MAGIC JACK -Final Skype & phone co. KILLER?
 

http://magicjack.com/site/index.html

Seen the infomercial after my friend told me about it yesterday.

$40 USB connector for a broadband PC/mac-to-standard phone line. Call anywhere, anytime with normal phone plus extra features for $20 yr.

Inventor was an AOL communication guy, who now came up with this using his own network (thru Canada, I believe) called "YMAX" (that name's soon going to be confusing for a lot of people!).

Looks like the phone companies are going to join the smoldering heap of print shops, newspapers and film companies soon enough in the digital revolution.

Re: MAGIC JACK -Final Skype & phone co. KILLER?
 

Has anyone tried this?

(The play-on-load video annoys the hell out of me so I've got a grudge for the product already.)

Re: MAGIC JACK -Final Skype & phone co. KILLER?
 

I've had the MagicJack USB device for about 8 months... and honestly I like it. It was a bear to set up at first since I was using an unsupported OS - Windows 2003 Server SP2 - at first, now I've switched it to a Windows Vista machine without incident.

I'd not replace my home phone with it - having to have my machine on all the darn time for it is annoying - and honestly using it in conjunction with my GrandCentral account... it's worthwhile to have. Even worked well while traveling.

But I'd not compare it to Skype or Gizmo Project. It's more like a Vonage competitor that uses your main machine as the ATA adapter. And even though it's based off of software from SJ Labs - who they had purchased from my understanding - they don't allow you to have a software only iteration - not "officially".

The updates can be problematic though... I had my number once changed inexplicably to an 206 area code number. And one update basically required me to use their MagicFix software to recover.

And to hear the gripes and pluses about the company, hit up the ( http://unofficialmagicjack.forum2u.org/ ) Unofficial MagicJack Forum... the official one sorta got cleaned out... good information and all. Heck, I lost like 100 posts in their sorting out the Win2k3 Server issue(s) alone when they did that.

It's good, far from perfect, works great for me, but isn't something that I've recommended to all of my friends quite yet. Co-exists with my existing Vonage phone system without one issue - even used both at the same time on many occasions.

Hope that helps a bit.

Re: MAGIC JACK -Final Skype & phone co. KILLER?
 

It does help. Thanks.

How is the software? Heavy on memory? Stable?

How is the sound quality?

Re: MAGIC JACK -Final Skype & phone co. KILLER?
 

magicJack.exe at tops using 18mb on my machine. UTSCSI.exe is another app that runs on insertion that allows the USB stick to be utilized... 3mb for it.

The sound... clearer than cell (which isn't that hard to accomplish), clearer than Vonage for the most part, and honestly it's clearer than my AT&T landline - which I've finally dropped. It's clear, but not if you're using bit torrents in your network... then it can skip and delay.

The software is very stable - I've been up and running for some 248 hours, as has magicJack and no issues with incoming, outgoing... only thing it does do that I can't stand... if you use IE (I don't) it will go through the favorites (I believe the magicJack client has an instance of iexplore.exe's ActiveX, can't confirm this, this was one of the problems that got "wiped clean" on the official website) and it would click just like IE would when the ad on it would update. Just silence that sound via the Sound panel in Control Panel and you're better off. And if left maximized, it would spin the drives if you're the type to put them to sleep. I'm not, so the "spin" is minimal, however it does happen.

Also, if the client is maximized, it can grab focus sometimes - I keep mine minimized when I'm not using it to avoid that.

Re: MAGIC JACK -Final Skype & phone co. KILLER?
 

any idea what their rates are for international calling?? like to Europe and Asia??...anyone got a link for that?...wanna abandon my local long distance provider...rip-off...


Thanx!

Re: MAGIC JACK -Final Skype & phone co. KILLER?
 

That's not yet ironed out... but from the initial responses when some people got a glance of the prices, it was anywhere from 40% to 100% higher than say Skype or even other carriers.

But officially, international dialing is not available.

Re: MAGIC JACK -Final Skype & phone co. KILLER?
 

Here's the link to the proposed International Rates - actually, I naively thought at first the international rates were free - they don't beat Gizmo or Skype, that's for sure.

http://help.magicjack.com/SupportFaq...=international

Re: MAGIC JACK -Final Skype & phone co. KILLER?
 

I love Magicjack. Now I love it even more that I got the caller id to work on my phone by getting a fixer from www.magicjackcallerid.com

Re: MAGIC JACK -Final Skype & phone co. KILLER?
 

I have been using MagicJack for about 6 months and the experience has been largely positive. I will sometimes get garbled calls, but I also had occasional problems with my Vonage service. My Vonage line and MJ coexist with little interference.

I gave my second MJ to my 10-year old--his friends are impressed that he has his own phone number and it keeps them off our main phone line.

Re: MAGIC JACK -Final Skype & phone co. KILLER?
 

I don't understand the need for a pc for what is essentially a SIP ATA adapter. They make ones you can plug straight into your network, no?

Re: MAGIC JACK -Final Skype & phone co. KILLER?
 

I believe that an SIP adapter would be the ideal way to go. However, with MagicJack you get an entire year of unlimited US local and LD calling for $19.99. I have not been able to find a VOIP provider for that low an annual price.

Re: MAGIC JACK -Final Skype & phone co. KILLER?
 

yes, it is quite cheap, but inferior technologically if you ask me and I think there will be shananigans with the pricing and the 'unlimited' part. you don't have to look far online for loads of people disconnected for excessive use

Re: MAGIC JACK -Final Skype & phone co. KILLER?
 

If you ware worried about running a computer 24/7 and the power usage, just get something like a HP t5700 or t5720 thin client. It runs XPe so you can load on the MagicJack software. You can pick them up off e-bay for $50-$125 (depending on the model, Mem and flash capacity). The t5700 pulls something like 12 watts and the t5720 is only slightly more.

Re: MAGIC JACK -Final Skype & phone co. KILLER?
 

Meh. Setup your own Astrick PBX box and you're golden. No need to pay bills either. Just get yourself a phone number (I forget where you get them, but you can rent them through a couple different companies) and you're golden. :)

Re: Magicjack users can now use skype
 

smells like spam

Re: MAGIC JACK -Final Skype & phone co. KILLER?
 

whatever happened to this thread???
with regards to MagicJack

how do i add an entry (login form) in "VoIP and IM accounts"

im thinking of using the sipserver used in magicjack software thats installed in the pc. software but my problem is how to add the magicjack as a service so it would show up in the Account setup in our N900 :)

Re: MAGIC JACK -Final Skype & phone co. KILLER?
 

Voip.ms + Linksys pap2 is much better imho. I replaced my home phone with it and very satisfied. The only problem with PAP2 is when I change mac address on the router to change external ip, it fails to register to voip server, but when I don't touch it, it works beautifully.
Oh and voip.ms let's you have sub accounts, so I can use n900 to make very cheap phone calls.

Re: MAGIC JACK -Final Skype & phone co. KILLER?
 

I am using magic jack with googlevoice for months. I use the call back so gv call majick jack and majic call my n900. I do that with dial central and never pay long distance in usa & canada and never use air time on my cell as it is incoming call and they are free for my serv provider