magicJack and magicJack Plus Support, Reviews, FAQs and Tricks

vdot wrote:I think I have been having an issue with an email provider used in
the registration process...Since Saturday (they're not open until 9am today)...

If anyone has had trouble validating or registering in
the last 3 days, please try again and please let me know. It would
present itself as a problem or error when it is supposed to be
emailing you the validation code...Thanks!

I thought it was fixed, but don't know if it is resolved yet...



@alleytom & bongohawk - i believe this is what you need to install:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... stallation

I've not developed on XPe (obvoiusly, as I don't have any thin client
hardware), but from my poking around (and my other dev experience)
I am pretty certain you need to download this (as the docs say from the
MS download center) and install it. It should install the appropriate
cdosys.dll file for XPe. If not, the developer SDK definitely has it in it,
and it can be registered from there...

I am now about 98% sure it's doable, but unfortunately I can't help you
directly.

PS - as this article says up higher in it that the feature pack has some pre-requisite installs; SP2 being one of them.

Here's the download of the feature pack:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... bbaa78914f

Well that Featuer Pack is a 113 mb ISO file, which I am pretty sure won't work on my XPe thin client. I did try to install the .NET Framework 2.0 Component for Windows XP Embedded Service Pack 2, but it said it was missing components and then ran out of virtual memory. I am pretty sure my image of stroth's already has .Net 2.0 installed, but I can't find the cdosys.dll file anywhere. I guess thin clients just weren't meant to be running MagicBeans. Oh Well. Thanks for all your help. I really hope you had a chance to get some rest over the weekend.

Just out of curiosity, how many of these (MJ Beans) are actually working? I asked to be a beta tester, couldn't get past the registration, so I moved on. Not to disparage the application, but I'm pretty happy with my MJ the way it is since I don't need to block calls, remove voice mail, etc.

I have magicbeans on two of my computers and it works great. This is a great addition to MJ. I downloaded it on friday morning and have had it running all weekend without a problem. The anonymous call rejection is fantastic as well as the caller id block features. I used my paypal account to pay for magicbeans and the transaction went smoothly both times for me. To imagine this can be done by a private person and not by MJ seems crazy to me. For less than $15 to get these additional features for as long as I have MJ is a steal. Vonage doesn't even offer call blocking yet and that's a shame for the price people pay to use that service.

sabresfan... if I understand you correctly, MJ Beans will block calls from specific numbers, not just anonymous call rejection?

I agree, that's a nice feature to have.

What happens to the blocked caller? Does it just continue to ring, busy signal, or what? Thanks for the response.

Darkman90808 wrote:sabresfan... if I understand you correctly, MJ Beans will block calls from specific numbers, not just anonymous call rejection?

I agree, that's a nice feature to have.

What happens to the blocked caller? Does it just continue to ring, busy signal, or what? Thanks for the response.

Yes you can block individual numbers and entire area codes if you wish. There's 2 options when blocking. The first is the caller basically gets hung up on. My phone may barely ring sometimes on this setting when I test it blocking my cell phone. The other is send the caller to voicemail. On this setting my phone will ring once but that's it then the call goes to MJ's voicemail. When I block my cell number with *67 to make it anonymous my MJ will not ring at all and calls go directly to voicemail. All in all the program is very good and adds some nice features to MJ. The other thing to is that it's already setup to block 800, 877 and a couple of other numbers like this when you install it.

Darkman90808 wrote:Just out of curiosity, how many of these (MJ Beans) are actually working? I asked to be a beta tester, couldn't get past the registration, so I moved on. Not to disparage the application, but I'm pretty happy with my MJ the way it is since I don't need to block calls, remove voice mail, etc.

Hi Darkman,
I remember you had asked to be a beta tester, but if you had troubles
registering at that time, I was unaware, and I didn't follow up with people
who didn't contact me if there was an issue, since I didn't have time to do
so, and since that's what beta testing is for...to work out any issues. If
the tester didn't re-contact me, I assumed it was working for them or they
changed their mind about testing... And I in no way am meaning to sound snarky
about this...it's just how I took things to be if people asked to test and
didn't. A lot of guys tested, but also a lot of guys got the info and never even
downloaded the software. What is one to make of that? My take was: No biggee.

The program has progressed a long way since when you had asked to beta test.
I couldn't even tell you what the differences may be at this point. I still
have occassional issues with a very few persons when registering, but
usually it is now just an issue that the person closes the window too
soon after they complete the purchase, and their machine is a slow one or
was particularly occupied at the time, and it doesn't complete the process
correctly. That issue is easily fixed, and I can diagnose it before they
even call me, so I can proactively follow up with them if they don't
call me right away.

Anyway, at this point, the only way to run it is to buy it or have tested it
and given some feedback on it. All the purchased copies are running
fine (as far as I know), with the exception of one which is in a process
of learning how to use it. This one though has enlightened me as to
a situation that I need to think of a solution for. Call-Controls are mutually
exclusive. But there is one situation that shouldn't be, and is possible not
to be...just not how I have it currently programmed: If you want to set
call-forwarding busy and/or no-answer AND set Block via CallerID, as it
is now, you cannot have them operational simultaneously. Theoretically
there is no reason you should not be able to...

So, darkman, you're welcome to give it a whirl. Registration should
not be a problem. There are screen-shots on the website at
http://www.magicjackbeans.com/screenshots.php and you can download
the User Guide and read it from http://www.magicjackbeans.com/help.php

Let me know if you need anything else. If there is one thing people have
a right to complain about me and this software, it *may* be that I don't
respond right away all the time. But my excuse is there's only one of me,
and it seems, always a whole lot to do... Sorry if I'm not quick enough
all the time. I *do* understand, as I myself always want things done
right now, when I'm ready for it. But I ask that people be patient even if
there is an actual problem, as I move at a certain pace, and I *will* get
to any issue you may have...eventually. BTW, I currently have ONE
outstanding support issue, which [I'm pretty sure] is not a program issue.
There are a lot of copies working out there...since they check for updates
a few times a day, I can be sure of this.

bongohawk wrote:Well that Featuer Pack is a 113 mb ISO file, which I am pretty sure won't work on my XPe thin client. I did try to install the .NET Framework 2.0 Component for Windows XP Embedded Service Pack 2, but it said it was missing components and then ran out of virtual memory. I am pretty sure my image of stroth's already has .Net 2.0 installed, but I can't find the cdosys.dll file anywhere. I guess thin clients just weren't meant to be running MagicBeans. Oh Well. Thanks for all your help. I really hope you had a chance to get some rest over the weekend.

Yeah, I got some sleep yesterday most of the day. Thanks!

About the ISO, can you extract the files on another machine, then just
get what you need onto a flash drive, and install it from there to your
thin client? Just an idea.

vdot wrote:
About the ISO, can you extract the files on another machine, then just
get what you need onto a flash drive, and install it from there to your
thin client? Just an idea.

I was able to get cdosys.dll off of the ISO, but I ran into the same issue as before:

LoadLibrary("c:\windows\system32\cdosys.dll") failed - The specified module could not be found.

I also disabled write filter on the thin client prior to trying the register the dll, still no success. Are there other files that are needed along with cdosys.dll?

Tom

Alleytom wrote: I also disabled write filter on the thin client prior to trying the register the dll, still no success. Are there other files that are needed along with cdosys.dll?

Tom

On the Feature Pack link (prior post) there was a whole set of pre-reqs
listed...

I'm thinking about buying Magicbeans but I have a question.
What happens if Magicjack puts out an upgrade and magicbeans stops working?

I'm not a programmer but it seems magicbeans relies on MJ working in a certain way for it to work and if that changes it could make the program obsolete. Is this correct?

joevv wrote:I'm thinking about buying Magicbeans but I have a question.
What happens if Magicjack puts out an upgrade and magicbeans stops working?

I'm not a programmer but it seems magicbeans relies on MJ working in a certain way for it to work and if that changes it could make the program obsolete. Is this correct?

It's possible a feature or features could be temporarily or permanently
affected by a change they make. Changes they made already have once or
twice affected MagicBeans, but I had it fixed within hours. They could
change the whole skin, and I could probably fix it in a day or two, but there
are no guarantees. In reality, their changes have truely only added
features at this point...not to say it couldn't make something difficult or
impossible to fix. Some things they couldn't affect unless they come out
with an entirely different technology...but I think as long as they support
anything that resembles the magicJack, MagicBeans should be able to
enhance it.
Bottom line is, you're right, there is no guarantee, it IS dependent on
the MJ in many ways, and that is why the "License" doesn't offer any
warranty of any kind...the software license is for Use on an "As Is" basis.

You take your chances. None of my plans for support have changed
and won't unless/until they come out with a change. We all know the
record on that...

I'm sure MJ will come out with an update that matches MB's features sometime in the future.

I tried to register the product and got the same response as many have when installing the app. Not a really good thing to go through when your releaseing a new application to the market.

You should have/do IMO, is offer a 2 week trial then charge your $12.95 after the trial period.

Also, the website looks like a really awful acid trip.

tradewiz50 wrote:I'm sure MJ will come out with an update that matches MB's features sometime in the future.

I tried to register the product and got the same response as many have when installing the app. Not a really good thing to go through when your releaseing a new application to the market.

You should have/do IMO, is offer a 2 week trial then charge your $12.95 after the trial period.

Also, the website looks like a really awful acid trip.

What response is that? That you have to pay for it?
It is plainly stated on the website the exact steps you take to install and
run it. I'm sorry that you apparently didn't read it. I could have
chosen to offer a trial period, but I didn't. There are pluses and minuses for
both approaches. I chose to provide availability of the User Guide, screen
shots and list of the features, and not have a trial period. There are
many more who have downloaded & purchased, than didn't read,
downloaded, and didn't purchase.

By the time MJ comes out with the MB features (yeah), there will be a
lot more features available. MagicBeans is designed to get updated as
long as the MJ is still supported. The feature list of MagicBeans will grow
faster than the feature list of magicJack.

The website is fanciful, as in Jack and the Beanstalk...I wouldn't know
what an awful acid trip looks like, but it must not be half bad...

Thanks for your input.

Does MB require the MJ dongle and the 2 virtual drives to always be there? Can it do none/some/most/all features with the dongleless "headset/PC mic/speakers" softphone?

What about no softphone, dongle plugged in but run as a service where exe CPU cycles are kept at a minimum?

Synchron

synchron wrote:Does MB require the MJ dongle and the 2 virtual drives to always be there? Can it do none/some/most/all features with the dongleless "headset/PC mic/speakers" softphone?

What about no softphone, dongle plugged in but run as a service where exe CPU cycles are kept at a minimum?

Synchron

I never really quantified what would/would not be possible, feature-wise,
running dongle-less or as a service,...and I'm not certain about any of this
without it being tested-out, but...thinking out-loud:

At a minimum, as it is currently written, you would *have to* have the
softphone running for startup and for setup of MJ-registry-dependent
features. It would not install or run without that, as it needs to determine
MJ's number, and that is not found in the registry (that I could find anyway).
Once it was installed, started and settings set, the MJ *may* run as a
service without the softphone, but only for some features that
are set in the registry would work. MagicBeans would not run right, but
it could be used to set the setttings upfront.

Dongleless, on the other hand, should work fine for at least most things,
as long as the softphone is still used. I think that even the MB "Control
Panel" start/stop/reboot features may work...not sure.

If you want to buy & test it, if it doesn't work significantly, I'll refund your
money. If it does work, and you contribute your feedback and time with
me to test or attempt to get it working, I'll refund your money also.
Better yet, email or call me if you're interested in testing it out.

Magic Beans is an excellent software application that has enhanced my MagicJack user experience. The software installation and registration process was a breeze, absolutely nothing to it.

Magic Beans packs many useful features under its hood. The feature that I like the best is the Extend Ring feature. This feature allows my home answering machine to pick up the calls instead of having MagicJacks voice mail intercepting my calls every-time. A second feature that I currently relish is now having the ability to use the Block Calls feature so I can block the telemarketers from wasting my precious time.

Magic Beans is a great deal at the introductory price of $12.99. Think about it, just one month of subscription fees for these great features with a Ma Bell would equal the one time cost of Magic Beans!

I had a quickie., Can Magic Beans be used with an ATA???

can magic beans help display the name of the caller on the cid instead of the cid just showing the phone #?

steve_togo wrote:I had a quickie., Can Magic Beans be used with an ATA???

No, it's designed for use with the MJ Softphone only.

Thanks for the Q! (Sorry about the A )

pepsiman wrote:can magic beans help display the name of the caller on the cid instead of the cid just showing the phone #?

Not yet, but that is planned for the next Minor version update... (as long
as I can get it to work well )

BTW, no need to wait, as updates are free...

All MagicJack customers should email the company and explain to them that a 3rd party is profiting by adding a few simple features that are not currently offered. Dan Borislow who is the owner of the company seems to be a pretty shrewd businessperson and would not likely tolerate a 3rd party indirectly profiting at the expense of his customers.

MagicBeans does however provide several needed features but seems to be severely overpriced at $13.00. The $13.00 price tag for MagicBeans is 65% of the cost of MagicJack's yearly renewal rate. Why would MagicJack allow itself and its valued customers to be exploited by this side show Sam.

I will be emailing MagicJack about this situation and hope the rest of you guys and gals will do the same.

The free market is a wonderful thing. You know, build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door. I do not use magic beans, but I applaud the ingenuity. Apparently, many find it useful and well worth the price. If you don't think the tools are worth the cost, don't buy it. Others apparently do.

Amen....................Something out current Government needs to remember, the free market!!!!!!!!!!!




Joe Sica

Free markets stimulate innovation and provides prosperity for only its worthy participants. If you don't like the product that is being offered simply don't purchase it! If magicJack feels that Magic Beans is a threat to its bottom line, they will adjust their business model accordingly. I seriously doubt this software application will have any negative impact on the magicJacks bottom line. Now go away and commiserate with all your big government entitlement buddies.

I agree 100% so I assume your reply was not aimed at me but to MJ-Rules, correct??

IF it was aimed at me, then you misunderstood my reply to c-koby.

TRUST me I am NO Michael Moore!!!!! UGH...............If he really believed what he preached he would not be charging for his movie!! Right?? He tells everyone they can't make it, yet he did, what an asswipe he is..........
again, UGH........


Joe Sica

Joe, my reply was indeed for MJ-Rules!

Just as I thunk


Joe Sica

MJ-Rules wrote:All MagicJack customers should email...blah, blah, blah

Quit double-posting this garbage across the forum. It sounds like you got an axe to grind.

How is the ability to get additional features for your magicjack in any way going to do anything but increase Dan Borislow's sales...AND without him having to even support it. People who would otherwise not have bought a magicjack, might now decide to buy one. And your argument that $12.95 is too much to pay for all those features it has? you really need to get a job so you can live a little. Geez a couple Big Macs, fries and drinks will run you that much.

You gotta be the same guy posting this same garbage on DSL reports, JoelR. Right!

I have used magicbeans for 2 weeks and it works 100% as advertised. I love it, and the $13 is one time forever - money well spent.

Magic beans hacks the hell the out my magicjack! Now I can access the features I need. The home phone answering machine now gets my magicjack calls by using the extended ring setup in magic beans. Now my girlfriend can shut up about not getting her messages from the gossip whores she calls friends. Thanks magic beans for saving me the aggravation of listening to her constantly complaining.

Vinny

masterblaster69 wrote:Magic beans hacks the hell the out my magicjack! Now I can access the features I need. The home phone answering machine now gets my magicjack calls by using the extended ring setup in magic beans. Now my girlfriend can shut up about not getting her messages from the gossip whores she calls friends. Thanks magic beans for saving me the aggravation of listening to her constantly complaining.

Vinny

^ That was a commercial quality post. ^

MJ-Rules wrote:All MagicJack customers should email the company and explain to them that a 3rd party is profiting by adding a few simple features that are not currently offered.

We will do no such thing. vdot has devoted alot of time to develop this software, and is entitled to profit from his efforts and contribution. If Dan Borislow was interested in offering this type of customization, and support, he had every opportunity to do so. In an effort to keep it basic, with as little support as possible, he has chosen to maximize profit and minimize overhead.

If you think MagicBeans merely offers, "a few simple features" as you mentioned, than try your hand at programming similar software, and you'll see just how "not simple" it is.

It's your type of thinking that contributes to corporate monopolies, and causes destruction to free enterprise.

Now my girlfriend can shut up about not getting her messages from the gossip whores she calls friends.

Now I don't care who you are; that's funny!

Larry the Cable Guy

masterblaster69 wrote:Now my girlfriend can shut up about not getting her messages from the gossip whores she calls friends. Thanks magic beans for saving me the aggravation of listening to her constantly complaining.

Vinny

Can I use that as an ad-byte?

Hi. First time posting.

Can the MagicBeans software be setup to NOT ring the phone if the call is from a Telemarketer - like from a 800 / 888 number?

I know you can set it up to block those calls, but will the phone ring at all? Or does it have to ring once to get the Caller ID info in order to block the call?

By phone ringing, I mean my real phone attached to the MagicJack dongle.

Thanks,
Joe

joe123 wrote:Hi. First time posting.

Can the MagicBeans software be setup to NOT ring the phone if the call is from a Telemarketer - like from a 800 / 888 number?

I know you can set it up to block those calls, but will the phone ring at all? Or does it have to ring once to get the Caller ID info in order to block the call?

By phone ringing, I mean my real phone attached to the MagicJack dongle.

Thanks,
Joe

Hi Joe,

It does need to get the Caller ID info, but that does not necessarily
translate into the phone needing to ring first. The magicJack-to-phone
response is not immediate, so the Caller ID info is available before the
phone rings usually...depending on the circumstance. MagicBeans' response
is immediate, also depending on the circumstance & timing on your machine
at any given moment. If your machine is responsive, it will usually not
ring or perhaps give a little "ding" or half-ring. My machine usually either
doesn't ring at all or gives a real short ring, but some people report their
phone rings once or even more. Their machines are usually slower
machines and/or not dedicated, and bogged-down with other processes.
It really depends on how quick your machine responds, which is dependent
on a lot of things: what & how many processes are running, how fast your
machine is, what CPU priority and memory allocation is allotted
the magicJack & MagicBeans processes.

There are other software products available to help the CPU and memory
allocation issues very nicely (in addition to your trimming of what processes
are running on your machine, and your supplying ample RAM memory and
CPU speed).
Two that I use are Process Lasso (for CPU queueing), and MemoKit (for
Memory allocation). They are at bitsum.com and memoryoptimizer.com
respectively. I don't have anything to do with these companies except
using their fine software.

Hope this answers your question!

-vdot

Thank you very much. Great software by the way!

Two quick questions:

If I change MagicJack phone number, do I have to buy another MagicBean license?

Do you know of any dongle or hardware / software that will prevent the 1st ring (or x number of first rings) from ringing a phone line?

Thanks again,
Joe

joe123 wrote:Thank you very much. Great software by the way!

Two quick questions:

If I change MagicJack phone number, do I have to buy another MagicBean license?

Do you know of any dongle or hardware / software that will prevent the 1st ring (or x number of first rings) from ringing a phone line?

Thanks again,
Joe

Q #1 - No, the License is per machine, but it is not tied to the MJ you use.
You can change the MJ phone# any time and as many times as you want.

Q #2 - *I* don't know of any such hardware or software, other than for
smartphones & PocketPC phones...sorry. Maybe someone else does...

Hi. I installed the product and it blocks anonymous call really nice, I don't get to hear a ring on my phone

Suggestion for future add-on:

Give the user the ability to pick a wav file for specific callers - A built in answering machine that only plays. Recording can be done later on on version 2.0

Being able to play a wav file for specific numbers can be very handy when you want to leave a message intended only for certain people calling you.

Do these magic beans work with your pc turned off? I have a program I downloaded for free but it does not work if I have my computer shut off. If I block my crazy mother from calling, then turn off my computer, would she still be able to call me? if you say no she would be forever blocked, I would pay 12 dollars for the beans. My mother needs to stop leaving 19 messages on my phone in one day. LOL..The program I have now if my computer is on will ring a few times because I set the number of rings, then after that, the voice mail is turned off, as long as I do not hit the accept call button. However if I turn my computer off I get sent to voice mail. My mom will call at 6 in the morning to leave 10 minute messages, this is why I want it to work with the computer off.

Thanks.

Dude if your PC is OFF your MJ cant ring your phone and your calls are automatically sent to voice mail, Magic beans or not!!
No program ON YOUR PC can run IF YOUR PC IS OFF. Kinda sounds like common sense to me, but then what do I know.

Joe Sica

rattfan wrote:Do these magic beans work with your pc turned off? I have a program I downloaded for free but it does not work if I have my computer shut off. If I block my crazy mother from calling, then turn off my computer, would she still be able to call me? if you say no she would be forever blocked, I would pay 12 dollars for the beans. My mother needs to stop leaving 19 messages on my phone in one day. LOL..The program I have now if my computer is on will ring a few times because I set the number of rings, then after that, the voice mail is turned off, as long as I do not hit the accept call button. However if I turn my computer off I get sent to voice mail. My mom will call at 6 in the morning to leave 10 minute messages, this is why I want it to work with the computer off.

Thanks.

I smell a troll

Nah just an idiot with no common sense...

Joe Sica

Vdot, any chance of creating a MagicBean software for the TK6000?

Not sure if it can be done and I realize that I would have to have my PC up to run your software.

Thanks,
Joe

bitstopjoe wrote:Dude if your PC is OFF your MJ cant ring your phone and your calls are automatically sent to voice mail, Magic beans or not!!
No program ON YOUR PC can run IF YOUR PC IS OFF. Kinda sounds like common sense to me, but then what do I know.

Joe Sica

I wasn't talking about my phone ringing. I was talking about voice mail.
So when MJ is off I still get voice mail, that I do not want. And yes with my computer off I still get voice mail. I know because I wake up, turn my computer on and more insane messages from my mother. I am not a troll..
I am a person trying to figure out how to shut off my voice mail with my computer off, or some way to block her calls. I do not want to find more messages from my mother after I shut down my PC and load up magic jack.

One suggestion then, change your MJ# and don't give it to her. Problem solved.
Beans ONLY affects your voicemail IF your PC is on, as I said no program will work WITHOUT your PC being on.

Also you can always forward your MJ# prior to turning off your PC to say a local sex line or the like. Heck even an old boyfriend of hers. ANYTHING you can think of. That MIGHT give your mom some pause in her phone calls to you. Maybe get a friend to leave your greeting message on your voicemail so she thinks she dialed the wrong #.

Just a few suggestions

Joe Sica

I did change my MJ number but the calls from my old number will still forward for 30 days. I guess there is nothing I can do about it, until the old number stops working. If I forward my MJ number to my cell phone my mom has that number as well. If I said I had a sex line, that would make her very mad, then I would get about 30 messages a day. I only have one cell phone and she has that number. Thanks for the tips but I really do not see anyway to keep my mom from calling. I will have to wait, until the old number stops working and no my mom does not have my new MJ number. I got that number free as it was my first time changing it. My mom can also call my cell phone.. I am going to have to pay to get that number changed as well.

Sounds to me there are MUCH more serious issues going on here other than your #.
WAY to personal for me to make any further comments as my name is not Dr. Phil

Good luck...

Joe Sica

bitstopjoe wrote:Sounds to me there are MUCH more serious issues going on here other than your #.
WAY to personal for me to make any further comments as my name is not Dr. Phil

Good luck...

Joe Sica

Well my mom calls other people in the family and she leaves them long messages saying mean hurtful things to them as well, so I am not the only one having to deal with her crazy calls. My Aunt is thinking about pressing harassment charges on my mother. Yes this would make a great DR Phil show. I agree. Anyway I just wish there was a way my old number would not work but I can't seem to change it. I guess I could just delete any message my mom has for me and not listen to it. It's all I can do at this point.

Why not leave your computer on all the time, install MagicBeans and you can custome tailor a message specially for her number?

Or forward your number to her number?

The ideas as endless