Is magicjack VoIP worth getting?

January 13, 2008 10:42 PM

Anyone familiar with MagicJack?

I've just recently seen ads for Magicjack, another new VoIP service. It's ~$40 USD to purchase the jack which includes a year of free local and long-distance, and then $20 USD/ year for continuing service. The "jack" plugs into pc usb on one end and has an analog phone jack on the other end. The reviews have been generally positive, but I'm skeptical.

Anyone have any experience with this particular service? Will it work over DSL, or does VoIP only work with cable?

Thanks for your help.

posted by exlotuseater to technology (3 answers total)

It should work with either connection (DSL or cable) but will (of course) be dependent upon your upload and download speed for call quality.

The downside seems to be the computer has to be on for calls to work.

Despite the reviews, I would wait for real-user reviews to move to this.
posted by sharkfu at 11:04 PM on January 13, 2008

Oo I just got one! I use it over my wireless internet (54.0Mbps) and it works just fine. I've been using it mostly for outgoing calls, because it's a pain having it plugged in all the time. It's pretty nice because you plug it into a regular phone (strange after using a cell phone for so long) and you can pick an area code from a selection of places. That last part is especially important to me, because I live in Canada and no longer have to worry about long distance calls home to the US. I definitely wouldn't replace a land or cell phone with it, but it's perfect for my situation. Oh, and it takes voice mails if the system's not plugged in, and sends them to your email.
posted by fermezporte at 6:16 AM on January 14, 2008

From Boing Boing Gadgets:

MagicJack net-phone: swollen pustule of crappy terms of service and spyware
posted by sharkfu at 10:48 AM on April 14, 2008