Has anyone here tried magicJack or other VOIP services?

[usually_quiet]

I am thinking of discontinuing my current long-distance phone service and dialup internet service and going with high-speed internet from my cable provider (Comcast) and the magicJack VOIP device.

I have come to the conclusion that I need something more than 24kbps for basic web-surfing and the modest amount of program downloading that I do and this is one way that I have come up with to fit an upgrade into my budget. magicJack has received a lot of favorable coverage in the media. I have looked for comments from users, and that has been a little sparse, but predominantly negative (although that is what one expects to see with user reviews). If anyone here has used it, what do you think? I'd also be interested in hearing about other low cost VOIP services available to people living in the US.

[SquirrelDip]

http://www.cia.com - they're breaking into the US but I think still bigger in Canada. They provide my internet and main home phone. Their support sucks but they're really cheap ($40 per month for internet and unlimited local phone - most larger cities are free long distance).

Trixbox, http://www.trixbox.org/ Little difficult to get fully running but extremely powerful. I have a setup running in a VMWare virtual machine on my home server.

http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-VOIP+Service+Providers for info and providers.

[usually_quiet]

Thanks for your reply, SquirrelDip, especially the link to the VOIP info website. I did not expect to find there are so many companies doing this. I have a lot of research to do. The local service offered isn't important because I need to keep local phone service via a normal land line.

[thecoalman]

If you're simply surfing and occasionally downloading some larger files look into cheaper DSL first. The speeds offered for cable really aren't necessary for most people and you won't need it for VOIP. I'll let you in on the big secret, most of the sites you visit don't serve files that fast. shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... The only real big advantage you get with cable is upload speed.

Typically I get about 300KB/s on about 50% of the downloads I make. 20% is probably below that, another 20% up around 600KB/s. Roughly 10% might top 1000KB/s, usually the biggies like MS.

For reference 300KB/s is approx. 3000kbps, about half the regular Comcast plan. I've seen DSL advertised as fast as 1500kbps but typically 768kbps.

[usually_quiet]

Thanks for the advice, thecoalman. I have been looking into DSL plans too. Verizon is offering one now for 768kbps service that is almost too good to resist, and the regular price is not terrible either.

Sadly not all DSL service is cheaper than cable. Comcast's basic cable internet service is about the same as the regular price for my current dialup provider's DSL service once the contract for their introductory offer is over.

[MeDiCo_BrUjO]

I have a Magic Jack and it rocks. Unlimited calls to the US and Canada in/out for $19.95 a year... you can't beat that!. (You have to buy the MJ first of course and that is $35 with the first year included).

[thecoalman]

Comcast's basic cable internet service is about the same as the regular price for my current dialup provider's DSL service once the contract for their introductory offer is over.

If that is the case then I think getting cable is a no brainer. DSL howevwer would be worth it if it was half the price and they were offering reasonable speeds.

[Conquest10]

I'll let you in on the big secret, most of the sites you visit don't serve files that fast.

That's true. Some sites do offer pretty fast speeds.

I choose Comcast for the price and reliability. AT&T was more expensive than Comcast but I hear they dropped their rates to like $15/month. Still not enough for me. It would be way more for me to switch as AT&T would have to replace all the wiring in my house because there is something wrong and AT&T could not figure out where the problem was so that was the only solution they could come up with. Of course, they would have to charge for that service since its not their fault. Comcast does not charge for those sort of things.

[thecoalman]

I'll let you in on the big secret, most of the sites you visit don't serve files that fast.

That's true. Some sites do offer pretty fast speeds.

That's really a "depends" situation. For example I'm on a VPS which is similar to a shared environment except I get root access, its like having a dedicated server except a lot cheaper with less resources. If a site is hosted on shared server or VPS you're sharing resources with other sites. If you get unlucky and get on one of these machines with many active sites the performance for your site will suffer. In the case of a VPS you might only have 20 clients on machine but each of those clients can have as many sites on there they want as long as they don't tax it too much. Shared hosting and you might have hundreds or even thousands on a single machine.

If you get lucky you might end up on a machine with a bunch of others just using it for storage, developement or other things that don't use a lot or resources in which case you'll have excellent performance for your own site.


Other factors include the hosting company itself, if they are stretching there overall resources you'll run into perfomance issues.

[usually_quiet]

Thanks for all your help, everyone.

I thought I should say that I decided to go with 768kbps DSL from Verizon, which will ready in a few days, assuming my phone lines are OK. The price really was too good to resist. $19.99 installation fee. 1 month free service. The next 5 months for $12.99/month, after that, 6 months for $17.99/month. Regular price thereafter is $19.99/month.

My current 24kbps dial up service from AT&T is $16.99 per month. AT&T's DSL service was listed at a regular price $39.99/month on their website. Their introductory price was $19.99/month for 6 months (I think).

Comcast's price was around $42/month for cable internet. They have a 3-way package for phone, internet and digital cable service that was more attractive. Unfortunately, I have analog TV's and recording devices, and have no desire to use cable boxes. I didn't choose FIOS service from Verizon for the same reasons I didn't go with Comcast at this time.

I am glad to hear that magicJack was a good deal and works so well. I am still leaning strongly in that direction for long distance service.

[Faustus]

I have a Magic Jack and it rocks. Unlimited calls to the US and Canada in/out for $19.95 a year... you can't beat that!. (You have to buy the MJ first of course and that is $35 with the first year included).

What would keep someone from buying a magicjack here and sending it to a friend over seas?

[thecoalman]

What would keep someone from buying a magicjack here and sending it to a friend over seas?

I'd imagine they would only be able to connect to landline for those in the US and Canada? Couldn't imagine any other restrictions unless they awere blocking IP's from those countries then its nothing more than a paper weight.

[Faustus]

What would keep someone from buying a magicjack here and sending it to a friend over seas?

I'd imagine they would only be able to connect to landline for those in the US and Canada? Couldn't imagine any other restrictions unless they awere blocking IP's from those countries then its nothing more than a paper weight.

Exactly. So in theory at least it would work. I mean it would be like they had a US phone number right?

[Lucifers_Ghost]

I was just looking at the site. In the section for available area codes, it doesnt show any in Canada. However, if I go to the ordering page, I can order it and have it shipped to Canada.

Can it actually be used for calls originating from Canada?

[thecoalman]

I could be wrong but you most likely could use it from any location in the world to call any phone numbers they have available. Don't see why it would be any different unless of course they block incoming IP's outside of the country.

One of the issues and this is most definitely going to come up in the future is you have to depend on the ISP, they are already blocking P2P. there's probably something in that 600 million line AUP that says you can't use it for that. If you ever sit down and read them they really are quite restrictive. Most of it is never enforced.

[MeDiCo_BrUjO]

What would keep someone from buying a magicjack here and sending it to a friend over seas?

I'd imagine they would only be able to connect to landline for those in the US and Canada? Couldn't imagine any other restrictions unless they awere blocking IP's from those countries then its nothing more than a paper weight.

Exactly. So in theory at least it would work. I mean it would be like they had a US phone number right?

As a matter of fact, I sent a Magic Jack to my mother and my brother in Ecuador and now they have a US number assigned, just like if they had a landline. We can talk for free everyday if we like. They can dial to any phone number in the USA and Canada for free 24/7 and receive calls (of course) too.
I've traveled overseas and I always take my MJ with me, ergo, my phone number goes with me everywhere I go. My wife and daughters can call me anytime for free on my trips

[SquirrelDip]

About every 6 months I get a phone call from the local telephone company telling me they've got an increadable deal - trying to get me to dump my Voip and go back to POTS...

Deal they offer is a telephone bundle with internet and about 5 to 7 cents per minute for long distance - all together it's generally around $70 for the first 3 months then between $95 and $100...

Then I ask about details... So, what kind of bandwidth will I get... 1.5Mbps down / 256 kbps up... But I currently get 20Mbps down and 1Mbps up... Oh...

You're asking 7 cents a minute for long distance? I currently get 3 cents plus most major cities are free... Oh...

And I'm paying $40 per month and have been for the last 3 years - staying at $40 for as long as I know... Oh...

So, how is your deal a good deal? Seems it's better for you than me...

[usually_quiet]

It's not just the cost of the service. Phone companies and their hidden fees and taxes drive me up the wall.

I had dialup from three providers over the past 12 years, and the basic service charge was the sum total of my bill. Today, I got my first bill for Verizon DSL. It includes a "tax recovery fee" which was not disclosed when I ordered my service, although I asked about additional fees. They are charging this fee on the "free first for the 30 days of service". The amount they are charging looks to be less than $1 a month, which isn't much to complain about, but I wonder what other little surprises await me. With the cost of energy rising, I half expect to see some kind of fuel surcharge somewhere down the line.

...And my fist 30 days aren't really free either, they are charging me for the first 13 days, since I began service in the middle of the month. It's the next 30 days that are free, but by the end of that, it's too late to cancel the contract without penalty. I should have gone with my first impression that I can't trust these people

The connection speed is a great improvement over dialup, but it turns out it's only the minuimum 100kbps for my plan.

[Lucifers_Ghost]

So I just purchased me a magic jack. Should be here this coming week.

I'll let you know how it works out :P

[Lucifers_Ghost]

UPDATE: Well it works. Quite well. Except that since there are no area codes available in Canada, everything incoming is long distance to the USA.

Outgoing works reallllly well though.

Is it the CRTC that is preventing the company from using area codes within canada?

[Lucifers_Ghost]

Quick question for those of you who have a magic jack.

Can it be plugged into a usb hub and have it still work? Or does it have to be plugged into a pc?

[MeDiCo_BrUjO]

I've never tried that, I just have it in my PC all the time. It's always on anyways!.

[Lucifers_Ghost]

I cant seem to get it to work on my pc. I plug in the magic jack and the software loads up. I make a call and about 10 seconds into the call, my pc freezes. Strange thing is that it works on the gf's laptop. Bizarre.

We have a few usb devices (magic jack, printer, cameras, etc, etc) that we always have to plug and unplug so I was thinking about getting a usb hub. Thats where the question originated.

[MeDiCo_BrUjO]

I think there should be no problem with that. I have almost all my usb ports busy all the time and it works perfectly on my pc.
I've never seen a MJ freeze a PC before; when was the last time you had a clean OS install on your PC?

[yoda313]

I have a question. Is there a failsafe if the power goes out?

That is the main thing stopping me from signing up to any version of voip. Even though Magic Jack isn't technically voip since it hops onto a real network after getting started online.

What I am wondering also is how easy is it to hook up the other phones to this device besides the closest one to the physical unit? You know the other phones you have plugged into the wall?

I checked the faq's and it says something about going to your main incoming phone box and doing something to it. That sounds a little scary to me.

Are there any "non traditional" phone companies that can replace your current provider with using the actual existing phone cable and not involve voip or alternatives that rely on a powered device - either a computer or freestanding router?

[MeDiCo_BrUjO]

If the power goes out you are stuck. You may have a UPS but unless you have everything plugged into it (Router, wireless modem, any deveice you may have to receive/broadcast the internet signal at your place), the service will stop until the power is restored.
If you would like to use MJ as your main line for the house, you could buy one of those 3-4 or whatever number of cordless telephones you might need and spread them through the house. Or if you would like a more traditional approach (using the phone jacks from the wall), you have to place the MJ near the place where the regular phone line enters your house and replace that cable with the one coming out from the MJ box. It's nothing to be scared of.
I think it's really worth it, you can't beat unlimited incoming/outgoing long distance calls to all the US and Canada for $19.95 a year. (Damn!, they should be paying me for referrals!... lol)

As a funny note, the other day I was scheduling an appointment with the Brighthouse Tech and the girl in the phone before ending my call told me: BH:Are you aware that BH also offers phone service through your internet connection?
Me:Yes, I know, but I already have VOIP service, as a matter of fact I'm calling you from that line.
BH: and how much are you paying for it?.
Me: $19.95 a year.
BH: $19.95 A YEAR?
Me: Yes, for unlimited inc/oug calls to all the US and Canada.
BH: ........ (Yes, like 10 sec silence)
Me: Do you want me to give you the URL so you can buy one too?
BH: Oh.. no sir, thank you for using Brighthouse services.
Me: Thank you!.

LOL!

[yoda313]

Thanks medico. Actually I'm considering an alternate approach.

I'm thinking of stipping down to bare local service on the land line and using a voip like magicjack for longdistance. I'm thinking I'd switch the main phone number to the longdistance and get a "new" phone number for the landline.

I have dsl with att so it kind of limits my migration a little. however they do offer naked dsl at 35.00 a month without a phone line so that could be an option than use a voip on top of that.

But I'm thinking of the stripped down local only physical line plus voip long distance would still save tons of money. I'll have to look into how the stuff works to get "traditional" phones to work with voip. What about vonage and stuff? I see some have newer special phones. How do those work and how much are they?

[MeDiCo_BrUjO]

Vonage... I really have no idea!. I just learned that it was more expensive than MJ and that stopped me right there.

Anyone in the house using vonage??