jack user must count all the calls they make every day and never go over 50. If you do, they shut you down. No refunds, no reinstatement, just ripoff. This is how they can afford to do business and provide unlimited phone calling for 19.95/yr. They don’t. Stay away from Magic Jack. Oh, and the call quality was lousy anyway.
I got MJ with 2 years paid service. Bad idea. Custumer service is bad, I asked for refound never got it. I am unable to talk for more than 10min at the time. The only pro i can give is that if i get a voice mail I get it on my email. My advice do not spend your money on MJ.
It don’t run on linux (but you can load a VM), also use a lot of resources.
The MJ call quality is terrible. Even at $20/ year it is a rip off. Save your money…MJ SUCKS.
Magic jack issues:
1) Slows even fast PCs (generally and esp. during boot up) – Don’t blame it all on Vista, blame it on applications that screw up PC like magic jack. May decrease PC life and hence hidden cost.
2) after 3/4 rings goes to magic jack voice mail. Can’t adjust the setting to let my telephone’s ansering machine do the job. Very bad when you have a nice answering machine or you want to answer the call.
3) needs usb powered hub for getting caller id on the telephone unit (additional devices and cost)
Ipod and gps unit can be driven by the USB port. But magic jack says, ” give me more power for me to work right”
4) trial usage period starts before product activation or shipment reception. Not a big deal if the product is good. Especailly, with other problems listed here, this is a real concern.
5) when calls are made from magic jack to other phones, receiving phone can’t get caller id (i.e. magic jack number)
6) Ugly GUI on PC, which can’t be even hidden/minimized. Gives even the greatest looking PC desktop a cheap finish/look.
7) magic jack application interferes with other telephone/chat applications like skype. Very bad software, just like the magic jack website.
Try nettalk. At least, it won’t interfere with the PC.
Plain and simple……save your few bucks.
1..There is no online 24/7 support. Just try clicking on the “speak to someone in seconds” button. You’ll get a list of problems, and if your issue isn’t listed, guess what…tuff cookies.
2..When your computer comes out of sleep mode or hibernation, you’ll have to reload the app all over again.
3.. If for some reason there’s noise in your cable line or your ISP is have problems with service, you’ll have dropped calls or massive static.
4.. Then there’s the dreaded echo glitch.
5.. When a number is called and you’re prompted to enter a number for a certain department on your phone keypad, the other side doesn’t here the entry.
So, don’t ever sign up for anything that does NOT have phone tech support. That’s a dead give away that your gettin into something dirt cheap and will regret later.
Take care all.
Loved MagicJack when I used it. However, due to illness did not use the product for sometime. When I contacted the company to reinstate/reactivate my account, I was told I had been REVOKED.
I dont get why that lady spent so much time trying to port her # to vonage. Just get a new #. However, i will say it was very entertaining to read her post. My guess is that she is a “poser” making the post simply to discredit MJ. I mean seriously, who in hell is gonna spend that much time writing that kind of review.
Here I am gonna make you rotflyao. This is a real review. I have good things and bad to say about MJ. I dint get it when they promised shipment and they had to send out “another” unit. took 2 weeks. One thing I learn the hard way is the clock was ticking on my 30 day trial and i dint get the unit for more than 2wks tick tick. customer service was not so good but better than it is now. Then i could get a live op but now i cant and i am actually wanting to renew my service.
when I used Magic Jack I thot the service was as good as a land line or cel. I did have some voice mail issues but the phone i hooked up had answering machine so that is wat i did for messages. Based on other reviews I would probably not rely on Magic Jack as sole phone. But i think it is fine if backed up with cel phone. I did let my service lapse so the only reason I am not signing back up is I cant figure out how and I cant get a live operator.
In answer to the sleep mode issue making MagicJack not work till reboot of PC or Magic Jack device, I dont remember having that problem, but I think it would be great as a business phone. just set sleep mode for a long time. That was my main use for Magic Jack. tho i did call my aunt LD for free and that was good.
Would I renew? Well I am trying but cant figure out how since my service lapsed and I cant get a live person. other issue is I wanted to actually have more than one MJ for business purposes running ads and such. But they did not know if a second MJ would workyou had a 2nd computer on a router
The magicJack advertises itself in Canada without stating a thing about the recurring charges. I thought it would be more like NetTalk’s TK600. No matter. Let the buyer beware. That one is on me.
When I tried to set it up anyhow, I could not get a Quebec number. So much for being available for Canada. I went with an Alabama number in order to finish the process and speak with a CSR who promptly told me how I’d have to use my “one free number change”. I STILL could not get a Canadian number. What’s more, the CSR was downright rude to me as I was trying to give her damned company some money. And they keep spamming me over a year after I returned the stupid thing.
This is a stunningly poor “invention” by Dan Borislow here! You may as well put Skype on a USB stick. That works at least. As for Borislow, he is a piece of work. Check out his Wikipedia page. Such a huge ego to use Wikipedia for self-promotion!
Magic Jack, customer serivce is terrible, they can not seem to understand my magicjack has been paid for, been registered to a email that is good, for about 2 years now! but for some reason they got the email letter mixed up while trying to reset my password and can not get it fixed!
I gave up! told them jus tto let the account expire! heck I hav emore time in getting this working than it is worth!
Sure glad I read some reviews before ordering more than one MJ or signing up for a 5 yr. plan.
The one unit I purchased, mostly out of curiosity, has been installed for 2 days now and for me it’s a non starter because it requires that the PC is on 24/7 (Didn’t read that anywhere on their site!!!).
Going into sleep mode maintains the dial tone but no in or out calls are possible. Worse, when coming out of sleep mode the MJ window says “Ready to call” but now there’s not even a dial tone. Worse still the mouse doesn’t work anymore either. The fix is either to restart the puter or unplug the MJ, go back into sleep mode, sign back in and then plug in the MJ again and wait for it to download and start up again.
Bottom line: It only works if the puter stays up which consumes a lot of electricity and causes the puter to suck in and collect more dust. Turning off the PC when thunderstorms are near leaves one without a phone and leaving it on could cause serious damage no matter how good your protection is.
I guess trying to get my money back is a waste of my time and energy based on what I read in the forums and so I’ll just right it off with the knowledge that I can participate when people talk about MJ and phone options.
We signed up for magic jack a year or so ago and when it was a pos and didnt work (my husband is a network engineer so it wasnt an installation mistake) we signed up for vonage (which works great). However, when we tried to transfer our number from mj to vonage this is what happened the second time i contacted them:
Please wait for a site operator to respond.
You are now chatting with ‘Iza’
Your Issue ID for this chat is *****************
Iza: Hello, how may I help you?
Conrick: I am being told by vonage that you will not transfer my number to their service
Iza: We are working to give you the option to transfer or “port” your existing local phone number to magicJack, for a nominal fee. We do not have an exact time frame yet.
Conrick: I was in this chat 2 weeks ago and was told all i need to do is have them send a letter of request and you will allow it
Conrick: yet you declined it twice
Iza: I understand that.
Conrick: at no point did you ever say that you cannot transfer a magic jack phone number to another provider. Infact it says all over your website that you will do it.
Conrick: how do i get the number transferred
Iza: Do you mean transfer your magicJack phone number to another carrier?
Conrick: yep
Iza: Okay.
Iza: One moment please…
Iza: Thank you for waiting.
Iza: Please ask vonage to send us an email regarding the transfer of your number.
Conrick: ive already done that
Conrick: i want to talk to a supervisor
Iza: Okay.
Iza: One moment please…
Iza: I am transferring you to one of our top 10% agents as rated by our customers. Please hold while I transfer you.
Please wait while I transfer the chat to the best suited site operator.
You are now chatting with ‘Loren’
Your Issue ID for this chat is 888888888888888888888
Loren: Hello Conrick. My name is Loren. To better assist you, let me put you on hold while I read the previous chat you had. Thank you.
Loren: Thank you for waiting, Conrick.
Loren: Do you mean that you want to keep your vonage phone number as your magicJack phone number?
Conrick: no
Conrick: i am discontinuing mj and i want to transfer my phone number to vonage
Loren: So you want to transfer your magicJack phone number to Vonage, is that correct?
Conrick: YES
Loren: Okay.
Loren: Please contact your phone carrier line and let them send a mail to us. Send it to this address below.
Loren: magicJack
Loren: LP PO Box 6846
Loren: West Palm Beach, Florida 33405
Conrick: IVE ALREADY DONE THAT
Conrick: come on
Conrick: seriously
Conrick: can i speak to a superviser
Conrick: you arent even listening
Conrick: you clearly didnt read the chat
Conrick: i want to speak to a supervisor
Loren: I am the last person you can deal with, Conrick.
Conrick: then why dont you try helping me
Conrick: or is this part of the scam
Conrick: where you never actually intend to transfer the number over
Conrick: you just give me the run around until i stop asking
Conrick: ive already had 2 requests mailed over to you and you denied both of them for no reason
Conrick: first you tried to say that it was because the address didnt match. so i fixed that, and now you just told vonage you dont transfer numbers
Conrick: which is illegal
Conrick: so if you arent going to transfer the number then you can just tell me and i will spend the rest of the day making sure i write terrible reviews on every single website that talks about magic jack
Loren: May I ask to what address they send the letter request?
Conrick: the one you just listed
Conrick: obviously
Conrick: you received it and denied it twice so obviously you got it
Loren: One moment please…
Loren: Thank you for waiting, Conrick.
Loren: May I ask how was the replied stated?
Conrick: what is this you are doing? youre asking questions that are completely stupid
Loren: reply**
Conrick: they sent you a letter and they requested the number transfer
Conrick: knock it off
Loren: Please provide me the correct message that our engineers replied to you.
Conrick: what are you talking about
Conrick: what message
Conrick: no engineers replied to me
Loren: So why did you say that we declined your request?
Conrick: where is it you think an engineer would reply
Conrick: BECAUSE I ASKED VONAGE FOR THE 900 TIME
Loren: Okay.
Conrick: MAGIC JACK NEVER EVEN BOTHERED TO EMAIL ME
Conrick: you didnt even bother to look up my account yet
Conrick: you are just wasting my time
Conrick: can you have the number transfered or not
Loren: Please hold on for a while.
Conrick: its against fcc regulations to deny porting a number to another carrier
Conrick: if you do not port this number i will contact the fcc
Loren: Thank you for waiting, Conrick.
Loren: I will be making a report about your concern and our Technical Engineers will be checking on this. Please do provide me with the needed information below:
Loren: Customer name….:
Loren: Email address….:
Loren: MJ Number……..:
Loren: Sales Order Number……:
Conrick: 8888888888888
Conrick: 888888888888888
Conrick: 88888888888888
Conrick: and i dont have a sales order number ive had this piece of crap for over a year
Loren: It is okay.
Conrick: this is your way of ending the chat but really you have no plan to do a single thing as its now all over the internet that you dont transfer numbers
Loren: Thank you.
Conrick: so im contacting every single mj review board and the fcc
Loren: Let me put you on hold while I make the report and submit it to our department concerned.
Conrick: which is probably the garbage can
I recently got out of a cable TV package deal where I was basically paying $40/mo for phone. I did a lot of research (looked at magic jack and some more expensive ‘buy it’ hardware deals like ooma) and eventually went with a voip service. I chose voipo.com and was able to get it for an effective rate of about $7.50/mo (taxes included) by signing up for a two year deal. Works great. the other thing i realized is that not only did they port my number for free, they also sent me a hardware unit and if it ever goes bad…well i send it back to them and they give me a new one. i can live with $7.50/mo…..just my two cents
phone call clarity is very poor! it breaks up , cuts out, would not recommend!
Are you kidding me? This was NOT an easy 1,2,3 set up. I tried to do it myself and ended up with a Area code for another state & when I tried to change it? I was gonna get hit with Another fee to do so. I was told i should have asked for help to set up my system, why when its supposed to be so EASY? That is the biggest RIP OFF I have ever seen and would NEVER Recommend any one to buy a magic jack
2600 magazine just had an article about how terrible magicjack quality is. Seriously a dirt cheap voip solution is 100x better