magic jack

[YouCanToo]

Something I do not understand.

If you are using Voip you have to have access to some sort of internet connection. For example here to have DSL you must have a phone line. So what is the deal of using VOIP if I have to have a phone line to have DSL to use something like Skype? For $38.00/mo. I have unlimited calling and long distance within the US. I hae no need to call anywhere outside the US. Can anyone enlighten me why there would be a need to have VOIP?

I connect to the internet through the cable TV line. I do not have a regular phone line. Using VOIP, I speak to people around the world, as well as the US, Canada, and Mexico, and it costs me nothing extra, as long as they have a computer, and VOIP also.

I guess what I am getting at is that those that have DSL have to have a phone line, to get dsl. I understand that having cable does not require a phone line to have it. What about thos that do not have VOIP, how do you talk to them? Is there a hidden charge to do so?

[YouCanToo]

Something I do not understand.

If you are using Voip you have to have access to some sort of internet connection. For example here to have DSL you must have a phone line. So what is the deal of using VOIP if I have to have a phone line to have DSL to use something like Skype? For $38.00/mo. I have unlimited calling and long distance within the US. I hae no need to call anywhere outside the US. Can anyone enlighten me why there would be a need to have VOIP?

I have 13 VOIP numbers 2 of which are international numbers ( 1 UK and 1 Italy) neither of which are available through my local phone company. If I had to order even the 11 numbers through the phone company my bill before even making any phone calls would be close to if not over $100.00. I pay 99 cents for each U.S. number and $7.00 for the international numbers per month. It cost me only 1 cent per minute for the call. 1 number (my home number) I pay $12.00 per month with unlimited calling anywhere in the U.S. and Canada. Granted I use most of these numbers for business but the cost savings over landline phone companies is beyond comparision.

I also can multiple concurrent calls on one number that is not possible with traditional landline numbers as they only alot at maximum 2 calls with call waiting. I have had up to 10 calls at one time going off of one number.

Interesting

Personally I would never get dsl as it is much slower than cable IMO. With as many lines I have active at my desk at home (8 lines) dsl just doesn't have enough bandwidth to handle the upload needed for mulitple calls and use of the computer at the same time.

In this area the top speed of cable is 10 megs and the top DSL is also 10 megs and the DSL is by far cheaper than the cable is at the moment. Also with cable one is not suppose to run email servers, webservers and some other stuff. on DSL one can.

The dsl provider in my area is now offering the service without a phone line for $29.99 per month. If you are not a heavy phone user it would make sense in that instance to still use voip over getting the landline as the cost would be minimal regardless if you choose an unlimited or per minute plan.

At the moment it appears that CenturyTel does not offer DSL without the landline. Bummer! Perhaps if I hold my breath long enough they will offer it.

There are many companies out there offering VOIP that are way cheaper and better than those like Vonage. Companies such as Vonage are extremely expensive and service from what I hear is not that great plus you have to purchase their equipment which is locked to their service. I have spoken to people using magic jack and that alone was enough for me to steer clear.

Thanks for posting all the information. A friend of mine in Portland is thinking about buying magic jack and I am trying to convince him it is not the bast way to go.

[The_Dadu]

I used a Vonage VOIP phone connection over DSL for the last 4 years, over cable the year before (until I got rid of that !@#$$@# cable company for other reasons), and DSL in another geography for 6 months before that.  It enabled me to have a second phone line that I used for work without paying the telephone company.  Since Vonage also offers simultaneous ringing on multiple phones, I configured it to not only ring my home second line but also my cell phone.  I have recently discontinued the Vonage service in favor of Google Voice, since I was asked to join that beta and no longer need a real second line at home.  But I would recommend Vonage as a service, if you have a need for a second line.

[ElCuervo]

I used Vonage for a couple of years, too, and there are definite downsides. One of them is like all routers, the Vonage router was behind the Comcast modem, and it did a terrible job of assigning the best QOS to the phone lines; when I was downloading a Linux CD, for instance, phone calls absolutely sucked wind.

So, you're thinking, surely that could be adjusted. Me, too - until I tried calling their help service. I had heard complaints about that before, but I blew them off, since I don't mind talking to people with any kind of accent and that seemed to be the main complaint. I also take great pride in my patience; I've been on the "help" end of phone calls many, many times, so I understand the problems. All of that went out the window with Vonage help, though. Asking someone to repeat technical information over and over is frustrating enough, but when they cop an attitude (and they were quick to do so!), too, I'm done.

I switched to Comcast's Triple Play, and they have obviously stacked the deck in their favor. The voice/Internet modem for that is all one unit, and voice gets very high QOS. I never had a problem with any calls or the service - except for the ever-increasing and ridiculous Comcast prices. When my year's tryout was up, I dumped it and went to Skype.

Skype doesn't have any hidden costs: their web page give the whole story right out in the open. It's free with other Skype users, costs a monthly fee depending on where else you may want to call (7.95/month for me to make unlimited calls all over the U.S. and Canada), and a fee for a "phone number". If my PC is off, or if the number rings more than a few times, the calls roll over to my cell. The calls are 99% trouble-free, and if there's trouble, a quick call back will always clear it up. It is now my home office number, and it will be until they jack the rates up to Comcast levels!

Really, in these days of widespread mobile phones, who needs a land-line phone company? After decades of feeling totally ripped off by them going all the way back to Ma Bell, I say good riddance, and bless VOIP! Now if we could just get some real competition in the ISP world... seems to be coming, but I'm getting exponentially older every day and can't wait too much longer!

[The_Dadu]

ElCuervo,
We've had diametrically opposed experiences with Vonage.  I'm sorry you had bad experiences.  Better luck in the future.  The biggest value of Google Voice for me has been the conversion of voice messages to text that gets emailed to me.  It is far from perfect, but since I cannot listen to email attachments at work and I really can't call a voicemail service when I don't have access to an outside phone line, it gives me an idea of who the caller is and what they want.  If it is important enough, I can go out to my car and use my cell phone.

[kolosus]

All things said and done. I've got magic jack working on my install of pclinuxos. I used virtualbox to get an installation of windows. The virtualbox I used was the one from the SUN site, not the OSE from the pclos repos. Then I pointed my install of windows to the magicjack and the device works.

That being said. The call quality is not great. I've used conky to monitor what might be the bottleneck but no information at all. My cpu is not being taxed (about 80% usage). My memory is not full and neither is my swap. My bandwidth is still available. So if the device desired it could pull more resources from the computer but it doesn't and the call quality is still not all that...

I've noticed that upload is at 10kbps while download varies from 6-8kbps. Usually the outgoing voice is received good at the other end but the incoming voice is very choppy.

I've used multiple devices and they all give me the same result. I've even thought maybe if I use a dedicated XP machine instead of a XP on top of pclinux then maybe the quality would improve but that was not the case.

PS: I really need to make a wiki entry for this...

[Old-Polack]

All things said and done. I've got magic jack working on my install of pclinuxos. I used virtualbox to get an installation of windows. The virtualbox I used was the one from the SUN site, not the OSE from the pclos repos. Then I pointed my install of windows to the magicjack and the device works.

That being said. The call quality is not great. I've used conky to monitor what might be the bottleneck but no information at all. My cpu is not being taxed (about 80% usage). My memory is not full and neither is my swap. My bandwidth is still available. So if the device desired it could pull more resources from the computer but it doesn't and the call quality is still not all that...

I've noticed that upload is at 10kbps while download varies from 6-8kbps. Usually the outgoing voice is received good at the other end but the incoming voice is very choppy.

I've used multiple devices and they all give me the same result. I've even thought maybe if I use a dedicated XP machine instead of a XP on top of pclinux then maybe the quality would improve but that was not the case.

PS: I really need to make a wiki entry for this...

I tried this a year ago, with an older version of VB and with VMware, but the results were pretty much as you got. I also got an error that USB level 5 was not implemented in VB, and would be implemented in some future release. I did get fairly good results from an XP installation to hard drive, but the sound quality still was not as advertised. Magic Jack now resides in my junk drawer, as it came up for renewal, and I canceled the subscription.

[deancicca]

In this area the top speed of cable is 10 megs and the top DSL is also 10 megs and the DSL is by far cheaper than the cable is at the moment. Also with cable one is not suppose to run email servers, webservers and some other stuff. on DSL one can.

There are many things in the TOS doesn't mean you have to follow them. One of the reps from Roadrunner here in Florida told me my TOS only allowed me to run windows or mac to use their service. I promptly to him where to go and what he could do when he got there.  I've told many a people who work there I don't run windows and not once as my service been canceled for breaking their TOS. You're paying for their service as long as you are only running servers or other stuff for personal use there is nothing they can say. If however you start using up bandwidth for business purposes they can say something. There is a big difference there.

I actually upgraded to business internet in my home as the home speeds were not enough for as much as I have running. It cost only $10.00 more per month.

As for magic jack or any service that makes you buy their equipment, IMO I would steer clear. I don't like magic jack as it will not work unless connected to the pc. None of my lines go through any equpment aside of an ata. Plus I have a Linksys phone that connects into the pbx server. Any company I deal with always as an option of BYOD. Oh and no contracts, There is absolutly no need to lock yourself into a contract for any length of time. If their service was any good they wouldn't have to lock you in.

2 companies I use for numbers is vitelity and voip.ms. Both offer good services voip.ms seems to have more addons though and a bit lower prices. Customer service is really good as well. The newest feature I just love is the caller id filtering for problem customers who I don't want anylonger. When they call any of my numbers they hear a message that the number has been disconnected.    Voip.ms as added tons of features lately including q's where you can upload your own announcements. So if you don't want to spend the money on a asterisk pbx some features are free with their service.

[YouCanToo]

In this area the top speed of cable is 10 megs and the top DSL is also 10 megs and the DSL is by far cheaper than the cable is at the moment. Also with cable one is not suppose to run email servers, webservers and some other stuff. on DSL one can.

There are many things in the TOS doesn't mean you have to follow them.

Your right, one it doesn't mean that you have to follow them, but it also means that if they enforce their tos you have no right to bitch about them either, since by using their service you have effectively agreed to their TOS!

One of the reps from Roadrunner here in Florida told me my TOS only allowed me to run windows or mac to use their service. I promptly to him where to go and what he could do when he got there.  I've told many a people who work there I don't run windows and not once as my service been canceled for breaking their TOS. You're paying for their service as long as you are only running servers or other stuff for personal use there is nothing they can say.

I think if the provider really wanted to challenge you with the running of a server personal or otherwise, you might not have a rope to piss on.  Just because they haven enforced their TOS doesn't mean somewhere in the future they won't try.

If however you start using up bandwidth for business purposes they can say something. There is a big difference there.

The cable company has limits on bandwidth usage here. I do not know what happens to their customers when they exceed their usage restrictions.

I actually upgraded to business internet in my home as the home speeds were not enough for as much as I have running. It cost only $10.00 more per month.

As for magic jack or any service that makes you buy their equipment, IMO I would steer clear. I don't like magic jack as it will not work unless connected to the pc. None of my lines go through any equpment aside of an ata. Plus I have a Linksys phone that connects into the pbx server. Any company I deal with always as an option of BYOD. Oh and no contracts, There is absolutly no need to lock yourself into a contract for any length of time. If their service was any good they wouldn't have to lock you in.

2 companies I use for numbers is vitelity and voip.ms. Both offer good services voip.ms seems to have more addons though and a bit lower prices. Customer service is really good as well. The newest feature I just love is the caller id filtering for problem customers who I don't want anylonger. When they call any of my numbers they hear a message that the number has been disconnected.    Voip.ms as added tons of features lately including q's where you can upload your own announcements. So if you don't want to spend the money on a asterisk pbx some features are free with their service.

[kolosus]

If you have cable you're sharing your bandwidth with the rest of the neighborhood. Your modem has a cap but you're still sharing your bandwidth. So in peak timesIn DSL you're not sharing with anyone... but you do lose speed with distance from the main switch box. I get 300+kbps with my DSL. I'd get about the same when I was with cable... but during peak times it'd go down drastically. When school would let out about 3-4pm and weekend nights...

Those meddling kids.

[chiefjim]

All things said and done. I've got magic jack working on my install of pclinuxos. I used virtualbox to get an installation of windows. The virtualbox I used was the one from the SUN site, not the OSE from the pclos repos. Then I pointed my install of windows to the magicjack and the device works.

That being said. The call quality is not great. I've used conky to monitor what might be the bottleneck but no information at all. My cpu is not being taxed (about 80% usage). My memory is not full and neither is my swap. My bandwidth is still available. So if the device desired it could pull more resources from the computer but it doesn't and the call quality is still not all that...

I've noticed that upload is at 10kbps while download varies from 6-8kbps. Usually the outgoing voice is received good at the other end but the incoming voice is very choppy.

I've used multiple devices and they all give me the same result. I've even thought maybe if I use a dedicated XP machine instead of a XP on top of pclinux then maybe the quality would improve but that was not the case.

PS: I really need to make a wiki entry for this...

I tried this a year ago, with an older version of VB and with VMware, but the results were pretty much as you got. I also got an error that USB level 5 was not implemented in VB, and would be implemented in some future release. I did get fairly good results from an XP installation to hard drive, but the sound quality still was not as advertised. Magic Jack now resides in my junk drawer, as it came up for renewal, and I canceled the subscription.

Get Ooma from a retailer with a decent return policy.  Give it a try.  Then report back with your actual experience.

[zapjb]

Well I changed my Page Plus Cellular acct (uses Verizon Wireless network) to the Page Plus Unlimited Talk n Text + 20MB data $39.95 30 day plan. So I won't renew my MJ. But I made out great with MJ, $40 1st year & I used at least a 100hrs LD.

http://www.pagepluscellular.com/



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[stealth]

deancicca
Companies such as Vonage are extremely expensive and service from what I hear is not that great plus you have to purchase their equipment which is locked to their service.

That is totally not true! I use to use Vonage. It was much cheaper than a basic (no long distance and no other features) landline service from a standard phone company. The call quality was excellent. The equipment to use Vonage was not proprietary. It was a standard Linksys router with phone support provided free by Vonage and I used a standard phone that I used to use with my old standard landline service. I am using that router on my network still and posting this message via my computer and that data/voice router from Vonage and my cable modem. I have not used or paid for the Vonage service for a long time now.

[deancicca]

deancicca
Companies such as Vonage are extremely expensive and service from what I hear is not that great plus you have to purchase their equipment which is locked to their service.

That is totally not true! I use to use Vonage. It was much cheaper than a basic (no long distance and no other features) landline service from a standard phone company. The call quality was excellent. The equipment to use Vonage was not proprietary. It was a standard Linksys router with phone support provided free by Vonage and I used a standard phone that I used to use with my old standard landline service. I am using that router on my network still and posting this message via my computer and that data/voice router from Vonage and my cable modem. I have not used or paid for the Vonage service for a long time now.

Not in comparison to other VOIP companies out there. Sorry, but your equipment is locked to vonage. You do not get the admin password to such equipment. Being locked and being proprietary are two entirely different things. They use ATA's of which I have some former vonage ata's that I cracked with a program to unlock them from vonage. The SIP part of the ATA/Router that they give you are two entirely different aspects of the same equipment. I have a cracked RTP-300 from linksys if you do a hard reset which will revert it back to a vonage configuration will let the router side operable while blocking the SIP aspect as it is "calling home" to vonage.

Vonage charges $24.95 for the same service I pay $12.95 for through another voip company and no contract. That is double the price for the same service. Yes, that is expense. I highly suggest you google vonage complaints about how their customer service has no idea how to fix many of the compaints in regards to their service. I'm glad you were happy with them, however many many have not been. I am leery of any company that wants to "lock" you into a year or two contract before actually letting you see how well their service is.

[stealth]

your equipment is locked to vonage. You do not get the admin password to such equipment.

I do have the password and did not need to crack it.

I also did not have any contract with them. I had Vonage when it first came out. I stopped using them simply because I had no need to keep a landline or voip line. I have been operating with just a Cellular phone for the last several years.