magicJack with Comcast

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MadDogMike
magicJack Apprentice
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:34 pm

magicJack with Comcast

Post by MadDogMike »

Since my MJ is working well, I was planning on dropping my AT&T phone line and just keeping naked DSL service. But then I thought, why not dump AT&T entirely and get Comcast, because in my area they offer nearly 10x the speed for about the same price. However, I have seen a number of postings on this forum and others saying that Comcast blocks MJ because they offer their own competing VOIP service. Most of those posts are from 2008, so I'm not sure if it's true anymore. I used to have Comcast and Vonage and had voice quality issues, but I never knew if the problem was with Comcast or Vonage. (I think I later determined it was the POS Linkysys router/ATA that Vonage provided.)

Anyway, all this to ask, is anyone using Comcast with MJ, (especially in the Atlanta Metro area), and if so, how's it working?

thanks,
Mike
MadDogMike
magicJack Apprentice
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:34 pm

Post by MadDogMike »

Hate to reply to my own post, but here's an article on the subject from Atlanta-based consumer reporter Clark Howard: http://clarkhoward.com/liveweb/shownote ... /11/13765/

But again, it's about a year and a half old. Hoping to find some newer reports from people familiar with MJ, like those on this forum.

Thanks,
Mike
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Robert121571
magicJack Apprentice
Posts: 20
Joined: Sat Jun 27, 2009 1:40 am

Post by Robert121571 »

I have Comcast as my internet provider. So far I haven't had any problems with Magic jack on it but I don't use it very much so if they do packet shape to mess with VOIP I may not be drawing attention to my connection. Your mileage might very.

One other note technically it is illegal for ISPs to do this sort of thing but so far no one is stopping them from doing it.
joevv
Dan isn't smart enough to hire me
Posts: 121
Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2008 12:08 pm

Post by joevv »

Using MJ and commcast for over one year and no problems at all. Call quality rivals their own offerings for sure.

Joe
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Alan M
MagicJack Newbie
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2009 10:07 am
Location: USA

comcast and mj

Post by Alan M »

I have been using mj with Comcast for more than a year in Little Rock, Ar.
I have detected no problems and have extended to the 5 year plan with mj.

Alan M
:D
reggiefl
MagicJack Newbie
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2008 12:27 pm

Post by reggiefl »

I have been using MJ with Comcast for over 1 yr now in FL, no problem. I also have VOIP with Teleblend/Sunrocket (more than 3yrs), no problem either.
NiteShdw
magicJack Apprentice
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Jan 15, 2009 2:58 am

Post by NiteShdw »

I used Comcast with MJ in San Francisco for 2 years. There was period where I was getting a really really bad connection, but then one day it suddenly cleared up. I suspect that MJ upgraded their servers or infrastructure, I don't think it was a Comcast issue.

I'm actually using MJ right now on Qwest DSL and I got better quality on Comcast than I do on DSL.
speaker2112
MagicJack User
Posts: 49
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2009 10:33 pm

Post by speaker2112 »

I'm using MJ over Comcast in the Boston Metro West area and the call quality has been spotty. Recently calls have broken up after a few minutes of good quality, then the other person can hear me but I can't hear them at all. This goes on for about 1 minute and then they can hear me again.

I don't think it's Comcast because my connection seems very solid otherwise, so I'm assuming it's the MJ servers. It's annoying and unreliable enough that I'm considering getting rid of the MJ and going back to a landline.
crackerjack
Dan Should Pay Me
Posts: 784
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2007 9:32 pm

Post by crackerjack »

speaker2112 wrote:I'm using MJ over Comcast in the Boston Metro West area and the call quality has been spotty. Recently calls have broken up after a few minutes of good quality, then the other person can hear me but I can't hear them at all. This goes on for about 1 minute and then they can hear me again.

I don't think it's Comcast because my connection seems very solid otherwise, so I'm assuming it's the MJ servers. It's annoying and unreliable enough that I'm considering getting rid of the MJ and going back to a landline.
Run this est at various times during the day..
http://myvoipspeed.visualware.com/ choose one of the premium servers near to you. This will give you good feedback on the 'voipability' of your net connection.

If you are satisfied w/ your Comcast, check this forum for instructions to redirect your voip traffic thru another MJ gateway that may be performing better than your default

Good luck

Crackerjack
Good Luck

CrackerJack

MagicJack Customer #73
MagicJack user since May 2007
MagicJack abuser since June 2007
"I gots mo' numbers than a Lotto machine!!!"
yechi7
MagicJack User
Posts: 35
Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 11:54 am

Post by yechi7 »

I have also been using magicjack with Comcast for about a year now in South Florida. No problems.

Occasionally, I've had to restart magicjack to get a different proxy server for better quality, since I don't know how to do this manually. This is only after my PC reboots following some software installation or update. But once I get a good connection, it stays good.
yechi7
speaker2112
MagicJack User
Posts: 49
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2009 10:33 pm

Post by speaker2112 »

My call quality the last two days has been pretty good. I guess it must depend on time of day and how much traffic is going over the network at the time, as I usually don't have much going on my machine when I call. However, it also seems like certain numbers are more prone to poor quality (ie. long distance...), at least in my case.
RJMahoney
MagicJack Newbie
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Aug 14, 2008 11:24 pm

Post by RJMahoney »

<<One other note technically it is illegal for ISPs to do [packet shaping]but so far no one is stopping them from doing it.>>

Today an appeals court has found that the FCC doesn't have the authority to regulate the way Comcast manages Internet traffic. So they may infact sabatoge VOIP packets to a competitor. For myself, MJ works terribly on my Comcast connection and I've done all the QoS tricks that I can milk out of my Linksys 54GL running Tomato v1.27.
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