Posted: 10/16/2009 2:06:26 PM EDT
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I read a few of the other posts on here and it seems like most people have pretty good luck with magicjack. We just moved into a new house and have pretty bad cell phone reception, drop calls, people can't hear me...etc etc. Plus just went over on my minutes costing me an extra $40 so I figured why not. we have an extra computer to plug it into so that should work. Magic jack has some 30 day free trial...probably bullshit anyways, but I figured I would risk the $50 or whatever the first startup cost and year of service is instead of paying that for 2 months of comcast for their 19.99 trial offer for 6 months. Hopefully it works! I'll keep you updated. |
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oh, quick question: has anybody taken their magic jack with them? I travel a lot and I thought I read on there you can take it with you...I always have my laptop, so in the hotel I could plug it in to the land line and be good to go...I just wonder if it would cause charges to show up on the hotels bill. anybody know about this? |
I tried it. I sent it back in a couple of days.
It just isn't for me. When I'm done with my Mac I put it to sleep. Power to external drives and accessories are turned off. That meant the Jack's power gets cut off, too. Which meant that I couldn't use the phone. If I was on the road a lot and needed to use a Land Line to promote security I'd use the Magic Jack. But as I only want to tell the local Phone Company to go to hell I'm currently stuck with what I've got. I'm working on it, though. Sooner or later I'll find a service that'll let me keep my current Land Line No. I still need it. |
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"Consent to monitor" is the operative phrase here. Research this! You're giving away your privacy with that POS. From the eula: You also understand and agree that use of the magicJack device and Software will include advertisements and that these advertisements are necessary for the magicJack device to work … Our computers may analyze the phone numbers you call in order to improve the relevance of the ads. Spyware, lots of it. Sorry, you'd have to be a FOOL to go with that POS. Quit being a cheapass and get a real service! CJ |
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Quoted: "Consent to monitor" is the operative phrase here. Research this! You're giving away your privacy with that POS. From the eula: You also understand and agree that use of the magicJack device andSoftware will include advertisements and that these advertisements arenecessary for the magicJack device to work … Our computers may analyzethe phone numbers you call in order to improve the relevance of the ads. Spyware, lots of it. Sorry, you'd have to be a FOOL to go with that POS. Quit being a cheapass and get a real service! CJ I belong to a group of people who are self admittedly the cheapest people on the face on this planet! it will be on an old laptop so I couldn't give a rip about spyware. I even thought about putting it on a desktop i have, taking it down to the absolute basics and there won't be any info on there. the people I call will be non-verizon numbers or companies so I'm not really worried about it. |
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Quoted:
oh, quick question: has anybody taken their magic jack with them? I travel a lot and I thought I read on there you can take it with you...I always have my laptop, so in the hotel I could plug it in to the land line and be good to go...I just wonder if it would cause charges to show up on the hotels bill. anybody know about this? I have a buddy who brings it with him when he travels overseas. As long as he's got an internet connection, he's good to go. Very convenient for his family to dial a local number and get a hold of him wherever he's at. |
| I bought one at wally world a while back for $39, or $37. That also includes the first years service. I think if you do the $50 upgrade, it is for 5 more years or somethingl ike that. Try it out first before throwing them any more money. I like it and it works great for me. I installed it on a spare computer, so the spyware issues are not a problem for me. |
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Quoted:
"Consent to monitor" is the operative phrase here. Research this! You're giving away your privacy with that POS. From the eula: You also understand and agree that use of the magicJack device andSoftware will include advertisements and that these advertisements arenecessary for the magicJack device to work … Our computers may analyzethe phone numbers you call in order to improve the relevance of the ads.
Spyware, lots of it. Sorry, you'd have to be a FOOL to go with that POS. Quit being a cheapass and get a real service! CJ 
ETA: You can't kill/disable a tracking cookie? Turn your PC off now. You are in grave danger. 
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Well, so far I am having an issue with outgoing calls...and I think it is my phone. I guess I should go buy a new one since this thing is probably 6-8 years old. anyone know if you have to have a certain phone or a feature on a phone for magicjack to work properly? Mine is just an old cheap at&t phone. |
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Well, so far I am having an issue with outgoing calls...and I think it is my phone.
I guess I should go buy a new one since this thing is probably 6-8 years old. anyone know if you have to have a certain phone or a feature on a phone for magicjack to work properly? Mine is just an old cheap at&t phone. Mine works fine domestically. My daughter is on her way to Germany right now with our second Magic Jack. She will be calling us with it soon. Then I'll know if the "anywhere in the world" part is true. As for your MJ problems I advise contacting MJ customer service. They have live chat service which ahs been very helpfu; for me over the last two years. I use new wireless handsets and they work just like if they were plugged into a land line. No special features needed however if you are using DSL for your service be sure to have the line filters in place throughout your house..necessary for internet use anyway. Lastly I recently discovered that typical computer USB ports do not have enough power directed to them to give the MJ its best performance. I ws instructed to plug the MJ into my USB Hub...A/C powered. The MJ performance really improved when I did this. As for ads and what not, to date I haven't fallen victim to them or other spy ware but I do use AGV and Spybot as a defense for my computer. |
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Quoted: Old cheap analog phones work the best. I've taken mine to London and Hong Kong when I traveled and never had an issue as long as I had a stable Internet connection. A stable Internet connection at some hotels in Hong Kong isn't always possible, though. I just bought a new one from vtech at target. was $15 and seems to work great! wireless and I can actually dial from the phone. the other phone I could not use the keys, had to dial from the computer. I am much happier with this setup! |
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Quoted: I guess I should go buy a new one since this thing is probably 6-8 years old. anyone know if you have to have a certain phone or a feature on a phone for magicjack to work properly? Mine is just an old cheap at&t phone. Mine works fine domestically. My daughter is on her way to Germany right now with our second Magic Jack. She will be calling us with it soon. Then I'll know if the "anywhere in the world" part is true. As for your MJ problems I advise contacting MJ customer service. They have live chat service which ahs been very helpfu; for me over the last two years. I use new wireless handsets and they work just like if they were plugged into a land line. No special features needed however if you are using DSL for your service be sure to have the line filters in place throughout your house..necessary for internet use anyway. Lastly I recently discovered that typical computer USB ports do not have enough power directed to them to give the MJ its best performance. I ws instructed to plug the MJ into my USB Hub...A/C powered. The MJ performance really improved when I did this. As for ads and what not, to date I haven't fallen victim to them or other spy ware but I do use AGV and Spybot as a defense for my computer. as far as your USB hub, where do you get one of these and what do they cost? do you have to plug them into your computer or just ac powered? |
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Quoted: I saw a bunch of these at Walgreens today, for $39. Do these actually work? I don't call lower Butaskistan, so probably don't need it. I was wondering the same thing. you look online and you will see a lot of negative feedback. you definitely need fast internet, a good working phone, and to make sure everything is hooked up right. so far everyone I have talked to on mine has said it was clear so that is all I need. I figure if this thing works for 2 months I have more than saved my money vs paying for cheap phone service. comcast wants $20 a month at their "discounted" rate.... |
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I don't use MJ or the PHONE COMPANY for long distance service.
I use Pioneer Phone (as my long distance service carrier). For me, it's a cheaper alternative vs. the PHONE COMPANY. I only pay for the actual mins. that I use every month. Most of my calls are to Hawaii. It comes out cheaper than having a monthly fee plus cost per min. from the "other major guys." pioneertelephone.com (put in your own www.) But you need to check how much you'll be saving (or not). BTW, I don't use it for international calls.........so, maybe a MJ would be best for that reason alone. That is IF I had a spare computer and made a lot of international calls. But actually, I could also use a cell phone. And now a days............well, some of the cell phone companies have unlimited calling plans. 
Aloha, Mark |
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so far so good. lots of phone calls made, no dropped calls yet. the only thing I don't like is having to leave my computer on but I can just turn the monitor off and leave the tower run and it works fine. the little bit of difference in the electric bill is offset greatly by the amount saved not paying for a true landline. so far I am not disappointed. I have said if this things works for 2 months I will be happy with it since it would cost me more to set up a landline with comcast and use it for 2 months. |
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For some reason, this was the first thing I thought of when reading the title: http://welcometoillinois.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/20080731_simple-jack.jpg Damn! Beat me to it. |
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Quoted: oh, quick question: has anybody taken their magic jack with them? I travel a lot and I thought I read on there you can take it with you...I always have my laptop, so in the hotel I could plug it in to the land line and be good to go...I just wonder if it would cause charges to show up on the hotels bill. anybody know about this? You are good to go.... The MJ device has an internal USB flash-drive, where all info is stored... Plug it into any PC, and it will work just like it's on your home PC... The only 'catch' is that you SHOULD be using it with a powered USB hub - failure to do this can cause it to fry itself, or your USB port, due to insufficient USB-bus power.... P.S. I could care less about them knowing what phone numbers I call... |
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Quoted: Worth the money, theres no spyware, theres no ads either... just a good, filthy cheap service that's gotten better in the round bout 3yrs I've been using it. Complaints, I has none. Yep... The only ads on MagicJack are ads FOR MagicJack services (international calling, extra years, more MagicJacks, etc)..... |
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MagicBlock
http://download.cnet.com/MagicBlock/3000-2349_4-10838528.html Publisher's description From Vvisoft : MagicJack is a inexpensive VOIP phone service - but its user interface gets annoying. I made this program to block (keep minimized) the magicJack popup window and regain control of my Desktop. magicBlock doesn't interfere with the usage of magicJack - it just stops the popup window from disrupting whatever the phone is activated. When magicBlock is enabled, the sparse functions offered by the magicJack window are still available by right-clicking over it's tray icon (the little icon by the clock). The installation program will add this program to your Startup folder so it automatically runs when you start your computer. Version 1.2 include ability to retain focus on current window after MagicJack popup occurs. |
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i install cable and phone service for comcast. all ive ever heard is pissed off people. ive never heard anything good, of course people were switching back so my experience is limited to that. no one else i know personally uses them. That is because Comcast has crappy service! I hate them. Had comcast for years and the bandwidth was crap and always throttled back. I love my FIOS ARFCOM approved and recommended. and fuck their discount games! |
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i install cable and phone service for comcast. all ive ever heard is pissed off people. ive never heard anything good, of course people were switching back so my experience is limited to that. no one else i know personally uses them. That is because Comcast has crappy service! I hate them. Had comcast for years and the bandwidth was crap and always throttled back. I love my FIOS ARFCOM approved and recommended. and fuck their discount games! wait, what? people pissed about magic jack and coming back to comcast means that comcast sucks? how did you get that from what i said? |
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The only people who are pissed off by Magicjack are the tards who have a jacked up pc & don't have the basic knowledge to restart the MJ or their pc /modem/routerwhen they have a connection problem.
Then they get on the phone to their ISP & whine. Gee for about $20 year they are probally pissed off that they don't have 24/7 tech support. 
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Quoted: The only people who are pissed off by Magicjack are the tards who have a jacked up pc & don't have the basic knowledge to restart the MJ or their pc /modem/routerwhen they have a connection problem. Then they get on the phone to their ISP & whine. Gee for about $20 year they are probally pissed off that they don't have 24/7 tech support. Even the people in India know not to work for that kind of money  |
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My parents have been using one for about 6 months on DSL. They have one of their computers dedicated to it and have had no real problems. Sometimes there are little annoyances like a repetitive drop outs or digitized distortion during the conversation - we had that problem earlier today when my dad and I were talking while watching the same college football game on TV, but all he had to do was hang up and call right back and that fixed it.
There are some drawbacks, such as you have to have your computer on to use it or receive calls, and you are dependent on a decent internet connection speed. At this point I don't think 911 in this area works with it, a least as far as the service being able to automatically identify your address. It works well for my parents especially concerning cost, because me, my brother and many other family members are otherwise long distance calls for them. |
