Hank [BS/MSEE,
MSM $$$, Ph.D. Mgmt] teaches This entry could be labeled “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” but not in that order.
The Bad: 
When I ordered the magicJack, I popped for two day delivery. I received almost immediate email confirmation of my order, and later that day that it had shipped. It wasn’t until about four business days later that I received it. So much for two-day delivery. It comes in a neat sleeve that houses “the directions”, and extension USB cable, and magicJack itself - see pic. You are told that use of the extension cable is optional, but your hair will fall out if you plug the magicJack into a USB hub, and ONLY as a last result should a hub be used, and then it should be powered.
The BAD installation was the first, where the magicJack was installed directly into one of the three USB ports on our new iMac running Parallels (which up to now ran everything we threw @ it) [The "directions" state a Mac version is on its way.....:], at first it didn’t recognize the device [directions state to plug it in, unlike most other USB devices, you don't install software first, then plug in the device when told to do so], but after unplugging and plugging it, it took off, installed software, updated itself after informing me that I was “lucky” to be receiving an update, and then settled down with a dial panel on the desktop. I plugged a wireless Uniden 2.4 GHz phone into magicJack’s RJ-11 port [opposite end from USB connector], snarfed a dial tone, and called our son’s pawn shop in Seattle. BLUCK! Scratchy connection, dropped connection, totally unsat. I replaced the perfectly working on POTs Uniden with a plain old direct connect phone, same unsat connection. This concludes the BAD.
The Ugly:
Thinking it might be the Parallels running XP on a iMac under OS X 10.5.?, I next attempted an installation on a straight-up Gateway running Windows Media Center. This computer would recognize the magicJack, but then go off into the spinning hourglass mode, and never did install the magicJack drivers and/or desktop program. I tried all four front USB ports, plugging the magicJack directly into the Gateway - forget it, it just wouldn’t install. This on a generic Gateway that runs anything I’ve thrown at it, plugged in, or otherwise demanded of it. This concludes the UGLY. By this time, most potential users would have ran out of either patience or computers to try magicJack on. Nope, one last try.
The Good:
My third attempt at a magicJack installation was on a Gateway tablet notebook running XP-Tablet. I plugged it directly in a USB port, it did its thing [which requires a reboot BTW], and after some churning everything appeared to be ready. Using the same POTs phone from the Bad attempt above, I called my wife. She reported a little echoing, and on my end the volume appeared a little low, but magicJack was now useable. The second picture is what this installation looks like. [Note: both pictures shot using our iPhone 
.] I played around with the software, and you can set volume etc via a slider bar which I did.
Ready for Prime Time?: magicJack has phone numbers for about 30 states when I logged on for “our” number. We live in Indiana, and none are avail for our domicile - IL and OH, but not IN; I ended up with a 206 area code number where our sons live - Seattle, although one lives in a 253 area. The “directions” state we can change “once” so it is up to me/us to keep checking back and change once a 765 becomes available. I can live with that.
Based on the installation “challenges” I faced, I would be hesitant to recommend the magicJack for a little ole lady in tennis shoes - or my B-I-L Jerry 
. It may be another good idea rushed to market, or I may have been fortunate to have that one in a million challenging installations. But hey, the price is right and I would go for it. You don’t have much to lose. Twenty bucks per year for calls anywhere in the US and Canada is approaching “FREE.” Hank
15 Responses to “magicJack: Third Installation Is "The Charm"”
- 1 Pingback on Dec 28th, 2007 at 8:35 am
- 2 Pingback on Dec 29th, 2007 at 11:40 am
- 3 Pingback on Dec 31st, 2007 at 3:19 pm
mine got stuck would hang during install freezing my pc i ran the fix restarted tried a different usb & it installed fine now my obnly complaint is unlpugging & getting it to restart after each reboot
20 bucks a year is excellent and approaching free but only if you get to use it. At least once.
That would be nice. I can’t even install mine. It shuts down after the softphone.
Was hoping I could make it work but to no avail. I can deal with low quality I just needed a backup line for a project. Too bad I can’t use it. Good to hear you can though!
1. The volume control, if you can find it (I finally did: Menu, “Volume/Headset…)”, for ME does NOT work. I can hear ALL the folks that I call SUPER clearly but cannot change either that clear volume, to me “speaker” I assume, or the strength of MY voice/out. Most of my callers can ONLY “almost hear me. This seems to be dependent on whom I call and have no idea why; possibly their phone service
2. If you want TRUE entertainment, you can, (again if you can figure out how to do it) contact magicJack customer support but it is by text messaging. I spent OVER two hours with an obvious Indian person who, like many tech support persons are using “cut & paste” nonsence, to respond to my conserns. Even though I gave this Support Expert, the “error messages” that I was getting and texting “my volume control does not work”, I got nowhere and the “session” ended with his/her thanks for having me as a satisfied customer. Again, should your new HI-Def, TV fail, and you wish first class entertainment, magicJack tech support, should be your first alternative.
3. DO buy magicJack for supplemental long-line (long distance) calling. Should you, as I did with my sister in Maine and my nephew in Arizona, while I was in Maryland, get impeccable communications, it IS worth the price (that too WILL likely, at some point be adjusted).
Ok, Ladies & Gentlemen:
Here’s what magicJack is all about:
http://www.pevoosow.com/magicJack.html
The install does not work because you most likely need service pack 2 installed from microsoft. This is for WINXP.
A few other things not mentioned are the fact that you have to wait for a dial tone for somethings 30 seconds or more and when I dial a number I have to use the area code in my own area code. Once I finish dialing I wait for it to connect another long delay most times, but lately all I get is another dial tone, it hangs up on me and so I try again then I sometimes get a mans voice saying you must use the area code when dialing a number lol… sometimes I get a woman saying the person you are trying to reach at 479437XXXX01 is not available. Where did the 01 come from? I have no clue I did not dial it.
I have not been able to get a satifactory solutions using the live chat and now I think they blocked my ip because I can not get the chat server at all, it re direct my webpage back to the FAQ’s.
When I was able to chat the rep never answered my questions and was never able to fix any of my issues, the above is the one I am having now, I have also experienced all the other issues the rest of the writers and posters have. If a company can not stand behind it’s products and offer good customer service and tech support they will not last.
And just for your entertainment I will let you in on a few other things I found through trial and error. The system will not allow you to receive calls on a phone with its own voice mail like vonage does, you have to receive your call log on the soft phone and voice mail is by email which is ok when I am away from home but when I am home I would like the ability to turn that part off and use an answering gadget at the push of a button.
Also the softphone will not go away.. it stays in my task bar in both the one side as an icon which is ok, and on the other side a two inch long minimized button, you close it and nothing happens it sits there forever and it takes up space and gets annoying because when I am using the computer and a call comes in it pops up smack dab in the middle of what i am working on and interferes with what I am doing. For instance I was in a chat today with magicjack and she told me to restart it, so I did and it closed my chat and I have not been able to get a live person all day. I do not know if they shut down the live chat or what but it don’t work any more for me. Both my sisters have this also and on lives 20 minutes from me and the other in MO and experience the hang ups as I do and poor voice quality with low volume, the in coming caller can not hear us.
As for Vonage…Something I would like to share with the readers is, it cost much to much but it is is very reliable and if you try to cancel your service they offer you two free months and lower the monthly bill. I went from 32 a month with taxes etc to 25 a month, then the device port one went out and I had to call and get the unit configured for port two and during the call I also mentioned that they charged me early and it put my account in the red and I was not a happy customer at this point, They offered me another two free months and lowered my monthly bill again to $10 a month for six months. so in approx 8 months my two years will be up and I can then cancel without paying the disconnect fee.
PJ Williamson
I heard my doorbell ring right as I finished ordering the Magijack. Believe it or not it was delivery of the Magicjack. Actually I opted for the standard delivery and it was at my7 house in two days.
I would have liked to see more instructions than “Just plug it in” but lo & behold, that worked. No problems installing on my computer running an early edition dual channel Intel and XP Media Edition. The connections have been reliable, the sound is dead on & it cost zip.
it also works like a charm on my Compaq/HP Presario laptop running Vista Home, I use it in motel rooms, McDonalds or any place there is WIFI or a broadband link.
There are a couple of things that need correcting but nothing drastic so far.
Ocassionally a program will lock up and going to the task manager will not allow me to end the offending program without unplugging the Magicjack. Another thing is that the volume controls do not work.
I have been using MJ for two weeks now on a iMac Intel Core2Duo running OSX Leopard, no problems, my ISP is Comcast, here in Baltimore I get a very strong internet signal (around 5Mbps download and 1.5Mbps up) I also have Windows Vista with the latest Service Pack running under Boot Camp, have plugged it in and runs smoothly, I call California, Chicago, and Arizona on a regular basis without any issues, sound is really good, but not as good a land line. When MJ is running under Mac I have to turn off Firewall otherwise I cannot make outbound calls, also if I bring the computer back from sleep mode the MJ will not work, have to unplug it then re-plug it to get it back on-line which takes about 10 sec. I also have an old Toshiba laptop with Centrino processor, Windows XP and wireless card and it works just as good as the Mac as far as set-up and sound quality. No dropped calls or static so far.
Will someone please help me! I have had MJ for about 4 months now. Today, it has stopped working all together. I have tried it on all the USB ports, I have removed the files from the process tray as told, I have unplugged and replugged the thing so mnay times I cannot count.
I think I might have to go with Skype. I do not know much about Skype, bu my professor says I should try it.
This is a disaster. I am out $20.00, and the blue light special has left the building, I guess for good.
A good idea….but I think it needs some tweaking… Do you think I can get my money back?
Sharon
What’s the advantage of Magic Jack over a cell phone besides the price? Sure you can’t beat the price of 20 dollars per year, but I would much rather pay for the convenience of having communication all of the time. Landlines are already being made obsolete by cell phones, many of my friend’s families don’t even use a house phone anymore, everyone just has a cell phone. Also, how are you suppose to call 911 with this thing? I saw the commercial on TV and I thought to myself this thing is a joke. why would you ever buy it. And my opinion stands true.
Plugged in worked fine on laptop. Using headset/microphone combo and it worked from the get-go.
Using over aircard or wifi in hotel - cut out a lot. Maybe too many variables using either aircard or wifi. Problem became worse over time. Will try in hotel with real hi-speed internet (not wi-fi) in future.
Desktop problems headset working fine with other applications but not magicjack. Looked up information on website -chagned settings and now works fine.
I have not tried to plug phone into unit - so do not know quality.
I am satisfied - not thrilled but satisfied.
“Most users that are having “trouble” with their magicJack® dongle are usually having connection problems with their computer’s USB ports and its power supply to those ports!”
This is the least expensive and probably the best telephone service that I have EVER used!
This service ONLY costs $19.95/year and with a 5 year license extension it costs only $12.00/year! $1.67/month 1st year then $1.00/month each year thereafter.
Don’t believe any of the BAD PRESS you may hear about the service. I discovered what the “technical” problem was, because it actually happened to me. I was having audio and connection problems until I solved the technical problem of my computer’s USB bus drawing over 500 mA, actually 580 mA, with everything plugged into the bus.
My eMachine computer, Model T2882, only has a 250 Watt power supply and that was working at its limits with all the computer cards and USB devices that I had plugged into the machine were demanding current. The attached article is how I solved the problem for less than $20.00!
http://drbray.blogspot.com/2008/12/magicjack-reality.html