Welcome to the Product Spotlight -- a continuing series of articles highlighting individual products commonly used by our members.
In The Spotlight: The magicJack VoIP Device
Previously:
• Verizon FiOS Spotlight
• HughesNet Satellite Spotlight
• Optimum Online Spotlight
• Comcast HSI Spotlight
• Clearwire Wireless Internet Spotlight
• EV-DO Showdown - Sprint Vs. Verizon
• Canadian Broadband - Cogeco Vs. Shaw
See also: US Broadband Price Comparisons
This is a very useful device for someone using this as a second line or for someone who wants to make long distance calls (to Canada/US at the moment). It's still in beta so inevitably there will be bugs (though reliability for me has been excellent). You can safely recommend this to a non-technical friend and they will have few issues. The price is excellent. If you don't mind using it via a computer of some kind it's excellent value for money. |
Lately, the VoIP market has become extremely interesting and volatile -- largely due to the very public crash of the SunRocket VoIP service. The demise of the company left many suddenly without service, and many others questioning the business model of cheap VoIP service.
Enter Dan Borislow and his invention, the magicJack. In this edition of the Product Spotlight, we'll take a peek at what magicJack and its service offers, what people are saying about it, and just how big the potential is for such a device.
Company Info
Dan Borislow, inventor of magicJack, is the founder of YMax Communications Corp., a phone company with the largest competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) network in the United States. Borislow ran Tel-Save (now Talk America) in the 1990s, at the time an upstart provider of cheap long-distance service to more than four million America Online (AOL) customers. While with Tel-Save, he received the J.D. Power and Associates Award for Customer Satisfaction.
With the invention of MagicJack, the YMax website claims that "by eliminating the expense of local and long distance phone charges - and saving the average customer around $1000 a year - magicJack is positioned to be the fastest growing telecom company in the world; Borislow likes to call it "Telecom Revolution Part II."
Ordering, Costs, And Installation
The magicJack device and service, which costs $39.95 plus shipping, can be ordered from the
magicJack website. For a while, the site was accepting the coupon code "SUNROCKET" to eliminate the $3.95 shipping, but it is unclear if it is still doing so. Ordering
includes one year of unlimited incoming/outgoing calls (MagicIn and MagicOut) with free long distance in the US and Canada. A second year of service will cost you $19.95. This can be paid after the first year is up, or paid at the time of your original order.
For the time being you can not make international calls, although you can call from the US to someone in another country who has a magicJack. However, according to Dan Borislow, pre-paid International calling (calling directly to someone in a forgeign country) should be available by the time this article is published, or shortly there after. You also get free voicemail, free call waiting, and free 3-way calling. E911 is available.
When you order, you will receive the magicJack device itself -- which is more or less the size of a double-wide USB flash drive with a USB plug on one side and a phone jack on the other (you can choose between black or pink) . Thoughtfully included is a 1 ft. USB extension cord, and a short (1 page) manual. The website says you should receive your service within one week of ordering, and this seems to be the time frame in most cases. Many state they received the padded envelope containing the device in 4 to 5 days.
It took around 50 seconds to install the various drivers and auto-launch the setup & registration dialogs. After I picked my phone number, the screen changed to a normal looking soft-phone. 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 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. |
MagicJack presently works on Windows XP and Vista. The company claims native Mac support is coming sometime in the very near future (possibly December), but there is no word on Linux support at the moment. It is interesting to note that, according to another post in our VoIP Chat Forum, magicJack will run on Linux right now:
I was in a chat with Dan Borislow, the inventor of the MagicJack, and asked about the device running on Linux. He replied that he knows for a fact that it DOES run on Linux, but that it is not currently supported under Linux. When asked when it would be supported he said "probably later this year". Obviously that's not a commitment, but on the other hand it is confirmation that it will run under Linux now (others have posted that they have it up and running under Linux as well - I haven't tried it yet)
Installation of MagicJack is as easy and painless as advertised in
most cases. You just plug the magicJack device into a USB port on your computer, and the service self installs. However, there are some installation bugs that can crop up, and software conflicts can make installation problematic in some cases.
MagicJack itself warns advises that the service will not install if either MinMX or MusicMatch/Yahoo Jukebox are installed on your machine. The company also advises not to install while any CD/DVD software is running. In some cases, users reported losing sound on their machines. Some problems have been due to the registration server being down and just having to wait until magicJack gets it back up and running. One beta tester states that:
"On a reasonably fresh install of the OS the MJ (magicJack) install and startup is painless. True plug and play. Vista, being a recent release of the OS proves less problematic of the two OSs presently supported. Older installs of XP that have not been maintained will prove problematic. The addition of several different CD/DVD authoring programs, even if subsequently removed can make installation difficult. One brand of commercial computer came preloaded with a security program that will prevent the installation of MJ until it is removed. Almost all of the available CD/DVD software can pose problems."
The magicJack site does offer a program called MagicFix that will optimize your machine for use with magicJack. It is advisable that you download and run this program before installing magicJack on your machine. In an email chat I had with Dan Barislow, he states this about MagicFix: Our self diagnostic and repair tool [MagicFix] is like none other in
the business and we improve upon it all the time.
This post in our VoIP Tech Chat Forum points to another fix for some problems: "MJ support pointed me to [this] handy utility. Run it, and then unplug the MJ, wait a bit, and then plug it in again. I used it to restore the blue light. Sometimes the blue light will go out, and you won't have a dial tone on a phone, but the soft phone will still work. This utility restores the blue light and dial tone. I thought one of my computers had underpowered USB ports, but using the utility fixed the problem."
If you install magicJack on a Vista machine, you must run the upgrade found on this page
When you plug the magicJack device into a USB port (you can use a USB hub, but a powered one is recommended), and provided all goes well after going through the install dialog, you can just plug a regular phone into magicJack's phone jack and use the service.
A softphone will also be installed on your computer after going through the set-up dialog, which can also be used to make calls. A recent update to magicJack's softphone interface (pictured on left) adds a place to dynamically select (and add) your 911 address. Very convenient if you are traveling and need to easily change your 911 location. Your contacts/phone book, and your phone number info is stored on the USB device. You may use a USB or bluetooth headset for the softphone.
Service And Reliability
I have been building a Network with 31 gateways, softswitches, SBC in the country. This leaves us in a class of our own. {It} enables us to make money off of giving out phone numbers, to offer the highest voice quality, have extremely low (and in most cases free) terminations costs. We are the only ones to be certified in all 50 states (Alaska is coming any day). Vonage, Skype many others buy services from others, who buy from others and their service goes to hell fast. Companies that build their own networks like {ours} rarely ever go away. - Dan Borislow |
The first thing to remember is that your computer needs to be running for the service to work. If your computer is off or gets rebooted, locks up, etc., you have no phone service.
Local numbers were, up until very recently, very limited. But now MagicJack has announced that they have all of their cities now up and running with the exception of LA (which may be available by the time you read this). However, an anonymous poster in our VoIP Tech Chat Forum notes that West Virginia codesseem to be missing from the new additions to available area codes.
A list of area codes available can be found here and here.
If you can't find an acceptable area code, many customers suggest using Grand Central's service to get a local phone number to use in conjunction with magicJack. You just have your Grand Central number forwarded to your magicJack.
The website states you can start exchanging your magicJack number for a different one on December 1st. This will come in handy as magicJack continues to add new area codes to its service.
In an email, Dan Borislow states that magicJack's "Follow Me" service (their call forwarding feature) will be available within the next 10 days or so, number portability will be around in 45 - 90 days, and pre-paid international calling will become available within 5 days -- as of the writing of this article. Again, by the time you read this some of these features may be available. Please check the magicJack website for any newly available features and updates.
The reliability of the network itself has become somewhat spotty recently. While a few report almost no downtime, many report frequent outages in their service at this time. However, this could be due to the many upgrades taking place to the service at this time. Dan Borislow notes that, "The servers were all made redundant and we added much needed memory to the boxes. The major upgrade will make this the most reliable service that uses a regular telephone and it include Voice quality upgrades like 30ms codecs (we have major router problem in this country), Multimedia upgrades, VAD - the list is quite long." That being said, the service is almost universally praised for its call clarity when it is working.
There also seems to be some security issues with the service at this time. Though magicJack has been alerted to these issues, at least one major undisclosed issue that has been reported directly to magicJack remains open after at least a month. However, Dan Borislow states in an email that these security bugs will be fixed by the time this article is published, or very shortly there after. This fix is possibly part of the "major upgrades" Mr. Borislow says are to take place very soon.
Faxing, as with many other VoIP services, is chancy at best. It is not officially supported at this time by magicJack, but there are reports of some success. Sometimes it works with no problems, sometimes partially, sometimes not at all -- it seems to depend on your faxing device, and some older machines just plain don't like it.
Echo can sometimes crop up as a problem, but Tiger Jet's Echo Cancellation Software has been recommended in our VoIP Tech Chat Forum as a possible fix.
The magicJack ToS (Terms of Service) does have a few interesting parts to note. One term is the advertisements:
11. Advertisements
You also understand and agree that use of the magicJackTM device and Software will include advertisements and that these advertisements are necessary for the magicJackTM device to work and for the service to be free in the first year of the agreement (and subsequent licenses to be at minimal cost). Advertisements will be served through the magicPageTM Software. magicPageTM Software attempts to serve local advertisements and classifieds using a completely automated process that enables us to effectively target dynamically changing content. Our computers may analyze the phone numbers you call in order to improve the relevance of the ads. We do not provide any personal information to our advertisers or third parties. magicJack has a policy of restricting advertisers that it believes are inappropriate, but it does not guarantee the accuracy or integrity of any advertisers and does not endorse any of the advertisements that may appear in connection with use of the magicJackTM device. You also understand and agree that use of the magicJackTM device and Software may include certain communications, such as service announcements, administrative messages and newsletters, and you will not be able to opt out of receiving them.
So yes, there will be advertisements on your softphone. The key to magicJack's low pricing for the service is the 31 gateways they collect termination fees from in combination with serving ads. The ads may be distasteful to some -- but the cheap price you pay for the service makes up for having to view them.
Another interesting term to note:
13. Modification
magicJack reserves the right to modify or discontinue the magicJackTM device and Software, temporarily or permanently, with or without notice to you. We will not be liable to you or anyone else in the event that we exercise our right to modify or discontinue the magicJackTM device or Software.
One can understand this in light of a BETA phase, as changes are constantly made. Also, a term like this is not unusual in a product ToS so companies can protect themselves against abusers and such. However, it does mean that magicJack can kill service without notification, and this sounds a little ominous in light of the recent SunRocket debacle and spate of other various VoIP services going down.
As far as customer service goes, for a while it was very lacking after magicJack, much to the dismay of many customers, closed its user forum without warning -- suddenly locking it and deleting all posts, many containing much useful information about how to troubleshoot problems and the like. The deletion of the forum and its posts understandably caused quite a negative reaction, including accusations of hiding bad press and flaws disclosed in the forum. Users received an email from magicJack stating that:
"As most of you know, we are changing a number of things, to make it easier for potential customers to buy a magicJack and to support our existing loyal base. We have now made chat a one on one experience. We are changing the Forum for technical problem solving only. Potential customers can now receive the proper care they need at Sales chat. The forum is just too unwieldy now and we will be hiring a professional monitor soon in addition to our very helpful volunteers. Most subjects do not apply anymore, as the service has changed dramatically since we started this forum. I encourage everybody to keep the forum updated with relevant topics and make this into a place where people in need can get the proper help."
One former magicJack Forum frequenter reports that another reason the forums were closed was that:
"The company shutdown the forum as a result of rapidly escalating flame wars against the company. There were several previous instances of personal attacks against the company support staff also. The forum was in dire need of adult supervision. There were individuals in the forum that were more interested in alluding to how to hack the service than assist the people who needed help. And if they provided any assistance, in most cases it was incomplete instructions. The one volunteer moderator was subjected to a serious blast of crap that resulted in a decision that he did not need the abuse so he dropped it. I suspect that the shutdown was a 'last straw" type of event."
Dan Borislow
posted in our VoIP Chat Forum to say this about the situation:
We will be sifting though the prior technical posts in the last forum and putting them back into the new one. We will most likely have two forums in the future, one dedicated to technical issues -for sure- and possibly a sales Forum. The magicJack has evolved and been improved upon over the over the last 8 months and most of the posts simply did not apply anymore and were quite confusing for readers of the forum. We hope the new forum will be more helpful for customers with technical questions. Their [are] going to be major, very positive changes happening over the next 90 days and the service will be much different once again from how it looks today. I will say in advance, when these changes take place and in combo with coming out of BETA, the forum will change once again. At that point, it will have more of the company's attention and will be a fixture on the website.
In lieu of a forum, magicJack has recently implemented email support, and tech chat (which can be accessed via a link after running the MagicFix program from the magicJack website). While the email support has received mixed reviews, the tech chat seems to function pretty well
according to reports. Dan Borislow also adds that,
"We put in a search in Q and A and [are] changing to [a] knowledge base next week, with all the good things from the forum to be available in the search. [We also hope to have a] have customer portal open [very soon]." So it seems that magicJack is now working to improve customer and technical support.
It's Still A BETA
This is an outstanding product with a solid financial background so no worrying about them just disappearing. They are still having some technical problems right now but they are still in BETA. They have a good business model were they are working on the major logistic problems before worrying about minor problems. I can't think of one person I know who doesn't have unlimited long distance now a days. If you want a cheap phone with great features and call quality this is for you. |
The bottom line is that this is still a BETA product at the moment, so that means a certain amount of risk in using this product at this time. There will be failures, flaws, and sudden changes as the device and service is readied for Gold release. Though the product does lack certain desirable features as of this time, such as number portability, the available and recently added features make for a very workable offering, and the call quality is recognized by almost all as outstanding.
MagicJack may have had its reasons for wiping and locking the forum. However, even if they were very good ones -- like for the protection of magicJack's users and the forum being disorganized and unsupervised -- it must be said that the situation seems like a kneejerk reaction to a problem, and could have been handled a bit better by the company. MagicJack should have at the very least left a message in its forum stating its reasons for the deletion of helpful posts, its closure, and for leaving its customers hanging for a while support-wise.
Although the company has taken big steps recently to improve its customer service, MagicJack should have been ready to implement its email support, tech chat, knowledge base, search in Q and A, et al. -- or at least some of these features -- before it closed and wiped the forums. This could have avoided the backlash resulting from the situation.
Having said that, the backlash from the incident does seem to be minimal and the newly implemented email and tech chat services seem to work well for the average customer. The knowledge base, once it is up and running, will also go a long way in reducing the effect of magicJack's decision to lock it's forum. Plus, Dan Borislow has stated seveal times the forum (or forums) will be back at some point, and much better oragnized and managed than the original.
Even with the aforementioned customer service stumble, users are still very much showing their support for the company and its product. There are a couple unofficial places where one can get additional help if needed. For instance, there are a number of magicJack users in our VoIP Chat Forum who are more than willing to help those who have questions about the service or need troubleshooting assistance. Broadbandreports.com has also started an unofficial dedicated magicJack forum for those interested. MagicJack users have also started an unofficial help forum on their own, found here.
The Bottom Line
Prolonged BETA status, changing time frames, and flaws aside -- magicJack already has many loyal fans who are willing to put up with its present imperfections, even if the product might have come out of the gate just a little early. The many recent updates and improvements go along way towards helping the service deliver on its long awaited promises, although it still has a bit to go before all the kinks are worked out and it is perfected. MagicJack has a solid plan it is trying to follow, but it is also learning and adapting as it goes along.
The device has been available in Radio Shack and other stores, given out to freshmen classes at colleges, and users have reported buying multiple units for personal use and gifts. The price for the device and service is undeniably hard to beat, even at the present stage of development. Right now, the service is nice as a second line, business line, and as a dirt cheap way to make long distance calls. Parents with children in college will like the service, and so will people with families far away or even in foreign countries. Families with members serving in the military will find magicJack an excellent way to keep in touch, for example. In fact, many users report buying the device and sending it to family and friends in such situations with great results.
The portability of the device is nice too. It is easy to take along with you when traveling to receive/make free calls -- especially when you get to couple it with free WiFi service at a hotel, for example. MagicJack only has twelve user reviews here on Broadbandreports.com, but there are no negative reviews. And it has a 72% satisfaction rating, garnering a Bronze Star Award -- even though it is still in BETA.
Dan Barislow refers to magicJack and what he thinks it can do as "Telecom Revolution Part II". MagicJack certainly has a lot of potential -- that is for sure. The price of the device and service alone are a huge draw. However, even with its advantages, the company does face an uphill battle in making magicJack a success story. The VoIP climate is uncertain right now, and potential customers are especially leery in the face of the deaths of SunRocket, Allo, and the impending death of Netzero -- not to mention how Vonage is under the gun and possibly teetering on the brink of destruction due to patent lawsuits.
Considering its BETA status and the presently continuing process of adding new, needed and long promised features and services, MagicJack gets 3.5 out of 5 rings... for now -- but take that rating with a huge upside and potential. If magicJack can get at least most (but preferably all) of the features and services Dan Borislow says the product has coming -- like a Mac and/or Linux version, the pre-paid international calling, the "Follow Me" call forwarding feature, knowledge base, better network stability, etc. -- working within the next few weeks and months before it comes out of BETA, magicJack will then rate a 4 out of 5 for sure.
Dan Borislow knows success. He has hit homeruns before. And he certainly thinks his invention, service, and, most importantly, the way his network is set up is unique and will prove to be a successful new approach to the VoIP game. If he plays his cards right, continues the present pace of improvements to the service and additions of long awaited features, he could indeed hit a home run again with magicJack. Whether he can, and revolutionize the low cost VoIP business model while he's at it, only time will tell. In the meantime, we'll wait and see how magicJack fairs once it comes out of BETA. It is something certainly worth keeping an eye on.
Resources
Our Resources*
• BBR VoIP Tech Chat Forum
• BBR Unofficial magicJack Forum
• magicJack User Reviews
• Provider Ratings Chart
Other Resources
• magicJack Home Page
• YMax Communications Corp. Home Page
• Grand Central Service
*
Special thanks to those BBR members who contacted provided me with valuable opinions and much enlightening information about their experiences with magicJack, and to Dan Borislow for his prompt and candid answers to my barrage of questions.