Version: 2008

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Comments on: Get unlimited local and long-distance calling for 20 bucks a year

The MagicJack plugs into any USB port and lets you make unlimited calls using a handset or headset. It's $40 for the hardware and first year, $20 for each year after that.

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by CLEARPROP November 6, 2008 5:03 AM PST
I bought the Magic Jack product about 2 months ago. At the time I received the product, I was very sick, so I did not get a chance to try it for about 4 weeks. When I finally installed the Magic Jack, I was very disappointed in it. The audio is very bad and choppy. It sounds like part of each word is been dropped. The person who I am talking to says the same thing. I have chatted with the online support several time for a total of about 4 hours. The problem has not been resolved. I think you are talking to a computer. I asked to speak to a live person on the phone and was told that this is not possible. Can anybody help me. I am very flustrated with the lack of live help
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by January 5, 2009 6:28 AM PST
Could it be you dont have high speed internet.This is a requirement.This could very well explain the choppyness in phone communication?
by cpterry November 17, 2008 1:05 PM PST
I only own a MAC, will the gadget work for me? Do I need special software to make it work? I'm presently running mac OS 10.5.5 I do not have windows installed on this computer. Anyone ?????
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by pbduke November 21, 2008 7:49 AM PST
Wow, I love the idea of having a device I can call from my laptop anywhere.. I read all the reviews, including the good reviews. I should have known that people only write bad reviews and good reviews are mostly by the tech guys working at MagicJack. I got my first device directly from MagicJack and still having problem getting it to work. I went through four online live tech folks and still haven't got it working. At the moment, the tech person Crissa says she refreshed my network connection at their server and for me to reboot and restart the entire process of format and upgrade etc.... As I recalled last night I was talking with Tech call Quinton, he told me their server is down for routine maintenance after having difficulty getting my problem revolved. I will send a follow up comment if I have any success... At this point, I recommend STAY AWAY FROM MAGICJACK. It's not what it cracked up to be. I don't know how they managed to advertise all the magazine reviews raving about their product.. Maybe, it's the concept that was raved about? I don't know> I will give it my best effort to get it to run. I have my doubts at this point.
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by graphicsandgraphics November 22, 2008 9:17 PM PST
I was reading about MJ and since I live in Italy, but all my relatives are in the US I thought I'd try it, but I have a question, if some one knows the answer please, I have been told in the MJ chat that I can call the US for free, but what I wanted to know, is if I choose the same area code of my relatives do they have to pay if they call me? does anyone know? I have been reading all reviews but some are confusing, they say that in order to receive calls they have to pay unless they also have magic jack, but I am not sure about this, I think that if they have the same area code they should shouldn't pay just as if we where in the same area. does anyone know?
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by dilbert3k December 28, 2008 9:19 AM PST
This product is a great scam. Here is the basic method of the scam.

For the first 30-90 days you will have decent phone quality. Sure it wont be the best, but at this price who cares. The problem is this state wont last.

After 30-90 days they drop your account from the top tier priority and the problems really start to kick in. You find that you can not dial out more often then not (No lines available) and your friends will tell you they always get a busy tone when they try to call you.
Also when you do get lucky enough to make a call you will get 1 way voice (You can hear them, but they cant hear you) and random disconnects.

So shortly after the 90 days you give up. But by that time they have your money, and odds are you helped them gain several more customers by recommending this wonder product to all your friends.

Don't believe me? Then just try the product for 90 days before you tell anyone else to get it. At least that way you wont feel so bad when it goes to hell.
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by BrbBob85 February 2, 2009 2:16 PM PST
Sorry but using MJ for over 300 days without a problem! Same goes for my friends who also have one for almost a year now. For The problem you have think "MICROSOFT" or junk you have collected on your PC not Magic jack!
by December 28, 2008 6:42 PM PST
I live in Wis an have no problem calling locally or long distance.
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by December 28, 2008 6:43 PM PST
I use my regular house phone.
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by sterlingk31 January 7, 2009 5:22 AM PST
I live in the caribbean, can I benefit from this product.
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by tyger63 January 11, 2009 10:26 PM PST
I love my magic jack since i only use it for bill collectors and such..but my cd/dvd burnware will not work untill i unplug magicjack then the entire time it takes to burn a disk im without phone service...and i heard that magicjack wont work with the new windows 7..does anyone know if there will be a fix for this
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by dflake January 20, 2009 8:39 AM PST
I really like MJ. It works !!! I use it on my laptop and on my home PC. I use it on a wireless and a hardwired network and it works great. I have been using it for a few months now and all is good. Good bye local phone service.
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by bearbear4u February 18, 2009 6:25 PM PST
I purchased a majic jack in august of 2008. It worked pretty good at first. Then MajicJack offer a software upgrade! I upgraded. The quailty went down from there. It crashed my laptop 2 times. I sent it to the repair shop for repair. I lost everything almost. My laptop had to be rebuilt. The first time When I got my laptop back. I tryed to reinstall the majicJack. With in a week it crashed my laptop again. I contacted MajicJack about this through there live chat. I ask for a refund. They said NO REFUND!!!!! They did offer a replacement. Which I explained, I was scared that the product may crash my laptop again. All I ask for was my fee that I was charged for the majicJack. I was denied a refund. I think this Product needs to be improved, But Most of all the majicjack customer service needs MORE IMPROVEMENT. The live chat person was very polite. I wont take that away from him. But There policies are Not good for the customer. I thought my request was resonable!!! I didnt ask them to pay for a crashed laptop bill. Which I was charged 2 times for. Its a shame we pay for Product that cause damage to or PC/ laptops and the makers of these devises wont offer anything But a replament that will probaly crash your laptop or PC again.

Not A Happy MAJICJACK CUSTOMER
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by garyh99 February 20, 2009 11:18 AM PST
I've had MJ for some time now. I can place and receive calls with no problems. The quality of calls is as good as my voip system. The only problem is with the caller id. Caller info shows up on the MJ software, but does not show up on my phone. i've had MJ connected to 3 different PCs, used a powered usb hub, tried 4 different handsets, and still no caller id. All of the handsets show caller id when connected to my voip service, but not when connected to MJ.

I talked to their tech people via their live chat problem, but they could not solve the problem. They insisted the problem was on my end. Finally, they agreed to send me a replacement MJ. Hopefully that works. I want to get rid of my voip and use MJ, but i want caller id on my handset, not just on my PC. I'm not always at my PC when the phone rings.

For me, MJ rates 7 out of 10. Tech support rates 1 out of ten.
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by garyh99 February 20, 2009 11:24 AM PST
As for the Mac, MJ will only work on an Intel Mac. It will not work on the previous PowerPC or early G5s that run on the motorola powerpc chip
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by Zed350 February 25, 2009 1:41 AM PST
I just wanna comment that MJ doesn't offer unlimited calls. A lot of people including a friend of mine got their service cut. They were informed that because they've been using their MagicJack for so many minutes, they got cut off. Now I think there's a fair usage context on MJ website. The only problem is, no one knows what is fair and what is not. Even customer support at MJ can not answer the question.

Good thing I didn't jumped the MJ bandwagon and I sticked to my Onesuite calling card and voip service provider. It's not as cheap as MJ but it surely has less problems.
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by Garou March 29, 2009 7:36 AM PDT
The only thing I wish for with Magic Jack is that it had NIC interface instead of or at least as alternate to the USB that way I could just tie it into my router and not have to tie up a PC with this. PC only its a great gimmick for an occasional long distance call but to be used as a full time phone system Its a bit of an annoyance.

Granted It shouldn't be used as an actual replacement for your existing phones as you will not have access to 911 if your network is down but it makes for a great second line for home or home business.
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by leobarillas April 24, 2009 9:04 PM PDT
I bought my MagicJack 6 months ago and I love it!! I make a lot of long distance calls across the USA. I can fax and receive faxes on my All-IN-One Canon MX310 with no problems. I have saved $480 in the six month that I have used my MagicJack . I almost listen to the bad reviews, and I almost did not order the MagicJack. I am so glad that I gave a chance. I have recommended it to other family and friends, and they too are very satisfied with it. I took my old lap top and MagicJack and a cheap corded phone on a trip across USA and I used them at places where they had free wireless internet to make free phone calls. Why should I use my valuable minutes on my cell? Hip, Hip Hip Hurray for MagicJack!!! Leo
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by ldonal May 29, 2009 5:41 PM PDT
I am interested in purchasing the MJ. But I want to make sure that I can print and fax. I have a Hp psc all in one printer. Is the magic jack compatible with all printers?
by moukiman October 12, 2009 7:49 PM PDT
Leo, Please help me. I have been working all weekend on my canon Mx310 and I could not get it to fax using the Magicjack. What setting did you use? Thanks. Thomas
by luiferusa October 26, 2009 7:06 PM PDT
Leo, I tried to set up my canon mx310 to use as a fax with a mj but it doesn't work, what i have to do? please could you give me some advices
by soulchild43 July 3, 2009 6:16 AM PDT
Can your block a number?
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by smullins85 August 26, 2009 11:02 AM PDT
I bought a Magic Jack in March 2009 specifically to make work phone calls from home. The largest part of my work phone calls are to conference calls that other people set up. On 8/24/2009, Magic Jack stopped allowing access to conference call numbers. This limitation was not present when I purchased the device and initial one year subscription. I would expect that they would either extend access to conference numbers for the remainder of the first service year to people who have already signed up or offer to refund their money. When I attempted to run this by Magic Jack support, they would not help me at all. This is terrible planning and service and borders on fraud and false advertising.
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by josuepm August 28, 2009 7:57 PM PDT
i hade the magickjack for a little over a mont, i read all the coments before i go and get it ok, but now that i have the magickjack i find out that it has a real i mean real bad voice quality some times or better said most all the time in my case, y have to go to costumer support like 3 times a week behind the same issue ok, my issue is real bad chopy voice, also when somebody on the other end talk i hear like it repite really bad (like hello llo llo loo you get the point) and also it dosen't make te call sometimes but other than that is ok, now is up to you if you gonna give a try good luck i say and if somebody know how to fix this jack for good please i need that help i was thinking to go back to my old phone company or get a cell phone
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by September 7, 2009 8:41 AM PDT
Do not have like yahoo messenger running in the back ground.This I find effects magic jack sound quality.Go to cnet and find the free program called eusing free registry cleaner.Its a free download.Theres another one called free windows registry cleaner.I run both these programs every time I turn my computer back on again.Than I go to the menue on screen an chose menue than advanced users an chose run magic jack fix. This takes me to there download site which I click upon.For me I have my machine set so the down load appears upon my desk top.I than find the download upon my desk top an click upon it to run the down load.Keep in mind when goin to there site to chose the correct down load as for windows XP or Vista I run windows XP home edition,I find I have very few problems.Some times when I make a call there might be an echo effect, I than tell my party I just called, that I need to recall them. This usually fixes the echo problem. I hope this is of some help. I have had this device now for 8 months an I am happy with it.
by cillar September 12, 2009 11:12 AM PDT
I installed MagicJack on my WinXPSP3 AMD desktop yesterday. After a 30 minute learning curve, it works great! I performed maintenance first - repaired reg, etc. and deleted junk files with IOBIT Advanced System Care to assure a smooth install and head off potential problems, I haven't tried the speakerphone function yet but I will head for CNET to find user's solutions! Thank you all!
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