MagicJack Phone Service - Comments Page 7

Can you bring your cell phone number to magic jack?

Rick,

Good question. I think so. Check this out. http://www.fcc.gov/guides/portability-keeping-your-phone-number-when-changing-service-providers

FYI The original magicjack is no longer $19.95/yr. It is now $29.95/yr and 5 years is about $100

Robert,
Your point was? 5 years is still $19.95 a year. I've seen you post the same info several times. So what if the 1 year price went up? I purchased the 5 year plan after 6 months. After being very satisfied after 18 months, I may extend it for another 5 years. MJ posts the price at their website. At about $100 for 5 years, that's less than what I was paying for 2 months of Verizon here in Virginia.

We live in a very secluded area and our internet provider in NOT unlimited usage. How much if any does the Majic Jack use up.

Carol,
Apparently not much. I found this link http://www.quora.com/How-much-bandwidth-does-a-magic-jack-call-use It's somewhere about the 20kb range. If you don't have one already, there are bandwidth monitors out there.

I've just registered my MagicJack Plus, and when I chose an area code and prefix I found out that the town I live in is not listed. So I had to choose a prefix from a city a long distance away. I inquired about that and was told that people in my town calling me would have to pay long distance, just as if they called the city I chose. I can call out for free all right, but friends without free US long distance calling us will get dinged. MagicJack did say they're working on adding more towns, but meanwhile, caveat emptor. . . .

Ward,
Magic Jack+ has caller ID. If you have it plugged into your router and a cordless phone with caller ID, don't answer the phone. Just return their call. They will not be charged for the unanswered call.

hello does anyone know if with the majic phone could we fax

Maria,
If you're refering to Magic Jack, the answer is no, you can't. But there are free fax services out there. http://faxzero.com/ for one.

I was going to switch if they could answer three important questions? 1. I have a alarm company that needs a phone number to work properly and they cannot for legal reasons comply. 2.My Direct TV needs a phone number to communicate with requests for movies and reloads--they cannot work with TV company. My Internet company is also my Phone company and they are tied into the land line somehow and they couldn't answer that one which at that point 1 and 2 were more important so I didn't get one

Maria and Steve,
YES you can FAX with Magic Jack. I just did it. You can do everything with MJ that you can do with any other VOIP telephony system including Vonage, Comcast, Verizon and many others.

I don't know your specific setup but you just wire the MJ through your existing home telephone jacks.

Thanks Phil,
I'm curious though about why you would be using MJ if you have landline service? Even after dropping my land line, I disconnected the inputs to my house because I had read that the 90 volt ringer signal would fry the device. Since MJ is a VOIP device, I don't see how it would be possible to use that on a regular phone line. Just doesn't make sense.

My MJ replaced my Comcast VOIP service. It was Comcast that cut the hot incoming line from my old land line service.

I'm not sure how the system works if the outside line has never been cut. I haven't seen any info from MJ about that. Interesting situation.

I would recommend to anyone, If in doubt, go to the utility box on the outside of your house and disconnect the wires.

Addendum to Steve,

Once you've been disconnected from you land line service your house wiring is yours to do with as you please. Just plug the MJ into any nearby wall jack and all the jacks in your house become your own telephone system.

Frank, this applies to you to. I'm not going to pretend to have a handle on your specific situation but MJ works exactly the same as any other VOIP service that I know of. I would recommend that you purchase the unit (MJ Plus) as well as a cheap phone and try it for a couple of months. If it works for you then you can port your number and use the MJP as your primary phone system. That's what I did and I'm not looking back.

Phil,
I'd suggest you do a Google on problems sending a fax with Magic Jack. Many folks have had problems. Most are about only receiving 1/2 of the fax. Just because you can send doesn't mean it works.
I'd also add that if you are going to use existing house wiring to utilize your MJ, the old land line does need to be physically disconnected. Especially if your old land line was routed above ground. Why you might ask? Lightning, and the induced transient spike. Granted, very rare, but possible.

Phil,
Mea culpa on not reading your entire post. Sorry about that.
I'd like to remind everyone that if you are using existing house wiring with MJ, you will have problems if you are using corded phones and they exceed the REN (ringer equivalence number) limit. Symptoms are low call volume and the phone not ringing on incoming calls.
Just unplug all but one corded phone and see if that corrects the problem. The better solution is to go out and buy a cordless phone. I'd recommend Panasonic VTEC, but that's just me.

Just to reiterate for everyone regarding use of existing house wiring. The house system definitely needs to be disconnected from your land line service.

Steve... In the beginning I experienced the symptoms you describe (low audibles and no ring). It was driving me crazy but I was determined to make the MJP work for us. My solution (after trying MJ's horrible 'chat tech' service) was to purchase a new power supply module from Radio Shack. This may also be why I don't have a problem FAXing. Haven't had a problem since. My feel on this is that the MJ supplied power supply module is cheaply made and under powered and it wouldn't hurt to replace it.

If everything is fine for 6 more months I'll be sending them my $100 for 5 years. I can't even imagine 5 years without a phone bill.

Phil,
I think we might have been on separate pages regarding MJ. I'm using the original, not the MJP. The articles I read were in regard to sending a fax with the original MJ. They might have changed the innards on MJP to where the problem no longer exists.
Just out of curiousity, were/are you using corded phones? I'm using the USB2 output from my Dell desktop and didn't have a problem after I disconnected an ancient corded phone.
I can't comment about MJP or the quality of the power supply, but I was wondering if you lived near the coast? My mother lives in Daytona Beach FL and she had a problem with a phone jack outlet that became corroded from the salt air. Or to be more specific, the wires to the outlet. My brother took care of the problem with some fine sand paper by cleaning the wires. Copper wire can get really nasty when exposed to salt air.
I hope you have the power supply connected to at least a surge suppressor, or preferably an UPS.
I don't think you can go wrong by purchasing the 5 year subscription. I did about a year ago and haven't looked back. I was paying about $40 a month for my land line service years ago. I had Vonage for awhile, but it wasn't that much cheaper. It's rare to find anything that will actually pay for itself these days. Not to mention paying for itself many many times over.

Steve,
I don't live near enough to the coast for saltwater to be an issue. But it is important to always keep electrical connections clean.

I have a Panasonic 4 phone wireless system with the console connected to the MJP through a telephone jack. The same jack has one incoming connection (MJP input) and two outgoing (phone console and FAX). All my issues regarding low audibles and no-ring disappeared after I installed the new power supply for the MJP. The MJP is plugged into my computers' UPS.

I too did a lot of research before I decided to go with MJ. I found that after all the fees and whatnot, Vonage was not much of a savings.