 Review by swanboy 
UPDATED: 1.5 years ago
member for 8.8 years, 1986 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Hollywood,Broward,FL
 $2 per month
 about 5 days
 "VERY cheap, Excellent call quality, Increasing number of area codes, works with MAC!"
 "None. They give me everything I expect."
 "The best available cheap phone service."
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(ratings above consensus)
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The forums have been quite insane recently, mainly because of the SunRocket debacle, along with the common madness that DSLR always pleasantly hosts. I am a SR orphan and have since been searching for a relatively cheap alternative. Packet8 seemed like the best choice, but I recently ran into MagicJack, was very intrigued- and promised a few members here that I'd review it when I received the order. Well, today is that day. So here it is:
Ordered: 07/18
Shipped: 07/19
Received: 07/23
It arrived in a surprisingly professional retail-looking package, complete with a hole at the top for hanging on retail shelves. Anyway, I unpacked it and made use of the convenient little USB extension cord included with it.
The most interesting part of setting it up is that fact that the device is ENTIRELY plug and play in XP. On my desktop, it took around 50 seconds to install the various drivers and auto-launch the setup & registration dialogs. I was too excited to take screen shots, I apologize.
The dialog requested my email address, my zip code, and the setup of a password. After that, it wanted my address of 911 registration. I live in South Florida, so when I was prompted to pick a number, I was disappointed to only see about 5 states offered as local numbers currently. But, I read up on the MJ literature, my area code (and most) should be available in the next 60 days, good. I settled for a number out of Detroit. (Meanwhile, I’m using a GrandCentral number to forward to my MJ line.) After I picked my phone number, the screen changed to a normal looking soft-phone (see screen shot.)
I grabbed a cordless phone, plugged it in, and was happy to hear a dial-tone. First call was flawless, perfect clarity. I totally didn’t expect incoming calls to work, but to my surprise my cordless rang when I dialed the Detroit phone number from my cell. Another perfect call. I bought the device purely out of curiosity, not a true solution to a new VoIP provider. Turns out… I seemingly found my solution.
Keep in mind a few things: Price: $40 So obviously, with this price does NOT come with all the fancy features and web portals. Honestly, I wouldn’t expect it.. it’s $40. For those who don’t know, there is $0 monthly charge, only a $19.95 annual fee. That is, frankly, laughable if they are truly going to offer what they say they are. Always the service is still beta, and just launched for purchase earlier this month. I expect more features to be introduced as the service matures. As I type this, I am on the phone using MagicJack. It’s quite impressiveMJ may not be for everyone, but I for one don’t mind having to have the thing plugged in my computer. I would expect MJ to support some adapters coming up in the future. . For those who recognize the swanboy name, you know I’m usually not one to jump up and down with rave reviews, but this is a industry first, revolutionary product in my opinion, and I wanted to get an organized review out there for those who were waiting. I say go for it.
I'd be happy to entertain any questions.
For more details, see my screenshots, etc: »My review of MagicJack
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