Majic Jack

[Mr Lee]

My brother in California just got rid of his landline connection and got Magic Jack but, I got him to also install Skype on his desk top and laptop so I can see his mug on our desk top web cam! We don't do a lot of landline calling and when we do, Skype PC to PC calling works for us and we like seeing our family and close friends on our Skype web cam when speaking with them, it just makes it a little bit more enjoyable and personal seeing them on our web cam in real time! Will Magic Jack ever come out with a web cam version? When they do, we'll probably switch to Magic Jack, but for now Skype works for us and it's free! :thumbs-up-smile:

Art I doubt they will ever come out with a web cam version but while skype is free computer to computer, I am told that it cost money to call phones with it, but I have never tried. The thing about Magic Jack that is neat is that you can call people who do not have computers and even call cell phones and you can call them in the US or Canada or in any country where someone has a Magic Jack. It is far from a perfect solution but for only $40 for the first year and $69.99 for 5 more years, a person would get unlimited phone calls for about $110 for 6 years. So if you had one in your home in the Philippines or anywhere else in the world, you could call your brother or anyone else on their cell phone while they were out doing errands or at work or anywhere else that they did not have access to their computer and anyone who does not have a computer could call you from their phone if you had a Magic Jack phone number local to them. Now while I realize not everyone wishes to be bothered with calls, to us it was nice to forward our home phone to our cell phone and then forward our cell phone to our Magic Jack while we are in the Philippines and then if we are expecting an important call, we can forward our Magic Jack to our Philippine cell phone and we would pay for the call as if we were in the US but we would get the call and those wishing to reach us would not have to pay anything except if our Magic Jack number was long distance from where they live and even that can be solved with an additional Magic Jack with a local area code to them and forwarded to our first Magic Jack. I even have one friend who has a few Magic Jacks all forwarded to his one number so that he has local numbers for his elderly friends and family to call in a few states.  I guess for him it is almost as good as an 800 number but costs him much less to accomplish. 

[Art2ro]

I ordered 2 Magic Jacks on-line and just got one of them installed to try out. At first I had problems, my voice was breaking up at the other end and couldn't hear my voice clearly. After a few minutes of following the " Magic Jack Fix" routine in the Menu concerning Windows Firewall exceptions and for the Avast anti-virus settings, it was working fine after resetting the firewall per instructions! I don't really know, but it worked! I also registered my 2nd device to take back with us to the Philippines. The other device, I left for my in-laws on their desk top since their home land-line was out of service and disconnected. I still use my Skype Net Phone, because I like their web cam feature! Hey Jake! Get Skype so I can see your DOM face! Ha ha ha ha! BTW, before I purchase a separate fax machine, has anyone hooked up a fax machine to Magic Jack? How do it work out?

Edited September 29, 2010 by Fil/AmArt

[Mr Lee]

I ordered 2 Magic Jacks on-line and just got one of them installed to try out. At first I had problems, my voice was breaking up at the other end and couldn't hear my voice clearly. After a few minutes of following the " Magic Jack Fix" routine in the Menu concerning Windows Firewall exceptions and for the Avast anti-virus settings, it was working fine after resetting the firewall per instructions! I don't really know, but it worked! I also registered my 2nd device to take back with us to the Philippines. The other device, I left for my in-laws on their desk top since their home land-line was out of service and disconnected. I still use my Skype Net Phone, because I like their web cam feature! Hey Jake! Get Skype so I can see your DOM face! Ha ha ha ha!  BTW, before I purchase a separate fax machine,  has anyone hooked up a fax machine to Magic Jack? How do it work out?

I have never used mine with a fax but know people who say they have. On Magic Jacks FAQ page type in the word fax and they say it will work sometimes so I guess it is going to depend on what fax machine you have.SOMETIMES.We do not officially support using faxing with magicJack. Please try the following steps to use magicJack with your fax (contact your fax manufacturer for details): Turn off error correction on your fax machine or program Set the fax machine or program to use the slowest speed available Increase the speed, checking at each speed that faxes work

[Art2ro]

Yeah, my Magic Jack works great! Been making a lot of free calls here in the U.S. while on vacation in San Jose, Ca. I also had the wonderful pleasure to chit chat with my SS Buddy Jake and Mr. Lee (Lee) just the other day! Tom from Big D, do you have a Magic Jack device so you're not excluded from the loop? Have a good one guys!

[MikeB]

Just ordered one today, too lazy to go to RS. Never have seen one around here anyway. Hope it's as good as advertised.

[Art2ro]

Once you get your Magic Jack and working properly, you'll want to start calling everyone you know since the calls are now free, not quite free since you had to pay for it for how many years, but it's almost like it's free since it's unlimited calling for as how many years you paid for! I still use my Skype Net Phone because of the web cam and texting to cellphone features which Magic Jack doesn't have. You also have to have your own Skype ph# in order for someone to text you back. The only thing is, purchasing my own phone number using Skype costs too much, I believe it's $40 every so months! Not worth it, but the free PC to PC calling with web cam works great and 1-800#s are free using Skype like that of Magic Jack too. So, it's nice to have both IMO. It's just nice to have other options!

[Art2ro]

BTW, another suggestion for people on the go, if anyone has a mini laptop with wifi or an internet prepaid plug-in device (Smart Bro or Globe Tattoo at P10 per 30 mins of internet time) and you have Skype on your laptop and your Magic Jack with you, you can text and make your calls from your mini laptop from any where in the Philippines and avoid those expensive cellphone roaming charges as long the signal is strong where you are located!

[Inspector]

Being my mom and dad are both sick...dad with Parkinsons, advanced...and mom's kidney now failing and going for surgery soon, I call daily with magic jack.Add to all my old friends, my property manager and assorted business dealings...it's the real deal. I HIGHLY recommend it if you need to call back to the states on a regular basis...:th_thholysheep:

[No name]

Does Magic Jack still take over all the sound ?I prefer Skype at $5.99 or is it $4.99 a month, not sure.... That's for unlimited calls to the USA.You can get more than one country, I think for $9.99 but I don't need it. It has all kind of bells and whistles, call forwarding and stuff but I don't use that either.Video quality is the best on the net. Sound works fine too.One potential problem. Recently my bank started blocking my calls to their toll free number. My guess is that they have a list of Skype numbers. Probably lots of fraud. My number is a USA number so nothing else makes any sense as to why i couldn't call. To get around it, I blocked my number in skype so that skype no longer sends caller ID. Then it worked fine. That's further evidence my bank was blocking my calls because they knew they came from a skype phone. This could happen with any VOIP system. I think the banks will get better at detecting this. I also got a VPN service so that I show a USA IP. I'm sure they will start detecting the IP in the not too distant future

Edited October 18, 2010 by Flirltilzier