[LUconn]

http://www.magicjack.com

I know a lot of people have given up on landlines but this thing may bring you back. I'm sure most of you have seen their goofy infomercials and that made me a bit skeptical but I've been using it for about 2 or 3 months now and it's pretty awesome. You buy the device for $40 and then the service is $20 a year. You get call waiting, voice mail, Caller ID, free long distance and all the good stuff. You can also pay up to like 5 years in advance for a rate cheaper than $20/year but I didn't want to do that since who knows if they'll be around in 2 years, let alone 5. One of the cooler features is whenever you get a voicemail it will email you a notice along with a .wav file of the mesage. So I get it right on my blackberry if I'm not at home. You've got to have a pretty decent connection on the internet for voice quality though. I'm on a low level DSL and it sound great, but we were having some speed qualities about a week ago and it was difficult to talk to people. A lot of static and choppy voices. But I'd blame that on Verizon, and it's cleared up. If you do have a problem with your MagicJack specifically, I hear their customer service is pretty awful. As in they really don't have any. I tried to port my old landline number, which you are not able to do yet. To find that out had had to go through a web of FAQs and then I got to instant message some clueless person who took a while to answer me. That's the extent of their customer service. But other than that, I suggest you guys look into it. Can't beat $20 a year for having a regular phone.

[ALUmnus]

I took the plunge this week. We get awful cell phone reception at our home, so it was really difficult to take calls at home. We haven't had a land line in three years, but because of the bad reception, this was perfect. Of course, our internet went down last night, so if you lose your internet connection, you also lose your phone line. But it's still hard to beat the price.

I expect a full refund for this endorsement.

[RubberMallet]

after your guys' approval, i may go this route. i pay 20 bucks a month for a landline. that i never use....my wife insists on it though. hmmmm. this will also help me justify our insane internet connection.

[SuperJon]

My ex's dad got it and swore by it. Isn't one of the benefits that if you wanted to, you can move your phone anywhere in the country and hook it up to the internet and use your number? Like if you were going on vacation at the beach and for some reason still wanted your home phone, you could hook it up to the internet there and still use your 434 number?

[SumItUp]

The best reason to justify it for those that don't have a land line is it allows you to give a number out to doctor's offices, utilities, insurance companies, etc..... These are legitimate businesses that you do business with but may not be interested in receiving a reminder call on your cell phone.

[LUconn]

My ex's dad got it and swore by it. Isn't one of the benefits that if you wanted to, you can move your phone anywhere in the country and hook it up to the internet and use your number? Like if you were going on vacation at the beach and for some reason still wanted your home phone, you could hook it up to the internet there and still use your 434 number?

True. I heard Clark Howard say that you can take it to other countries and make calls for free with it. I don't think you can receive them free though.

[TDDance234]

My dad has one and his pitch to me has pretty much been the same as the ones listed above. Can you get a number with a local area code or do they randomly assign them?

[SuperJon]

I'm pretty sure local because they had a 717 number when I was up there.

[ALUmnus]

My dad has one and his pitch to me has pretty much been the same as the ones listed above. Can you get a number with a local area code or do they randomly assign them?

You can get the local area code if they have it available. It took them a while to get 434 (for here in Lynchburg), so LUconn actually has some weird aread code. But when I got mine this week I got a 434 area code, and you can also pick from a list of prefixes.

[LUconn]

My dad has one and his pitch to me has pretty much been the same as the ones listed above. Can you get a number with a local area code or do they randomly assign them?

You can get the local area code if they have it available. It took them a while to get 434 (for here in Lynchburg), so LUconn actually has some weird aread code. But when I got mine this week I got a 434 area code, and you can also pick from a list of prefixes.

That's my cell phone. But I should have that corrected soon hopefully.

[El Scorcho]

Isn't this just another brand of VoIP service?

[SumItUp]

Isn't this just another brand of VoIP service?

yes, but it is not required to provide 911 service by the FCC, which is different from the "telephony" voip services such as Vonage.

[LUconn]

[quote="El Scorcho"]Isn't this just another brand of VoIP service?[/q
uote]

It doesn't actually use magic if that's what you're wondering.

[El Scorcho]

Isn't this just another brand of VoIP service?

yes, but it is not required to provide 911 service by the FCC, which is different from the "telephony" voip services such as Vonage.

But not different than Skype, Google Voice, etc.

[El Scorcho]

Isn't this just another brand of VoIP service?

It doesn't actually use magic if that's what you're wondering.

Magic is just stuff science hasn't made boring yet.*







*Shamelessly stolen from a threadless t-shirt.

[flamesbball84]

so basically, this thing is essentially the same thing as skype but it doesnt require 911 service?

[SumItUp]

so basically, this thing is essentially the same thing as skype but it doesnt require 911 service?

No, it is still a telephony service and you can receive a call from a telephone. Skype is for PC to PC and PC to telephone, but not telephone to PC.

[El Scorcho]

so basically, this thing is essentially the same thing as skype but it doesnt require 911 service?

No, it is still a telephony service and you can receive a call from a telephone. Skype is for PC to PC and PC to telephone, but not telephone to PC.

Uh, not true.

You can have a phone number for both incoming and outbound calls on Skype. They even make wireless phones that work on WiFi and connect directly to Skype. They have a voicemail service and everything.

Same goes for Google Voice. It's not out yet, but I'm participating in the beta as a former member of Grand Central. There are some really nice features in it.

[Hold My Own]

UGHHHH I check Google voice every day hoping they are letting new customers in...I cant wait..

[El Scorcho]

UGHHHH I check Google voice every day hoping they are letting new customers in...I cant wait..

In that case, let me just reiterate how awesome it is. Sucks to be you.

[mrmacphisto]

I recently downloaded an app for my iPod Touch that allows me to make phone calls over a Wifi connection. What's better, I get to use my own cell phone number (my cell number shows up on people's Caller ID). I just ordered a headset (earbuds/mic combo) to get the full functionality from it; so far I've only been able to place calls when I don't actually need to talk to anyone (checking voicemail, other automated lines). The free app only allows outbound calls, but I think the full version receives calls as well. If it works well enough, I might just purchase the full version. The app is iCall, for those interested.

This sort of thing comes in handy for someone on a prepaid plan who could benefit from making calls that don't use up any minutes.

[Sly Fox]

We ar5e using Grand Central to handle SMS texts right now at my church. It is a pretty sweet setup.

[Hold My Own]

I recently downloaded an app for my iPod Touch that allows me to make phone calls over a Wifi connection. What's better, I get to use my own cell phone number (my cell number shows up on people's Caller ID). I just ordered a headset (earbuds/mic combo) to get the full functionality from it; so far I've only been able to place calls when I don't actually need to talk to anyone (checking voicemail, other automated lines). The free app only allows outbound calls, but I think the full version receives calls as well. If it works well enough, I might just purchase the full version. The app is iCall, for those interested.

This sort of thing comes in handy for someone on a prepaid plan who could benefit from making calls that don't use up any minutes.

The Mic and earphone combo has to connect through the charger port right?