Will the thin client stop broken audio?

[Mightybyte]

I am at wits end with my Magicjack and am considering getting rid of it. Almost all my calls have broken audio of some type. I bought a powered USB hub and this seemed to help some, but I am still getting broken audio on almost all my calls. I have also tweaked some computer settings as recommended on this forum and in MJ's FAQ's but this has had little effect. Does anyone know if a dedicated thin client would likely solve my problems with broken audio?

[STxFarmer]

Don't know if it will or will not, I just know I am much happier since I got mine working on a TC. Better call quality and no other issues. Lots of help here as far as instructions go too. Made it real easy to get my up and running on a Neoware TC.

Read up on the router Qos and I think it help if you have a good internet speed. Mine is running great on DSL.

[Popgory]

I am at wits end with my Magicjack and am considering getting rid of it. Almost all my calls have broken audio of some type. I bought a powered USB hub and this seemed to help some, but I am still getting broken audio on almost all my calls. I have also tweaked some computer settings as recommended on this forum and in MJ's FAQ's but this has had little effect. Does anyone know if a dedicated thin client would likely solve my problems with broken audio?

Following are the main things I have done. Make it a priority to put the TC, Router, and Gateway all on a isolated circuit which has its own UPS.

On my Wyse 9450;
By tweaking 'puter settings - I realized the most significant difference by changing the process priority. After adding the powered USB hub, any remining choppiness in the farthest phones disappeared. All the phones in the house are now ringing on incoming calls. Also changed the USB port setting on the TC so the ports would not power down.

On my router;
Adjusted QoS settings to give the thin client MAC address priority over everything else on our home network. Also capped the upstream as necessary to improve "MOS" reading on VoIP call quality. Call quality now around 95% with line quality at 2.1ms. I have had it at 0.9 with the laptop, but the ThinkPad has a faster processor than the WinTerm.

On the Hawking;
After adding the "Booster" between the router & gateway - it is better described as a "packet arranger" - Call quality now just like the old POTS system.

In short, a dedicated TC will be of great benefit if everything is adjusted to achieve the best line/call quality. Double check process priority, use a powered hub, tweak the router. Also, a dedicated TC will save the wear & tear on the doogle's fittings.

Hope this helps and keep at it. You are learning while you go, at least I am!

[Mightybyte]

I took the plunge and bought an HP Thin Client. I bought it from EBay for about $100. I connected the Thin Client to my router with an ethernet cable. My main computer remained connected by a wireless network. After some problems with the initial installation, I got it working and it works great! I've only had it working for about a week, but there has been no broken audio during that week.

The main problem I encountered with the installation was related to my router. When I would power down both computers and the cable modem and router, and then re-power the system, I found I could only access the internet through one of the two computers, whichever I booted first. This meant I could access either the internet on my main computer, or Magicjack on the HP Thin Client, but not both.

I found a website on the internet called www.fixya.com. For $10 they will connect you with experts who will help you resolve technical problems. The first expert I contacted was not helpful, so I contacted another one. This guy was very helpful. He correctly diagnosed the problem as a setting on my router which allowed the router to only connect to one computer at a time. He took me to a Netgear router website, www.routerlogin.com, and had me reset the router settings to factory specs. I then had to regenerate a wireless router network for my main computer and everything was cool.

Thanks to the two people who responded to my post. Without your suggestions, I probably would not have purchased the Thin Client. Also thanks to the tech (screen name Micromatikal) at www.fixya.com. His help was invaluable. I highly recommend www.fixya.com if you are experiencing technical problems you cannot resolve.

[mjuser001]

Hi,

I'm getting a Wyse V90 1Ghz/512/512 from eBay and it is on its way. Does this TC need a powered USB hub? Also, does the HP TC how-to techniques and tweaks work for this one?

Thanks.

[Mightybyte]

I found I could not use my phone system without the powered USB hub. I suspect you will need one on the Wyse Thin Client. I don't know if the techniques and tweaks for the HP Thin Client will work on the Wyse Thin Client, but you might try them if necessary.

I have read that there are computer manufacturers who are working on internet only computers to sell in the $100 price range. It would be great if some manufacturer sold one of these computers and made it Magicjack ready, complete with a souped up USB jack, so you don't need the external powered USB hub. Until that happens, you will probably need a powered USB hub with the Thin Clients.

[Mightybyte]

It has been about three months since I installed the thin client for use with my Magicjack. Here is the current status:

1. The broken audio is totally gone. Occasionally there is a blip for a fraction of a second, but no audio is lost. There is just a short silence and the audio returns without missing a syllable. This usually lasts less than a second and is similar to what I encounter on my cell phone.

2. The biggest remaining problem is what I call one-way calls. When these happen the calling party can hear the receiving party but not the reverse. This is easily fixed by re-initiating the call. I have probably had 6-7 of these calls in the last 3 months, but most of them were in the first few weeks after I installed the thin client, so hopefully this problem is declining in frequency. I had the same problem before I used the thin client.

3. The powered USB hub is absolutely essential to make my installation work. A few days ago I tried removing the USB hub from the installation and plugging the Magicjack directly into the thin client. I could not even get a dial tone with the USB hub removed.

Obviously the powered USB hub and the thin client add to the initial cost of the Magicjack. This makes consideration of alternatives like Ooma and TK6000 a viable option. Before you do, check out the Ooma forum: http://www.ooma.com/forums/. Not all postings are favorable by any means. Before you try TK6000 check out this posting from DSL Reports: www.dslreports.com/forum/r22948840-tk-6 ... t-problems.

In short I find the Magicjack with the thin client and powered USB hub to be a more than adequate primary home line. I don't think I would use it for a business, as the one-way call problem could be annoying to customers, but it is fine as a primary home line. I use prepaid cell phone service from Tracfone as a backup. I estimate the prepaid cell service costs me less than $5 per month the way I use it. Add that to about $1.67 per month for the Magicjack and I am getting VOIP and cell phone service for about $6.67 per month. Not a bad deal.

One last thing to consider is the long term viability of the company. Magicjack derives income from advertising and renting its network to other VOIP providers. This may make it more likely to survive in the long run than some of the other VOIP services.

[pepsiman]

thanks for the update.

i have had the same problem with broken audio from time to time and i was thinking about buying a thin client to see if that would resolve the problem and with your success i am going to buy a thin client and a powered usb hub.

[Mightybyte]

It has been about six months since I installed my thin client and things are still going well. Here are some key points and remaining problems at this time.

1. The one-way calls I complained about in my last posting have disappeared. I have had none of these calls in the last three months.

2. Occasionally I still have some choppy calls. This differs from the broken audio in that you can still hear all the audio, but the sound is a little choppy. With the broken audio I would have total silence for 3 or more seconds. I have had only 3-4 of the choppy audio calls in the last 3 months, but no broken audio calls.

3. I have had 2 instances where the Magicjack voicemail failed, and callers have not been able to leave messages. I had one instance where the caller was sent directly to the voicemail (which worked) even though my Magicjack and phone were powered and working.

4. I have downloaded the Magicfeaturesplugin software and saved it to my flash drive. In order to do this you must do a commit or the software will disappear when you re-boot. You can accomplish this by double clicking on the padlock in the lower tray of your thin client. Magicfeaturesplugin adds many features to your Magicjack, but the key one I wanted was caller ID with name. It also allows you to dial phone numbers within your area code as 7 digit numbers. You can download it from www.pcphonesoft.com. It works great.

In summation I am still very content with my Magicjack as my main phone line. I still recommend that you have a cell phone backup. If you use your cell phone only occasionally, a prepaid service is probably the way to go.

[jimisbell]

I was free of the choppy audio for 6 months then it came back. I dont think it is the TC but I dont know.

I did find that when I changed MJ phone numbers, the old number still works...well almost. Its been 6 months since I changed numbers and the old one will still connect but with VERY choppy audio. I found this out when an old friend called the old number and I was cussing MJ for the lousy service...until I found out he was calling with a number that was supposed to be DEAD!!

So if you have changed numbers and you get a choppy call, ask the caller what number they called in on!!!

[jimisbell]

I just discovered that if you are using a hand held walk around phone, any computers can interfere with the audio as well!!!! Apparently the computers radiate on 2.4Ghz and block the signal!!

[Mightybyte]

It has been about one year since I first started using the thin client with my Magicjack. Here are my conclusions at this time:

1. Magicjack is not a scam but is a legitimate business. The environment in which you implement Magicjack will determine how well it works.

2. While some people may succeed in getting Magicjack to work on their primary home computer, this is not a good solution for many others. Based on what I've read, you may need to disable your anti-virus software, your firewall, or both to get Magicjack to work on a primary home computer. It is not a good idea to disable either of these.

3. Most thin clients have a flash drive instead of a hard drive. This removes the need for anti-virus or firewall security, since re-booting the computer will remove the viruses and other malignant attackers.

4. A thin client or an analogue telephone adapter (ATA) is probably the best solution for most people seeking to implement Magicjack. I don't know that much about ATA's, but based on what I've read on this forum, I believe you are violating the terms of service (TOS) of Magicjack by using one. I also believe you cannot use a standard telephone with the ATA but must use a microphone and speakers instead. Someone correct me if I am wrong on this point.

5. While I've read that Magicjack's customer service is not very good, I used it for the first time recently. The question I had was not a technical one, but was a question about using the Magicjack website. The CSR responded quickly and accurately. She had a screen name of Steph, so somehow I had a feeling I was not talking to someone in Bengladesh.

6. I am perfectly content using Magicjack as my primary home line. I have had very few problems with broken or choppy audio in the last six months. A few people have complained that I am breaking up on them, but I have had very little trouble with other people breaking up on my end of the line.

7. The Magicfeatures software being sold at www.pcphonesoft.com is very useful, and brings your Magicjack closer to working like a conventional home line.

In summation, I am very happy with Magicjack as my primary home line. I buy one year at a time only, because in the technology sphere things are always changing, and I don't know when I might want to replace Magicjack with something else.

[Mightybyte]

A few weeks after I entered the last post, I noticed more problems with people complaining about the audio on my side of the line breaking up. I could hear the people on the other end loud and clear, but they could not hear me clearly. After a few more calls I noticed the problem existed only when someone called me. If I called them, there was no problem.

I believe this problem coincided with a new release of Magicjack. It became so persistent that I had another feeling of "It's time to junk the jack". However I went to my first line of defense, which is this forum. After a few searches I found the following link in the forum:

http://www.phoneservicesupport.com/othe ... t9566.html

I followed the advice in the fourth posting from the top, by someone with a screen name of Xkahn. Xkahn's advice worked perfectly and my Magicjack is working well again.

[gtburgin]

Choppiness of audio has been an endless discussion item on this website. There are probably thousands of threads on this topic. By choppiness I mean each spoken word is garbled when the data packets are delayed by constantly varying amounts of time as they traverse the network. This is caused by network congestion at the various hubs that MagicJack has located around the country. (Note I'm not talking about the problem some have mentioned where the audio drops completely out for many seconds.). No amount of tweaking your system can make this garbling go away. This is why I would never run a business using a MagicJack for customer or suppier communication. You are at the mercy of MJ management to roll an appropriate amount of their profits into continuous network upgrades to support the traffic load. IMO they have done a marginal job at best and have NOT earned the trust of the business community.

[Mightybyte]

About three months ago I started having trouble with my thin client. At first it would simply disconnect from the internet. I tried re-booting and reloading magicjack software and it would be fine. However after several weeks of having this problem, it finally disconnected for good. I could not get the thin client to reconnect at all. I re-routed my Magickjack calls to my cell phone and then decided what I wanted to do.

I did not feel like spending another $100 or so for a new thin client. I had not been very successful before in using Magicjack on my primary home computer, so I decided to switch to either Ooma or Nettalk Duo. I certainly would have considered Magicjack Plus, but it was not available at that time, and still is not available as of this writing. I decided to go with Ooma for the following reasons:

1. While Ooma and Nettalk Duo both receive mostly favorable reviews online, Nettalk Duo seemed to have a few more unfavorable reviews. Almost all the unfavorable Ooma reviews related to problems with customer service or using certain features of Ooma. Almost no Ooma reviews complained of poor call quality. Some people complained of poor quality with Nettalk Duo, particularly on long distance calls.

2. In the May, 2011 issue of Consumer Reports, Ooma was given a top rating among telephone service providers, finishing ahead of 21 other VOIP, fiber, and landline providers. While CR did not rate Nettalk Duo, it did include Magicjack in the mix and did not rate it very highly. In contrast the magazine gave a ringing endorsement to Ooma (no pun intended).

3. Ooma allows number porting but Nettalk Duo does not, at least at the time I switched and even as of this writing. This was pretty much a deal killer for me, as I wanted to retain the same phone number.

4. Nettalk Duo does not allow you to retrieve your voicemail messages from another phone, such as a cell phone. This is a feature I use a lot when I am out of town.

There are other differences in capabilities of the services. On some features Ooma comes out ahead, on some others Nettalk Duo comes out ahead, and on others Magicjack comes out ahead. But on the four major differences I mention above, Ooma is the clear winner.

So far I have been very happy with the change. I have had virtually no problems with Ooma. It is plug and play, and there is no need to change anything when a new release of Ooma comes out. I have had problems twice with my cable modem losing the internet signal, but this has nothing to do with Ooma. I simply reboot everything when this happens.

I bought my Ooma box for $190 from J&R Music World in New York. I also pay $3.47 a month for taxes and fees, but this is added as a charge on a credit card. This comes out to about $42 per year. Net Talk Duo and Magicjack are cheaper to buy and own, but the difference is not huge. Ooma is still a very cheap way to own a phone with free calling to anywhere in the United States (no free calling to Canada with Ooma).

Note that it was the thin client which failed, not Magicjack. However the thin client was essential to make the Magicjack work for me. Magicjack Plus might have been a good alternative, but I needed continuous phone service and it wasn't available.