Can't Make Calls- Please Help

[buzzwood]

I just purchased magicjack and registered for a number. I can't make calls. The Magicjack says it is ready to make calls, but when I dial the number (including area code) the phone makes the sounds of the numbers being dialed and then silence. No ringing. Nothing. I have been thru the so-called official help site with live chats twice. They have me turning off my firewall, dropping the Cookie Level to accept all, and adding two sites to my trusted zone. I am not comfortable with these settings. I have also updated using the magicjack website Twice. I am running Windows Vista Home Premium. How do I make a call?? Thanks for your help in advance.

[Nobody beats the Whiz!]

Can you receive calls?

[buzzwood]

I just tried a different phone and was able to make a call out. Previously I was using a cordless phone. So I had the person call me back and the quality was awful. They could only hear every other word, even though I was able to hear them. Also felt like I was shouting into the phone and there is a constant hum.

[VaHam]

I just tried a different phone and was able to make a call out. Previously I was using a cordless phone. So I had the person call me back and the quality was awful. They could only hear every other word, even though I was able to hear them. Also felt like I was shouting into the phone and there is a constant hum.

Try going to this site with your magicjack unplugged and then report back with your test results here. http://myspeed.visualware.com/voip/

[buzzwood]

I did as you suggested and the results were as follows:

Jitter: 3.3ms
Packet Loss: 0.3%
MOS Score: 3.8
Download Speed: 442 kbps
Upload Speed: 289 kbps
Qaulity of Service: 89%

From what I read on the site you refered me to these seem to be satisfactory figures. So what can it be?

[VaHam]

I did as you suggested and the results were as follows:

Jitter: 3.3ms
Packet Loss: 0.3%
MOS Score: 3.8
Download Speed: 442 kbps
Upload Speed: 289 kbps
Qaulity of Service: 89%

From what I read on the site you refered me to these seem to be satisfactory figures. So what can it be?

Well not stellar but should be usable. Three things you might try.

1) Locate the magicjack.exe process in task manager and elevate it to high

2) Open the softphone and go to menu. Then select Volume/Headset control click the telephone radio button and slide both the speaker and microphone about one third from the left.

3) If that doesn't help then it could be that your USB is not providing enough power to the magicjack. You may want to try using a powered USB hub. Do a search here regarding powered USB hubs for recommendations.

[buzzwood]

Well I did as you suggested, including a powered USB Port. In the meantime I found that if I try and use my cordless phone it cuts off my connection to the internet and then MJ doesn't work. So I plugged in an ancient corded phone and made some test calls. One locally and one long distance. Both calls I placed went through fine, with the calls being clear. But when I had the people call me back they couldn't hear me well. They both said they could only make out every other word. Is there a way to improve that? Thanks so far for your help.

[Nobody beats the Whiz!]

Well I did as you suggested, including a powered USB Port. In the meantime I found that if I try and use my cordless phone it cuts off my connection to the internet and then MJ doesn't work. So I plugged in an ancient corded phone and made some test calls. One locally and one long distance. Both calls I placed went through fine, with the calls being clear. But when I had the people call me back they couldn't hear me well. They both said they could only make out every other word. Is there a way to improve that? Thanks so far for your help.

Okay, it looks like you had been using a 2.4ghz phone that was interfering with your wireless router, and now you've eliminated that from the equation by using a corded phone.

You said that now when you call out, the line is clear. Was the outgoing call clear in both directions? If so, that makes your second observation difficult to troubleshoot, because you said that when the other party calls you, they couldn't hear you well, but implied that you could hear them clearly.

If your outgoing call quality was clear in both directions, your subsequent problem has a few possibilities that occur to my limited mind:

1) Your MJ server (which is based on your area code, not your location) is over taxed. Some calls are good, some bad. Search the forum for ways to block your server, so you may use a better one.

2) Your incoming calls were just a case of bad luck at the moment. How are your calls, now?

3) The party calling you is also a MJ user, and has an over taxed server (see solution in number 1)

4) Your CPU gets overtaxed. Despite the fact that a VOIP call shouldn't be too taxing on even a modestly powered system, the reality is that sometimes reality bites. I mean, I have a nicely powered cpu with 1gb RAM, but occassionally, my calls choke when I'm surfing the web while talking. It's not usually an issue, but sometimes. When I stop "messing around" on the computer, the quality instantly improves. Check to make sure you don't have a lot of background processes running (especially spyware, malware, viruses, etc). If your CPU is running a full virus scan, it could make your calls choke.

5) Search the forum for other posts with similar problems to yours. Also, the wiki has good info: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/MagicJack/ ... oppy_Voice


Good luck, and keep us posted.

[buzzwood]

Thanks for the advice. I am still in the process of checking it all out. This has been a very busy week. I did make a long distance call and that caller said my voice was garbeled but understandable. This was after I unplugged my cordless phone from the the surge power source. I also made a local call and that went OK. I have not tried to get a call back. I may try to change my MJ server as a next step. I will keep you informed how that turns out. Thanks again.

[tony]

I may try to change my MJ server as a next step. I will keep you informed how that turns out. Thanks again.

There is a good wiki on Magic Jack explaining how to determine which proxy server you are currently using and how to force MJ to connect to another. I can never find that wiki (it's a different web site than this forum) in Google so sorry, can't provide the link here. But use search in these forums and look for "proxy" and "server". Also I posted a means by using settings in the router to redirect IP addresses to less used proxy servers. My MJ phone number is based in NY but I re-directed to Phoenix servers. You'll have to experiment around to find MJ servers that aren't over loaded.

Your upload speed isn't great. What level of Internet service are you on? High powered wifi with a dish on the outside of the house? Or a "lite" version of high speed? If your computer is a laptop, if you have a chance to take it somewhere else, give it a try.