Magic Jack Good Or Bad?
I’m sure most people of heard about Magic Jack. The VoIP solution for making phone calls around the world. The company has spent tons of money with commercials and television ad spots. Is this inexpensive device worth what it is all cracked up to be? I’m not so sure about that.
Magic Jack unlike Vonage, Ooma and Digital Voice from a Cable provider requires a computer to work. Plug the small device into an available USB port on a computer running Windows or Mac, then attach a standard phone to the Magic Jack and your set to go.
Magic Jack costs $39.99 which covers a year of free calling in the U.S. and Canada. You also get free directory assistance, phone number, call waiting, caller id and voicemail. Each year after is $19.99.
Sounds incredible right? Wrong! While I have not owned one personally, I have been on the other end of several Magic Jack phone calls. The quality was extremely poor with crackling, hissing, echoes and drop outs all coming standard while using the Magic Jack.
You can try Magic Jack for 30 days free by visiting their website here. Be aware, their have been many reports all over the Internet, that it is extremely hard getting a refund, or even contacting the elusive company after you have purchased the device.
If you are looking for inexpensive voice calls and want to use a computer to make them, I would stay clear from Magic Jack and try Skype. For consumers desiring a better solution, where a computer is not needed, then take a look at Ooma. An informative article on Ooma can be found here and Ooma’s website is here.
October 16th, 2008 at 8:42 am
I got burned by magicjack, if you go through the process of trying the free trial they ask you for all your information then at the end there is no cancel button or go back. I closed the browser and I never hit submit to process the order because I knew I didn’t have money in my account and I thought it was a free trial. The stupid company billed my account which got overdrafted even though I told them through their chat to cancel the order they said it would be cancelled, but it never was and they still sent the stupid thing. I ended up keeping it just cause I can’t find a way to get a hold of these people. If you try to call you will notice everything is automated and you never can get a live operator. I suppose the technical chat could have been a bot. I don’t make very much money to be spent like that and I can’t afford a lawyer or anything. Their name stands true cause they have magically jacked me for $40. I hope their company falls apart for such a swindling business.
October 21st, 2008 at 10:16 am
Magic Jack works just fine for me without problem… If you have a crappy broadband connection, then of course Magic Jack will not work to anybody’s satisfaction… I suggest a direct LAN connection and make it priority 1 on QOS.
October 25th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
I have both Magic Jack (MJ) and Skype and prefer to use MJ. The voice quality has been better and I get a local number. Since I travel a lot, including out of the USA, it is great to have my cellphone forwarded, if it is unreachable, to the MJ number. This means my Magic Jack phone rings no mater what country I’m in, when people call my USA cellphone. I’ve used MJ in Ghana, West Africa and Chile and it worked better than land-line phones in these places.
My home in the USA is also in a bad spot for cellphones, so if my cellphone doesn’t get service, my Magic Jack number rings. I only give out my cellphone number, using the MJ number as a back-up and I don’t have a land-line phone. It is also nice to have my MJ voicemails show up in my email, because I do email constantly and can see/hear my voicemail even from my Blackberry.
MJ’s not perfect, but I rarely use Skype now and I used to use it quite often. One of the only things I use Skype for now is text messaging to cellphones.