Why I Use Skype...

[lcompton]

Good afternoon.

Recently, I bundled my Verizon Online DSL service with my Verizon Wireless service to receive a monthly discount of USD11.99 on my DSL service reducing the total monthly DSL expense to USD30.00.

The process of bundling the services was one relatively brief call to Verizon back in February. The result of bundling my Verizon services was one huge nightmare in terms of billing.

Last Friday, I placed the dreaded customer service call to Verizon to get the billing mess straightened out. The duration of the first call to Verizon (as reported by my call duration timer) was 2:09:48; that's two hours, nine minutes and forty-eight seconds.

The call was placed using Skype.

To put it bluntly, this call would not have been possible with magicJack because of the rediculous call caps.

Oh, and yes, Skype performed beautifully.

[Anne]

I'm glad you've found something that works for you and that you're happy with.

Anne

[Llamaman]

Since you're calling Verizon about a Verizon issue and have a Verizon wireless, couldn't you have just used the wireless to make the call? I'd think that would be a free call.

Why even bring MJ into the conversation?

[lcompton]

Good morning, Llamaman.

Since you're calling Verizon about a Verizon issue and have a Verizon wireless, couldn't you have just used the wireless to make the call? I'd think that would be a free call.

Unknown. More importantly, I didn't have to bother checking.

Why even bring MJ into the conversation?

Namely, because I can. More importantly, because I abandoned magicJack last January in favor of Skype to flee the call caps. So, my comment is completely relevant.

[Llamaman]

Are the call caps that restrictive? I'm new to MJ and haven't had a problem. I've heard that as long as you keep usage to less than 3 hours a day, you're ok. Is that not the case?

[lcompton]

Llamaman:

Are the call caps that restrictive? I'm new to MJ and haven't had a problem. I've heard that as long as you keep usage to less than 3 hours a day, you're ok. Is that not the case?

I think it depends on the user. magicJack caps calls at two hours (although I've seen some reports that the call caps are one hour and fifty-nine minutes; i.e. 01:59:00 vs. 02:00:00). After the call cap period has expired, the call is forcibly terminated, which is untenable in many circumstances such as my customer service call with Verizon.

I've seen the reports of people being terminated for excessive use, but that was never the problem I encountered. I just can't have my calls forcibly terminated at two hours.

I will concede, however, that it appears as though the majority of people in these forums don't mind the call caps. I need home telephone service without call caps, so Skype at USD59.50/annum is a better fit for me. On the other hand, I'm paying for that luxury since it is three times as expensive as magicJack's annualized licensing cost.

[Llamaman]

The $60.00 per year is still significantly less than the $70.00 a month that my Verizon land line was costing me. I'd bet you were in a similar situation.

I'm liking my MJ so far, but if disconnects become an issue, there's always that other VOIP thing that someone posted about. Ooma or something like that.

You can call non skype phones with skype? I didn't know that. When I was at Walmart, I saw a whole bunch of Skype phones for real cheap, but the packaging said that they'd make Skype to Skype calls. I didn't want to be so limited so I opted for the MJ.

[lcompton]

Llamaman:

The $60.00 per year is still significantly less than the $70.00 a month that my Verizon land line was costing me. I'd bet you were in a similar situation.

My monthly Verizon costs were USD25.00/month. But, that was the bare essentials; i.e. dial tone, touch tone dialing (it's hard to believe Verizon still charges for touch tone dialing) and unlimited local calling. Check out my thread in magicJack reviews. I wrote an extensive set of articles on switching from Verizon to magicJack in spring/summer 2008.

I'm liking my MJ so far, but if disconnects become an issue, there's always that other VOIP thing that someone posted about. Ooma or something like that.

I looked at Ooma when I was searching for a magicJack replacement. I have doubts about Ooma, which I've written about previously. You can search that post out if you're interested.

You can call non skype phones with skype? I didn't know that. When I was at Walmart, I saw a whole bunch of Skype phones for real cheap, but the packaging said that they'd make Skype to Skype calls. I didn't want to be so limited so I opted for the MJ.

Yes, I use Skype like a traditional Verizon landline. I can call any number magicJack can call. I was able to re-use the hardware (i.e. thin client) I purchased for magicJack and I purchased a D-Link gadget from Amazon.com for USD7.99 that enabled me to use my regular analog cordless telephone system with Skype.

[Llamaman]

That's some good info. I'll poke around and look at the posts. My Verizon land line is being disconnected this morning so that's how new I am to all of this. It seems that there are more options out there than are commonly known.

And to think I was going to go with Vonage when I got tired of Verizon's price.

I only kept Verizon on the hopes that they'd provide DSL service where I live. Never happened. Now that Time Warner has backed off of their internet caps, I'm ok with keeping them.

[az2008]

Are the call caps that restrictive?

IMO, the 2-hour call limit isn't bad. But, there should be some kind of warning that it is approaching. Like three beeps every minute three minutes before disconnection, and a tone 20 seconds before disconnection.

To me, the problem is that it was originally a 30-minute call cap. And, it was implemented without warning. And, Dan didn't inform his chat support group (who essentially lied to customers for 3-4 days, denying there was any limits).

If Dan could do that, he's capable of just about anything. It's good to enter into MagicJack knowing that.

To your point that it's a terrific bargain at $2.50 per month. You're absolutely right. If someone can make MJ work for them, within all of Dan's "Mickey Mouse" antics, they can save a lot of money.

Unfortunately, MJ isn't marketed that way. And, a race to the bottom isn't what most people are looking for. I mean, if you could get a 50-cent salad, but the chef spit in it, would you excuse it as a terrific bargain?

Mark

[free2talk]

Lisa
Whats ur setup like ?
Can you use contacts from your handset to call like a normal phone ?
Does caller id show up on your handset for incoming calls ?
How is the voice quality ?

[jetaray]

To put it bluntly, this call would not have been possible with magicJack because of the rediculous call caps.

When you used magicJack did they ever stop one of your calls? If so how many minutes a month did you spend on the phone using the magicJack service?

Just trying to find out how many minutes one has to use to be put into this group that is limited on talk time. I have seen posts by several people who made calls longer then 2 hours with out being cut off.

[lcompton]

Good afternoon, Free2Talk.

Whats ur setup like ?

I installed Skype on an HP t5710 Thin Client (w/512MB RAM & 512MB Flash) and purchased a D-Link DPH-50U from Amazon.com for USD7.99. My Uniden cordless telephone system connects to the DPH-50U.

It's very much like the magicJack setup except instead of the little magicJack dongle to connet the legacy telephone equipment I have the DPH-50U, which pretty much does the same function.

Can you use contacts from your handset to call like a normal phone ?

Yes, I have the speed-dial buttons programmed on my Uniden cordless handsets and they work like a charm.

Does caller id show up on your handset for incoming calls ?

Yes, Skype provides caller ID and it does show up on my Uniden cordless handsets.

How is the voice quality ?

The voice quality on my end is superb. I have not had any complaints from people with whom I'm speaking on the telephone when using Skype. However, when I call home to check my messages on my answering machine, the voices sound similar in quality to a wireless telephone.

If you're interested in more details on this, search out my posts on setting up Skype to replace magicJack. I wrote them in January of this year and there are quite a few.

[lcompton]

Good afternoon, jetaray.

To put it bluntly, this call would not have been possible with magicJack because of the rediculous call caps.

When you used magicJack did they ever stop one of your calls? If so how many minutes a month did you spend on the phone using the magicJack service?

Yes, I tested my magicJack and verified the call caps when they were first set at 30 minutes and later extended to 60 minutes. By the time magicJack extended the call caps to two hours, I was on my way to Skype so I don't recall ever verifying the two hour call caps.

My monthly usage was rediculously low -- perhaps, a couple of hundred minutes at most. I certainly never used more than 400-500 minutes/month.

The call caps, when I was a magicJack user, were only on outbound calls. Inbound calls were unaffected by the call caps.

Just trying to find out how many minutes one has to use to be put into this group that is limited on talk time. I have seen posts by several people who made calls longer then 2 hours with out being cut off.

Were those people making outbound calls? I seem to recall a number of folks claiming that they were unaffected by the call caps when this topic was hot in late December 2008 and January 2009. I'm not sure anyone ever figured out a pattern between those affected and those unaffected.

As for me, call caps of any kind are unacceptable so I had to bail.

[Llamaman]

@lcompton - Thanks for continuing to be helpful, even though you're no longer using Magic Jack. The call limits and inbound/outbound differences are clearer to me now and I can pass that info along to my wife.

We were under the impression that 3 hours per call was the limit at first. Then 1 hour per call and 3 hours a day. The 2 hours per call and only on outbound calls makes more sense to me.

Not that I'd care to be on the phone for any longer than absolutely necessary. Even 1 hour sounds akin to a mild form of torture, but my wife would disagree.

This new info will make her happier with the MJ. Well, until we hit a cap. Then it might be time to go Skype or Ooma or whatever.

[Anne]

One invaluable bit of information I've learned from this thread and forum is you don't have to pay the big bucks to call long distance. Skype would most likely be my next choice, but so far so good with MJ.

Thanks to all for posting.

Anne

[free2talk]

Lisa,
Thanks for the reply.
My next destination would be skype but for now MJ is holding up well.
I'm using a HP T5720 and the voice quality is very good right now.
I don't use it for more than 200-300 minutes a month ,maybe less so its great.

[Llamaman]

I went ahead and downloaded Skype because a friend in Australia just downloaded it and we can talk for free with it. I guess that's the first step.

This will just be for chat right now, but talking to Australia for free will be pretty cool. I'm looking forward to it. Now, I just need to find a headset/mic combo.

[lcompton]

Good afternoon, Llamaman.

I went ahead and downloaded Skype because a friend in Australia just downloaded it and we can talk for free with it. I guess that's the first step.

This will just be for chat right now, but talking to Australia for free will be pretty cool. I'm looking forward to it. Now, I just need to find a headset/mic combo.

I don't have need of international calling anymore, but this is another area where Skype outshines magicJack. Even though magicJack to magicJack calls are free, both parties need to have magicJack, which usually means sending a dongle to someone overseas.

With Skype, all the other party needs to do is download and install the software, which is handy.

eBay is planning to spin off Skype as a stand-alone company next year, which is going to put serious revenue pressure on Skype. As much as I'd like to see the USD59.50/annum price hold, the market does have sufficient room for Skype to raise prices to USD99.99/annum and still remain a very good value for those using Skype as a home telephone service.

A while back I posted an article about Skype offering applications for the iPhone and Blackberry. This is hugely significant because with Skype on my Verizon Wireless Blackberry, I can make calls through Skype for free using my 3G Internet connection on the Blackberry. The unlimited data plan on the Blackberry is USD29.99/month, which means I won' t incur any data usage charges on the Blackberry when I use Skype. This also means that I will be able to take my home telephone with me anywhere I have wireless service. In effect, my Blackberry will have two telephone lines; the Verizon Wireless line costing USD39.99/month for 450 minutes plus unlimited nights, weekends and in-network calling and the Skype telephone line, which will be the same as my home telephone line and bound only by Skype's 10,000 minutes/month documented usage cap.

I can't wait to try all of this out! The call caps may be the best thing magicJack ever did in my case. I wouldn't have started down this path if magicJack were as good as it was when I first jumped in.

[Llamaman]

It was pretty cool. A 2 hour teleconference with locations in Texas, Missouri and Australia. We'll be adding others to the group as we talk them into downloading Skype. Two from California should be online tonight.

It wasn't like a phone call. With the headset on instead of a phone, it was more like we were all just in the same room talking. The voice quality was great too.

[VoipDude]

lcompton:

Perhaps you might be interested in checking out my post on how to use magicJack with Skype on a cordless phone. It's in the (MagicJack Tips, Tricks and Hacks) forum. I see you have the D-Link adapter, but this is a way to use inactive magicJack dongles with Skype, and avoid the cost of an adapter.

VoipDude

[lcompton]

Good evening, VoipDude.

Perhaps you might be interested in checking out my post on how to use magicJack with Skype on a cordless phone. It's in the (MagicJack Tips, Tricks and Hacks) forum. I see you have the D-Link adapter, but this is a way to use inactive magicJack dongles with Skype, and avoid the cost of an adapter.

Well done, if I may say. The only thing I would have done differently is included source links, which I will do in this post for anyone keen on trying this solution.

• IP Phone Center Home Page
• IP Phone Center Installation Page
• IP Phone Center Installer (*.msi) See update below!

Don't be afraid of the *.msi file, it's a Microsoft installer file. You can learn about *.msi files here.

Since I am already using a D-Link DPH-50U (which is functioning flawlessly for me), I'm not going to bother trying the IP Phone Center/magicJack dongle solution anytime soon. However, I would be interested in reports from anyone who has successfully used the IP Phone Center/magicJack dongle solution on a Hewlett Packard t5710 Thin Client.

Looking at the IP Phone Center home page, it certainly appears as though IP Phone Center has the key functionality that I use with Skype through the DPH-50U. If I had known about this solution before I purchased my DPH-50U, I certainly would have given it a try. The DPH-50U cost me USD7.99 so I'm not too broken up about this.

Again, nice find, VoipDude!

UPDATE:
After I wrote this post I discovered that the IP Phone Center installer download link doesn't work. So, while this solution may be viable, you'll need to find a download source for IP Phone Center. If you do happen to discover a functioning download source, do consider posting the link here so others may benefit from your discovery.

[VoipDude]

My post has been updated to include a working download link.