Has anyone been jacked by Magic Jack?

[FelixDeCat]

So I was researching this item and I think Im going to pass. Some people might be ok with it, but it appears the majority of the 411 complaints shown are from people who signed up for multi-year contracts, ramping up to $59.95 for 5 year contracts but were cancelled by the company after one year. The other issue appears to be rampant device failure and poor build quality. What do you expect for $20? Too risky for me.

http://www.complaintsboard.com/?search=magic+jack

Ive noticed they are starting to sell these in drugstores now (CVS, Walgreens) besides the customary Radio Shack and Best Buy.

 

[waggy]

yeah its $20 a YEAR. does that sound to good to be true? yes? it most likely is.

but hell its only $20.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Originally posted by: waggy
yeah its $20 a YEAR. does that sound to good to be true? yes? it most likely is.

but hell its only $20.

I understand your line of thinking. There are a lot of people willing to try something if they can get it cheaply. Even if it does not work well and winds up in the garbage, it was only $20 right?

I dont think I could trust a very important phone call to this.

 

[TridenT]

Idk. I thought this product was reliable. MAYBE YOU SHOULD GOOGLE SOME REVIEWS?

 

[Savarak]

It isn't too good to be true, I've been a customer since the beginning and it works great for me... I also paid for the 60/5yr plan and its been going well for me, my contract says its good... "Your license is active through DECEMBER 29, 2014"

 

[DeviousTrap]

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat

Originally posted by: waggy
yeah its $20 a YEAR. does that sound to good to be true? yes? it most likely is.

but hell its only $20.

I understand your line of thinking. There are a lot of people willing to try something if they can get it cheaply. Even if it does not work well and winds up in the garbage, it was only $20 right?

I dont think I could trust a very important phone call to this.

I think you're over analyzing it. $20 a year is significantly less than what most people spend on a phone bill each month. If you can get one month's use out of it then you already are coming out ahead.

I'm not sure what you mean by trusting a very important call to this. Would you take an important call on your cell phone? The risks are pretty much the same, unless you're expecting MagicJack to go out of business right when you make that one specific phone call, I don't see why it's really any more risky.

 

[coloumb]

Well..you could always try oovoo [free] if $20.00 a year is too much for your wallet:

http://oovoo.com/

My father in law has been using Magic Jack for the past year without any problems. Beats paying $24.95 a month for vonage or $30ish+ for cell phone service.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Originally posted by: DeviousTrap

I think you're over analyzing it. $20 a year is significantly less than what most people spend on a phone bill each month. If you can get one month's use out of it then you already are coming out ahead.

I'm not sure what you mean by trusting a very important call to this. Would you take an important call on your cell phone? The risks are pretty much the same, unless you're expecting MagicJack to go out of business right when you make that one specific phone call, I don't see why it's really any more risky.

You make some valid points there Mr. Trap. What I meant by not taking a risk of using this for important calls was simply based on the complaints of users. This includes connection delays, cracking, echoes, etc. While not perfect, cell phone technology has come a long way and I would be more confident using it for an important call. But I maintain a land line and if Im placing that important call I will use it. It is still superior (in my opinion) to any other method of telephony.

I guess time will tell as far as the company's long term viability is concerned.

 

[purbeast0]

i just heard about tihs a few months ago for the first time.

my brother in law 'registered' one in Miami and then sent it to his family in Nicaragua, and now he can talk to his family there for free. he has since done this for his in-laws which live in bolivia too.

great idea if you have to talk to people over seas. he dials a miami phone # and talks to people in bolivia and nicaragua.

 

[2canSAM]

I use it and am well pleased. Call Quality is good and clear. I use it for long calls (1hr +) and have never had an issue with it. The only complaint I did have was trying to use it with a cordless phone was a no go for me. I just picked up a cheap wired handset from RS and it is great now.

 

[Codewiz]

Never had any issues with magicjack when I used their service. I didn't renew because I just didn't see any reason to. I just have my google voice number go to both my cell phone and my wife's cell phone.

 

[Old Hippie]

I have 4 friends that bought them.

One guy returned his and the other 3 are pleased as punch.

 

[DayLaPaul]

I have it. It's not the 2nd coming of Jesus or anything, but for $20, it is an extremely good bargain. Sound quality is decent. I can hear others fine, but they say my voice is a little soft. Supposedly I can remedy that by tweaking the QoS controls on my router, but I'm too lazy to do all that.

I wouldn't replace my primary phone with the Magic Jack, but it is small enough that I carry it around in my laptop bag and never notice it until I need it (such as for sending a fax at the library).

Even though the sound quality isn't the best, the local phone number and voice mail box alone are worth much more than $20/year. Throw in the fax capabilities and occasional voice calls I make and I'm a satisfied customer.

 

[alkemyst]

Magic Jack isn't for everyone...it works as advertised though and [for now at least] is ridiculously cheap.

 

[Leros]

Originally posted by: 2canSAM
I use it and am well pleased. Call Quality is good and clear. I use it for long calls (1hr +) and have never had an issue with it. The only complaint I did have was trying to use it with a cordless phone was a no go for me. I just picked up a cheap wired handset from RS and it is great now.

Has anybody else had problems with the cordless phone?

 

[SlitheryDee]

I have several relatives who use them and they all seem to love it. The only hitch I see is the fact that you have to leave your computer on to send or receive a phone call. If there were some kind of magicjack unit that you could plug directly into your internet router it would go a long way toward making it a genuine landline replacement IMO. You can do that with a skype phone, which is also quite cheap correct?

 

[DayLaPaul]

With an unlocked Linksys PAP2 device you can use the Magic Jack without a computer. I haven't done this myself, but there are instructions on how to do it on the interwebs.

 

[TwiceOver]

I have a friend with Magic Jack... I hate when he calls me.

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: TwiceOver
I have a friend with Magic Jack... I hate when he calls me.

I've had friends like that too, but they used landlines :^P

 

[Lean L]

Originally posted by: TridenTBoy3555
Idk. I thought this product was reliable. MAYBE YOU SHOULD GOOGLE SOME REVIEWS?

MAYBE...

On a sidenote, I thought sunrocket was a solid company, they looked better than magic jack ever looked... yet they ended up costing me 7 months of service.

 

[Lean L]

Originally posted by: TridenTBoy3555
Idk. I thought this product was reliable. MAYBE YOU SHOULD GOOGLE SOME REVIEWS?

MAYBE...

On a sidenote, I thought sunrocket was a solid company, they looked better than magic jack ever looked... yet they ended up costing me 7 months of service.

 

[RaistlinZ]

Originally posted by: TwiceOver
I have a friend with Magic Jack... I hate when he calls me.

Some friend you are.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I've had MagicJack for about a year, signed up for the 5-year service plan when I got it (was like $94 total). So far, so good. Sound quality is fine. The only problems I've had, are sometimes when the MJ background app has been running for several days, I need to restart it, because sometimes one party cant hear the other one. (I cant be certain that that isn't a flaw in my router though, I use two routers.)

That, and a few months ago they instituted a time limit per-call without telling anyone. first it was 30min, then 1hour, and now, I believe it's 2hours.

but overall, i've been very happy with it, well worth the price. I have a cell phone that I use as a primary phone, but I use MJ when I'm home to save on my cell bill, and it works fine for that. Never tried faxing.

 

[jlee]

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2199626&enterthread=y

More info ^^