how-to block ads
|
next review in page
Review by dickybilly 
member for 11.5 years, 114 visits, last login: 40 days ago
updated 58 days ago
 Plano,Collin,TX
 $3 per month- (12 month contract)
 about 5 days "quick easy setup; good voice quality" "nickel and diming over service costs" "cheap"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I'm switching from TMO@home broadband to magicjackplus. I've been testing for the past 2 months and have found no issues with voice quality compared to TMO. The only setup issues I've had is with the priority of the MJPlus h/w on my primary FIOS router. Magicjack support insists that the MJP must be connected to the primary router. I have it connected to the TMO@home linksys router w/o issue. The TMO linksys router is connected to the FIOS router.
I'm not happy with magicjack charging for every change and NOT publicizing their rates. I started with a free MJP phone # which I chose for the 972 area code. No issues. When I decided to port my TMO phone# to MJP they charged me one time $10 line change fee and one time $19.95 port fee. The annual port fee will be $9.95. If I decide to drop MJP and port my # from them to another service they'll charge me $30 to leave them (which I think is illegal).
I'm still in my first year so cost of service is included with the hardware cost. Second and subsequent years w/o contract $29.95. If you take their prepaid $100 5yr voice service contract the price/year reduces to $19.95. Once you take their 5yr plan if you decide to quit magicjack there's NO refund given on the prepaid $100.
As I write this there's NO call fowarding service. At one time it was available and free but I think when it becomes available again they'll charge for it. My work around for it is attaching a home answering machine with message notify..clunky but workable 4me.
As I write this there's no call forward busy service. I'm not sure if they'll ever support that. I have that now with TMO@home.
As I write this they don't have visual voice mail notify. If you pickup the phone you get a stutter tone telling you there's a voicemail message and/or you get an email message that you've a voice message waiting. My work around for it is attaching a home answering machine with message notify..clunky but workable 4me.
Overall the price I'm paying for MJP is less than half per year that I have been paying for TMO@home which meets my objective of lower home phone costs. I have a suspicion that w/o any kind of cost protection they will be raising their rates over time to meet their business model. If that happens I'll probably drop my home phone line (right now I need 2 lines, home and cell) or switch to another service.
One last note.....you can't beat the portability of the MJP hardware. Being able to take it with me on trips out of the US to make FREE local US phone calls anywhere is a BIG plus.
Comments:
 | | poor service I have had MJ for a couple of years and have never been really happy. I could not talk on the phone and be on the computer at the same time because the person I was talking to sounded like they were under water. MJ tried to fix it but couldn't. I am now leaving MJ and I too am being charged $30 to port my number to another service. I would never refer MJ to anyone. I guess you get what you pay for..For them it is only about the money not providing a good service.  | |
| | | | Re: poor service As far as the $30 port out fee, there is no reference of it in their terms of service, and they are not allowed to refuse the port if you do not pay the fee. I don't think I would pay them.
»www.fcc.gov/guides/portability-k···roviders | |
| | | cb14
join:2013-02-04
Miami Beach, FL | Re: poor service I never paid the port out fees to MJ an I ported 2 numbers.
Apparently there are still some people who have consistently good call quality, I never met one in person but anything is possible. | |
|
| |
 | next review in page (previous review)
Review by cb14
member for 62 days, 59 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 61 days ago
- Miami Beach,Miami-Dade,FL
- Contract price not specified.
- "easy set up, relatively inexpensive"
- "unreliable, no real tech support, hidden fees, crooked business."
- "would not want it if it were free"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I have had MJ service for several years. In the beginning somewhat liked the service, there was not much comparable around.
Currently, the costs are much higher than years ago. Free call forwarding not available any more, many exchanges cannot be reached or only for additional charge, hidden fees and phony ' regulatory charges'.
Company extremely deceptive, unpleasant to do business with.
Call quality varies, from very good to substandard, sometimes changes during one longer call.
Service unreliable.
Customer service miserable, technical support fully worthless.
With the choices available these days, there is absolutely no reason to settle for Magic Jack.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
 Review by abitbent
member for 8.9 years, 194 visits, last login: 6 days ago
updated 64 days ago
- Brantford,ON
- $1 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 7 days
- "Cheap."
- "Call quality and hidden charges for Canadians"
- "Tired of the call quality and hidden fees."
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I was just looking to drop my Bell Canada land line. Everyone in the house has a mobile phone and I was paying an additional $80/month on a Bell land line with a few features.
Considered Vonage however I didn't like the fact that monthly credit card transactions was the only way to pay.
I've had MJ now for about 3 years and admittedly I'm getting tired of it. I mean you still can't beat the price but I've found call quality has dropped off within the last year. It's hit and miss.
I upgraded to the MJ Plus which plugs right into the router so the whole thing with needing a pc on 24 7 is not an issue any longer.
The yearly charge is $29 which is still dirt cheap, but they surprised me with also charging me and additional $10 each year for a "premium" number. All Canadian numbers are considered premium.
I went a couple of years without paying this, then all of a sudden MJ notified me that although I was paid for the service for the year, I'd lose my number if I didn't pay the premium for a Canadian number.
To me, this was a little underhanded and a little snake oil slick.
Still, the price is cheap but if I'm now looking at approaching 50 bucks a year, I may as well pay a few extra bucks for better call quality with another voip based system
I think I'm going to cancel MJ this year, I'm sort of tired of it.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by (hidden by request)
(review was emailed from domain gmail.com)
lodged 78 days ago
- Las Vegas,Clark,NV
- $20 per month
- (12 month contract)
- "Low price"
- "See review"
- "MagicJack is not worth any short-term savings."
| |
Rating 1 star of 5 stars
MagicJack itself doesn't work well and the company is horrible:
1. The low cost attracted me...and the benefits end there.
2. Calls regularly don't go through. Fortunately, my phone has a redial
button and it's gotten a lot of use with MJ.
3. Calls drop sometimes out of the blue.
4. The other party often hears tones that they say sounds like I am hitting
my phone keypad, which I am not. Sometimes I have to repeat comments
because the extraneous tones prevent adequate communication.
5. The service is pre-paid, but if you want to leave them, they require a
$30 extortion fee to keep your own number that you gave them when signing
up for their horrible service.
6. Their tech support system is only a chat box. They seem to not like it
when a problem is brought up and they regularly disconnect the chat with:
"Since we haven't heard from you, we must release this chat," which is
sometimes done 1 second after their or my last chat note.
7. MJ doesn't have 3-way calling. They offer a conference line instead, but
it has to be set up every time it's used.
8. The system dies and needs to be rebooted almost weekly. When contacting
their chat support people about it, they act as though it's a rare
occurrence, but it isn't. This happens regularly in the middle of a call or
when no one is on the phone so when someone calls in under this situation,
there is no ring and the call is missed.
9. When disconnecting from their service, they require more lead time than
anyone in the industry, almost 4 weeks.
10. Their advertising is deceptive on their basic product, which requires
that the computer be left on to receive calls, but they don't reveal this
until after the product is sold.
Summary: they are unethical, unprofessional, have lousy technology and are
not worth any short-term savings.
For perspective, I used to work in telecom, but have no allegiances to any
telecom company.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
 Review by ImpldConsent
member for 12.1 years, 1699 visits, last login: 1 days ago
updated 89 days ago
- Mcdonough,Henry,GA
- $5 per month
- (12 month contract)
- "Works while Deployed. -- Now works at home."
- "Dunno yet."
- "If you're deployed military and have internet, this works!"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
UPDATE 8JAN2013: MJ had a deal that offered the MJ+ for 40.00 online. We did it based on my experience overseas. We transferred our number and eliminated our U-Verse home phone (45./month). The txfr was smooth and we have the MJ+ plugged into a switch. All is working well (sound check/call check/receive check). So: save 45/month, keep our phone number and all is well (so far).
/////
ORIGINAL REVIEW: Had MJ since March 2012. I'm in the military and deployed. After 4 times deployed, I finally got internet to myself (at a blistering $90.00/month for 128k down). This is a maintained commercial satellite (SniperHill), bunch-o-switches. I tried Skype to home (horrible), MS Messenger (horrible), Google Talk (decent). My wife then sent me a cheap phone and a MJ+.
I have got to say this is the best way to call home that I can think of. The only time it's 'ho-hum' is if our 'wired' network is down and I have to leech off the wireless backup. It's not the MJs fault, it's the provider. They can call me (local phone number), I can call them. They can leave me messages on my vmail and I even get the .wav file sent to my email.
I can't see this working any worse from the states where the connections are better and near zero latency. The thing with internet satellite is the minimum 700ms round trip latency. I don't know how MJ does it, but I get none of the guarenteed latency I expect from the terrestrial-->sat-->terrestrial. I speak, I get an immediate response.
Obviously a no-brainer install. For the MagicJack Plus there are 2 options - usb and direct RJ45. I used the USB to my laptop, the application was automatically installed once plugged in ... a few questions ... done. Once I get home, I think I'll drop my AT&T voice and move over to MJ.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by (hidden by request)
(review was emailed from domain live.ca)
lodged 138 days ago
- N2H5L
- $40 per month
- "Works well most of time."
- "Customer service is worst I have ever had."
- "Don't buy Magic Jack!!!!~!!!"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
|
If your magic jack registered the first time you try, you're in luck for a while. However it does not, you may as well toss it out. They put you "under review" for any number of stupid reasons and won't allow you or anyone else to use that magic jack. I bought a "magic jack plus unit and was planning to switch to it at my next renewal. My son bought one to use as his main service for his first home. When we tried to register his unit, we used his credit card, which still had his old address on it. Thsi happened on Aug 4th, 2012. After spending hours on a "chat" with their customer service, we determined that the credit card was the problem. We then tried another credit card and still could not get it registered. Magic Jack customer service said they would "put in a ticket" and the responsible department would send us an email. A week went by and nothing, so I contacted them by "chat" again. (there may have been other "chats" but so much time has passed that I don't remember everything) After getting absolutely nowhere again after spending a long time on this chat, they again said they would "put in a ticket" and the responsible department would send us an email. So I used my magic jack that I had bought to use myself. Possibly because we used the same email address or physical address, they put that one "under review" as well. Fast forward to now, 13 weeks later. I have had many, many "chats" with them, spent countless hours trying to get my magic jacks working, and have now come to the conclusion that it will never happen. I live in Canada and have found a Canadian alternative that provides a much better deal, with no hassles and live bodies to talk to. With freephoneline.ca I bought a Grandview HT502 off the internet for $45.00 (included shipping and taxes), then paid $50.00 plus tax for some coding from freephoneline, and now I pay nothing ever again except 2 cents per minute for US long distance and any remote area of Canada not served by the main phone companies. I doubt I'll ever pay more than a few bucks a year for that. In addition, the sound quality is better, you can even use it for fax and modem calls and the company has been around for many years. NO MORE BILLS AT ALL and great customer service. (had to use it during setup)
For the people in the US, the best alternative I have found is netTalk DUO. Basically same as Magic Jack, but they have good reviews and live people to "talk" to. I suspect that Magic Jack will be out of business soon. They are really pushing the 5 year package hard, so I suspect they will get as much money in as possible, then leave their customers high and dry. I recommended them to many people and got them setup, but will now be changing them over to freephoneline.ca. I would not trust magic jack. We tried to return the second unit to Tiger Direct, but they will not accept returns for Magic Jack. Anything else they will, but not Magic Jack. Does that tell you something? 13 weeks now and not one email for either unit!
Comments:
 TSI MartinPremium
join:2006-02-23
Chatham, ON
kudos:21 | Maybe.... ...there was a mistake, maybe a lack of attention, but since you posted this in the TekSavvy review board, I was wondering if there is anything related to TekSavvy we may be of help with.
Thanks,
Martin
--
TSI Martin (Escalations / Social Media) - TekSavvy Solutions Inc.
Authorized TSI employee ( »»TekSavvy FAQ »Official support in the forum )
Follow me on Twitter : @TSIMartin | |
| | PX EliezerPremium
join:2008-08-09
Hutt River
kudos:13 | Re: Maybe.... Even more confusing, he gave a very bad review to MagicJack, yet he gave them top scores in each category. | |
|
| | Impossible service renovation passing first year As I said, I tried many times to pay the service and the money allways rejected. I soke many times with the online chat service and they allways say that I should wait for a solutionfrom " the head office". I' talking about 4 month with cancelled service(means no phone calls in or out). Seems to me that nobody cares in this company for old custommers, but they still promoting their product to new people. This is an horrible service | |
| | | Local Incoming Calls I bought the Magic Jack & a local Canadian# (Halifax,NS) but was shocked to find out that anyone calling me had to pay long distance even though they had Halifax#s. After contacting customer support I was told that they had to pay long distance because the exchage#s were differant from the one assigned by Magic Jack even though they were all Halifax#s. That is rediculous !!!!! my next door neighbor has to pay long distance to call me !!!! I wouldn't have anyone calling me any more. I RETURNED THE EQUIPMENT back to the store & I would not recommend this to anyone. Sucks because I really wanted to dump the local phone company. | |
| | | RE :MAGIC JACK This company should not be in business. They have no contact #. They compare themselves with companies set up for online business and it has not been done properly. I bought a Magic Jack and on renewal, my # disappeared. They took my money but I have no #.They could not give me any specific answer. I was so mad and a friend bought me another one and upon renewal, they took my payment yet I could not make phone calls. They claimed my payment did not go through and I asked if I should do it again and the chat was disconnected saying " I have given you all the info. you requested and at this point I will end the communication" Even though i asked a question. Their online chat has no knowledge to explain and they play "hide and seek" with questions. I believe they do not know what they are doing as a company
. It is been poorly setup and unprofessional customer service. One by name Hazel disconnected a chat with me without addressing my concerns. Magic Jack has been rated cheap. What is cheap when your money is taken away with no offer, it ain't cheap at all.
If we stop buying, they will stop producing and be out of business and we would not have to deal with their un professionalism | |
|
| |
| next review in page (previous review)
 Review by CUBS_FAN
member for 7.9 years, 874 visits, last login: 2 days ago
updated 145 days ago
- Chicago,Cook,IL
- $1 per month
- about 15 days
- "No longer needs to be connected to a computer!!"
- "They block access numbers to calling cards!!"
- "for $40 a year you can't go wrong.. But when they start blocking numbers they are interfering with my phone and got dropped."
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
9/8/2012
Going back to Vonage because Magic Jack is blocking the local access number to the calling card we are dialing to make international calls. They are declaring them conference line numbers and instead of connecting me they try to offer me prepaid conference line numbers. (finger)
9/4/2012
Now using MagicJack Plus as my land line phone! I couldn't pass up the new Plus feature of using it as a stand alone device plugged directly into the outlet. I'm paying an extra $10 per year ($50 total) because Ive ported my phone number over from Vonage. Been having a little issue with it needing a reset by unplugging the device completely. I contacted support via live chat and they had me install the user interface on my laptop. That installation pushed a new "firmware" onto the device. So far I haven't seen any issues. Since I chose stand-alone setup the MagicJack Plus device never received any updated firmware???
7/14/2011
No longer have the connections in the Philippines and no longer using the devices.. When the connection was reliable MagicJack performed great and I would refer anyone to use it. As time went on from the 12/2009 install the Wireless internet connection deteriorated to the point that a phone call was not capable of being made or received. Globe Telecom's fault.
12/22/2009
Installed and registered a local phone # with ease at home and brought it to the Philippines. Works great even with a connection rated at 800kbps down and 200kbps up. I made all sorts of calls to Chicago and Canada with no issues at all. Both parties can hear each other when an accidental double talk occurs.
I wont be spending $100 per month on international calls anymore. 
7/10/2010
I guess everything is OK. Our calls to and from the Philippines are just fine. At times I hear an echo but I think the DSL connection in the Philippines is at fault with latency issues.
Comments:
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by NObama
member for 7.4 years, 733 visits, last login: a few hours ago
lodged 215 days ago
- Nashua,Hillsborough,NH
- $2 per month
- (60 month contract)
- about 1 days
- "Price"
- "Everything else"
- "MagicJack magically steals your money....."
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
One of my two adapters recently died. I wasn't too upset, as I have had them for nearly five years, and purchased 5 years of service for each when I bought them. Service has been okay, working well most of the time. People calling me never worked very well, and I tried the adapters in a number of different ISPs and computers.
Anyway, I bought the new PLUS model, received it several days after ordering, and called MJ to transfer my number from the old unit that died. A short time later it was done, and as we were finishing up, I asked if my nearly $40 in international long distance had also been transferred. The rep then stated that the international long distance credit does not transfer, and per the TOS (Terms Of Service, or the small print you never read), MAGIC JACK KEEPS THE MONEY.
Bye Bye Magic Jack. I will not be renewing either of my numbers when they expire. Prior to this incident, I would have rated you *** of 5 stars. Now you are * of 5 stars.
Hardware dies, and in this case it takes your money to the grave.
Comments:
| | NObamaPremium
join:2005-11-09
Nashua, NH | Re: Magic Joke..... Thanks. I just bought an Obi 100 on Amazon for $40 and I am going to try the Google phone with it. We don't use the landline that much, but we do call overseas once or twice a week, and it gets expensive on the cell phone. | |
|
| | Considering... Their commercials looks more like a poorly made informercial... I would be suprised of the issues I have seen around.  | |
|
| |
| next review in page (previous review)
Review by CaptainCam
member for 215 days, 0 visits, last login: 215 days ago
lodged 215 days ago
- Park City,Summit,UT
 Business customer- $5 per month
- (12 month contract)
- "if you do not want your existing number"
- "RIPOFF ARTIST"
- "they ripped me off for $195"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
I wanted magic jack for 2 reasons: cheap, and keep my own number. They could not get my own number. I had already paid by card. they refused a refund of any amount even though I was within their 30 day refund window. No phone number to call. a long drawn out process getting to chat and then communication with the representative got me no where. At one point they said they would refund and could take 30 days and the refund never came. I filed a complaint with the Florida Attorney General today. 09 04 2012 Ripped me off for $195 I never used the service!
Comments:
| next page (previous review)
Review by sectvfreak
member for 2.4 years, 271 visits, last login: 54 days ago
lodged 225 days ago
- Kintnersville,Bucks,PA
- $2 per month
- about 3 days
- "cheap"
- "poor quality"
- "for this company you get what you pay for"
| Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
its cheap and there's a reason the prices are so low overall poor quality product..
Comments:
|
|
·
·
·
·
·
Useful review!
Not Totally Free Calls to USA
Puzzling