Caller ID *WITH NAME* came through today!

[SteveHC]

Either I've been "missing something" for the past couple of years and just never noticed it before or this is truly something new, but...

Today for the first time that I'm aware of I received a call on my MJ Plus-connected phone from a number that I did NOT have stored in my phone's contact directory - and the NAME of the caller (along with their phone number) showed up in the caller id display!

Has anyone else experienced this?

[crackerjack]

likely an anomaly. Resources for this info are almost always provided by a third party service, and they do charge. Not something MJ would offer gratuitously.

Let us know if there is a more credible circumstance that doesn't involve MJ providing free services...

[SteveHC]

likely an anomaly. Resources for this info are almost always provided by a third party service, and they do charge. Not something MJ would offer gratuitously.

Let us know if there is a more credible circumstance that doesn't involve MJ providing free services...

- Some people claim that they've been receive names along with numbers right from day one. These are "credible" reports.

[SteveHC]

Well, *I* DEFINITELY had NOT been receiving any caller id with name data until just a few days ago, and since then it has continued. Today I discovered that the name data is now even being included in VOICEMAIL EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS - I've NEVER seen *that* before... when I saw it in a notification today I was so startled to see it that it actually kind of creeped me out

[cell14]

- Some people claim that they've been receive names along with numbers right from day one. These are "credible" reports.

"credible" indeed. I had MJs for 31/2 years and it never happened once and even their worthless CS admitted that they did not provide that feature. If they do now, that's an improvement indeed, like a beautiful designer label on a bottle of urine and should be appreciated.

[SteveHC]

- Some people claim that they've been receive names along with numbers right from day one. These are "credible" reports.

"credible" indeed. I had MJs for 31/2 years and it never happened once and even their worthless CS admitted that they did not provide that feature. If they do now, that's an improvement indeed, like a beautiful designer label on a bottle of urine and should be appreciated.

- REGARDLESS, caller id with name is coming through on my MJ+.
If you dislike MJ so much, why do you still use it?

[cell14]

- REGARDLESS, caller id with name is coming through on my MJ+.

I never said it was not coming through on your CID.

-
If you dislike MJ so much, why do you still use it?

I do not. off course, it took a while till the subscriptions expired, but now it is over.
Here is why I am still posting: MJ very successfully flooded the country with it's misleading propaganda.That steals business from better, far more honest providers and at the same time gives VOIP a bad name because a lot of people who went through MJ experience now think that ALL VOIP is as miserable and crooked. Bad for us.
On the top of it, this is not an official MJ forum. If it were, I would not bother.
It's " independence" gives it a dangerous level of credibility especially since just about the only people left here are the fan boys. I honestly wish Magic Jack would officially take over this forum. But I guess they know why they do not.

[SteveHC]

I do not. off course, it took a while till the subscriptions expired, but now it is over.
Here is why I am still posting: MJ very successfully flooded the country with it's misleading propaganda.That steals business from better, far more honest providers and at the same time gives VOIP a bad name because a lot of people who went through MJ experience now think that ALL VOIP is as miserable and crooked. Bad for us.
On the top of it, this is not an official MJ forum. If it were, I would not bother.
It's " independence" gives it a dangerous level of credibility especially since just about the only people left here are the fan boys. I honestly wish Magic Jack would officially take over this forum. But I guess they know why they do not.

It's my understanding that the purpose of this website is to serve as peer-support vehicle for users of the magicJack service.

[Pilot]

I do not. off course, it took a while till the subscriptions expired, but now it is over.
Here is why I am still posting: MJ very successfully flooded the country with it's misleading propaganda.That steals business from better, far more honest providers and at the same time gives VOIP a bad name because a lot of people who went through MJ experience now think that ALL VOIP is as miserable and crooked. Bad for us.
On the top of it, this is not an official MJ forum. If it were, I would not bother.
It's " independence" gives it a dangerous level of credibility especially since just about the only people left here are the fan boys. I honestly wish Magic Jack would officially take over this forum. But I guess they know why they do not.

It's my understanding that the purpose of this website is to serve as peer-support vehicle for users of the magicJack service.

...... and a site where "new" customers can read warnings about dishonest tactics, lies , smoke and mirrors from Magicjack.

[cell14]

I do not. off course, it took a while till the subscriptions expired, but now it is over.
Here is why I am still posting: MJ very successfully flooded the country with it's misleading propaganda.That steals business from better, far more honest providers and at the same time gives VOIP a bad name because a lot of people who went through MJ experience now think that ALL VOIP is as miserable and crooked. Bad for us.
On the top of it, this is not an official MJ forum. If it were, I would not bother.
It's " independence" gives it a dangerous level of credibility especially since just about the only people left here are the fan boys. I honestly wish Magic Jack would officially take over this forum. But I guess they know why they do not.

It's my understanding that the purpose of this website is to serve as peer-support vehicle for users of the magicJack service.

.

...... and a site where "new" customers can read warnings about dishonest tactics, lies , smoke and mirrors from Magicjack.

....and to provide "Alternatives to Magic Jack"...

[SteveHC]

....and to provide "Alternatives to Magic Jack"...

- Yes. that's what the "Alternatives to magicJack" section is for.

[cell14]

....and to provide "Alternatives to Magic Jack"...

- Yes. that's what the "Alternatives to magicJack" section is for.

Oh really. Threads have latitude. But some people would like to have as little as possible negative comments about MJ.

Now, I said it at least 3 times but I will reiterate that. In the first 2 years after I signed up with MJ ( 2008) I made at least 6 reviews of the service on different web sites, all cautiously positive. In spite of the fact that I intensely disliked the company and it's owner from the day one and the service has always been one step above a child's toy. So what has changed?
First, the price. When I signed up, it was really exactly 19.95/year straight. No surcharges or anything. For really free calling across US/CAN. All numbers, incl. conferencing. Call forwarding. Now that has all changed.
Second, and more importantly. There was no other choice in that price range. You had to pay multiple time as much to get the next cheapest. It was a choice between flimsy and almost free and better, but pricey. And I always told that ti everyone. Now that has changed. There is a phenomenal choice of providers who provide awesome service for prices barely above MJ. Providers dropped their cost and improved choices and service.
Third, Google voice. Whether it is with Obi(best choice) or Simonics, GV jack, GV mate or whatever, it is FREE. 95% plus of people will agree that the call quality, consistency and reliability is far superior to MJ. Yes, there are people who due to local ISP issues have problems with GV but I need to see one really credible report that in such situation Magic Jack works much better. My experience is just the opposite, I found that in areas with miserable broadband MJ becomes unusable while GV still works.
So, if someone needs dirt cheap, why disguise the truth and talk up magic Jack? Especially since there is zero advertisement for GV since Google just tolerates outbound calling through GV. On an 'independent' forum people should get info they do not get elsewhere.
BTW,Steve, I do not want to be too nosy but maybe you want to PM the more exact location where you live in SW FL so next time I am in the area I can test how GV through Obi works there, just to verify your claim that it was so bad that you had to use MJ. .
If it works for you, fine , keep it and be happy. But do not let others believe that it might be a good solution for them because it very likely isn't.

[SteveHC]

"cell14" - AS I've REPEATEDLY stated both here and elsewhere, when it comes to cheap VOIP reliability and quality is a crapshoot pretty much everywhere for everybody - meaning that one (or more) providers may work absolutely great for one person and yet the same provider may turn out to be absolutely terrible for another - even though both may be in the same geographical area.

It's not even just a matter of who one's ISP is. One can have an absolutely wonderful experience with a given VOIP provider and a given ISP in a given neighborhood within a given town, while another person with the exact same VOIP provider and ISP in the exact same town but in a different neighborhood may have a terrible experience... and that doesn't even account for differences in in-home or in-office LAN equipment, which can ALSO make a difference.

Consequently I cannot say that any one cheap ISP provider is necessarily any better or worse than any other regarding call reliability and quality... the nature of the complaints seem to be similar across all of them. So for everybody it appears to be a matter of trial and error.

On pricing, OBVIOUSLY GV is among the cheapest - you can't get cheaper than free, which by definition generally eliminates any problems related to billing etc. But being free does one little good if one tries it and finds it to be of unacceptable quality and/or reliability. And the same goes for any *other* VOIP service that one might try... regardless of cost.

Among those that cost, MJ is certainly still one of the cheapest. But when it comes to billing problems, charging for features that were once included at no additional cost, etc. the company certainly has its share of critics - and I have been and still am one of them. Nevertheless I continue to find that MJ works very well for me in my particular installation.

Aside from all of that, I find your apparently growing "need" to do nothing here on this site but to criticize not just MJ but now also to insult posters such as me and others who have had success with the service to be both a worsening annoyance and quite infantile as well. Our reporting on our experiences and our willingness to help others achieve the best performance with MJ does not warrant your implied and/or blatant insults.

[greenman]

When I call my magicJack phone now from skype, it shows both my skype-out phone number and my skype handle. Sweet.

[MarkAA]

Steve - or anyone else

I have only been with MJ+ for a few weeks but over the last couple of days, I also (like Steve) got caller ID with Name on two calls (out of many). They were not numbers in my phone. So, ... how does that work mysteriously sometimes. I would of course like it to work all the time. I get the phone number which MJ refers to as "caller ID", but have not seen the caller Name until now.

[MagicIdiot]

I have never seen a name show up on a phone call to MJ, ever. I think if you can manage contacts that it probably would, but not a chance from the service on it's own to me.

[albersm]

I use MJ+. I can verify that I also get Caller ID with Name, but only about 10% of the time.
My question would be - is that something "pushed" by the callers phone company? OR, do the MJ servers sometimes bring it through?

[AdmiralDecker]

This is not (and never has been) an anomaly of any sort. The VOIP headers carry the CNAM across the network to nearly all other providers. When you see the Caller ID NAME show up, it's a 99% probability that you are receiving a call from another VOIP service/user. I have been sending out and receiving Caller ID with NAME for several years. Any MagicJack (or the like) that calls me and sends the name will be displayed on my end. The same goes for the reverse.

I hope this information is helpful.
AD

[notdeadyet]

for your first 3 posts to the forum, some GREAT knowledge and expertise not seen in a long time...WELCOME ABOARD!!!!!!!!!!!

[AdmiralDecker]

for your first 3 posts to the forum, some GREAT knowledge and expertise not seen in a long time...WELCOME ABOARD!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you.
AD

[BSDguru]

- REGARDLESS, caller id with name is coming through on my MJ+.

I never said it was not coming through on your CID.

-
If you dislike MJ so much, why do you still use it?

I do not. off course, it took a while till the subscriptions expired, but now it is over.
Here is why I am still posting: MJ very successfully flooded the country with it's misleading propaganda.That steals business from better, far more honest providers and at the same time gives VOIP a bad name because a lot of people who went through MJ experience now think that ALL VOIP is as miserable and crooked. Bad for us.
On the top of it, this is not an official MJ forum. If it were, I would not bother.
It's " independence" gives it a dangerous level of credibility especially since just about the only people left here are the fan boys. I honestly wish Magic Jack would officially take over this forum. But I guess they know why they do not.

I replaced my biz line @$62/month with a MagicJack and save $724/year. What's the actual downside? No Fax. Fax? What's that. The only downside is that I have to use my cell when the internet is down.

Frankly, you're a fool if you pay for a phone line. Telephone companies have been ripping off businesses since day 1. You're paying all kinds of hidden taxes, ancient surcharges that never go away. There is no argument against MJ if you have a good internet connection. Of course if you buy DSL you're dealing with the phone company, so your milage will be lousy.

[ninolestad]

I see posts from Cell14 about magicjack. I don't like magicjack either, but it is cheap and I will put up with it for the price. However, posts say the game has changed and there are others out there nearly as cheap. Personally I would give up my land line if not for my wife. She insists on keeping it. However, I am going to pay as little as possible. I will pay a bit more for better service, but not 10 times as much.

Can you provide more info? The cheapest I see is about $20 per month. That is still way over what MJ charges. GV still requires you to have a phone, so it does not replace your land line. Tell me who else can I use to have a VOIP landline in my house that is close to the price of MJ with better service?

I do not get the caller name with my caller ID. It probably depends on where you live or maybe how you are getting your VOIP signal. MagicJack does not provide caller name just phone number.