Looking Into Majic Jack (Questions)?

DodgerKing

SatelliteGuys Master
Original poster
Nov 14, 2007
16,776
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SoCal
I know I can plug a phone directly into the USB device. Can I run a phone cable from the Magic Jack to one of my phone jacks in the house to power up all of the phone outlets, like I currently do with my cable modem?

Is the phone number and service tied to the USB device, to the computer, or to an IP address? If it is tied to the USB device, can I then take it with me and use it on another computer that has internet access?

If the computer is sleeping, will the phone still work?
 
People who have had it have said that the Majic jack software installs a lot of spam tyoe stuff into your computer that is very difficult to remove.
 
Personally, I would go with Ooma. There are absolutely no monthly charges and you get unlimited long distance. You have to make sure you buy one of the older models that do not require a montly charge.

I have one and it is great.

Brad
 
People who have had it have said that the Majic jack software installs a lot of spam tyoe stuff into your computer that is very difficult to remove.

Not sure there is any truth to this. I had my first MJ installed on my office computer and never noticed any trouble. Later I decided it was best to put it on a dedicated computer I had as a spare here since I wanted to relocate it to a different part of the house. ( My father's room) That computer was only used to support the MJ device and as such never for e-mail or web browsing. When this rumor came out, I checked and the browser was clean. Only thing on the desktop was the MJ software.

I paid for 5 years of service and the hardware was free in that special. All calls are Long distance free and the only time I disconnect it is to put it on my office computer where I connect my FAX to it for that purpose on rare occasions.

MJ will also send you a Voice mail audio file via e-mail if someone calls and leaves a voice mail. No spam on that e-mail either.

From a power consumption viewpoint, connecting it to a dedicated computer may not be wise but it does keep it off your main computer in case that does become a nuisance for you.

At one time I did route it through my home phone wiring to have it on several phones in the house. Only problem I had was I had to bypass the switching network I had from the phone company for 3 lines. I bridged the lines and this made all phones ring on the MJ line.


Is the phone number and service tied to the USB device, to the computer, or to an IP address? If it is tied to the USB device, can I then take it with me and use it on another computer that has internet access?
Tied to the device- Take it with you. If you have a laptop with internet broadband connection, plug it in to your laptop and the software will download and self install. then just make your calls in a few minutes after self installation. Take it with you to an internet cafe along with a small portable phone and it will work too.

If the computer is sleeping, will the phone still work? Yes, but you should keep the harddrive from sleeping as it may be too much delay as it spins up. I always had my dad's computer go into sleep mode and shut down the monitor too.


What did not work was WinFax on the same computer as the MJ. I gave up trying to get that to work. MJ on one computer and winFax on a second computer does work.
 
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been using MJ for 2 years now, I have never run it on my main PC, but that was not part of any "spyware" concerns. If that rumor had any real truth other than the targeted ads they have based on browsing history that many places use.

I got an old winterm off ebay, I run it on that as it's using less power and less space. I think all your questions have been answered by Don, but to elaborate on a couple things.

I run 5 home phones off the magicjack usb dongle plugged directly into the home phone wiring (as always disconnect your NID on the outside your house before doing so). Also, some phones we had do not ring right away due to their Ringer Equivalency Number being higher than average. It didn't matter if they were the only device hooked up or not, so if you have older phones you may experience the same problem.
 
I run 5 home phones off the magicjack usb dongle plugged directly into the home phone wiring (as always disconnect your NID on the outside your house before doing so). Also, some phones we had do not ring right away due to their Ringer Equivalency Number being higher than average. It didn't matter if they were the only device hooked up or not, so if you have older phones you may experience the same problem.
This was the one question I was still curious about.

It is already disconnected anyway, since our phone service is currently through our cable company
 
Personally, I would go with Ooma. There are absolutely no monthly charges and you get unlimited long distance. You have to make sure you buy one of the older models that do not require a montly charge.

I have one and it is great.

Brad

You would or you did?

The Ooma is nice as it plugs directly into your router. No need for a computer. However, it costs $230 which isn't bad compared to your old monthly landline bill but many people feel they can save more with a magic jack.

One way to save if you must use a computer is downgrade it as best you can, eliminating any cost generating hardware such as dual hard disks, extra expansion cards, CD drives, audio card etc. I was even thinking of trying to boot and run windows from a CD with minimum OS and cut the hard drive altogether.
 
I 2nd Ooma, You can probably pick up an Ooma Telo box for around $175.00.
There are small monthly FCC fees.....etc. My monthly bill is $3.47.
You can fax and it works fine with my Dish caller id.
I LOVE this Ooma box, works great!!!!
 
Does NetTalk have a monthly fee that consists of FCC / 911 / etc. like Ooma does? I would go with Magic Jack if it is as simple as just connecting it up to a usb router. NetTalk is $30 per year but you do not need a computer. They just started up last year though and I think Ooma has been around longer than that.
 
I only paid $160 for my ooma Telo. It was $199 on Amazon and then they had a $40 Amazon gift card with it.

You used to be able to get the $199 price with a referral, but they have discontinued that program. They will probably enable it again closer to the holidays.

I do subscribe to the ooma Premier service for $120/year. I REALLY like the blacklist and address book features and email delivery of voice mail messages.
 
I heard about this. I wouldn't touch Magic Scam with a 50 foot pole.

Then I suppose you avoid Google with a mile pole.

The link to the paranoid blogger was really funny. Seems he was worried about uninstall among other fears the company is out to get him. He doesn't know much about software then because uninstalling is not such a big deal. Just delete the folders and then use something like Advanced Registry Optimizer to clean up the registry. About 90% of all my software installs leave trash that needs cleaning and this software as well as others similar is a good tool to keep around.

The truth to all these paranoid reports probably lies in the fear that Magic Jack and others like it are eating into the long lasting profits of the big phone companies. So, among other tactics, they launch a smear campaign that is targeted at people who wake up everyday afraid of their own shadow.

Halloween is coming up, anyone want to tell some good boogieman stories? These are probably more credible than the Lets all be afraid of Magic Jack bloggers.
 
Actually, MagicJack sued Boing-Boing for this very article for defamation and lost two years later. They ended up paying their legal fees of around $50,000...
MagicJack dials wrong number in legal attack on Boing Boing - Boing Boing

I've seen a memory dump (to recover the SIP specs) the MJ device collects - that did look scary...

Hey, the guy has to make money somehow...:)

Diogen.
 
meh, nothing new on Magicjack, but again, take a look at all the things that get logged and tracked on your pc. Like I mentioned before, I do keep my magicjack on a system (winterm) dedicated to magicjack only. The directed ad space is simply blank other than magicjack info. Anyone that ever thought there weren't trade off-s for $20 a year phone service (very reliable phone service I must say) would be kidding themselves. Is it right? Well, that's a ethical issue that is not meant to be debated in this thread. Just choose what is right for you.

I would change to nettalk if they have improved, but my personal experience was they were not ready yet based on my lack of dialtone repeatedly. Oooma was enticing, but I didn't want to pay the upfront cost at the time.

What is nice about magic jack or even nettalk is you don't really feel like you wasted money if you leave after 5 months. :)

*edit: Oh, I see nettalk has done some upgrades. I had a TK6000 I see they retired that model maybe for the reasons I couldn't use them at the time. Might be worth looking in to again.
 
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Agree that with MJ, the best approach is to use on a dedicated computer for several reasons. If I had it to do all over, I would probably have gotten the Ooma but didn't know about it back then. BTW- Clark Howard endorses Ooma.
 
Then I suppose you avoid Google with a mile pole.

The link to the paranoid blogger was really funny. Seems he was worried about uninstall among other fears the company is out to get him. He doesn't know much about software then because uninstalling is not such a big deal. Just delete the folders and then use something like Advanced Registry Optimizer to clean up the registry. About 90% of all my software installs leave trash that needs cleaning and this software as well as others similar is a good tool to keep around.

The truth to all these paranoid reports probably lies in the fear that Magic Jack and others like it are eating into the long lasting profits of the big phone companies. So, among other tactics, they launch a smear campaign that is targeted at people who wake up everyday afraid of their own shadow.

Halloween is coming up, anyone want to tell some good boogieman stories? These are probably more credible than the Lets all be afraid of Magic Jack bloggers.

Damn, I'm glad you're here to clear up everything. You always have the right answers. :rolleyes: :smug
 

For how long do people keep their cell phones (in the US)?

Ipad or Droid Tablet?

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