BasicTalk: Magic, or Smoke and Mirrors? - Comments Page 3

We switched to Basic Talk from MagicJack and are happy to pay more because the Basic Talk does not drop calls like MagicJack did. When dialing a local number Basic talk does not require the local area code like MagicJack. The message light works on our phones when there is a message with Basic talk but not on MagicJack, the MagicJack dialtone warbles when you have a voicemail. The basic talk unit does not get real hot like MagicJack (my friends magic jack burnt out). Basic Talk caller ID shows the phone number and the callers name, if available, where MagicJack just shows the phone number again. MagicJack wants $19.95 to port a existing number plus 9.95 a year to maintain it and wanted $30 more to allow me to port my number over to basic talk.
The one thing Magicjack does that is very cool, is to send an email for every voicemail with the contents of the message attached as a wav file.

Just switched from Basic Talk to MJ and very unimpressed it was worth the few dollars more that BT charges for the quality. I had BT for a year and half and gave almost no problems missing a few features that most people dont need but main thing like voicemail light callerID name callerID on call waiting BT has and MJ does not! Also a number of people told me they called and could not get through.

I currently live in Washington, D.C., but am planning to relocate to the Philippines. I would like a US phone number so that I can make and receive calls in the Philippines to and from the US.
Philippine internet connections are terribly slow compared to the US. What is the best system to use? I've looked at Skype, Ooma, MagicJack and Vonnage.

Had Vonage for a couple of years, but had problems eventually and the price kept going up. Switched to MJ Plus and for the first year had no problems. But device gets very hot and once it fries, you get a new one for a fee. The 2nd unit I purchased only lasted about a month and I've had nothing but problems since. Just switched to BT and we'll see how that goes.

I have basic talk. It's ok in that it is cheaper than Vonage understanding that you have no overseas calling. OTOH they lost my respect when they started operating like the internet providers used to (and perhaps still do). They lowered their prices by 50% for new customers, but kept dunning the loyal customers for 100%. My advice is buy a new Basic Talk box at Walmart (4.99) Cancel you basic talk and open new service with the new box. Reduces your cost to 4.99 and makes them lose money by manufacturing your new box. That should teach to to treat their current customers better.