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Revcb
Orbis non sufficit
Premium,Mod
join:2001-07-05
Springport, MI
Host:
AT&T Broadband
Michigan
VOIP Tech Chat
| [MagicJack] Need help from you VoIP gurus for article
I am starting a new Product Spotlight article for the front page, and I have decided to feature MagicJack. Unfortunately, it looks like I picked a bad time, as the forums at MJ have been wiped. So, I need answers to some basic questions about MJ. Current users of MJ or those with experience with the product are valued, but anyone with pertinent info is, of course, welcome to answer.
There are not many reviews posted about MJ on this site. I know there are many threads on MJ, and I've gone through a bunch of them. But asking the questions I have directly and getting the answers I need in one place will greatly help my research. 
Remember, the Product Spotlight is a general overview of a product. In other words, keep it simple. Not everyone is a VoIP guru/nut. The PS is not meant to delve into the deeper technical aspects of (in this case) VoIP. I will link to several of the MJ discussions in here that cover deeper technical aspects in the article.
So, without further ado, the questions:
- How is MJ's ease of setup and use for a VoIP newbie?
- I have read that many who use Mj use it in conjunction with Grand Central. What is the best setup to use with MJ?
- What, in your opinion, is the best use for MJ?
- What are your hardware/software recommendations for use with MJ, if any? You can explain your setup, or a good basic setup for using MJ.
- Does MJ support faxing? I have read conflicting reports in threads. What setup works if you have successfully used MJ for faxing?
- In your learned opinions, what are the biggest drawbacks of MJ and its service? Advantages?
- What is your opinion of MJ's support?
- Mac is supported now, correct? Any word on when/if Linux will be supported?
- What current features do you like best?
- What current features do you think are lacking?
- What features would you like to see added to the service?
- Any major glitches in the service you feel potential users should be aware of (I already read about Vista)? Workarounds?
Feel free to answer some or all of the questions, point to links you think people might find useful, or add anything you think important to include in a basic review of the service/product.
TIA
- Rev
--
The neurons in your frontal lobes have not finished developing and proper judgement is still a few years off. - Johnny
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katan_bartak
join:2007-11-09
Pittsburgh, PA
| hi, i can try to answer a few of the questions for you.
- How is MJ's ease of setup and use for a VoIP newbie?
found it to be extremely plug and play. no configuration required when i set mine up.
- In your learned opinions, what are the biggest drawbacks of MJ and its service? Advantages?
having to have the pc running to recieve calls is to me the largest drawback. the biggest advantage is to get rid of the monthly phone charges. another advantage is if you do buisness in several area codes you can get local numbers in different ones.
- What is your opinion of MJ's support?
they seem to be on a shoestring budget. that said, they do try to get things done.
- Mac is supported now, correct? Any word on when/if Linux will be supported?
i believe that mac support is not yet there, but very close.
i hope this helps y9ou with your article. | |
SMCinAZ
Premium
join:2000-11-29
Glendale, AZ
clubs:
4 edits | reply to Revcb
So, without further ado, the questions:
- How is MJ's ease of setup and use for a VoIP newbie?
Easy, as long as it actually installs and runs-a big, fat if, because any little thing can cause it to not-many programs do not "get along" with MJ's many little programs.
- I have read that many who use Mj use it in conjunction with Grand Central. What is the best setup to use with MJ?
Grand Central is a requirement if you do not live in one of MJ's magic few area codes if you want a local number. They have no area codes for NYC or Chicago, for goodness sake.
- What, in your opinion, is the best use for MJ?
As a backup to real pots service. I would never rely on it for my sole phone service and absolutely not for business. It is mainly good for saving money on long distance calls and maybe as a second line for teenagers, etc.
- What are your hardware/software recommendations for use with MJ, if any? You can explain your setup, or a good basic setup for using MJ.
Needs to be put on a machine that has nothing else running on it, as it tends to take over, especially when making or receiving calls.
- Does MJ support faxing? I have read conflicting reports in threads. What setup works if you have successfully used MJ for faxing?
I have had 25% success sending faxes, 0% receiving them, so for receiving, I use a free efax number and for sending, I am persistent.
- In your learned opinions, what are the biggest drawbacks of MJ and its service? Advantages?
Way too problematic in it's present drawnout beta form. Down often, no status page, no warning, no nothing.
- What is your opinion of MJ's support?
AWFUL. They have gone in the wrong direction in the last few weeks. They have taken away virtually all technical support to current customers. There used to be live chat, direct email, and forum support. Now there is nothing but a hope and pray email form. There is still one on one pre-sales support, but that is dedicated to pre-sales only; once purchase is made, the customer is left high and dry.
There reason for this is simple: their product is a glitchy unreliable service and is based on USB which is so hit and miss that in at least 20% of cases it simply will not work; at other times, USB will simply "stall out" after a certain number of uses, rensering the MJ dead until it is restarted. So, unless you are willing to contantly retart the MJ, you are out of luck with this product. Then there is the fact that the thing simply will not work at all unless you leave your computer on all day and night-something many people simply are not willing to do. When the negatives were being pointed out to them and "potential customers" the company saw this as criticisms and potential lost sales, so they, in infintile short-sighted wisdom, decided to eliminated all avenues of interaction between potential new buyers and current customers. Talk about your ostrich mentality.
- Mac is supported now, correct? Any word on when/if Linux will be supported?
Mac is NOT supported and there is no stated date as to when it will be. Linux has not even been brought up. You need to understand something about this company: They make many many promises, but they never, ever set hard deadlines and then keep them. It is always "soon" or "we are working on it".
- What current features do you like best?
When things are working, the sound is very good, like pots.
- What current features do you think are lacking?
Um, how about all of the promised features listed on their packaging like follow me ringing? How about number porting? Heck, I'd settle for reliable service for a week straight.
- What features would you like to see added to the service?
Just make it work reliably for several weeks in a row. That would be good enough, along with all the promised things like a network status page, planned maintenance schedule, the ability to change your number, more area codes for cities like NYC and Chicago, etc.
- Any major glitches in the service you feel potential users should be aware of (I already read about Vista)?
USB....so buggy of an interface, it is almost a joke.
Also, the MJ polls your IE favorites and snoops your phone numbers for ad targeting purposed, so if you are privacy concerned, run the other way. REMEMBER THE REASON WHY IT IS SO CHEAP: ADS and YOU ARE GIVING AWAY YOUR PRIVACY. The other glitches I mentioned above where the service goes down for hours or days and the company either denies any problems or says it will be fixed "soon" or just takes away your line of communication so you cannot do tell them or anyone else about it.
Workarounds?
None that stay within their terms of service.
It is my opinion that the CEO and "inventor" plans to do a "dot.com" with this company. That is his history. His heart is not in it for the long term. He just wants sales and no negative feedback-there isn't even a bug reporting mechanism, despite it being in a prolonged beta-and I believe he will just flip the company for a quick profit as soon as he can and leave it to flounder, which it already is due to mismanagement.
If you have any more questions, feel free to ask, either here or by IM or in the now unofficial chat which can be reached by following the directiones listed here: »magicjackhacks.blogspot.com/ | |
laserjobs
Premium
join:2004-05-02
Las Vegas, NV
 ·Cox HSI
1 edit | reply to Revcb
- How is MJ's ease of setup and use for a VoIP newbie?
You need to be running XP or Vista. Then plug it into your computer and hope for the best. If it doesn't work right away then you need to run magicfix (»support.magicjack.com/magicfix/magicFix.html) to make sure your computer setting are correct. Some problems have been due to the registration server being down and just having to wait until magicJack gets it back up and running.
- I have read that many who use Mj use it in conjunction with Grand Central. What is the best setup to use with MJ?
Grand Central has been a good idea since limited area codes are available and you can forward you number to a backup phone. MagicJack's provisioning and main proxy server have been down once in a while so I would really recommend having a backup.
- What, in your opinion, is the best use for MJ?
Great for traveling or if you have a computer on 24/7
- What are your hardware/software recommendations for use with MJ, if any? You can explain your setup, or a good basic setup for using MJ.
Comes with a USB to RJ11 adapter preloaded with a softphone. No additional hardware or software required. The USB to RJ11 adapter uses the TigerJet 560C and the softphone is custom SJPhone.
- Does MJ support faxing? I have read conflicting reports in threads. What setup works if you have successfully used MJ for faxing?
Faxing is hit and miss, seems to be just like any other VoIP service.
- In your learned opinions, what are the biggest drawbacks of MJ and its service? Advantages?
Drawbacks have been many outages with magicJack servers, questionable support at inopportune times and having to keep your computer on 24/7
- What is your opinion of MJ's support?
Disorganized, easily overwhelmed and disrespectful
- Mac is supported now, correct? Any word on when/if Linux will be supported?
No support for Mac or Linux as of yet. Don't expect much until they have the bugs worked out of Windows first.
- What current features do you like best?
$40 first year and $20 for the second
- What current features do you think are lacking?
Right now it is a phone line with voicemail, number only caller ID, Call waiting and incoming 3 way calling.
- What features would you like to see added to the service?
Anonymous or custom outgoing caller ID to use with Grand Central
- Any major glitches in the service you feel potential users should be aware of (I already read about Vista)? Workarounds?
Servers go down on occasion without notification. If it is the proxy server they have now changed the IP from static to DNS so you can use your hosts file to point to a working proxy.
--
Vote for Ron Paul in the Republican Primaries | |
AJICQ499087
join:2001-12-01
Louisville, KY
| reply to Revcb
Revcb, I wish you made the report before the forums at MJ were wiped away. They had the answers in great detail.
I have been using the service since June 2007.
I have 3 magicJacks and they all have been easy to install on XP O/S computers. When the service is working the audio quality has been great. I'm using on all 3 MJs 615 area code and 530 prefix since Nashville, Tennessee is the closest available area code/prefix to Louisville, KY right now.
My beef with the service are the outages with the service and the lack of area codes. Support is limited to keep cost down which is ok for me. I understand the service is in beta, but for magicJack to go live out of beta, they need to be up 24/7.
If the service can be up 24/7 with more area codes available, magicJack has the chance to be the greatest invention of the 21st Century so far!
This has been just a brief summary as I spilled my words of wisdom in much greater detail in the forums, but now the details are gone because the staff at MJ wiped them away!!
--
low cost and fast speed is what customers want in broadband | |
ke7doy
@rr.com
| reply to Revcb
It is a good toy, and I recommend it for its novelty value. I have saved more that its cost on long distance in the few months I have owned it. I plan on buying several more for experimentation, and back ups. The hardware alone is worth the cost of admission.
The first time I plugged it in it started right up and it was trouble free for a while. The main problem as I see it is that when there is an outage the user is left to try and figure out on his own whether it is a local problem or not. The error messages generated are very cryptic, "such as connect to the internet and double click here". When this message appears, the user most likely has a good active internet connection, but the server is down. I spent hours trying to figure out why MJ couldn't connect. I'm sure others can tell you there own horror stories, mostly due to lack of information concerning the state of their servers.
The other drawback is the form factor. I use a laptop for all of my computing needs and having something like this hang out makes it very vulnerable, not to mention the possibility of damage to the port it is plugged into should the inevitable mishap occur. Related is the failure rate of the device itself. Due to the unhelpful error messages, it may take a while to figure out that the device failed. In my case it took almost three weeks to receive a replacement, due partly to the lax bookkeeping. My replacement ended up 2000 miles away. I would imagine that the person that got it was pleased with the wind fall. Get one, you'll like it, but don't give one to your grandmother! | |
Revcb
Orbis non sufficit
Premium,Mod
join:2001-07-05
Springport, MI
Host:
AT&T Broadband
Michigan
VOIP Tech Chat
| reply to Revcb
Thank you all for your time and comments.
[SMCinAZ]:- How is MJ's ease of setup and use for a VoIP newbie?
Easy, as long as it actually installs and runs-a big, fat if, because any little thing can cause it to not-many programs do not "get along" with MJ's many little programs. Any place that has a list of incompatible programs? Can you name some off the top of your head? I read on the site about problems with MusicMatch/Yahoo Jukebox and WinMX.
- What are your hardware/software recommendations for use with MJ, if any? You can explain your setup, or a good basic setup for using MJ.
Needs to be put on a machine that has nothing else running on it, as it tends to take over, especially when making or receiving calls. What do you mean it takes over? Uses all resources?
- What current features do you think are lacking?
Um, how about all of the promised features listed on their packaging like follow me ringing? Follow Me does not work yet? Hmm. They sure make it look like it does on this page: »www.magicjack.com/site/QandA_Fre···ree.html
--
The neurons in your frontal lobes have not finished developing and proper judgement is still a few years off. - Johnny
| |
Revcb
Orbis non sufficit
Premium,Mod
join:2001-07-05
Springport, MI
Host:
AT&T Broadband
Michigan
VOIP Tech Chat
| reply to ke7doy
said by ke7doy :
It is a good toy, and I recommend it for its novelty value. I have saved more that its cost on long distance in the few months I have owned it. I plan on buying several more for experimentation, and back ups. The hardware alone is worth the cost of admission.
The first time I plugged it in it started right up and it was trouble free for a while. The main problem as I see it is that when there is an outage the user is left to try and figure out on his own whether it is a local problem or not. The error messages generated are very cryptic, "such as connect to the internet and double click here". When this message appears, the user most likely has a good active internet connection, but the server is down. I spent hours trying to figure out why MJ couldn't connect. I'm sure others can tell you there own horror stories, mostly due to lack of information concerning the state of their servers.
The other drawback is the form factor. I use a laptop for all of my computing needs and having something like this hang out makes it very vulnerable, not to mention the possibility of damage to the port it is plugged into should the inevitable mishap occur. Related is the failure rate of the device itself. Due to the unhelpful error messages, it may take a while to figure out that the device failed. In my case it took almost three weeks to receive a replacement, due partly to the lax bookkeeping. My replacement ended up 2000 miles away. I would imagine that the person that got it was pleased with the wind fall. Get one, you'll like it, but don't give one to your grandmother!
You term it as a toy and novelty. Interesting. Do you find the previously mentioned lack of promised services bothersome? Would you recommend this for someone with little/no VoIP experience, even just as a backup?
Thanks for the laptop tidbit, very interesting also.
--
The neurons in your frontal lobes have not finished developing and proper judgement is still a few years off. - Johnny
| |
ke7doy
@rr.com
|
You term it as a toy and novelty. Interesting. Do you find the previously mentioned lack of promised services bothersome? Would you recommend this for someone with little/no VoIP experience, even just as a backup?
Thanks for the laptop tidbit, very interesting also.
I really never looked beyond the basic functionality, as I use GrandCentral for any advanced functions. Seems to me they would be better off to back down on the promises of follow me, local area codes etc, and focus on basic service. Without the basic function of being able to connect a call everything else is moot! I would definitely recommend this product to anyone that is patient enough to put up with the frequent outages. The past two days have been trouble free, and it may be that they have sorted out their problems. Too soon to tell though, and they are not forthcoming with any information. In a back-up system one looks for reliability, and that just isn't proven yet. As a way to save money on long distance calls it is great, but you need POTS to back it up now. Having one in your emergency kit is like having a flashlight with batteries with an unknown power state. It just might get you by in a pinch, but don't bet your life (or your business) on it! If some one has no clue as how to use their computer beyond checking their email, it could turn out to be a very frustrating experience, but I do believe they are making an honest effort to realize the "plug and play" mode of operation they hope to achieve. The product is still being beta tested, and when they make a general release I WILL buy one for my mother!
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AJICQ499087
join:2001-12-01
Louisville, KY | reply to Revcb
Revcb, you should get a hold of a magicJack and try it out yourself before writing the Product Spotlight article on magicJack.
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low cost and fast speed is what customers want in broadband | |
FrankFone
@comcast.net
| reply to Revcb
Maybe you should wait to see if the system works. It has been down for more than a week now and the company only gives excuses.
When it worked, it was fantastic! I am even using it with a computer connected through wiFi and had no problem. However, MagicJack servers have been down now and it is frustrating that the company does notr inform the real situation to their feithful customers who accepted that this is a beta test stage for the product. | |
AJICQ499087
join:2001-12-01
Louisville, KY | FrankFone, magicJack worked yesterday and so far today at lease for magicJack users with 615 area code and 530 prefix.
--
low cost and fast speed is what customers want in broadband | |
Rich942
Premium
join:2005-02-27
51555-6503 | reply to FrankFone
FrankFone,
MagicJack is working fine here both incoming and outgoing both yesterday and today, AC 952 and Nashville proxy. Are you sure that the problem is not on your end? | |
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