Magic Jack blocking other conference call providers

[MaryMaryQC]

I see why they are doing it, but I'm responding to OTHER people's conference calls and have no control over THEIR provider. But I can't call in with my MJ!

[crackerjack]

I see why they are doing it, but I'm responding to OTHER people's conference calls and have no control over THEIR provider. But I can't call in with my MJ!

And your question is?????

[nailgunner]

I see why they are doing it, but I'm responding to OTHER people's conference calls and have no control over THEIR provider. But I can't call in with my MJ!

You might be able to set up a free GoogleVoice number and go through that to call into the conference.

I'm not defending MagicJack in any way. But they have made the decision, right or wrong, to block some high termination fee exchanges. There is no way for them to determine whether you are calling into another persons conference call or starting one of your own. And quite frankly, I don't think they care anyway. The termination fee to them on your call is the same.

From what I've read, many of the conference call and sex-chat line companies set up their numbers, or have them routed, to these high rate exchanges with the cooperation of the rural carriers to share the excessive fees. But if the following wiki article is correct, and some carriers are charging 10-20 cents per minute, if MJ allowed these calls to go through, it wouldn't take too long before a few calls eats away the $20 a year they are getting from us. A one hour call at 20 cents a minute would cost them $12.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_pumping

It does suck to have an exchange blocked on you. But if I was running MJ, I would probably make the same business decision to block them. Where it gets tricky is when they are blocking an exchange that you use to call Aunt Sally. But it's the same business decision. If it's a high termination fee exchange, and they don't block it, it will only take a short time before the conference call and sex-chat line providers would move to that exchange. MagicJack comes off looking evil in blocking exchanges and rightfully so. But with some of the blocked exchanges, they have company with the rural carriers who are charging excessive fees and making deals with conference call and sex-chat providers.

[MaryMaryQC]

Didn't think of the aspect of added costs, but perhaps MJ should make it part of the agreement that if you access those added costs sites, you'll be charged back or cancelled. The conference call sites I tried to access had no added charges.

[nailgunner]

Didn't think of the aspect of added costs, but perhaps MJ should make it part of the agreement that if you access those added costs sites, you'll be charged back or cancelled. The conference call sites I tried to access had no added charges.

There is no way for us to determine what the fee is that is being charged on these calls. They are charged on EVERY call that is made. It is up to each carrier what the termination fee of the call will be. These are not disclosed anywhere by the conference call companies since they are not the ones charging the fee, they are just apparently, in some cases, splitting the fee with the carrier that is charging it.

The problem with charging back or cancelling is that us, the caller, has no idea which rural exchanges are charging these excessive fees. You could make a "bad" call today, get notified by MJ that another one gets you cancelled, call a different "bad" number tomorrow and get cut off. So they just block these "bad" exchanges, and offer you a prorated refund if you complain.

[seacow8]

Have used MJ for a few years now and tried the "free MJ conference call" and no one else could get in.
Now that I have the MJ Plus which I dearly love, love, love I thought I could at least get into someone else's free call. So now I know I can't I won't try and get in with MJ again. Frustrating, but dion't know if the free conference MJ now advertises will work any better than the free one last year that no one else could call in on. And the people trying to access soon qquit from frustration. Sigh!
Does anyone know if MJ Plus Free Conference Call will receive calls from non MJ users????
But do appreciate the replies --- and I did do a search before I posted and none of these replies came up.