Please help - I want this to work

[miershpedankl]

So, I've had my MJ for a few weeks (too long to return) and I have setup my 1.2Ghz PC to be my MJ server in the basement. Before this I have used Vonage, Skype, Comcast VOIP, and Verizon VOIP.

Setup:
MJ plugged into 1.2Ghz pc via the short extension. Nothing else is running on the pc. MJ wired into my home phone wiring from the basement (goes throughout house). On the second floor I have a wireless base station with three handsets throughout the house. I have a fax machine plugged in on the 3rd floor. So, I only have two "phones" plugged in.

Problems:
Sound quality is HORRIBLE. I've done the magicfix thing and followed online suggestions at magicjack.com, but nothing has changed. Calls will drop out, it will crackle so bad you just want to hang up - and voicemail, for some reason, is always the worst. I tried faxing something to my wife on the MJ number today. HA! Not a chance. It wouldn't even recognize the fax signal. What it would do is hang up on the fax, however.

What can I do to make this thing work? I read so many great reviews, but ours is VERY frustrating, to say the least.

Thanks in advance for any help. If you have something stupid to say like "your dumb for buying one" just forget it. I'm actually looking for positive help so I can get this to work for me.

[hsweiss]

Have you tried plugging a phone directly into the MJ and seeing if the sound quality is better? Personally I have a 2.4GHz cordless phone plugged directly into the MJ and nothing else. It works great (other than an echo problem I have to numbers in my own area code). Fax works too - I just plug the computer's modem into the MJ and it works fine. By plugging the MJ into your house wiring have you disconnected the wiring from your TELCO? You can't have both connected to the wiring.

[miershpedankl]

Yep - it is disconnected from the TELCO. In fact, I have used this same setup for all other forms of VOIP that I have used quite successfully. I have also plugged in a regular phone to the MJ, still bad quality. I wish I had the fax on the same floor as the computer, but no can do. I'm curious if the wired line will work better. The last time I tried it the setup was a little different. Same issues though. And sometimes it works clear as day, but that is rare.

[VaHam]

Yep - it is disconnected from the TELCO. In fact, I have used this same setup for all other forms of VOIP that I have used quite successfully. I have also plugged in a regular phone to the MJ, still bad quality. I wish I had the fax on the same floor as the computer, but no can do. I'm curious if the wired line will work better. The last time I tried it the setup was a little different. Same issues though. And sometimes it works clear as day, but that is rare.

The fact that sometimes it is "clear as day" is a big hint that the problem may lie with competition for either computer time or internet bandwidth. I know you said you have nothing else running on the PC but it is so easy to just go into task manager and set magicjack's priority to above normal or higher to eliminate competition for computer time that it is worth a shot.

Do you have a wired phone you can plug in and try. It could be that your wireless phones are getting interference at times from somewhere. If the wired phone works consistently then that may be the problem.

What internet service do you have (i.e. DSL, cable etc.) and what is it's bandwidth? What is your MOS score from This Site

What router do you have and how do you have QoS setup?

.

[miershpedankl]

I have tried with a wired phone and the result is exactly the same.

A new problem I see this evening is that I can't even mouse around my desktop b/c it freezes. MJ will use 4% then 90%, then 4% then 90% of the CPU. I have a few processes running in the background, but nothing that has caused CPU usage problems. The minimized XP load really. Pretty much just system and security.

I have the basic Comcast high speed plan - nothing extra, but I've used VOIP just fine on it. On my wireless laptop I am pulling in 4Mbps. I didn't see a MOS score in the report. All levels indicate that I am within normal range, and my wired pc that MJ runs on will likely score better. Looks like I'll have to close down MJ to try it out on that pc. :/

Using a Linksys WRTP54G and not sure of QoS settings. Where in my Linksys setup can I find those?

[rictic]

If you have something stupid to say like "your dumb for buying one" just forget it.

Wouldn't dream of it... I love my MJ and have converted a number of neighbours & friends over to the Magic side.
The idiosyncrasies of the MJ and the learning something new are what make having MJ so entertaining...
What I would suggest is searching this forum because there is a hell of a lot of excellent info on audio issues, it's just all over the place and takes some getting through. There are some excellent tips by some very savvy folks.
It may be worth investing in a Hawking Broadband Booster for 40 bucks. It has made a difference on my setup.
Can't suggest anything on the fax side, I'm afraid...
Good Luck

[jrmckins]

"your dumb for buying one" just forget it. I'm actually looking for positive help so I can get this to work for me.

you spelled "you're" wrong. That's helpful

[miershpedankl]

Indeed I did. Certainly glad you pointed that out. Now, any helpful advice?

[VaHam]

I have tried with a wired phone and the result is exactly the same.

A new problem I see this evening is that I can't even mouse around my desktop b/c it freezes. MJ will use 4% then 90%, then 4% then 90% of the CPU. I have a few processes running in the background, but nothing that has caused CPU usage problems. The minimized XP load really. Pretty much just system and security.

I have the basic Comcast high speed plan - nothing extra, but I've used VOIP just fine on it. On my wireless laptop I am pulling in 4Mbps. I didn't see a MOS score in the report. All levels indicate that I am within normal range, and my wired pc that MJ runs on will likely score better. Looks like I'll have to close down MJ to try it out on that pc. :/

Using a Linksys WRTP54G and not sure of QoS settings. Where in my Linksys setup can I find those?

For some hints on QoS read thru THIS THREAD.

The MOS would have been at the bottom of the summary which is presented a few seconds after the test is completed. In fact just cutting and pasting the summary here may give us some more insight. And of coarse you need to run it on the computer MJ is using for best results.

This old desktop is a 2.53 GHz P4. To give you an example since the last reboot my System Idle Process has run 22:30:04 but magicjack has only run 00:02:19 which is a very small percentage of the time. Only made a couple of phone calls on MJ during that period but sounds like your system is doing this even when no call is in progress. Does the softphone window look normal? Are all the pieces being displayed. The number, ad, 911 info etc. The reason I ask is if not perhaps MJ is retrying internet requests to get some piece of information.

Check the last post in THIS THREAD and follow the instruction for background performance setting.

Only one other thought comes to mind and that is because it just happened to me recently. The cpu cooler thermal compound was old and dried out and my cpu started over heating. In order to save it self the cpu starts slowing down as the temperature gets higher so my processor speed wasn't really 2.53 GHz any more. I looked at the processor temp and saw it was too high. Some new thermal grease and voila it was back to full performance.

[boa]

MJ uses the 5vdc from the computer. It may not be sufficient to power "the house". Instead of pluging MJ directly into the USB plug MJ into a powered usb hub.

[VaHam]

MJ uses the 5vdc from the computer. It may not be sufficient to power "the house". Instead of pluging MJ directly into the USB plug MJ into a powered usb hub.

True the phones may not ring without a powered hub; but that shouldn't be causing his problem with a busy computer.

[VaHam]

I have tried with a wired phone and the result is exactly the same.

A new problem I see this evening is that I can't even mouse around my desktop b/c it freezes.

One other thought on this issue. Take a look at your system logs and see if there are hints of a problem there. Just today my system starting behaving irratically with the system process doing the toggling between 0 and 100% about two to three times/second. I looked in the system error log and it was reporting the a service SYMTDI was failing to load. It was reporting the same error two to three times per second and was the cause of the problem. After some digging I contacted Symantec Tech support online and the guy was great. He did a remote session to my computer and tried a few things without success to fix the problem. He then uninstalled and reinstalled Norton Security Suite for me and that fixed it! (he even tacked on some time to my subscription in the process )

I still have no idea why the problem suddenly pooped up today but maybe a virus got thru the protection and attached to Norton.

Anyway something to check into to see if something similiar is happening to your system.

.

[miershpedankl]

MJ uses the 5vdc from the computer. It may not be sufficient to power "the house". Instead of pluging MJ directly into the USB plug MJ into a powered usb hub.

:: This is a good idea, but my basic wired phone experiences the exact same issues, and I still have the CPU usage problem. :/ Good thinking though.

He then uninstalled and reinstalled Norton Security Suite for me and that fixed it!

:: That's awesome! I don't have a security suite running right now, other than security scanning software. I'll check with the security I do have running though and see if tweaking it makes a difference. It hasn't so far. Thanks!

The reason I ask is if not perhaps MJ is retrying internet requests to get some piece of information... Some new thermal grease and voila it was back to full performance.

:: Still looking into this one. I didn't know there was such a thing as "thermal grease." Thanks!

[booyah5]

You've said that your computer isn't running anything else on it. Does that mean it's running a clean OS install or a computer you simply uninstalled stuff from?

[miershpedankl]

You've said that your computer isn't running anything else on it. Does that mean it's running a clean OS install or a computer you simply uninstalled stuff from?

Yes, this is a fresh install of XP.