Magic Jack. Heard of it?

[Larry_OHF]

I want to cancel my long distance coverage. I used to have TimeWarner which provided unlimited long distance over all states. My current area is only serviced by AT&T and I am paying too much just to have long distance even before making a phone call. I can easily save $50/mo!
I heard about this thing called Magic Jack. Turns a phone line into a USB connection and all calls are free. One-time, $40 price on this device. I hear that people take this overseas and call home with a local number so no international fees. I have seen in my business of working in peoples' homes a family that had this and loved it. But I wanted to see if any of you are familiar with it. Of course, I can research it online but while I do I still wanted to get the IW's public opinion.

[SpiritWarrior]

Originally Posted by Larry_OHF I want to cancel my long distance coverage. I used to have TimeWarner which provided unlimited long distance over all states. My current area is only serviced by AT&T and I am paying too much just to have long distance even before making a phone call. I can easily save $50/mo! I heard about this thing called Magic Jack. Turns a phone line into a USB connection and all calls are free. One-time, $40 price on this device. I hear that people take this overseas and call home with a local number so no international fees. I have seen in my business of working in peoples' homes a family that had this and loved it. But I wanted to see if any of you are familiar with it. Of course, I can research it online but while I do I still wanted to get the IW's public opinion.

It's legit and it works, although the reception can sometimes be so-so. The one time fee is not exactly one time only. It is for a year, after that you pay again. It covers the USA and Canada. Basically, pay $40 and get free long distance for a year. It is a good alternative to having a phone in the first place or having long distance on your phone service. In this day and age, a landline phone is no longer a necessity as many people use cell phones alone so you could actually cut off your entire landline phone service and use this. That is, if your internet is not DSL or phone-based (cable or satellite you could get away with this).

Obviously, an internet connection is required, and you gotta have your PC on to use it. That means booting up your tower each time you want to make a call. For some, that is annoying. For me It's not because I usually have at least one computer on at all times when I am home.

I used MJ for a time but then switched to Skype. For $13 I can call 40 countries around the world unlimited. But I did this because I need to make many international calls and long distance. For someone just wishing to shave their phone bill down and make calls within the USA & Canada, MJ is a good route to go.

[ElfBane]

@SW
Does the person receiving the call have to have a powered up PC?

[Hindsight]

Originally Posted by ElfBane @SW Does the person receiving the call have to have a powered up PC?

I don't believe so. And if both people have Skype, the call is free; or used to be thus.

I can never get it to install on my PC though. It always messes up at the end; very strange...

[VulcanRider]

I have one. I use it to keep in touch with family out of state. It works pretty well. That $40 includes the cost of the device. Basically it's $20 for the gizmo and $20 a year for service. It's a USB device smaller than a pack of cigarettes and you plug in a standard phone to it. A fast internet connection is a MUST for good call quality. You can make calls to any number in the US/Canada for no extra charge. Since you're dialing a phone number the other person doesn't even have to have a computer. They're supposed to have pretty good international rates, but I haven't used them. 2 MJs can talk anywhere in the world for free. If you travel, you could take it with you and plug it in to a computer at your destination and have your same phone number. If your computer is turned off, or your MJ is unplugged when you receive a call, it's recorded and emailed to you as an audio file.

There was only one drawback for me. When I got mine you couldn't port your existing phone number over, you had to get a new number from MJ. That was supposed to change but I don't know if they've done it yet. When I got mine I was only able to get a number within my area code, but not a local exchange. Fine for people calling me long distance, but if I gave my number to my next door neighbor, it would cost her $$ to call me. I suppose if I got mad at her I could keep calling with piddly questions -- my outgoing calls would be free, but it would run up her phone bill to keep returning the call. (Hmmmm. Note to self: save for later) So I keep a cheap cell phone for local calling.

[SpiritWarrior]

Originally Posted by ElfBane @SW Does the person receiving the call have to have a powered up PC?

For Skype? No. Well, depending on if you have paid for it or not.

Skype is free to use when talking to other people on Skype via your PC, in the same way MSN or Yahoo Messenger are. It is simply an online IM client with voice capability. So, for two people that want to have a free conversation, they need to have their computers on, connected and you added to their list. Again, like all other instant messengers.

But, when you buy Skype credit or start a subscription, you can call actual landlines and mobiles from your PC. Like I said, $13 and I get UNLIMITED calls to 40 countries. I can talk for 8 hours to the UK and It's all covered. Regular international phonecards alone cost you $10 and don't last very long (maybe 2 calls) so this is a steal for me. Never looked back. They also have lower rates if you choose just one country. For example, if I only want to call France unlimited I'd pay around $5 and get unlimited (free) calls there.

I use Skype from my PC or Laptop via headset but you can actually use the application on 3g phones such as the iPhone and Android, and go where you wish with it. Apparently, you can also get a free number and use Skype from your own landline phone in the same way you use a phonecard. I just haven't bothered yet.

For anyone with an internet connection wanting to do away with their long distance, I'd recommend trying one of these methods, either Skype or MJ. Also Google phone allows you to make free long distance calls within the US and Canada. All you need is a Gmail account and a mic. I wised up a long time ago to just how much my phone company screws me for long distance that I may or may not use, per month. So I completely removed my long distance carrier, and now, only have a local (very basic) landline package which costs me $12 per months. The only reason I even have this is because I get great top-tier DSL rates but must have a phone connection to make it happen. If I could, I wouldn't even have a hardline at all because between cellphone, skype, gmail and facebook, I really have all the contact I need. Anyways, it is worth considering for someone trying to shave money off bills, or just because they are paying too much for services they don't utilize.