Magic Jack - New Phone Service

[remingtonbo2001]

I had the same problem. I don't think they have a RMA system. They want you to jack with them until you've used up your free trial time, then they charge your account saying you failed to return the product during the free trial time.

Did you tell them you were a Spurs fan?

I'm pretty sure Spurs fans get a 10% discount. Try that next time.

[billie_baby]

I just got this service today, and even tho i talked extensively with a tech before I bought it and asked for any draw backs, they said no. It does have a few. Number one ( a big one in my book) it doesnt carry all the states yet, so i couldn't get a local number. That means any local friends will have to make a long distance call to call me. Number 2...unless u disable Magic Jack then reboot, u can't use any messenger voice..ie. msn, yahoo to chat out loud...won't let u. Number 3....its NOT as clear as they tout...its like a cell phone kind of breaks up some. Hope this helps.

[CubanMustGo]

That's because you're not on the Spurfan account plan. Local numbers, clear signal, customer service in the US, and you can use any messenger voice to chat out loud.

Call in and ask for the "TD21CHAMPION" plan.

[2ndchance]

Ok.. Be nice, as I am a first time poster here. Also, that I am in Phoenix and a Suns fan. LOL. Don't hit me! LOL!

Anyway, I wanted to throw in my 2 cents on this MagicJack thing. A friend from RadioShack turned me on to this. I, in turn, told my brother. We both ordered one last month. Mine has been sitting on my desk (unopened) while my brother installed it as soon as he got his. He doesn't like it. He's having issues with choppy calls if he does anything on the computer, while talking via MagicJack. Even just doing a Google search. This suprised us both, as he's paying for Crazy Speed at his home. A 2MB upload and a 25MB download. He told me that he was going to return it as he is nearing his 30 day trail.

This prompted me to try mine out because I don't want to miss the 30 day trial deadline.

For me, it was the opposite. Mine ran perfectly. I have a 1MB upload and a 15MB download. I placed a test call to my wife's cell phone and had a conversation. During our conversation I opened up several web sites, then went to YouTube to stream a video, and lastly, went and downloaded XP SP3 beta. Each test, I did not run into any choppy conversations or anything. Our conversation did not miss a beat.

While searching elsewhere I read that MagicJack has some kind of Optimizer program that you can download and run. Maybe it will help out those who are having trouble. I passed the info to my brother to see if it helps. I'll report back after he does this in a day or two. In the meantime...

GO SUNS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL.

[doobles]

Pardon for the interruption. I did a search on Magic Jack and came here.. LOL

I will pass along a few comments. First of all there is a very nice Magic Jack Forum. It is not operated by Magic Jack and not affailated with the company.. http://unofficialmagicjack.forum2u.org/
If you have a question it can be better off answered in that forum.

Also.. for those of you who have a distant area code or a local number you can probably try Google's Grand Central. It is a call forwarding service that is free of charge for now. http://www.grandcentral.com. You can just enter your Magic Jack phone number, and all the other phone numbers you have (cell phone, land phone), all of your phone numbers ring at the same time when you receive a call. It comes with free voice mail, and some nice call screening features. If you have a used car salesmen that keeps calling, you can block that phone number so they get a recording the number is disconnected. I suppose this isn't the type of forum to be discussing this stuff. I thought I would buzz in and give you the information about Grand Central and the Magic Jack Forum.. Hope this helps out everyone..

[JustaMom]

Yes, I'm new, This is my first post, and I'm sorry, I really don't follow basketball. I'm here because I ran across info on magicjack and wanted to do research on it. You know the saying: sounds too good to be true.... I've been lurking on all the chats I could, to read what people are saying about the device. Since I'm a stay at home mom, saving money is important. Ok, based on what I've read from a variety of sites, I decided to order a magicjack based on the fact that it seems to get more good reviews than bad. I also had reason to contact their customer service regarding my order. Customer service is the pits. The company obviously outsources, and I'm betting the reason customer service is available only on-line is because the operators probably have really heavy accents. They no doubt are working off scripts. In any case, the company is attempting to keep costs down and as a consumer who appreciates a nearly free service,, I hope my customer service needs are null after I receive the device. Well here goes $40, wish me luck.

[Man In Black]

I love the fricken thing. It works fine for me.

[MiaWeather]

I happened to find this forum via Google (thanks).

I haven't ordered the MJ yet, still trying to gather information.

Concerns I have before purchase (in no order of importance):
1) Will my area code be available. As with others, I don't want to make my (cheap) friends pay LD for a call to me.
2) Will MJ work with my anti-virus, or is that just an installation issue?
3) Will MJ work with my wireless phone? I will continue with local service if I lose mobility: I do not wish to be tethered to my PC.
4) Is technical support as bed as the postings here state?

The current BBB information on MJ LP:
Cmpl Type of Response
44 Making a full refund, as the consumer requested
1 Making a partial refund
29 Agreeing to perform according to their contract
1 Refusing to make an adjustment
1 Refuse to adjust, relying on terms of agreement
0 Unanswered
31 Unassigned
107Total

BBB Composite Grade: D
Magic Jack LP PO Box 6846 West Palm Beach, FL 33405
Magic Jack LP 5700 Georgie Ave West Palm Beach, FL 33405

Like the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true . . . I'm waiting on this one. For now. I'm letting a friend test this first.

Thanks to all for postings. I will check back for responses.

BTW: Would it be too much to ask for the first or second pick in the upcoming draft? First to last in 2 seasons. It hurts to think.

[Slydragon]

Crazy view count on this thread.

[ashbeeigh]

I love the fricken thing. It works fine for me.

I value your input above any other of these other "1 posts" people.

Thank you. If I ever needed the service I would take your opinion into consideration.

[JustaMom]

Ok,,, I ordered and got the device really quick! They charged my credit card even though I thought I was to get the "30 trial". After attempting to talk with Chat, they said someone from the accounting dept will contact me via email in 24-48 hours.
Someone emailed me back the next day, anyway after several emails back and forth, (We emailed several times, which ended up being quicker than the on line chat), I stated that I needed the 30 days because so far the device hasn't worked properly.
Then the responder stated he could help me with install and asked for my phone number and that he'd call me back at a designated time. He called me back! And since I was short on time when he called he said to either email him or call him back tomorrow (today) when I was ready to work on my computer. Weird!!!! Especially when I had contacted chat several times, and I swear, those people are not from our planet.
Here's the status right now.
--The MJ seems to work great on my really old laptop.
--The MJ doesn't work on my more up-to-date laptop.
--My charge card has already been charged, and I'm not just talking about a "temporary" charge.
--I actually talked with a real person who sounded like they knew what they were talking about.
--If you have a prize-fight bout coming up and need to get worked up or just feel too good about yourself on any one day, you can contact MJ chat. They will get you frustrated in record time.

So far, I'm continuing hope that this will be a good product once the bugs are worked out.

[JustaMom]

Oh, and I forgot. The MJ website lists the area codes that are available. I found mine! But,, when I went to register the device, my area code was not available! Again, after a worthless and timely "chat" session, they finally told me that they were out of numbers in my area code and that "engineers are working on it" . Like I'm supposed to believe that? I think they just told me that because I wouldn't let the issue rest since their web site claimed it had my area code "active". They said to check back in a few days. I won't hold my breath.

[mopar61]

Just received mine. Plugged it in, signed in, and started using it. Awesome! I had been paying almost 40.00 month for charter VOIP with fees and taxes. This is saving me 460.00 per year. Plus you get a cool contact book with the software. Voice quality is as good as my charter cable VOIP. Im buying 2 more for a couple friends overseas, but international calls are 2 cents. Canada is free.
This is the best 40 dollars Ive ever spent. The website says it is averaging 20,000 new accounts per day right now, and with Vonage on its last financial leg, this could sink their boat. Good riddance. The 40 bucks a month im saving fills my gas tank.

[danman]

Does someone with a lot of posts have this and would like to share their experiences? These new people...I can't really take their opinion on it without a grain of salt. I know, I'm new too, but I'm not pimping for the Magic Jack. All I know is I saw this cheaply done infomercial about it and I was interested. More interested than I was with John Basedow's, "Fitness Made Simple" at least.

I'm a Knicks fan. Pretty much just waiting for the lottery and the search for what coach will be fired next. Sigh.

[Slydragon]

Just received mine. Plugged it in, signed in, and started using it. Awesome! I had been paying almost 40.00 month for charter VOIP with fees and taxes. This is saving me 460.00 per year. Plus you get a cool contact book with the software. Voice quality is as good as my charter cable VOIP. Im buying 2 more for a couple friends overseas, but international calls are 2 cents. Canada is free.
This is the best 40 dollars Ive ever spent. The website says it is averaging 20,000 new accounts per day right now, and with Vonage on its last financial leg, this could sink their boat. Good riddance. The 40 bucks a month im saving fills my gas tank.

Ok it's ended with a Go Spurs Go flag but the team under his user name says Bobcats. spammer

[Jim C]

I must say that when I received MJ 3 weeks ago I was excited and impressed. I purchased it for the purpose of using it in trips overseas and follow up communication. My next trip to China was great! MJ worked after a little help and upgrade for Vista. I made local calls in China and calls to US. The calls had intermittent glitches in reception on about 40-50 % of the calls, but what the Hay. I found that it works better using handset than the computer mic and speakers. When I returned to the US I was disappointed that I could not call my contacts in the Guangdong province in China to follow up on the visit. I bought overseas minutes from MJ but only got a message “You have 500 minutes, your call is being routed please wait.” A 3 tone busy signal bleeped and then dead air. After several minutes I gave up. I tried several more times with the same number and other numbers in China. This area is on the mainland across the harbor from Hong Kong and the province has the largest industrial areas in Southern China and a population of approx 30+ million people. Not exactly the boonies, I relaxed and got on line with MJ support, after all they were a great help during my Vista upgrade. Of course I first tried the same numbers on my cell phone and land line with no problems. Since I only have a time slot to call after 5:00pm PDT I tried again the next day and 2 days thereafter logging in 5 hours of effort and 4 online help sessions. I got the impression that the help people were not in the US and did not have the clearest understanding of everyday US speak, but he tried and after it was obvious the first session was getting nowhere. I asked to have a senior tech call the next day. The response from ‘Chris’, “let’s try restarting your computer.” End of session.
Initiated another session and got ‘Christine’ and went through the whole routine again. ‘Christine’ was not as forgiving as ‘Chris’ and tried to tell me I was dialing wrong or it was the fault of the phone number I was calling or the system is not suitable for MJ. I replied that other phones worked fine and I have tried number in Hong Kong Guangzhou and Shenzhen. It is inconceivable that MJ would not have a handle on a region covering thousands of square miles of heavily populated area and two countries considering Hong Kong ‘s infrastructure is separate from Mainland China. I refuse to believe that this is a problem which cannot be easily fixed! If I need to do something different or change a setting, fine. Tried 2 more times on 2 computers talked to senior and twice senior techs which were no more informed than the others. I was then told that I was on a router that needed to be reset to accept the use of certain ports. Now I have to bring in an IT guy to see if that works? Each of the last 3 sessions I begged that they have someone triple senior call me and got promises that someone would each time. I had the ports enabled , but was tod it was dangerous and may allow intruders through my firewall. That also did not work, although it took longer before I got the bleeps and dead air. I gave up. After sending 2 e-mails through the MJ website with no response I started checking out how I could get my money back for the pre-paid overseas minutes and found nothing. I considered returning MJ and signing up with one of the other services. Wrong! You have to send it back in its original package which my secretary was kind enough to dispose of while tidying up when I was overseas. So now I can only say that I hope they get their act together because I can only use 50% of the intended use I budgeted for MJ. Also read the fine print, there is NO warrentee or guarantee that MJ will work at all! So beware, save your box and take your chances for 3 weeks then send it the back if it does not satisfy your needs. Good Luck
Jim

[fred garvin]

magic jack is not very good to me

[BCarter]

Oh boy. I should have come here BEFORE ordering this thing...and I don't even have it yet!

Let me explain...yes, I got sucked in. I ordered one...on their free trial, no less.

Guess what happened today? They BILLED my card for it AND their $50.00 5 year plan! HUH???? While trying their "live chat" to ask about this, I got "mysteriously disconnected" every time I asked a question about the billing problem. Coincidence? Doubt it!

I'll post again when (IF) I get the darn thing and IF it is real. Yes, I am new here, yes this is my first post. I am nervous about this one, as they have NO customer service NUMBER and they give no company address. BOTH are VISA/MasterCard processing violations. I know...I'm stupid...fell for this one.

Be careful if you haven't ordered one yet.

BCarter
Kentucky

[jgordop]

Hi,

First off, I do not work for Magic Jack or have any financial interest in the company. But I sure hope they stay in business.

I bought my Magic Jack in February and love it. So much so that I just bought a 4 year extension for about $50, it used to be about $20 per year. That gives me 5 years of local and long distance phone service for under $100. By the way I did the free trial and was not charged until the trial period expired.

I am using an area code from the area where most of my relatives live so that they can call me with a local phone number, since they have expensive long distance charges with their phone company.

The only problem I ever had was low volume which you can adjust by opening the program on your computer.

I have used the online chat and it worked for me, (the volume problem), their folks were friendly and helpful.

I think most of the problems were with earlier versions of the product. They started supporting MAC in January, if that is what you are using. They don't currently support LINUX, I was thinking of getting a LINUX based OS but will not unless they start supporting it.

I use Windows Vista with DSL high speed internet and have no complaints.

I have everyone who comes over try it and everyone loves it. My wife says they should be paying me royalties for being their best salesman. I even recommended this product to some retired friends living overseas and they are now ordering it. They just got their high speed internet service and were previously using internet cafe's. They have been spending well over $1000 a year on calls back to the US.

I am cancelling my land line phone and going to use Magic Jack and my cell phone exclusively.

My phone company charges an extra $10 per month for DSL without phone service. I currently pay about $60 a month for telephone service, so Magic Jack will be saving me over $500 per year + I will be able to call my overseas friends for free when they get their Magic Jacks.

Hope this helps

[onlyme]

i included this site as part of my research into magic jack 60 days ago. i guess there will always be people who dislike some product but i have found the phone to be great as just my home phone. i have free long distance and lots of minutes on my cell phone but its a great back up.
i used net phone back in the day before anybody even heard of VOIP. that program was crap but free. i admit i had a few glitches he first week i bought it. sound quality was bad, not the easiest to set up my voicemail and then suddenly it didnt work. but all new technology has some glitches.....remember when windows first came out?? since my first week of useage, i have not had a single problem with this phone....and i leave my computer on all day long. if it seems to be slow or the phone quality isnt what i am used to then i just unplug the usb device and then plug it right back in.....its the same thing you do when your computer sits too long....if anybody is on the fence about getting this thing, then just email me and i will give you my magic jack phone number and you can see the quality....i dont work for them at all, but i have found enough value in this system to promote it to all my friends and family!

[BCarter]

OK. I've only been using the Magic Jack for today so I'm not heavily experienced. However: Here are my observations...good and bad:

The GOOD STUFF: Call Quality: Quite good! Some phones you call are "over modulated" sounding...they sound distorted but understandable. I only have this problem with one relative's AT&T Cell Phone but the rest have been good! Calls come in just fine as well. THAT part is good! Overall I would rate teh sound quality somewhere between acceptable and quite good. When you get a voicemail message, the service emails you with a message. It has a player inside the email and you can actually listen to the message as a wave file from your email. That's cool!

The Bad: I keep having an voicemail issue. I call it from the phone hooked to the Magic Jack and get the greeting and get into it. When I call it from any other phone, I get complete silence...no greeting plays and it starts recording in about 10 seconds. About 2 times out of 10 the voicemail DOES pick up and give the greeting message and take messages just fine.

The Customer Service in my experience so far SUCKS! When I tried the live chat deal when they billed me right away for the "free trial period" AND their 5 year platinum plan, we "mysteriously" kept losing our chat session as noted in my first post. SO, I tried again with the voicemail issue. You know the definition of insanity? You keep trying something the same way expecting a different result...fits here. SAME result! Explain problem, get "I see, I understand..." then get disconnected! GRRR!! No number to call for hep either.

I AM going to keep it and get a phone with a built in answering machine and forget their voicemail until they get their bugs worked out. The MAIN bug I would like to see worked out is their absolutely lousy customer service! If they get the bugs and customer service stuff worked out, they will have an absolutely phenomenal product!

[jbspur]

I finally got my Magic Jack phone number for my city. Guess what---Everyone making a call to me using my "local" Magic Jack number has to dial in using long distance. I contacted Magic Jack via live chat & they gave me the run around and around and around..... So--- All of my incoming callers must use long distance no matter where they live. If you want to use your Magic Jack for local sevice, your friends will be payibg for it for you! How underhanded can you get? Everone check this out. It is true for me. Is it true for you?

jbspur

[jjnla]

MagicJack does not live up to it's advertising and customer service is so feeble it has to be a joke. Anybody who reads the positive statements should be able to tell they are "ads" for MagicJack. Unfortunately the company behind MajicJack want's your money and doesn't care about if you get what you paid for. Customer service or honesty in advertising is not an important issue for this product. They have been taking advantage of the consumer since day one and nothing has changed but the amount of advertising. They are working hard to increase visibility to get your money.

In short, Magic Jack is a good con-job but doesn't deliver on it's promise.

Remember if it sounds to good to be true, chances are it is!

[sara518]

I have a Magic Jack. I got it a month ago on the free trial. I have been using it daily.......works fine for me. I didn't get charged until my 30 day free trial was over. for people who are getting charged more then the 39.00 are probably not paying attention when going through the sign up process. It asks you if you want to buy more years ect. If you don't tell it no you will get charged. I was very careful to read every single page entirely before moving on. So far I have had no problems. I'm going to be buying one for a friend overseas.

[bighooch]

What a pile of crap! The Magic Jack is a half ass attempt at being something it's not. The device's performance is spotty at best. I have the highest available ATT Broadband service and the thing still works intermittently...when it's even working. IT'S JUNK!!! Oh, and don't bother trying to get technical support...sticking bicycle spokes in your eyes is less painful. Don't waste your time or money...or if you must spend, save money and get the next best thing...two cups and a string. If you still refuse to heed this warning you can buy my Magic Jack on eBay.

do you still work work at att