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 Review by polythemus 
UPDATED: 227 days ago
member for 4.9 years, 1127 visits, last login: 1 days ago
 Hendersonville,Henderson,NC
 Contract price not specified.
 "Cheap"
 "Scratchy sound"
 "More trouble than it's worth"
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My magicJack unit lasted 10 months before it went belly up so maybe I got my money's worth. I won't bother with one again.
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Review by lineman5516
Posted: 243 days ago
member for 281 days, 13 visits, last login: 242 days ago
Saint Louis,Saint Louis,MO
Contract price not specified.
"cheap"
"allows backdoors and trojans in"
"save yourself and you pc don't do it"
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I work in the telecommunications industry and purchased magicjack to try it out (sounded to good to be true) I installed it on a standalone pc (1 of five in my home) that is only loaded with xp pro ,no extra programs etc,I have never had a problem with this pc as I rarely use it.I put the magicjack on it and was very impressed for the first 30 days (worked well) well after that many mysterious spyware programs started appearing on it and within 10 day was infected with a keylogger ,sheur and ppo6 virus which was rendered unremovable (destroyed system files) I reloaded the os with firewall and anti virus did the same thing a few weeks later. tried it on another rarely used machine in the home with same results the 3 other pc's in my home are still running fine and tha magicjack is going in the garbage ,I do not recommend this ,i know its cheap and seems to work great for a couple of weeks but save yourself the agony
Followup comments:  cookeemama
join:2009-04-13
| MagicJack I have had MagicJack since last July. From the beginning, I've had problems. But they were minor and I decided that, for the price, I would live with my contact list disappearing when I reboot, calls dropped in the middle of a conversation. The worst was having to use the Update every day to be sure it called/answered.
Last week, the whole program disappeared from my computer. Not to be found by any search. I tried everything listed under Troubleshooting on their web site to no avail. I would be told to open My Computer and look for 2 files. But it wouldn't open unless I unplugged the MagicJack unit. Of course, the files would show up when the unit wasn't in place.
Today, I made time to do Live Chat with their techs. They ran me through the same stuff. I was kicked up to the next level. Same old, same old. Finally, as I was nearing the end of my rope, the tech said there was a program on my computer that wouldn't let MagicJack work. Mind you, it was working 1 week ago and I have not d/l nor installed anything new during that time. Why do techs always blame the customer?
There is no way to get in touch with them by an 800#. Service stinks. I have read bad reviews elsewhere on customer service. So, I am giving up and will try another voip to see how that goes.
I am disgusted by MagicJack and it's practices. | |
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m arbour
@rr.com | magicjack save yourself some greif, keep away from magicjack, nothing but problems | |
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Review by leomarth7
UPDATED: 272 days ago
member for 6.4 years, 1 visits, last login: 272 days ago
Queen Creek,Maricopa,AZ
Contract price not specified.
 about 1 days
"Free, good sound quality, excellent customer service."
"sometimes dies"
"well worth it."
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I've had my magicJack for about six months. It has been our only phone. I have had some issues with, but nothing very hard. The worst part was that sometimes it would stop working and I would need to restart my computer. However, with one of the newest software upgrades, it has worked flawlessly for the most part.
It has excellent sound quality about 95% of the time. The customer support has always been polite and helpful. I'm happy that they're available 24/7, and they've usually been able to resolve any problems within 10 minutes.
For anyone looking for a bargain, I would highly recommend magicJack. My renewal comes up in October and I fully intend to renew with them and continue this as my only phone.
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Review by RogersLite
Posted: 277 days ago
member for 5 years, 492 visits, last login: 6 days ago
Canada
$3 per month
"Very cheap"
"Doesn't come in Canadian numbers"
"Awesome provider for the money"
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I love magicJack i use it for my secondary home phone in my house. It paid the 40 dollars @ the start + tax. Really good service cheap and quite useful. Matches with all the stuff i use it for. Kinda good to keep people for not knowing who you are.
Call quality is good and + works well with my DIR-615 with QOS
resources aren't very much but it runs well i can't complain.
It can get a lil choppy due to my heavy downloading but nothing wrong.
Sometimes hiccups but it's fine.
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 Review by DoC_DaR
UPDATED: 280 days ago
member for 5.5 years, 1776 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Canton,Cherokee,GA
$2 per month (12 month contract)
about 5 days
"Amazing Price"
"Quality up to your computers health and software and proxy."
"Unbeatable for Tech Savvy People."
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I Have a Win XP X64 PC that I use as a basic "Always On" file server. Installed on this machine and was able to make and receive phone calls in less than 10 minutes. Call quality superior to Vonage but carries a fraction of the features. Before you run out and grab this service, it will only work as well as your PC and Broadband connection. If your PC is not "Very" healthy, don't bother. I have worked in the IT field for many years and am so done with people blaming issues on everything except their ability to run a clean PC. Not the place to vent on the overabundance of who don't understand that downloading and installing every piece of "free" software they find on the internet is the source of their problems.
Update: Just dumped service as the local Atlanta proxy server severely overloaded. Too many problems to be worth keeping. Still worth it if you don't mine call quality fluctuations and overloaded proxy servers on random occasions.
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 Review by ILpt4U
UPDATED: 283 days ago
member for 3 years, 745 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Lisle,Dupage,IL
$3 per month (12 month contract)
about 6 days
"Cheap Dial Tone"
"Needs reliable Internet, Power, PC. 60 min Call-time Limit"
"It works, given its needs are met"
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Updated 1 March 2009:
It seems the 60 minute outbound cap has been extended to 120 minute. That is an improvement, but still not ideal.
I have also decided that, as a young single working guy living in an apartment alone, MagicJack is great. If I had any type of family at all, would not use it as a primary phone line. Just not reliable enough.
It still is a neat idea, and a real price bargain.
But anyone considering it should consider its costs, both monetary and other, as well as its benefits.
Updated 11 January 2009:
I have noticed & experienced that there is a 60-minute per outbound call time limit. At exactly 60 Minutes of call time on the nose, the call is terminated and you get dial tone. That is not a good feature at all. I have yet to decide how to react to this feature...
Original Review:
I decided to give Magicjack VoIP a try.
I run it over my U-Verse Elite Internet. I have noticed call quality suffers if I doing heavy downloading/uploading -- Considering investing in a QoS router to correct, but not that big of an issue so far.
I like that you can make calls with a PC headset or thru a normal phone.
I got an area code & number with an exchange from the next town over -- so I basically got a local phone number in relation to where I live.
So far it is as advertised -- phone service for a very modest price -- $40 for the first year (includes the equipment -- USB-ATA adapter as well as first service year) and then $20/year after. Get a month trial for free.
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Review by redcdiver
Posted: 294 days ago
member for 294 days, 0 visits, last login: 294 days ago
Philadelphia,Philadelphia,PA
Contract price not specified.
"Price, call quality"
"Need good high speed connection and clean computer"
"A fantasric buy!"
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I saw a Sunday morning infomercial for magicjack and decided to give it a try. The unit did not work very well BUT it was not the fault of the product. My was running very slow. I have since replaced the computer and have had a tremendous experience with magicjack. I told a coworker of mine and he got one. He uses it 6-7 hours a day and swears by it. He had no landline at his house and used his cellphone for all his communication, both business and personal. To send and receive faxes he had to either go to the local office services store (ie: Kinkos) and pay or have a computer fax program. Now this is all done by magicjack. At $40 including the first years service it is a deal. Future years at under $20/year are unbelieveable. This product can be used anywhere in the world that has a reliable high speed internet connection (assuming the use of a computer). A wife/husband/child... can now speak with someone on the other side of the world as if it were a domestic call as the number is stored in the unit.
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 Review by Comspastic
Posted: 298 days ago
member for 2.1 years, 16 visits, last login: 128 days ago
Seattle,King,WA
Contract price not specified.
about 1 days
"Doesn't work"
"Don't Buy this......."
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I bought this for my dad, hoping he could have a cheap line of Comm. It failed horribly, luckily we were only into the service 50 bucks, this is a Cheap as seen on tv gimmick.
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 Review by brut7
UPDATED: 298 days ago
member for 9.1 years, 674 visits, last login: 9 days ago
Babylon,Suffolk,NY
$3 per month (12 month contract)
about 5 days
"Very Inexpensive"
"Needs an always on Computer"
"Works great, Very Inexpensive"
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After reading many reviews here I decided to give it a try.
I'm familiar with VOIP in many flavors having been on P8, Sunrocket and most recently Optimum Voice. I have an old P3 1100 based laptop with a USB 2.0 PCMCIA card that I decided to dedicate to this task; it wasn't doing anything anyway. It's wired into my router, not on wireless. I want to use the service like a land line for the whole house. Had the laptop all set up, fresh install of xp sp3 and power options set appropriately. I think a lot of people have computers that are infested with spyware and/or so many BS applications that it slows down the computer to a crawl. With a clean proper computer, the requirements are low. Optonline in my ISP and that is of course, very solid. MajicJack device arrived, plugged in my Uniden wireless phones that I originally got from Sunrocket! One base and 2 sattelites, I replaced the battery packs on all 3 recently and they still work great.
Plugged the jack into the usb 2.0 port, it started doing stuff and downed updates.
I chose my number and after a few minutes it all started working.
I went to the website and downed an update file and it did another update.
Rebooted the computer for good measure.
I called my Mom.
Mom said it sounds fine but had a bit of a too quiet sound to it when no one was talking but it was fine with her.
Did a bit of tweaking on both the laptop and the MJ sofware (not that you can do much) and was ready for the all important "Wife Test"! (dramatic music here).
My wife calls Montreal Canada every day from here on Long Island to talk to her parents and sometimes several times a day. MJ passed the wife test! The in-Laws one of which is hard of hearing said it sounded better than Optimum Voice, especially the hard of hearing one, he had no problem hearing my wife and he had been straining with OV (they have a pots line). BINGO, the primary goal is calling Canada and it passes the test with high marks. Set up my voice mail, forwarded my OV number to MJ, closed the lid on the laptop and put it up on a shelf where it will remain on all the time. A laptop is better for this use as it consumes less energy than a full sized PC but probably a bit more than a full device like a Sunrocket Gizmo. Called Cablevision and reduced my bill from them quite significantly and reduced my TV service as well, down to 65 a month for ISP and basic TV (times are tough). MJ works fine now for a couple of days, no complaints from the wife. At $3.33 a month for the first year and half that for the hopefully next couple, you can't go wrong. Voicemail, caller ID and a working home phone. Two thumbs up.
The Bad, it needs a computer but that wasn't a problem for me. I do wonder how much the electricity for the laptop will actually cost but it's probably not much. Anyone have any ideas on that?
Bad reviews on MJ are probably from people who are technically challenged, impatient or have a lousy ISP.
I can't really comment on tech support being someone who usually figures things out himself but it looks like it's not that great though it does seem to have a live instant messanger type service.
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 Review by jeffster1970
UPDATED: 299 days ago
member for 5.6 years, 1711 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Kitchener,ON
Contract price not specified. (12 month contract)
about 7 days
"Very inexpensive, installed very easily, works well so far."
"If I had to say, lack of area code. (I am Canada, have a US number)"
"I have people I call in the states, and across Canada, doesn't make sense not to have it."
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Not sure if I should say anything about Tech support, however, when I install MagicJack, in automatically installed updates.. (and said "We'll now install updates...Lucky You!") The package got to me pretty quickly, though I was surprised that it was mailed out only 35 miles down the road. Plugged in unit, Vista installed drivers, and then, it opened the "Drive" since this device has some memory that runs as a disk space. So I let windows autorun the built-in program. It was like this, and it was like that, and so forth and so on, 3 minutes later, I plugged in my phone, and made a successful call.
Reliability doesn't get a 5 since there have been the odd time that I get a dial tone, dial the number, but hear nothing. I just retry and it goes through.
Really, for $19.99 a year, and $20 for the unit, it pretty much sells itself. If you have a somewhat good internet, and have half decent computer, you're going to be in the good.
This is nice too, because you can take your laptop (if you use it on that) and BOOM..you can call anywhere in the US or Canada from your favorite watering hole that offers free wi-fi...plus, perfect when you are on vacation...
Call quality was very good. No cracked that you sometimes hear over a digital network. Maybe I was lucky, but...$40?? Man, you really can't lose.
More upgrade for magicjack...improved quality
Now they need to have it set up for Windows 7 and LINUX...not everyone wants windows guys...get with the picture
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magicjack.com
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Magicjack Unable to have a local telephone number assigned
"How Horribly..??"
Ive had three MJs for a year now all on three different computers as they require. Ive had numerous "chats" with them trying to get them working as the public is lead to believe. Their technical support is good for what it is, but very frustrating too. Each time I chat with them its either repeating the same operations suggested by each tech or someone comes up with something completely new. Weve been all over the computer in and out of different programs, reseting or changing defaults, rebooting, etc. Ive had road runner here 12 times to improve service and have signed up for "Turbo". No matter what I do, the system does not work dependably. Most of the time people on the other end can not hear me due to chopped words. Sometimes delay is horrible, but mostly chopped words. I have to repeat myself over and over if trying to give someone a phone number. If only Magic Jack would quit hiding behind computer screens with chat techs and care enough about their customers to actually answer a call or at least return one. After all, they are a phone service.