What’s New With magicJack?
April 25th, 2008 by Jeffrey L. Wilson
It’s been a while since we’ve checked up on the magicJack, the $39.99 telecommunications device that slides into a notebook’s USB port and allows chatters to make unlimited local and long-distance calls within the U.S. and Canada using a traditional landline phone or headset. In our magicJack review, we praised the device for its simple setup, very nice call quality, and amenities, but magicJack had promised additional features. Our mission was to find out if the company followed through.
Promise #1: Mac Compatibility Before the End of 2007
At the time of our November 2007 review, magicJack was PC-only; Mac compatibility was set to arrive before the end of the year. Did magicJack live up to its promise? Well, technically, no. OS X compatibility was added in January 2008, but we’re not going to split hairs over a few days; we’re just happy to see the magicJack love spread to more operating systems.
Promise #2: International Calling Before the End of 2007
Much like Mac compatibility, international dialing was slated to arrive before we said bye-bye to 2007. Did magicJack live up to its promise? Again, not quite. International dialing did arrive, but not until 2008. Still, we’re happy that it’s here, and this is how it works: You can call any other magicJack user anywhere in the world free of charge. If you’re traveling abroad, you can place free calls to the U.S. or Canada. In fact, the only time that you have to reach for your wallet is when you’re calling a non-magicJack international number; that requires the purchase of international minutes. Plus, if you’re overseas and plan to call someone in the U.S. or Canada, or want to dial an international magicJack user, there’s no need to use a country code.
Promise #3: Ability to Port Existing Numbers to magicJack Before End of 2007
We’re still waiting.
A magicJack unit just arrived in our offices and we’re eager to put the device through the paces. A question for the magicJack fans out there: What do you think of the new features?
April 25th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
One problem that I had with the magic jack is that early on they were really deficient in the number of choice of area codes for some states, especially where I live in Florida and unfortunately on their website they did not make a listing of available area codes for each state that u could see before purchasing the device.
April 25th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
magicJack will continue to expand it’s inventory of area codes/telephone numbers as they become available - please click on the below (also found on http://www.magicjack.com ), for currently available area codes:
magicJack Area Codes:
http://www.magicjack.com/areacodes/
April 25th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
I don’t know where you live in Florida, but I found a magicjack area codes page, which lists about 30 Florida area codes (four of them say “Pending”) cheers. http://www.magicjack.com/areacodes
April 27th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
In reference to magicFriend; when I first ordered majic jack it was just on roll out and the list of area codes that u refer to was not available at that time. I returned the device because the area code that I live in and wanted was not available at that time(orlando). That was at least 3 months ago. As u can see Orlando, Florida is still not an available area code.
April 27th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
When will it become available in Canada for area code they told me in 2008 but when?
May 11th, 2008 at 1:38 am
I bought 3 magicjacks and I only regiemster 1 of them because I am still waiting for available area code in toronto.
May 11th, 2008 at 4:57 am
Yup, same here. Waiting for Canadian area codes
May 18th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
My brother eagerly bought one of these devices and has since cancelled his phone service throught the local provider. Myself, being a happy Vonage customer and ex-ITprofessional, wanted to put the magicjack through the paces. Here’s what I found using my brothers device.
1. Once the software and fix has been installed reboot your machines. This cleared up the intermittent (breif but frequent) audio drops on the magic jack end. Others, receiving my calls had no quality problems.
2. If you have disconnected your inhome wiring network from the outside telco, you can plug the magic jack into any outlet (phone only) and all existing phones will work properly. There was no quality dropoff when two phones were off the hook.
3. International calls (outside US/Can) are currently unavailable. I am unable to verify if a majicjack user has ever been able to make international calls (i.e. those starting with 011…).
4. The live-chat link is hidden until you submit a question.
5. The on-line chat responses are very bot like. There are no mispellings or grammar errors, however the syntax identifies the (bot/representative) as someone who is ESL educated. I even asked the bot/rep if anyone had ever successfully made calls to 011… #’s. The response was ‘No’. I then asked why they would take money for international calls and how to get reimbursed. The response was ‘engineers are working to resolve the problem. try again tomorrow.’ I have received 2 such responses. After some more less than clever prodding, the bot/rep changed its’ tune and said that in fact that 011 calling was possible.
6. The customer service is very lacking and there is no clear way to get refunds. Buyer beware, but then again the one year contract is less than a petro fillup, so there really isn’t much to lose. Remember, you can always dispute charges on your credit card if the service is null/unsatisfactory. BBB complaints are also powerful tools, unfortunately more research would need to be done to find billing addresses/phone #’s.
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There you have it, my two cents, both the good and the bad.
May 21st, 2008 at 3:57 pm
I was wanting to know if you had a small business how you could use like 4 or 5 of the “MagicJacks” - plug them into your existing old business phone system (KSU unit) and make that work for your business lines ?
The other thing I could not get answered is about how to get the 4 or 5 different telephone lines you get with using 4 or 5 MAGICJACK’s to Rotate or “HUNT” as At&T calls it. This is where you may have like 5 business tlephone lines and only give out the ONE main phone number, - but if you are on a call on that phone number- when someone else calls the incoming call will HUNT or “roll over” to the next available line that is not already in use. (kind of like Call forwarding when the telephone line is busy).
Which brings me to the 3rd question about if I already have 5 business lines with At&T I have been using for 10 years, how to be able to “PORT” them over to MagicJack so I don’t have to change my phone numbers I already have and everyone already knows by memory ?
Thanks for anyone’s imput.
May 23rd, 2008 at 4:39 am
Although I like the magicjack I do hate the huge (and I do mean huge) splash page the continually pops up (often when I’m in the middle of something). I also hate that there is no email address to write to. Talking with the “techs” (and I do use the word loosely) is worthless. they have no power to do anything and are not real helpful in trouble shooting. Their use of English is poor and about the only thing they can say is I’m so sorry……, I apologize…..again I’m sorry….you get the idea. I also don’t have the 20 - 30 minutes it takes to try and resolve issues (15 minutes of which are apologies)
The other thing is that the “free features” (such as caller ID) don’t work with all phones. Only certain ones (but they couldn’t tell me which ones).
I also hate I have to dial all 10 digits (1+ area code plus number) when calling locally on our “local” number.
I’ve never been able to speak to a supervisor. I’m always told I’ll be contacted but never am.
I’m not sure I’d advise anyone getting one until they can improve their customer service.
May 24th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
My magicjack call forwarding is not working. I fllowed all their instuctions , but still call forwarding is not working. I log-in my account and ENABLED call forwarding feature. I entered the number to be forwarded . I saved it and logged out. I have been trying for several days this feature to work.
I chatted with Customer service several times, they tried, it did not work. CS told me that they will inform the MJ engineer to fix it and the MJ engineer will send me an email in this matter. It has been 4/5 days the call forwarding still not working and I have not received any email from magicjack.
Call forwarding is very important for me.
Does anyone knows why call forwarding is not working?
Thanks,
Mark
May 25th, 2008 at 12:03 am
How to make International Calls. Please send me international rates by majicjack (Costa Rica, Chile, Venezuela, Italy, etc.) and additional instalation cost.
International calls (outside US/Can) are currently unavailable. I am unable to verify if a majicjack user has ever been able to make international calls (i.e. those starting with 011…).
May 27th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
My husband bought three MagicJack’s and after a week and a half I can make and receive calls but can not be heard by anyone one the other end.
tried to trouble shoot all options and still nothing. then I gradually tried all of my other (6 total) USB ports like the site suggested to and fried them all.
my computer won’t even recognise my printer any more after I unplugged it and then re-plugged it back into the port it has always been in after I tried to get the MJ to work.
Customer service sucks there should be a live person you can contact 24/7 that can help walk you through you issues and not damage you computer in the process.
May 29th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Jimmy wanted to know about Hunting or rolling over from one phone line to another, when the first is busy. He also wanted to know about using MagicJack for 5 lines in a business. Here is what I’ve learned….. (a) there is no rollover or hunt feature. I looked into it and was told it is not available. (b) using MagicJack for 5 different telephone lines is difficult because you can only use 1 magicjack on 1 computer. Thus, 5 lines requires 5 magicjacks which requires 5 different computers. Again, 1 magicjack per computer. This is what I was told by MagicJack and I was not able to have 2 magicjacks running on one computer. NOTE: If anyone is able set up more than one MagicJack onto one computer, please advise. Other than that, I love my magicjack. Good luck.
May 30th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
I purchased the magicjack about two weeks ago. It is completely loaded onto my computer and it works okay. I can hear everyone I speak to load and clear, but I am told that I sound very low on there line. As we talk for a while, they get use to it and we can hold great conversations. My concern is if my computer goes into the sleep mode or stand by mode of even if I turn the computer off, the phone does not work. I see in the advertisement that the phone will work offline as well. Each time I try to call the number from outside, I get a message that tells me the line is disconnected. Why is that happening, is that right? How can the magicjack work offline and my calls and messages are being received as a disconnected number? Has anyone else had this problem and if you did what was or is the resolution? Thank you
May 31st, 2008 at 6:32 pm
GREAT PRODUCT BUT DO NOT BUY FROM THEIR WEBSITE. THEY HAVE AN F RATING WITH THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU. Wish I had checked out the BBB before giving out my cc number to the magicjack website.
This product works for me but watch out if you purchase from their site. They send hacked orders different from what you order and if you cancel the hacked order in time (monitor your cc and email if you gave them any info) you are charged a $1.00 processing fee! For their insecure site where real orders disappear and bogus orders are created you get charged!! Their email and live chat are useless!! My cc company advised me to order a new cc with different numbers after listening to my nightmare. I have spent over 8 hours with emails and live chat and no has done a thing except cancel the hackers order. I caught it immediately and was at least smart enough to look at the hackers invoice! They will not address whether I can pay by paypal. They want those cc niumbers to disperse to hackers I guess.
Do not give them any cc or debit numbers unless you want to spend your free time attempting to deal with these crooks and monitor your eail and cc. I will post again if I have anymore bogus orders or they decide to do the right thing and send me confirmation for the real order. They even wanted me to give them a second cc number! Do they think I am that big of a fool!! They refuse to give me what I ordered and most of their reps will not address any of my questions. And even worse when they do they give different answers.
May 31st, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Call Forward..
at first my forward did not work, I search the internet ( not magicjack.com ) and found instructions
to (1) enable (2) dial youir # (3) press *1234 (4) follow instructions to CREATE your own code
……… then it worked GREAT
I thought I read somewhere that magicjack had a Call Follow feature where I could make my Home & Cel # ring at the same time… or when my Electricity goes on/off and my CPU cant log on my Cel would take over ( elec goes out at my house DAILY … )
– would be GREAT for MagicJack to offer a way to load in Windows before the user logins
Low Volume
I had the same problem at first.
click the MagicJack MENU, and INCREASE both volumes for your handset
now I can hear and the other end can hear GREAT.
** I DO WISH Magic Jack would show on it’s own Menu how many VoiceMsgs I have
Give us an option on what we want to see on the MagicJack Display !!
Maybe all I want is a 1/4 inch high x 1 inch long bar that says ” 3 voice Msgs “
June 1st, 2008 at 2:25 am
MJ does seem to work, as promised with exception of minor inital quality concerns. These may go away with uses of their fix it program. The big RUB I have is that contacting the company and or C/S is very hard to do, and when you do service is poor, and there is liitle or no live tech support to help end usesers get the full potential out of what should be an amazing product.
BP
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Has any one been able to link a fax number with M/J that works?
June 3rd, 2008 at 11:38 am
I’m looking ways to integrate the MJ in companies PBX. Somebody is working on that? The idea is install one MJ to each employee… or connect 5 to 7 MJ in one computer and then to a PBX… The questions are:
1 Can I transfer calls? to cellphones or other numbers?
2 How many calls can receive the MJ at the same time? can I setup rollover between 2 or more MJs?
June 5th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Is there a list of MJ retailers? I would like to just buy over the counter.
June 6th, 2008 at 9:56 am
International calls/ I make calls to Thailand with MJ with no problems,I am calling cell phones and my calls are 10 cents a minute,more than a calling card but less than 1/2 of what ATT charges.and the quality is better than most calling cards I have used.
June 8th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Could not find an area code in my area (WI) and a second phone in use with MJ had horrible reception so I decided to cancel. The cancel link on MJ website takes you nowhere and could not find a way to speak to a live person to save my life. We also could not link the fax number so it would work.
June 13th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
I have a sprint air card that I use to get on the internet. It is rated at 1.5 mg but in actuality its speed is around 850 kbs. I wonder if that would cause a delay in an voice interchange with someone. Some years ago A friend of mine had a setup that he used to talk over the internet with a microphone plugged into his desptop pc. The delay was maddening and it sounded as if he was talking from the bottom of a well, and that was with a 3mgb cable hookup.
June 18th, 2008 at 4:30 am
This sounds interesting because I’m using long distance and Skype everyday. Our marketing company, Internet Marketing and Management Group (IMMG) http://webimmg.com provides marketing, management, and web design services to small and medium sized businesses, with team members all over the country. We depend on communicating constantly over the phone and internet with team members and clients.
I’m wondering if MagicJack has vanity numbers? Can you choose your numbers or do they just assign them to you?
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:41 pm
to comment najiy: thank you for the info you submitted. I have tried for days and hours to get a phone number for magicjack and was not successful. I purchased 2 under a trial but got charged the $39.99 BEFORE the 30 days were up. In fact less than a week later. On their infomercial they said if you are not happy return the magicjack and we won’t even charge you and they said they would refund the shipping costs to send it back. They lied to me and apparently to many others. I don’t want to do business with a company that is so hard to contact, has sucky customer service, lies to their customers, etc. I would think that in the beginning of a fairly new company….they would put their best foot forward.
June 25th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
I have purchased 2 Magic Jack devices. I’m happy with what they do, but I’m not happy with the quality of sound on the other end. Persons that I have called complaining of static, and low-volume. I hope they have a fix soon. Please, if somebody has a fix for this problem tell us.
June 25th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Oh yes, I forgot to tell you that I have Vista and did all the patches. And they have not worked. So I called Magic Jack and asked them, what else I can do. And they told me to use a corded phone as opposed to cordless phone. I went to the store and tried a corded phone, and that didn’t fix it either. Everything is clear on my end, but persons I call still complaining of static and low-volume. Please, I still need your help anybody call me with a fix.
June 25th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
I just though something if I could call magic jack then they can hear the sound quality of my phone call but I can get in touch with them. If anybody has their phone number please post it. So we can use our magic jack to call them to better illustrate the sound quality.
June 26th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
I’ve been using this for the last couple of days and all has thus far been good have not received any complaints I called long distance to boston ma talked with folks on both their cells and no real issues they all concluded that the quality was really good, then on called on their landline and it seemed much better, I felt that a true test would be to call their cell phones first because they are more susceptible to interference this would be a good barometer to go by then I called landline they were able to compare and remark that the clarity was better.
June 29th, 2008 at 10:25 am
No cc They have taken 63.80 on 4/18/08 and 133.75 on 5/16/08 out of my account .IT is now 06/29/08 and no product and I’ve found no way of getting this resolved. At this point all I want is my money returned and they can keep their Magicjasks. Very ,VERY dissatisfied.
June 29th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
You can use Grand Central to link 5 majic jacks together.
http://www.grandcentral.com/home/features
Takes a little planning!
July 1st, 2008 at 3:26 am
It’s sad to see all the complaints from people. Do you not realize you spent only $40 for a whole years worth of service. You get what you pay for and with that I love my MJ. I have had it for almost two months now and the only problem is that when my laptop is closed I think it shuts down the usb ports because I can call out, but no one can call in, weird. It goes straight to voicemail when that happens, so I just reboot my laptop and everything is ok again. For all those that are complaining about voice problems on their MJ, it’s probably your ISP not set up properly for voice prioritization. I know mine is and eveything sounds great at both ends, so quit blaming MJ and talk with your ISP. Jeez, it was 40 bucks already!
July 1st, 2008 at 10:25 pm
i should cancel it not pleased but will give it a few more weeks, static and low volume is our prob also cant call my daughter in same town as myself she has mj also. just doesnt work anyone had that prob let me know cant find a contact email for mj anyone know it.
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:07 am
To fix the low volume problem, as someone mentioned above, you apparently click on “menu” / “volume/headset control” and then turn up the volume for your microphone.