MAGIC JACK... you must buy this

[sillywilly]

so I'm with bell for my phone and I pay $65 a month. This includes all the features, and i added a $20 LD plan which gives me unlimited for north america. I bought a magic jack today and its awesome. Cost me $50 to buy from a the beside the mac near AYjackson highschool. Plus the USB thing into your computer, plug a phone jack into the other end of it and follow the set up. 5 min later i was talking to my cousin in the US.

I paid $50 for the unit and $70 for 5 years of service. The $50 purchase price includes the first year of service so really for $120 I have 6 years of no phone bills now. Best deal ever.

You can pre pay the account with $10, $20 or $40 to make over seas call. $0.05 cents to india!!!

I've tested it, called 20 people and its super clear. The coolest part is that you can check the VM over the phone... or if you have your emails come to your phone, you can just download the .wav file and get the VM right away. its 20kb file. Very cool. skype is in trouble

http://www.magicjack.com/2/?mid=308001&a=56067&s=quigo

needless to say i canceled my home phone.

down sides... no 911 access but i'm assuming you have a cell phone
you have to leave your computer on 24/7 which i do all the time anyway
you have to change your number

[nokids]

I pay $40 for my home phone and i'm looking for an alternative. thanks for the info!

so if your computer is off you cant receive a call ?

[nokids]

i dont know much about investing, but i'm sure buying some magic jack stocks would be a good idea right now.

[sillywilly]

if your computer/internet is off you can't make or receive calls. If the internet goes down, you will be without phone.

i can't remember the last time my internet went down

[Andy4Par]

Their wesite also says in 2009 you can take your existing phone number with you now.....definately looking at getting this gadget.

[sillywilly]

response to question about taking your existing number with you

NOT YET, BUT COMING SOON!
We are working to give you the option to transfer or "port" your existing local phone number to magicJack, for a nominal fee.
Last Update: Dec 18, 2009

[Chambokl]

Willy, keep me up to-date. (especially about keeping my number)

Thanks

[OutOfTheRough]

Im with Rogers and this is a super deal for Voip.

Silly what internet service do you have. I've heard it is best to have a faster internet service to get the best clarity and everything.

Now if anyone is with Rogers and not on this plan, just so everyone knows,
Home phone with 2 features + 500 LD within North America is 31.31 + Tax... you just have to have internet or cable with rogers to get this price. If you are paying more... call today and they will switch you to this plan.
Just ask for the Classic Value plan.

Tim

[sillywilly]

TIM, I'm with bell. I pay $30 for a 7mb connection with 25gig download//upload per month. I am locked in for 1 year at that price even if I drop my bell home phone which I've done.

Chambokl, I talked to them today.. they said they should be able to transfer numbers in 3 weeks

[goochy]

http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/0...disappear.html

[sillywilly]

http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/0...disappear.html

sick!!! i remember there was a case outside of north america where someone made an iphone app where you could make voip calls using your wifi but all the cell companies banded together and shut it down.. i hope that doesn't happen with this. its a really good idea, I know there are alot of places where the cell service is horrible.

[Chambokl]

Willy, a few questions.

Can I put portable phone on this system?

Can I connect 2 phones on this system... for example – the base of protable phone and a regular phone (not portable)?

[sillywilly]

Willy, a few questions.

Can I put portable phone on this system?

Can I connect 2 phones on this system... for example – the base of protable phone and a regular phone (not portable)?

You get ONE jack and all phones must run off that one jack. What I did was take our quad portable phone system and hooked it upto this. Only the base needs the jack and all the rest just need power so they have their own chargers but aren't jacked. Another option is to plug a splitter into the ONE jack you get and run two phones that way...

[funk-like]

I have had one of these MagicJacks for over 2 years. I travel a lot, and have used it from Scotland, Bermuda and all over the US. If you have an internet connection, you have free phone service to anywhere in North America. If the internet connection is not strong, the quality of the call suffers. My last trip to Bermuda, there was high winds, and our internet access was spotty (they use a satellite internet connection) and we could not use our MJ, because the reception was so poor. If you have a strong wireless connection, or a wired connection, it is great.

[sillywilly]

i'm gonna take mine to india, use it as a reg phone. call anyone in north america and receive calls from everyone as well

[orangeTANG]

Anyone else pick up a Magic Jack somewhere locally? I tried the Macs where it was first suggested but was unable to find one.

[sillywilly]

beside the macs...

my girlfriend just bought one, she is loving it!!

[orangeTANG]

Ah, my fault, I kept reading "at the Macs" not beside the Macs. Thanks, I'll check it out tomorrow.

[314314]

Well, my neighbor gave me a unit today... I installed on my server which runs (24/7) and created a windows service to run the program... plug a wireless handset and it works great!!!

I got a free number in Arizona (Tucson) but I can make long distance calls in US/CND for free for a year.... If you want a number in Canada you have to pay like $10 a year.

I will be canceling my long distance provider in couple of weeks...no need for that any more.

[sillywilly]

so who else ended up getting one?? just curious how many people owe me a beer? muuahahahah

[Nat Williams]

I have freephoneline.ca

similar idea, but iit uses an ATA that just needs to be on your network (does not attach to a computer). I paid a 1 time 50$ fee to activate the calling for life in North America, and plugged an ATA into the switch I run my media center + xbox off of and used one of those multi phone setups that Sillywilly was talking about (paid around 75$ for 4 headsets @ futureshop). It also has the full set of features (call display, messaging, forwarding etc) + the wmv to email option.

note that the available calling area is not all of US/CAN like the Magic Jack, but you can pay $$ to get a long distance plan.

it's perfect for me since I only call in the calling area provided in the normal setup.

BTW for iphone users:
If you are using one of these 'to email' services, and the iphone doesn't support the format (ex. freephoneline sends in wmv), there's a great free service here: vm2wm.com. You setup an email address there then have your Voip forward messages to it. It converts them to a format the iPhone can play (wav) and sends that file to your real email address.

[mikep00]

I checked out Magic Jack and ending up buying from CanTalk 9000 (Worst company name ever!)

2 Reasons I went with CanTalk.

#1 - Magic Jack only works when the computer you have it plugged into is on. Cantalk doesn't need a computer to be on.
#2 - CanTalk is a local canadian company and at $59/year for your phone line I think it is very fair.

[Barristers]

I don't know if the person posting about the merits of Cantalk 9000 is actually
working for the company, but the device is completely useless and the customer support is non-existent (72 hours to respond to an enquiry is unreasonable in this Internet age). I would not recommend this device to anyone as it does not work and the advertised cost of $59 dollars became $178 charged to my credit card for some reason.

[mikep00]

I don't know if the person posting about the merits of Cantalk 9000 is actually
working for the company, but the device is completely useless and the customer support is non-existent (72 hours to respond to an enquiry is unreasonable in this Internet age). I would not recommend this device to anyone as it does not work and the advertised cost of $59 dollars became $178 charged to my credit card for some reason.

No I dont work for cantalk. I agree there customer service is pretty bad (ok just plain bad), but once it is initially set up, you don't need tech support anymore.

I worked doing tech support back in the day so I understand how initial setup of voip services can be a problem when it isn't a routine setup. But I have yet to see it "not work" for anyone once it is set up for your particular network setup. Did you try picking up a phone and calling them for support?

As for your complaint about $178 being charged, read there site, the service is $59/year. If you don't already own a compatible voip adapter to use with their service they will sell you one for $59, and $10 shipping if you can't pick up the adapter from a store selling them (only in gta).

If you don't mind having a dedicated computer running 24/7, i agree that magicjack is definitely better. But if you prefer a solution that doesn't need a computer running then i still stick with cantalk

[sillywilly]

does anyone really turn there computer off anymore anyway??

they should have made it so you plug it into the modem... everyone keeps that plugged in

[nokids]

does anyone really turn there computer off anymore anyway??

i dont leave my computer on when i'm not using it because it makes too much noise. plus it's so old that i think if i left it on all the time, eventually it would melt down and burn my place to the ground.

[jsttaylor]

Anymore insight on this? I am sick and tired of the ridiculous amount my current home phone provider is charging/gouging me and want a cheaper solution. This still looks good but I am still skeptical. Has anyone signed up in the last six months or so and can offer their thoughts?
And, are there other options like voip for home?

[orangeTANG]

I had used Magicjack for over a year but I finally gave up on it. I started having a lot of problems with people not being able to hear me. I work from home and am on con-calls quite often and it just wasn't acceptable. I unfortunately paid for 5 years up front and that money ($120) is gone. I did use it successfully quite a bit at first, so I easily broke even on the deal.

I ended up replacing MagicJack with a paid VOIP service. I went through Acanac (acanac.ca) and pay $9.95 / month (yearly discount) I get unlimited Local and long distance anywhere in North America and it works beautifully. The only gotcha I have run into is that they only allow 50 unique phone numbers / month. It doesn't sound like a lot, but I use it all day long every day and I have not yet run into this cap. They have a 200 unique number cap also, but it is $29.95 / month.

[jeffc]

I had used Magicjack for over a year but I finally gave up on it. I started having a lot of problems with people not being able to hear me. I work from home and am on con-calls quite often and it just wasn't acceptable. I unfortunately paid for 5 years up front and that money ($120) is gone. I did use it successfully quite a bit at first, so I easily broke even on the deal.

I ended up replacing MagicJack with a paid VOIP service. I went through Acanac (acanac.ca) and pay $9.95 / month (yearly discount) I get unlimited Local and long distance anywhere in North America and it works beautifully. The only gotcha I have run into is that they only allow 50 unique phone numbers / month. It doesn't sound like a lot, but I use it all day long every day and I have not yet run into this cap. They have a 200 unique number cap also, but it is $29.95 / month.

50 unique #'s - is that for outbound calls only? what happens when you try to dial 51....?

[orangeTANG]

No, the 50 unique numbers is outbound and inbound numbers total. Its also only if you answer the phone and are on it for more than 30 seconds (eliminate telemarketers). I have used the service for 3 months (work from home) and I haven't hit the 50 number limit yet. From what I understand on the 51st number you receive a verbal warning that you may be in breach of contract, I don't think anything further happens. I've also seen posts that around holidays (ie Easter and Xmas) the Support team is willing to reset the counters if you run into problems.