magicJack and magicJack Plus Support, Reviews, FAQs and Hacks

wipeout97 · magicJack Apprentice Joined: 03 Feb 2008 Posts: 27

After almost one year with magicjack I would like to give my 2 cents for anyone attempting to purchase:

first 3 months were GREAT with the device and I was even able to fax over broadband which made this a no brainer for the price.

Month 4-12

HORRIBLE! HORRIBLE! HORRIBLE!
I have not used the device (let me change that.....I have not been able to use the device) now in almost 8 months due to EXTREMELY POOR voice quality. I have DSL and broandband (one for the job and the other for play). With a laptop connected directly to the dsl modem the calls are fine for 2 minutes and then go choppy, garbled, and I switch to my cell phone. On time warner cable (15meg down by 3 meg up) my calls are just horrible and once again I can not use the device.

Customer support uses scripted answers for everything so unless the magicfix fixes your issue, don't waste your time. I added up all time on support (even through the 1800 number) and it totals 30 hours of my life down the drain trying to get this to work. Congrats to those who use the device without problems. For those with problems you feel as screwed as I do.

My opinion......
Avoid the company until they allow you to use a sip device (VOIP ATA). Something tells me when people stop buying more years of crappy service the company will be forced to stop this USB only solution.

Other thoughs......
Great idea for someone to come along and improve.....

Take Care

Ryan from NC

az2008 · Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 1:16 am Post subject: Re: After almost 1 year

Blindman · MagicJack Newbie Joined: 24 Feb 2008 Posts: 2

you could try turning off the magicjack software in task manager (ctrl alt delete) and try using another providers voip service with the usb jack.
I use the the magic jack usb with x-lite s/w and voipvoip provider for calling internationally because they had much cheaper international rates.
I just use the magicjack service for all Canada and U.S. calls then turned off their service and started up x-lite when I want to use my other provider.
If magicjack service is down then I fire up the x-lite and use the voipvoip service in Canada (only 2 cents a minute) this confirms that the magicjack server is down and not a problem with my computer or usb jack.

Almost a year now and no major problems other than the rare outage and voice mail not working (possibly due to the magicjack server being upgraded) and the occasional call quality not being great but we are not heavy telephone users 1-3 calls a day.
For $20 a year overall I am very happy with it compared to how much I had to pay for a regular land line or Vonage before and I can use it with other providers if necessary. Voipvoip is a pay as you go service so if you don't use it you don't pay other than an initial credit you purchase. Not sure if the credit ever expires. But there are lots of other service providers to chose from to use as a back up.
So unless there is a major power outage (I have ups battery backups for all my electronics) or my internet provider is down I can still use the usb jack to make calls.

Not sure how good you are with computers (maybe your very knowledgeable)
but unfortunately most people who own computers don't know if their computers are infected with a virus or spyware or are just not setup properly (bogged down with useless s/w running in the background).
Most problems can be traced back to these. After these I would suspect cheap low budget computer parts failing.
Since it did work for you before.

wipeout97 · magicJack Apprentice Joined: 03 Feb 2008 Posts: 27

I spent too many hours with support to diagnose and still nothing. I tried multiple machines with no success and some were multicore machines. DSL and Cable failing means it is not on my end.

One small note:

I diagnosed it to an overloaded proxy on mj's end. I am working on a script to block certain "oversold" mj proxys automatically and will then allow users to receive clear calls until those proxys too are oversold.