MagicJack
Click the pic to get ahold on MagicJack
Back awhile ago I learned of “MagicJack”, the revolutionary new “gadget” developed to take the place of an ever changing VoIP market. For those of you that don’t know, VoIP of Voice over IP (Internet Protocol) is basically where you transfer voice “packets” of information over the internet/network. There are more well known VoIP carriers that do a lot of the same thing that MagjcJack does, Vonage or Comcast are just a couple that you may have heard of. The difficulty of these is voice quality. That is what they all strive for. When MagicJack hit the market, there was a good “sweeping” affect that it had. You were looking at just $19 PER YEAR…GREAT PRICE…but not so fast! MagicJack IS great, it gives you lots and lots of features, free call forwarding, caller ID, voice mails come in your email, and many many more things that come standard when you’d have to pay for them with your local phone company. The CATCH is the quality. Though the long distance (international) has been better than most all carriers that we’ve ever had, the local calls leave a bit to be desired. I have had a number of people and family members tell me that it sounds like a poor cell phone connection to them when I am talking on my MagicJack. This happens about 25-50% of the time. The other 50-75% of the time it is nice and clear, though I rarely have a completely crystal clear conversation with my MagicJack…SO, if you are looking for an identical replacement to your regular landline at the same quality but cheaper price, you’re looking for quality in all the wrong places. The quality is compromised because of several different issues, you’re going over the internet, there’s lots of other internet traffic riding along the same “road” as your phone call, there’s interference, plus you’re having to go through USB ports and you have to keep your MagicJack unit close to the back of your computer which is a proverbial super highway of interfering signals! Landlines are basically a dedicated line that’s designed just for phone calls…and BAM…you get better call quality. There are a couple of other shortfalls of the MagicJack…one is that you must have it connected up to a working computer…and two, they currently are NOT ABLE TO PORT your existing phone number over to your MagicJack device. The was a HUGE issue for me, and still is mind you! No one at MagicJack seems to know when they are going to be able to port numbers over from your existing service to theirs…though they are saying sometime in 2009, which is WAY too vague for me! One more thing, the MagicJack is high maintenance. I am forever having to restart my MagicJack and perform the “fixes” which is a file you must download and run to upgrade the actual device. That’s pretty lame, but let’s look at what the MagicJack is designed for…and that is VERY INEXPENSIVE phone service that you can use with your existing phone with not too much headache!…and that’s why I still use my MagicJack. It saves me a TON of money, and since cell phone service is so reliable these days, I can deal with the frustrations, since cost is my main goal. Got any questions about MagicJack, see their website for yourself, and take their 30 day trial!