magicJack and magicJack Plus Support, Reviews, FAQs and Tricks

Darkman90808 wrote:After testing again, my observations are consistent with your results.

I originally bought MagicFeaturesPlus to ensure incoming calls to my Google Voice number that weren't picked up right away would go to GV voice mail, not MJ voice mail.

I don't have a good way at the moment to see if this is the case. I'll report back later, but at first glance, it does seem to defeat the purpose.

I also use the MFP with Google Voice. Unfortunately, the 'double ring' feature of the plugin doesn't really help with 'net base voicemail services like GV. It's more geared towards physical answering machines at your home that can't be set to pickup in less then 4 rings. But like dfdo mentions, the other features of the plugin still make it worth the purchase.

Somehow, I seem to be getting lucky and my voicemails always go to GV voicemail instead of MJ voicemail, regardless of if I use 'double ring' or not. I just leave it on so my phone makes more noise when ringing.

FunkyBoss wrote:........It's more geared towards physical answering machines at your home that can't be set to pickup in less then 4 rings.

Oh I C !.......let me RETRACT my observation that...... the dbl ring feature is of no use 'what-so-ever'. ( I was on the opinion that ALL answering machines/systems could pick up at a minimum of 3 rings)

FunkyBoss wrote:..... I just leave it on so my phone makes more noise when ringing.

Isn't that 'dbl noise' really annoying ( Oh well...that too may depend on the type of phone system/ring types one is using)

Somehow, I seem to be getting lucky and my voicemails always go to GV voicemail instead of MJ voicemail, regardless of if I use 'double ring' or not. I just leave it on so my phone makes more noise when ringing.

I just tested this using my sipgate account and you're right, both times it went to Google Voice VM. Can't explain why it sometimes goes to MJ voicemail, but it doesn't appear as if the MagicFeaturesPlugin double ring makes a difference on my system.

BTW, what are the legal implications when we use these software plug-ins with MJ?

Are we in violation of the MJ-TOS?

redpepper, any thoughts?

For clarification, the feature you would like to have is a programmable (or much longer) voice mail timer and that feature is NOT currently available.

Yes, it would be ideal if magicJack increased that voice mail timer or made it programmable. The voice mail system is part of their network and they are ultimately in control of it and the timers. My suggestion would be that you contact magicJack directly as your phone service provider to talk with them about it.

At this time, I can however ONLY give you the exact facts about how the Double Ringing feature works.

The Double Ringing feature is to help allow the maximum time currently feasible for an answering machine to pickup before the call is routed to voice mail. The feature provides ringing in 3 second increments instead of the standard 6 second increments.

It is also designed to help cope with varying answering machine pick up setting options. For example, some answer machines can only be programmed to pick up at 2, 4, 6 or 8 rings. On those machines, there is not even an option to pick up after 3 rings.

At the moment, the maximum time that the magicJack network allows before the call is routed to voice mail is currently fixed at circa 24 seconds. This is ultimately under magicJack's control and there is currently no honest reliable way to adjust it.

So far the Double Ringing feature is the best reliable working solution we have been able to come up with that we have full control over to assist with external answering machine pickup.

redpepper.... thanks for the comprehensive clarification. Who'd a thunk something as simple as a ring setting could be so complicated?

RELEASE 1.06 AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD. MORE COOL FEATURES ADDED !!!

- Talking Caller ID
The caller id is verbally announced via your computer's default audio device after the 1st ring. To change or adjust the voice used for the talking caller id, go to Control Panel/Speech (Recognition).

- Last Number Redial (Dial 66)
Dial 66 to redial the last number you called.

- Priority Call Waiting
Calls arriving from phone numbers in the Priority Call table receive a double beep call waiting tone instead of a single beep call waiting tone.

- Automated Extension Number / Phone Card Dialing
Comma pauses are supported in the phone number entry in the Speed Dial table. Every comma equates to a 3 second pause. For example the phone number entry 2025551212,4 will automatically dial extension 4 after a 3 second pause. Multiple comma pauses and the transmission of * and # are also supported.

redpepper wrote:

judgeandjury wrote:1. How about adding a feature to dial out using Google Voice so that your Google Voice caller will be displayed to party receiving the call. Maybe a sequence like ## and the number would engage the script.

2. How about adding an automated feature to dial out using the Ring2Skype service. Create a script to dial a Ring2Skyp call in number and place a timing delay to send the extension number for the intended Skype user after 10 seconds or so.

GOOGLE VOICE / GIZMO5 / SIP PROVIDERS
In regards to Google Voice, we cannot give much feedback on it as we have been unable to secure a Google Voice account so far although we requested an invite ages ago. We are also waiting to see what is going to happen with the recent purchase of Gizmo5 by Google and how that folds into the Google Voice offering.

At the moment, you can however use Gizmo5 (or any other SIP provider for that matter) from your magicJack by dialing ## followed by the phone number you wish to call if you have the Xlitejack Plugin installed and setup. For incoming calls, just answer your phone when it rings.

SKYPE
For Skype, there is the Skyjack Plugin. Just dial ** followed by the number you wish to call. You can also receive and place calls from/to other Skype users as well. For incoming calls, just answer the phone when it rings.

Hey, I have an invite that I would share if it will help you in your developing. PM me and it's yours

Since that reply, we were able to obtain a Google Voice account with the help of another forum member. I appreciate the offer and hope you can share that Google Voice invite with somebody else in need in this forum.

HOW TO DIRECT DIAL GOOGLE VOICE CALLS

Here are some simple instructions for placing outgoing calls using the Google Voice network and the Magicfeatures' Automated Extension Number Dialing feature. Your Google Voice number will show up as the caller id.

Google Voice Account Settings
1. Login to your Google Voice account.
2. Add your magicJack phone number to the account AND under the Advanced Settings for that phone number set "Voice Mail Access/Yes/Pin Not Required"

Magicfeatures Settings
1. You MUST have Magicfeatures Release 1.06 (or higher) installed.
2. Open the Magicfeatures Feature Dashboard.
3. Set Speed Dial number 48 to the following:

XXXXXXXXXXX,2 (where XXXXXXXXXX is your Google Voice Number)

How to Place Google Voice Calls
1. Dial 48 (i.e. GV on your phone keypad)
2. Within a few seconds you will hear a prompt asking you to enter the phone number you wish to call.
3. When prompted, follow the instructions and enter the full 10 digit phone number you wish to call followed by the pound "#" key (i.e. 2025551212#).

Thanks, will give that a try. by the way, I'm unable to use your product as a trial. Downloaded today and when I click on the try free for a few days it says trial expired and takes me to the purchase page.

I double checked and that result would in fact be correct. I am going to PM you with a way forward.

Release 1.07 has just been posted for download at http://download.pcphonesoft.com and contains the following new features:

- Call Forwarding Enable/Disable (Dial 72/73)

- Call Waiting Per Call Disable (Dial 70)

- Call Location and Map On Demand (Dial **5)

- Call Waiting Feature Enable/Disable

- Blocked Call Chime Feature Enable/Disable

- Horizontal Window Scrolling for Thin Clients

i have magicjack running in the background as a service and was wondering if all the features of the magicfeature software will still work or does it need to run normally with the softphone? just trying to get all the info before i download and install it on my computer. i really like all the features that are offered on the the magicfeature software, but i also really like the magicjack running in the background as a service. i think it perfoms better and really like this configuration. will the features still work?

The answer to your question is no.

If you just need to stop the dialer from popping up and keep focus on your work, Magicfeatures is compatible with the Magicsilence Plugin you can download at http://tools.pcphonesoft.com . The Magicsilence Plugin is free.

thank you for these tools. the Magicfeatures is well worth the 10 bucks. I have it running on an hp T5000 series thin client without a hitch.

Your feedback is very much appreciated. Thanks !!!

For clarification, the latest release of all the PCPhoneSoft downloadable software plugins for magicJack (Magicfeatures 1.07, Skyjack 1.07, Xlitejack 1.05, Magicsilence 1.03) are compatible with the latest magicJack "Lucky You" upgrade that starting hitting many users today.

The latest releases are all available for download from the "Download" page at the http://www.pcphonesoft.com website.

The exception is the free Magicsilence plugin tool and it is available at http://tools.pcphonesoft.com or http://www.magicsilence.com .

I am trying the trial version for now. The seven number dialing feature is not working for me.

The 7 digit dialing feature is working for us and others on all Windows versions so it must be something simple. Do the following in the order listed:

1. Download and install Magicfeatures Release 1.07 from http://download.pcphonesoft.com .

2. Restart your computer to ensure it is in a stable state especially after the last magicJack "Lucky You" upgrade that was pretty intense.

3. Go offhook and dial 7 digits from your phone keypad (i.e. don't type them in manually into the softphone)

4. After 3-4 seconds you should see the full 10 digit number that includes the area code from your magicJack phone number in the magicJack dialer routing to the destination.

If you still have challenges, please go to http://support.pcphonesoft.com for further assistance.

I am still in the free trial time frame on this product.

Three of the things I like so far are:


Seven Digit Dialing

No more entering the area code for everything local.


Double Ringing

Before, by the time my handset would ring, it was already on the third or fourth ring at the computer. This would mean I missed the call because it would go to voice mail before I could get to the phone.


Anonymous call block

No more pesky unlisted numbers. I might also add the 800, 866, etc. numbers to the block too.


I wonder if the folks over at Magic Jack will end up incorporating some of these features into their software. I am going to go ahead and pay the $10 anyway.

It is a neat tool.

I am using it on a Windows 7 machine.

Release 1.08 is now available for download and contains the following feature enhancements:

- Do Not Disturb Phone Keypad "Dialable" Enable/Disable (Dial 78/79)

- Anonymous Call Block Phone Keypad "Dialable" Enable/Disable (Dial 77/87)

- Priority Calls Only Phone Keypad "Dialable" Enable/Disable (Dial 64/84)

- Call Recording Beep Tone Enable/Disable

Just wondering if I buy magicfeatures, is it possible to also use it on a different computer like a laptop when I am on Vacation? I always take my laptop and my MagicJack when I travel, so it would sure be nice to be able to use magicfeatures on it as well.

The answer to your question is yes. As long as you use the same magicJack USB dongle, you can use Magicfeatures on as many computers as you wish without purchasing an additional license.

redpepper wrote:The answer to your question is yes. As long as you use the same magicJack USB dongle, you can use Magicfeatures on as many computers as you wish without purchasing an additional license.

This is good to know, and I think I may switch to your product. I have currently been using MagicBeans, and have had to call on three different occasions in order to activate again, which is getting quite annoying. If I so much as switch computers, or have to reformat(which I just did today), I have to call in order to re-acvtivate. I am currently waiting for a call back in order to activate it a 3rd time...

Sad part is the only feature I need/use is extending the amount of rings before it goes to MagicJack's voicemail so my answering machine picks up.

*UPDATE*
I just found a great little "FREE" program that disables the voice mail timeout, to allow continuous ringing. It's called MagicRingForever http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2010/03/26/4694764.htm. It came out on March 26'th 2010.

I just tested it and it works great, and it doesn't have to run in the background. I wish this little program was around a month ago...

The link they have takes you to redpepper's website for the app.

Thanks for your words of encouragement. The Magicfeatures plugin was designed to be about as portable as the magicJack USB dongle itself.

For reference, we also wrote the free MagicRingForever tool located at http://tools.pcphonesoft.com and are glad you can tentatively make some use out of it.

I got a call back, and apparently the software has been updated in order to tie the software to the MJ for mobility. I now have a proper activation code if I ever need to switch my MJ to another PC. But in all honesty, the MagicRingForever is really all I need, and doesn't need to run in the background, and does not seem to conflict with any of my running software.

Again, thanks for making MagicRingForever available for free.

That's great news !!! Stay tuned as we have some other brand new products under development.

Release 1.09 is available for download.

Release 1.10 is now available for download and contains the following feature enhancements:

- Call Recording Option to Automatically Record All Incoming and Outgoing Calls.

- Automatic Full 6 Digit NPA-NXX Online Database Lookup Of City + State For Default Caller ID Name Display.

It just keeps getting better. Gotta love it.

Any chance that this will have a feature that will enable us to have a call log that we are able to store and use for audit purposes?

Regards,
DrPacman

We are planning to develop a separate product for producing call logs and anticipate rolling it by the end of the summer.

any chance it will be able to delete the call logs automatically as well if desired;)

The call logger product will output call logs and store them a simple text file on your computer that you can later reference or print. That is the only automation that is currently planned.

I have a question for redpeeper.

Why does Magicfeatures want to access Firefox.exe when it boots-up?

There is definitely no direct link between Magicfeatures and Firefox. Magicfeatures only directly accesses modules in the core Microsoft Windows operating system.

There could however be an indirect link as Magicfeatures does try to automatically display the HTML help file at start up if you have not previously registered the product and that would indirectly invoke your computer's default web browser to open and display the file.

redpepper wrote:There is definitely no direct link between Magicfeatures and Firefox. Magicfeatures only directly accesses modules in the core Microsoft Windows operating system.

There could however be an indirect link as Magicfeatures does try to automatically display the HTML help file at start up if you have not previously registered the product and that would indirectly invoke your computer's default web browser to open and display the file.

I have not purchased it yet as I downloaded it yesterday for evaluation. The main reason I'm interested in Magicfeatures is because I received two unwanted calls that were definitely scams and I want to block these calls and all anonymous calls. What happens when calls are blocked? Does the caller hear a busy signal?

I may be wrong, but I think all blocked calls get sent to voicemail.

Joe Sica

As Joe mentioned they are sent to voice mail.

I just wanted to add that there is an additional feature called Blocked Call Chime with Caller ID that can also be disabled if you don't want the phone to briefly ring once to remind you that call blocking is active and to deliver the caller id to your phone display.

In an upcoming release, a new feature option is scheduled to be added to "turbo" hang up blocked calls instead of sending them to voice mail. For the latter, the caller will hear whatever tone or announcement their phone provider normally gives when the other party hangs up.

redpepper wrote:In an upcoming release, a new feature option is scheduled to be added to "turbo" hang up blocked calls instead of sending them to voice mail. For the latter, the caller will hear whatever tone or announcement their phone provider normally gives when the other party hangs up.

I think "turbo" hangup is a good idea. I don't want unwanted callers having access to my voice mail. I would rather just block them and be done with it. If blocked calls hear that annoying phone company loud sound that one gets when a phone is left off the hook that would be good. Otherwise, also have an option where the unwanted caller hears nothing--the line is silent--though if we want, we can choose to see when there is an unwanted call.

The "turbo" hang up feature option for blocked calls has already been designed and is scheduled to be available in a downloadable Magicfeatures update release about this time next month. It is going to happen.

Hey Redpepper, I currently use magicfeatures and enjoy all that it offers but I was wondering, would it be possible for magicfeatures to add a routine to correct whatever it is in the magicJack software that makes MJ not "play well" with DirecTV receiver's not being able to call out and communicate with the DirecTV data base?

See, my receiver attempts to call out (for reasons unknown) about once a month. It continues trying its call several times before giving up then repeats that sequence the next early morning. Whenever I notice those calls on the MJ call log, I temporarily disconnect my DirecTV receiver from MJ and connect my TK6000 to the receiver for overnight. The next day, I can look on the TK6000 call log and see that the DirecTV receiver indeed called out once in the early morning and voila, it's happy for another month. It's a minor annoyance to switch it over once a month but like I said, I was just wondering if that's something Magicfeatures could remedy.

I think I know what the underlying issue is that is causing the problem but it is not something that can readily be addressed by Magicfeatures at this time.

If you can find a way to disable all the codecs in the magicJack dialer except for G.711 (that does not use compression making it data transmission friendly as long as adequate Internet bandwidth is available), there is a reasonable chance it will resolve the problem for you. Perhaps somebody in this forum has figured out a way to do that and can advise.

TJM wrote:I am still in the free trial time frame on this product.

Three of the things I like . . . .


I am going to go ahead and pay the $10 anyway.

It is a neat tool.

I am using it on a Windows 7 machine.

How or were can I get the product for 10 dlls We need 2

1 for me and 1 for my parents

thx for your help saving money

if you're referring to MagicFeatures, it WAS on "sale" for $10 for a limited time, but now back to the regular $20.

notdeadyet wrote:if you're referring to MagicFeatures, it WAS on "sale" for $10 for a limited time, but now back to the regular $20.

Yes I was reeding the post and find the price

is just i need a brake money is hard to save these days

I hope for a discont code or promotion

Thx for reeding my post

Ann.Cal wrote:
I hope for a discont code or promotion

Bought mine 2 days ago. Had a discount until Father's Day, I believe it was. Anyway, got a discount...

There's a Father's Day sale on at the moment at http://www.pcphonesoft.com .

The coupon code is "HAPPYDADDY" and it should be used when you checkout to obtain the sale discount.

FANTASTIC!!!

Perfect addition ...

thanks ...

can't wait ...

redpepper wrote:The "turbo" hang up feature option for blocked calls has already been designed and is scheduled to be available in a downloadable Magicfeatures update release about this time next month. It is going to happen.