I sent my Magic Jack back because sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't. As I have said, I really wanted it to work. Who would not want to give up a 35$/month phone bill for one that is 20$/year?
One thing I didn't try that I could have to improve the service was purchase a powered USB hub.
Another thing Magic Jack could do without actually improving the product would be to offer a rock solid voice mail system. If I had one part of Magic Jack that I knew I could count on, it might have persuaded me to keep it. I could put up with hit and miss on the outgoing calls, but unreliable incoming calls is unacceptable.
Return postage was less than 3 bucks, so test driving it was not really expensive. I just taped the RMA to the package and shipped it back.
I would like to hear from people that do have a powered hub that have tried MJ, or anyone that has reliable service.
I forgot to add, I learned this after I sent mine back.
You can call 909-390-0003 with your MJ and it will repeat everything you say back to you. It would have been handy to be able to use without having to use my friends for test calls.
What is your pc speed and memory? USB 2.0? What speed broadband? O/S? What else do you have plugged into USB that drains 5 volt power?
After a month of MJ use, I cancelled Mudder Bell and good riddance. Have a prepaid cellphone, for 'just in case'. I run a panasonic cordless (ac powered base) off the MJ which is plugged directly into an Intel MB. 6/2 Mb cable broadband gives great voice quality.
If you really want feedback go to the MagicJack forum on
1GHz Athlon - 512K - USB 2.0 - 5M/512k Windoze XP. No other USB devices. No virus software, or anything else running. I gave it exclusive use of my spare computer for 2 weeks.
AT&T 5Ghz cordless with extra handset.
I also got great quality, sometimes. It was the other times I gave up on.
cpu speed is close to the minimum suggested, did you monitor cpu % utilization? Did you try the MJ on another box, preferably at a different broadband connection?
see above: ". . MJ which is plugged directly into an Intel MB."
I meant what I wrote, "go to the MagicJack forum on dslreports.com." Yes, that involves clicking on Forums on the home page and then clicking on MagicJack under VOIP. Not much of a step for a stepper .
Yeah, I used Fast Defrag. It reported anywhere from 5 to 15% with nothing loaded. I tried it on the only computer that stays on 24/7.
The fact that some calls were crystal clear and some were crap, pretty much convinced me it was not my computer. Outgoing calls were more reliable than incoming.
The DSL reports forum with hit and miss results confirmed my suspicions. I think there are too many sock puppets at the DSL reports site to be unbiased. I also get too many people trying to steer me there.
It is not there yet. I really, really wish it were. A powered hub would have been a small cost to try, but I didn't. I really have no other need for a powered hub. Maybe others will, and report positive results.
Maybe with rock solid voice mail it might be a keeper.
Your computer seems more than adequate and if your USB ports are lightly loaded, I doubt if a powered hub would help much.
Contributing factors may be your ISP and where you're accessing MJ servers. I may be fortunate to be on a hookup with minimal delays and sustained good transfer rates. Speed tests are poor barometers for voip performance, since they're typically an average rate for big transfers.
Since MJ is apparently growing rapidly, they will be constantly tuning their networks and load balancing. Have you asked if others on your ISP and in your area are using MJ and what results they got?
Seems to be the usual thing you run into with this sort of thing. People get all excited about cheap and won't admit there are flaws mixed in with the sock puppets equals useless.
I didn't bother for a couple reasons. It uses an advertising driven model which has never proven to be successful. Can you think of one of the "free" or really cheap ad driven ISPs that are still around?
Second reason is I can't see leaving a computer on continuously just to use the phone.
I'm wondering if this wouldn't be a good use for a tiny, stand-alone PC in a little box, no keyboard or monitor, say a 4-line LCD display and a few buttons. Someone could build something like this on a single board using ASICs for next to nothing, to power stuff like this that requires an always-on computer.
Yet you did not try the MJ on another computer, preferably at another location to further isolate or define the problem? Here's a good site to test your box/connections 'capability' for voip with no voip hardware needed:
formatting link
I've never got less than a 4.3 rating, on the 0-5 scale. Again this is with no voip hardware.
Who are the sock puppets? Those who are satisfied with MJ? That is funny. Realize that there are probably thousands of users who aren't aware of forums who just plugged the sucker in and it worked. People without questions don't seek out forums. I did before ordering it because I'm a geek.
Now, that is irony. You ask questions and there are *too* many suggestions of dslreports? Must be a conspiracy, huh? dslreports is probably the most widely known source of computer communications info. There's another forum at
formatting link
, but I won't suggest it because that might make me a sock puppet.
Not many want an ad-driven ISP with some dsl packages as low as ten bucks per month. many 'ad-driven' models are successful, Google, Yahoo, MySpace, YouTube, etc. Not to mention radio and TV?
I've always had a computer on while I'm at home and awake, so the 3 watts for the MJ is nothing. With the monitor in 'conserve' my modem, router, and pc use less than 160 wtts. While away or asleep, I power it down and MJ voice mail catches the calls. Not the world's best VM by far, but it's intelligible and MJ even emails the messages to my gmail account.
The 30 day free trial makes it very low risk to try. I've had MJ for a little over a month and am quite satisfied with it. 20 bucks per year for local and LD. Beats the heck out of a $35 per month land line with absolutely *NO* features.
I may just be lucky being in the right location for the MJ network, who knows, but, for me it's a helluva bargain.
Other home/computer suggestion was to help you determine if your connection is to blame or the MJ hardware is to blame.
How does your computer fare at:
formatting link
? A quick test, java required, but no registration.
Infinite might be a tad overstatement. Do realize that the forums cover a period of over a year and a lot of glitches have been worked out in the hardware, client software, and network during that period. And again, folks typically go to forums with problems, not successes.
You left out the hunting expedition (at each point in the above, you have to search for what you think is the proper link). It would be very easy (for someone like you, who knows) to provide the proper link.
They already make dedicated, inexpensive, low power usage adapters for VoIP called ATAs (Analog Telephone Adapters).
Magicjack requires a power wasting computer because it is ad driven. The way it is supposed to work is that they display ads on your computer which are supposed to pay for the service.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.