First a description of what this is and then questions as always. MAGIC JACK is a small device that plugs into any available USB port, and provides one phone jack. It is designed to allow a phone to operate over any type of internet connection, phone modem, cable modem, satalite modem, wifi and others. The only $s are $40 for the device and $20 PER YEAR, renewable every YEAR. The service is part of that #S and includes unlimited calling in the continental US, including HAVAII and ALASKA. ONLY international is done on a pre paid mins plan. The connected computer must be powered for the JACK to work, although the monitor need not. If the tower is NOT powered the call will go to voice mail. In my case I will most likely get a small basic tower with a nic card. It will sit in a corner, it*s only function to power the JACK. No monitor attatched after I have verified the tower is fully functional. If it works as planned I can get rid of my phone co. Now the questions. Has anyone here heard of this product? Check it out at MAGIC JACK .com. What I really need to know is what the systems minimum requirements are, speed,ram, processor,nic card, ect. I would think that a small basic tower with minimum installed programs, no periferals, no disc drives will work as it*s only function is to power the JACK. I would think a firewall, and anti virus would be a good idea since the tower could be powered 24/7. Any help in getting the minimum requirements for the tower will be welcome. Pass this around. The more people who read this the better my chance of getting the answers I need.Thank you all.
Why not just use skype or msn on your pc, as long as you have a headset it's free to call other people with skype anywhere in the world.
according to my tech friend, SKYPE is more sophisticated and expensive than I need. In addition I do not like to use headphones for phonrs. I would rather use a traditional corded or cordless phonre connected directly to the jack. $20 per YEAR for unlimited service is practily FREE. close enough. I have an old small tower I can use to power the jack 24/7. No drives. minimal un needed programs, with anti virus and firewall. I have ran it in the past for days at a time and the net connection was NEVER lost. It will sit in a corner doing it*s thing. My ultimate goal is to get rid of my phone co. If there is a WIFI signal either in my building or nearby that a good reciever can oick up, I can get rid of my cable net service as well. One experiment at a time. I was told that the reciever will display how many signals are available and which are not secured. From there I pick one and the net connection is made. As long as the signal is present(24/7?), I will have a connection. If there is more than one available I will simply switch signals.
Skype doesn't cost a thing as long as you both have pcs and internet. And if you don't like headphones you can use separate mic and speakers. Have never heard of magic jack, sorry
I do use this, my wife is from another country we purchased 2 of these, I set them both up here in the states so they have a local number and purchased a phone that was to be used specifically for this over there with here family and they can call any time and she can call them without any issues because those numbers are local numbers (long distance is included in the Magic Jack) they have other family here also so they can call them as well without any issues it is all about setting it up here with a local US number and to set them up it took me less then 10mins to plug it in here to my USB it goes to the software onboard of the little USB device it loads and questions where you would like your number to be routed to and then it assigns a number to it (now you can take your number with you from your other co.) so when we went there I set up the system so they have a phone that appears to be here in the states but is actually out of the country and the other one I use here and got rid of my phone co. I haven’t paid a dime as I paid for service for 5 yrs and even that was cheap and even better it has an answering service, call ID, call waiting. The device is $40, the only down side I have heard is that the tech support is via email, you don’t talk to nobody, I had no issues with setup so I didn’t need them to help me. Hope this helps
geosoren-- Thank you for the info. I was hoping to hear from an independent user with good things to say. You certainly did that. Who do you use for your internet? Is the phone # assigned a local one, as in my current #? Does this come with an install disc that walks the user through the set up easily? Are there any restrictions? Is it really $20 per YEAR? You are right about support, no phone, although email and a chat session on their site. I have chatted with them 3 times, very knowledgeable and friendly. Do you keep your computer powered 24/7 or only when you wish to use it? If the tower is off the call goes to voice mail. When the system is powered does the sdreen give a message that a voice mail is waiting and how to retrieve it? I plan to set up a dedicated tower which will be powered 24/7. Any more insights will be welcome.
I am a user, I have a little desktop setup over in the corner of my office, I have a normal Uniden wireless phone plugged into the magic jack with an extra phone in the other room that runs off of the main phone, the computer is on 24/7, I have Cox internet service, you do need a monitor to start off with to set it up as it uses something like the windows media player but it looks like a phone, you can retrieve your voice mail from there. As for setup it does come with instructions (it so easy I didn’t even read them) the software is on the USB unit and loads as soon as you plug it in, you plug a phone into the back of the USB unit it will walk you thru step by step (if you are looking to get your number transferred over this I have only heard, I have not personally done this) I paid for 2 units & 5 yrs of service $140. I had to take into consideration the amount my wife spends on a 3rd party service @ $50mo to $60mo and plus the cost of our home phone. This can only work with broadband or VIOS if your going to delete your home phone, you can use with DSL if you keep just local dialing
one thing that a lot of people have over looked, you have to have phone service to get internet, i know that centurytel will not just sell you internet service with out a phone service.
With some companies you are correct but with COX Digital you don’t need to have the phone, and even if they do you just keep it to the min which shouldn’t be more then $9mo. Also it takes Win XP to run( i think that was the answer to your question from your first post), at the time I purchased mine they didn’t have it yet but were in the process of creating it for Mac, other down side if you don’t have a cell and the power goes out you don’t have a phone at all. I was just sharing my experience with the product in question. I hope this helps
I just got the magic jack and it works perfect! the only problem is that your computer has to be on 24/7, I didn't have anti-virus on one of my computers and got infected. Your basic tower will do fine, will need a monitor to set it up and then remove it but remember, need a good anti-virus to protect that tower, because I set the magic jack on another computer and my anti-virus is detecting viruses through the magic jack!!! I use cable internet and so I don't need another phone line, magic jack is really worth it but won't work with dial up or satellite internet, it has to be DSL. There are some more options to get very affordable telephone lines for business or residential, here are the links for you to check them out. http://www.packet8.net/ http://www.phonepeople.com Hope this helps!!!
JOEL--- Your a little late, JACK is on the way! I am using cable internet connection and was assured that will work, I am setting up an old GATEWAY 2000 P2. It may be ancient but I think it will work. I am downloading a firewall, anti virus, IE 7, and GOOGLE, so I can use it as a back up if needed. What I would like to ask is, does JACK come with an install disc? How is the phone # chosen? Do I choose it or is it already built in based on my area code? The more of these little details the better. Your post only makes me feel better about mt decision.
Whithout a doubt you made a good decision!!! Telephone companies have made a great deal of money from us!!! The magic jack is plug and play, so once you plug it into your USB, it will start installing it. Then it will ask you to register or activate your phone and it will assign you a phone # based on your area code, so don't worry it'll do it all for yourself, I got an easy # to remember so I didn't bother try to change it, I don't recall that it gave me options to pick a # but I'm almost sure you can. Of course, you need to be conected to the net when installing it and remember, antivirus!!! very important!!! It will ask you about your location for 911 purposes and for you to agree on a 911 terms of usage, just agree and that's it!!! It has some really cool features, like your voice messages will be received via email on a .wav file and also you can call in, caller Id, call waiting well you know the rest. You have to go to the Menu to add contacts. You won't be dissapointed, I've read here that you could set them up here and then send it to someone in another country, I need to try that, that would be so awesome!!! Hope it helps!!!
I have one, works ok. my sys: 1.2 athlon, 512 ram, winxp I think a slightly faster computer may have better quality cause I seem to get a little stutter every now and again so I figure its probably my ram being too little or something like that. But I'm not really sure cause I haven't tried it on a faster system yet.
JOEL--- As I write this JACK is up and running. I am using an ancient GATEWAY 2000, P2, 350 processor, 256/512. It may be old but it supports JACK. I am running 3 cordless phones, one directly from JACK, one in and out of my all in one, and the third on a wireless jack system. No way to run a wire. I loaded AVG 8, and ZONE ALARM. The tower also had anti spy and ad ware. I think I am fully protected. I removed the covers for more air to reach. I am thinking of turning the tower off at night but not until I can get a small lcd I can tuck away behind it. My only issue is that there are no local phone prefixes in my area code. I am stuck with a # that is 6 towns away. It would be a toll call for me. Goodbye AT&T! How does voice mail work? I am using my own caller id and ans machine. Will they interfere with voice mail? Since I do not have a display attatched, how do I know if I have voice mail wating? Hopfuly this will be the last questions I need to ask.
Hey there again, that's awesome, you are on your way of saving tons of money, voice mail, I would rather use the voice mail from the magic jack, since everytime you get a voice message, they'll send you an email with a .wav file attached. You could plug almost anything into the magic jack for example, ans machine, fax machine, just make sure that the rings to answer either ans machine or fax are less than 4 rings since, I believe is the total rings for the magic jack ans syst to kick in. I believe once you have a voice message the green light turns on! but like I said, you'll receive an email to your email that you use to activate your phone!!! Let me know if there is anything else I could help you with!!!
@ Peshtigo I don't know where are you located but I'm in California and we don't need telephone line to get internet, I only have cable tv and cable internet so the magic jack works great for me!!! I know that it won't work with dial-up which definetely, uses telephone line but you could try satellite (DSL Type), unfortunately, this option is too expensive and is better to get phone line + internet!!! Hope this helps!!!
