Update: magicJack

I wrote a newsletter article last year about my experiences using magicJack, a device that allows you to make telephone calls over the Internet. I had a positive experience with it, but I also use Skype, a competitive service. I continue to use Skype most every day but stopped using magicJack since I don't need two such services. One will do.

My experience with magicJack was positive, but I have since heard many complaints about the service and the company that produces it. Now I have been told that the number of complaints has become so large that the Better Business Bureau has rated the company as "F," the Bureau's lowest rating. 

Quoting from the Better Business Bureau's web site, an "F" rating indicates:

We strongly question the company’s reliability for reasons such as that they have failed to respond to complaints, their advertising is grossly misleading, they are not in compliance with the law’s licensing or registration requirements, their complaints contain especially serious allegations, or the company’s industry is known for its fraudulent business practices. 

Details may be found at the Better Business Bureau's web site at: http://www.seflorida.bbb.org/BusinessReport.aspx?CompanyID=92003333.

Based upon the BBB's rating and the many complaints I have read, I no longer recommend magicJack. I have also deleted my previous review from this web site's archives.

I continue to use Skype every day and am pleased with it.

Comments

[Lawrence F Howe]

I can see where you would want to update your previous review to reference the current change of heart, but deleting it altogether concerns me. It represented your honest judgment at the time, did it not? It presented useful factual information in an historical context - early years of developing technology - why rewrite [or unwrite] history?

[Dick Eastman]

I went back this morning and re-read the earlier review I wrote. At first, I was planning to simply add a sentence or two as a disclaimer. However, as I read it, I found little in it that seemed worth preserving. So I deleted it.

- Dick Eastman

[Dean Carroll]

I have used magic jack for several months. Ever since it first came out. I have not experienced any problems and have been extremely fine with it's performance. The cost of the magic jack is esentially nil. It cost me $1.67 per month. I believe those having problems with it simply do not understand its total operation.

[sharon]

Based on your recommendation, I purchased a magicJack about 10 months ago. Based on my experience, I am ordering several more for friends, family and another one for myself. We will eliminate our 'landline' which will save about $700/year. I had some difficulties at first, but was willing to work with customer service until everything worked as I needed it to.

[Dick Eastman]

I had a loosely similar experience. I used the magicJack for about 6 weeks or so and never had a problem. It worked perfectly for me. I stopped using it simply because I didn't have a need for two different services. I elected to continue with Skype and to stop using magicJack.

However, in the following months a number of people posted messages at the end of my review describing the various problems they had experienced. I read still other articles online on other web sites that seemed to agree with those comments. Then I read the Better Business Bureau's report this weekend.

I have no idea what my experience would have been had I continued to use magicJack. Perhaps it would have continued to be error-free, perhaps not. But I didn't feel that I could continue to recommend it when so many other people have experienced problems.

- Dick Eastman

[Jason Presley]

I'd guess that the explosion of new users is what led to most of the problems. When they went from a little-known Internet-hyped phenomenon to a product that has an annoying QVC/HSN-style commercial on TV during every other break, they couldn't handle the demands of so many new users.

[Hal Whitmore]

Thank you for this information. I was one of those who had problems with Magic Jack. I was attempting to run it on a Mac with Windows under Parallels Desktop, before they had a Mac specific Magic Jack. They refunded my money very quickly with no problems

I had planned to reorder after you reported your good experiences with a Mac, but haven't gotten around to it. I think that at this point I'll just let it go and give Skype a try.

[Roy]

I am using Magic Jack, and have had NO issues...been using it for several months,and have told all my friends about it. This news is a surprise to me.

[dorisw]

I agree with Roy. I love it and have had no problems whatsoever. I hope the company can resolve its issues and achieve its potential.

[Rosemary]

I also use Magic Jack per your recommendation and don't have any complaints. Had it for at least 6 months

[John Brebner]

I have to say that the MagicJack has worked flawlessly for me during the past 9 months. I made a number of calls from both Aberdeen and Edinburgh hotels back to Canada; I think that most genealogists will appreciate this low-cost alternative service to higher-priced long-distance telephone service.

And Dick, perhaps you should be basing your comments on your own experience and not that of the BBB. Isn't the point of your column to give unbiased opinions based on personal experience?

John

[Michelle]

I was a person that posted our experience with magicjack on the previous article.

My husband ordered magicJack before it "hit" the TV. It worked fine for a few months.

Then he had a real problem with it. When people called, they could hear him, but he couldn't hear them. He would have to call them back on our regular phone.

He thought that the phone he was using went bad. So he got a new phone. That wasn't it.

He called tech support and it was no help at all. They switched him from one person to the next, all telling him to do the same thing. Their "fix" was useless, install a patch and restart the computer.

One of the biggest complaints about magicjack is that it doesn't come with an uninstaller. Their website is no help. There is nothing there to help you if you want to uninstall it. Maybe it comes with one now that it's so popular, I don't know. I just know the one we have doesn't have one. So you might want to go look and see if you have an uninstaller with yours.

[Goldie]

Have used MagicJack for over one year - no problems, ever. I even was able to send faxes from it, even though the company said that was not possible. In short, for me, it's great. I always lost calls using Skype, so Skype is not my favorite.

[drbray]

"The MOST common problem that people have with their magickJack dongel is actually with their computer!"

MagicJack® Set Up

How many USB devices are currently plugged in?

Power-Hungry Hubs (Quote from an unknown informed source)

A USB hub will expand the number of USB devices that you can plug into your computer, and these days, with cameras, scanners, printers, keyboards, pointing devices, PDAs, hard disks and many more peripherals using the USB interface, the number of devices you want to plug in often exceeds the number of USB ports on the computer. Some hubs have their own power adapters, but others run off the computer's power through the USB bus. This is more convenience since you don't have to plug in a separate electrical cord, but it's also easy to overload the USB port if you plug a lot of devices into one of these hubs.

Do your PC's USB ports supply enough electricity to power all the devices you have attached to them? Plugging too much gear into a bus-powered USB hub (one with no external power adapter) can overwhelm a USB port by demanding more than the 500 mA it can supply. Check the power demands on any USB port in Windows XP by right-clicking My Computer and choosing Properties, Hardware, Device Manager. Double-click Universal Serial Bus controllers, double-click the USB Root Hub entry, choose the Power tab, and add up the amounts in the "Power Required" column. On the packaging that Magic Jack arrives in, there are warnings that some USB ports might not have enough electrical power for your Magic Jack to work properly. (Below is the advice which many people forget about.)

Remember: magicJack® works best when plugged directly into a USB port on your computer.

Do not plug into a multi port USB hub that is not AC powered. In a few rare instances, your USB port on your computer may not have enough power.
Try using a externally AC powered USB hub to plug your magicJack® dongel into instead of using your computer's USB hub if you have 'many' other USB devices connected to your computer.

After you have connected the dongel for the first time, registered the device, and have the 'softphone' on the screen, you should probably run TCP Optimizer to “tune” your computer to work with it in an efficient manner; it can be downloaded from the following website:

http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php

You can use the TCP Optimizer by following these short instructions:

1. Choose your maximum Connection Speed from the slider bar (the maximum available bandwidth, in kilobits per second)

2. Choose your Network Interface, or check to Modify All Network Adapters

3. Pick "Optimal settings" from the radio-buttons near the bottom of the program

4. Click on the "Apply changes" button and reboot

MagicJack® Uses

1. Inexpensive Secondary Telephone Service

2. Excellent adjunct to expensive prime time and/or poor indoor Cellular Telephone Service

3. Distribute magicJack® phone number to all contacts as primary contact number

4. When outdoors have the magicJack® phone number forwarded to cell phone

5. When indoors use magickJack® phone number to reach and be reached by contacts

MagicJack® Support

http://www.magic-jack.info/linkpage.htm

Main Office: (561) 594-2140 this is just a recording telling you where to get support, you can leave a message if you want.

Support: (281) 404-1551 open from 11am to 8pm EST

How to save money and pay for MagicJack® Service with interest earned after one year!

1. The average cost of land line telephone service (Verizon, AT&T, Cavalier, or Sprint) with all federal, state, and local taxes and fees is $60.00 per month

2. Deposit $720.00 [12 months of land line payments saved] in an on line account (ING or HSBC linked to you Debit Card Account) earning at least 2.8% interest per year at the time you initiate magicJack® Service

3. After one (1) year you will have earned enough money in interest to pay for the coming yearly magicJack® payment

4. Transfer the interest earned to your Debit Card Account and pay your magicJack® service fee

5. This account will allow you to use [OPM] “Other People's Money” to pay for your magicJack® service for each year you chose to maintain it

[drbray]

magicJack® Set Up

Most users that are having “trouble” with their magicJack® dongel are usually having connection problems with their computer's USB ports and its power supply to those ports!

How many USB devices are currently plugged in?

Power-Hungry USB Ports

The number of USB devices that the users can plug into the computer these days, with cameras, scanners, printers, keyboards, pointing devices, PDAs, hard disks and many more peripherals using the USB interface that often runs off the computer's power through the USB bus. This is more convenience since the users don't have to plug in a separate electrical cord, but it's also easy to overload the USB ports if the users plug a lot of devices into many of the available ports.

Does the user's PC's USB ports supply enough electricity to power all the devices they have attached to them? Plugging too much gear into a bus-powered USB hub (one with no external power adapter) can overwhelm a USB port by demanding more than the 500 mA it can supply. Check the power demands on any USB port in Windows XP by right-clicking My Computer and choosing Properties, Hardware, Device Manager. Double-click Universal Serial Bus controllers, double-click the USB Root Hub entry, choose the Power tab, and add up the amounts in the "Power Required" column.

(Below is the advice which many users forget about.)

In a few rare instances, the USB port on the user's computer may not have enough electrical power for the magicJack® dongel to work properly.

Try using a externally AC powered USB hub to plug the magicJack® dongel into instead of using the computer's USB port if there are 'many' other USB devices connected to the computer or if the magicJack® dongel acts erratically with audio and connection problems. »(Cost $20.00)

Remember: magicJack® may work best when plugged directly into a USB port on the computer.

Do not plug the magicJack® dongel into a multi port USB hub that is not AC powered.
After the user has connected the magicJack® dongel for the first time, registered the device, and has the 'softphone' on the screen, the user should probably run TCP Optimizer to “tune” the computer to work with it in an efficient manner; it can be downloaded from the following website:

http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php

The user can use the TCP Optimizer by following these short instructions:

1. Choose the maximum Connection Speed from the slider bar (the maximum available bandwidth, in kilobits per second)
2. Choose the Network Interface, or check to Modify All Network Adapters
3. Pick "Optimal settings" from the radio-buttons near the bottom of the program
4. Click on the "Apply changes" button and reboot

magicJack® Uses

1. Inexpensive Secondary Telephone Service »[Costing $19.95 per year or 5¢ per day]
2. Excellent adjunct to expensive prime time and/or poor indoor Cellular Telephone Service
3. Distribute magicJack® phone number to all contacts as primary contact number
4. When outdoors have the magicJack® phone number forwarded to cell phone
5. When indoors use magickJack® phone number to reach and be reached by contacts

magicJack® Support

http://www.magic-jack.info/linkpage.htm

Main Office: (561) 594-2140 this is just a recording telling you where to get support, you can leave a message if you want.

Alternate: (561) 722-0433

Facsimile (561) 586-2328

Financial Support: (281) 404-1551 open from 11am to 8pm EST

http://www.bbbsoutheastflorida.org/BBBWeb/Forms/Business/CompanyReportPage_Expository.aspx?CompanyID=92003333

How to save money and pay for magicJack® Service with interest earned after one year!

1. The average cost of land line telephone service (AT&T, Cavalier, Qwest, Sprint, or Verizon) with all federal, state, and local taxes and fees is $60.00 per month
2. Deposit $720.00 [12 months of land line payments saved] in an on line account (ING or HSBC linked to you Debit Card Account) earning at least 2.8% interest per year at the time you initiate magicJack® Service
3. After one (1) year you will have earned enough money in interest to pay for the coming yearly magicJack® payment
4. Transfer the interest earned to your Debit Card Account and pay your magicJack® service fee
5. This account will allow you to use [OPM] “Other People's Money” to pay for your magicJack® service for each year you chose to maintain it

[bubba1212]

It’s nice to see some common sense users of this product for a change. The only issue with this device is IGNORANCE. After reading hundreds of “I love it”, “I hate it” posts, I’ve come to a few conclusions.

30 DAY FREE TRIAL ?
1: Never buy ANY free 30day trial on ANYTHING!!! Get MJ from Radio Shack, QVC, Circuit City, Amazon etc... Then you have a hassle free return. ALL 30 DAY FREE TRIAL AND GIVE US YOU’RE CREDIT CARD NUMBER Company’s will set on your money and give you the runaround, duh. Your and every other sucker’s money is letting them make interest off it. They ALL will bite you in the azz with the fine print. DON'T DO IT!

MAGIC JACK SUPPORT SUCKS!
2: For the people that think the thing that comes out after you press the button on the front of the computer is an automated cup holder, you’re too stupid to use this product. You probably have trouble operating a light switch or flushing the toilet. If you are a 1 on the (1 - 10) Tech Savvy Scale, save us the drudge of reading your negative post and don't even think about getting this product. It's way, way, way over your head. Go play with the light switch or something. MJ is a startup company running on a shoestring. It’s $40 dollars! It’s $40 dollars! It’s $40 dollars! It’s $40 dollars! It’s $40 dollars! What do you expect them to do, send a tech to your house? Come on people get real. If you can’t make it work then return it to Circuit City or QVC etc… Oh, you did the 30day free trial thing? DUH… you deserve the hassle. Just don’t bore us with your post.

THEY’RE SPYING ON ME!
3: Paranoid people get up in the morning; check the weather etc… on Internet. Hello! Your ISP tracked what you did and the Weather web cookie and all the other cookies did they’re thing. Picked up your Cell phone and made a call, Hello! Your phone service tracked and logged your call, they also knew you were home because of the built in tracking system. Got in your car and stopped at intersection, got your picture taken by traffic cam. Somebody knows where you were at the time of day. Stopped to get gas, restaurant, shopping swiped your credit card, God only knows how many people got this information on what you bought. Went to work and your employer tracked every keystroke, oh and don’t forget to smile for the candid camera. I looked your name up in the White pages and Goggled Earth your address, WOW! You got a really nice house dude. Maybe I’ll pay you a visit and spy on you. You think MJ gives a rip about the above information? They just want to know local information so they can push you the latest add special from the local pizza place. Unless you live in a cave, get a life because this is your life, you’re just too ignorant to recognize it and all the bitching in the world is not going to change it. Install this on an old PC, stick in the closet, plug in a wireless phone and forget about it. Now it’s out of site and out of mind. Just like all the above listed things we ignore every day.

I’M IGNORANT, THERE FOR ITS MAGIC JACK’S FAULT!
4: It’s amazing! Crap computer + slow line + Magic Jack = Magic Jacks fault. You got to love it.
This is a COMPUTER \ INTERNET device. For the slow people out there, this means YOUR PC AND ISP NEED TO BE ON FOR IT TO WORK! So stop whining about your computer needs to be on for it to work. If you have a slow piece of crap computer loaded with God knows what (because you don’t patch, virus protect and properly maintain your PC.) your going to have PROBLEMS! If your Internet speed is slooooooow, guess what? It’s NOT GOING TO WORK WELL! So the folks that post, “I can’t hear”, “it’s full of static”, “it echoes”, “it sucks”, “their spying on me”, “don’t buy it” and on and on and on. It’s your fault, not Magic Jack. If it wasn’t YOUR fault, we’d ALL be experiencing the same problems you are. So if you’re not willing to deal with YOUR problem, or simply ask people that have it working a few questions to help resolve your problem, then stop posting your ignorance.

5: This DOSE NOT and SHOULD NOT replace you’re your phone system. Analyze what it can and cannot do for you. If it makes business sense then get it. If not, DON’T slam this product because it doesn’t meet your needs. This device saves me and millions of people like me lots of money.

6: Read 1 – 5.