magicJack and magicJack Plus Support, Reviews, FAQs and Tricks

wecatchem wrote: I went thru all the fixes I tried the resistors this worked but had other problems like not hanging up I also bought a powered hub ,but after all the hours on with MJ tech support 2x they make like this never happened before They told me to get a new phone like a panasonic. I told them it can be done I will let them know when I figure it out "its going to be a long night"... I figured a way to do this I used a old caller ID box in line with the uniden cordless phones and everything works perfect This takes the extra power from the ringer and thus no resisitors are needed.It goes from the MJ to the caller ID to the uniden and the ID works perfectly on the phones.Im sure you can use an old corded phone in the line as well.
GOOD LUCK ALL!!!

wecatchem,

Are you 100% sure you used a 100,000 ohm resistor? What color bands are on the resistor you used? It is for all practical purposes impossible for a 100 K resistor to hold a phone line off hook.

A powered USB hub has nothing to do with solving the caller ID problem.

Nothing takes it's power from the the ringer voltage. The only thing the ringer voltage does is signal you phone to ring and you phone, caller ID box derive their power from the phone line carrier voltage which I believe is around 35 - 45 volts.

By putting the third party caller ID box on your system you effectively did the same thing the resistor alone does. The 3rd party ID box just presents a modest (probably around a 100 K resistive load) resistive termination just like the resistor itself would have done if you used the correct resistor (no insult intended).

The resistors (metal film made in china) color bands are next to impossible to read. So unless you pull the resistor out of a bubble pack that said 100 k Ohm only God and an Ohm Meter knows for sure what value the resistor is. It is all part of a Chinese conspiracy to thwart the U.S. hobbyist effort to succeed.

wecatchem,

The only reason I responded to your post is it would indicate to many that the 100K Ohm resistor is not a viable solution and I would like to make it very clear that if you use the correct value resistor this fix has never been known to not fix the problem.

So, I don't want to upset you or start an argument but until proved wrong I am going to say that you must have used the wrong values resistor and it must have been much to low a resistance if your phone would not hang up. I am sure one of the Telco people will jump in hear and tell us what the off hook current had to be to hold the phone off hook.

PS - 100K Ohm resistor should be color coded "Brown = (1), Black = (0), Yellow = (0000)" reading from left to right. all the other bands, if any, are for other parameters and mean nothing in this application.

I soldered up 5 of these with the 100k-ohm resistor from Radio Shack (all confirmed working) and decided not to keep MagicJack. Nothing fancy but they work fine If anyone needs one PM me and we can figure something out. Not looking to make a profit, I just have no use for them.

A 100 Ohm 5% resistor (brown-black-black-gold) will make the line busy, but a 100k 1% resistor (brown-black-black-yellow) cannot.

-------------

The MJ dongle is one of those modern devices that cheats the telephone specification. Telephone COs run a battery voltage of -48VDC (positive ground, so that the corrosion is attracted to the ground and repelled from the uninsulated customer wire). It is a relatively high voltage so that it can travel many miles and still be usable. Modern PABX manufacturers realized this and began to make equipment with a battery of only -24VDC, which is plenty to drive a phone at most a few hundred feet from the PABX. Likewise, ring voltage in the US is 90VAC 20Hz. Most modern telephones are sensitive enough to respond to a lower voltage and wider frequency range, so many modern PABXes only produce 75V or less.

Contrary to popular belief, the Caller ID module does need to have ringer circuitry alive and working. The Caller ID module, whether separate or built into the telephone, must sense the first ring in order to wake up and listen for the information burst, which is delivered about 3 seconds later, just before the second ring. Fortunately, many external Caller ID boxes are able to do their work without loading the line (REN 0.0).

Caller ID was working for me in the MJ application but my 5.8 Ghz GE cordless phone would always say "no data". After reading this thread I decided to try putting my Belkin surge strip (which has phone line protection) between the MJ and my phone. Now caller ID is working perfectly. I guess the components in the surge strip provide enough resistance to take care of the problem.

George,
Yes you are right I was wrong (don't tell my wife) after digging thru the unorganized bin at Radio Shack I must have forgot what I was looking for (ADD) I picked up 100-ohm resistor instead of 100k not to mention 5% I also picked up 10K resistors just in case in which made things worse,The reason I mentioned the caller ID box was 1. It works and 2. for less fortunate people that don't know what resistors are they can fix this themselves .Well everybody we solved this one next lets convert our vonage router into MJ .I see it can be done Thanks for the information and keep up the good work.

"Its Going To Be A Long Night"

mattniswonger wrote:Caller ID was working for me in the MJ application but my 5.8 Ghz GE cordless phone would always say "no data". After reading this thread I decided to try putting my Belkin surge strip (which has phone line protection) between the MJ and my phone. Now caller ID is working perfectly. I guess the components in the surge strip provide enough resistance to take care of the problem.

Well, it worked for a few hours and then stopped. I picked up a pack of 100k ohm 1/4 watt resistors from radio shack and a female-female RJ-11 coupler and voila, caller ID is back in business.

Here are my details:

cordless 5.8 GHz vtech CS511 With CID ... or so the box says ...
purchased from walmart.

my phone always just says (*ringing*)

I tried running the phone line through the surge protector... still no dice.

I'm not good with soldering but I verified the connections with an ohmmeter and the fact that I still get a dial tone.

I even tried disconnecting the audio cable from the back of my computer.

my MJ is connected directly to usb powered by my motherboard.

I made a 100k Ohm mod cable... here are the pictures:

http://i44.tinypic.com/347ivm8.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/ayx5w2.jpg
http://i40.tinypic.com/10cunw2.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/33o00b4.jpg
http://i44.tinypic.com/y2anb.jpg
http://i43.tinypic.com/30vkqgz.jpg

I unplugged the magic jack, reconnected the 100k ohm cable and plugged it back in... now it's working!

I must be having a combination of issues. I have 2 MJs, both connected to the house wiring.

Line 1 doesn't show CID unless I plug a cordless phone directly into the MJ, bypassing the house wiring and if I connect several phones to line 1 then one or more of the cordless phones stop ringing but the corded phones keep ringing.

Line 2 works better, but there is just one cordless phone and one corded phone connected to the house wiring for that line. CID isn't an issue on line 2.

The CID issue on line 1 seems to need a 100K ohm resistor.
The no-ringing issue seems like it needs a powered USB hub or maybe I'll put line 1 on an ATA and bypass the USB dongle completely.

I have a number of questions:
1) Is 100K ohm enough no matter how many phones or would I need a bigger or smaller resistor if I have more phones?

2) Can the resistor be anywhere in the house wiring or should it be close to the MJ?

3) If I use a powered USB hub, how many phones can the MJ run?

4) If I use an ATA, will that take care of the CID *and* the power issues?

5) If they catch me using an ATA, will they just change my password or are they more aggressive regarding unsupported workarounds like an ATA?

TIA...

Wow! You have managed to package up about half a dozen previously well discussed topics, expecting a research team to present the answers to you in lieu of using the Search button or just plain reading.

M_C wrote:Line 1 doesn't show CID unless I plug a cordless phone directly into the MJ, bypassing the house wiring and if I connect several phones to line 1 then one or more of the cordless phones stop ringing but the corded phones keep ringing.

Look for topics that discuss REN and how to reduce yours or whether you need to purchase a Ring Booster. How many REN do all of your connected phones add up to?

M_C wrote:The CID issue on line 1 seems to need a 100K ohm resistor.
The no-ringing issue seems like it needs a powered USB hub or maybe I'll put line 1 on an ATA and bypass the USB dongle completely.

There are several discussions, mostly in the Tips & Tricks category that discuss the benefits and responsibilities of using an ATA.

M_C wrote:1) Is 100K ohm enough no matter how many phones or would I need a bigger or smaller resistor if I have more phones?

You need to understand the engineering reasoning behind using a shunting resistor. Your bigger problem is too many ringers on the line. Solve that first, and then reread this thread to understand the reasoning behind the resistor.

M_C wrote:2) Can the resistor be anywhere in the house wiring or should it be close to the MJ?

Nobody has ever suggested putting it anywhere but near the MJ dongle.

M_C wrote:3) If I use a powered USB hub, how many phones can the MJ run?

"More than without one." MJ refuses to commit to how many REN a dongle can drive.

M_C wrote:4) If I use an ATA, will that take care of the CID *and* the power issues?

As discussed in the ATA threads, an ATA can make your experience much smoother, both in terms of stability and call clarity.

M_C wrote:5) If they catch me using an ATA, will they just change my password or are they more aggressive regarding unsupported workarounds like an ATA?

Read the ATA threads again to decide for yourself how to manage your environment to keep within the spirit of the ToS. This was discussed in detail as recently as yesterday, so you should not have to dig to find your reward.

mberlant wrote:Wow!

Too bad we don't have an ignore feature here...

As Scott already said and I agree with him 100%:

Scott wrote: Don't get me wrong, it seems like you know quite a bit about this stuff . But I'd rather read the correct response over and over again than read you typing "use the search function" over and over again." Do it my way you have 300 threads all with the correct answer. your way you have 300 threads on the same topic. 299 say "use the search function "and only one has the right answer......

like i said , if you are sick of seeing it over and over, make a sticky or put it in a FAQ. If the search function is so easy to use. at least provide a link to the appropriate thread to answer the poor guys question.Just because he asked a question that has already been answered doesnt mean he didnt look.....gees

(Edit: Removed personal commentary on what kind of guy I think you are)

EDIT:
I've always been a little lost when it comes to telephony. I've removed a couple of phones on the system and now the total REN is much lower.

The REN on line 1 *was* 1.86 but I've disconnected a 1.0 phone and a .7 phone so the total now is .16 and only the phone (.08 ) closest to the MJ rings. The other .08 phone doesn't ring. No CID on either phone. I'm not sure this is a USB power issue now but I could try an ATA on this line if I ever finish (maybe this weekend) configuring it.

The REN on line 2 is .1 and the CID works. This phone is much further away from the MJ than line 1.

Both MJ dongles are plugged into identical mobos.

After further experimenting, I switched the line 1 phones to line 2 and vice-versa, now everything works. The same MJ powers the same phones just on the opposite lines now. Plugging in the .7 REN dual-line phone makes the ringing/CID fail again too. I have no idea why...

snafu2 wrote:For what it's worth:

My situation may be unique, but most of the time my inbound CID would not display on my various phones (five mixed Uniden models) whole house setup, but did show correctly on the softphone.

I put a 100k ohm resister across the line and now all work great.

Thank you, thank you! Just built the splitter (couldn't find a coupler that I could take apart.) I cut the tail off a DSL filter, soldered on the resistor, and plugged it and MJ into a line splitter. Magic!!! It works. Thanks again, you are a genius.
Steve

The USB power requirement is to push out enough ring current to energize the ringers on the line. Once you are engaged in conversation there is generally enough power to drive one or two phones (or base stations) for actual talking.

The ring power also needs to be enough to wake up the Caller ID unit. Even if the Caller ID unit is external and has a REN of 0.0, if other phones on the line have sucked away the power it will not wake up in order to listen for the CID information that comes just before the second ring. Rather, it will ignore that CID information just as it would ignore your Bell 202 modem using that phone line for an outbound call.

There are other factors that could be affecting you, like the age of the wires distributed throughout the house, the relative quality of each and every splice in those wires, the age and quality of any lightning arrestors that you might have put/left on the lines, etc. Also, the MJ dongle is a very cheap piece of equipment that was designed to drive one telephone sitting within 6 feet of the dongle. All of the magical things we are doing here are well outside the design specification of the MJ, and it is not very surprising to hear that two MJs sitting side by side in your home behave differently.

Thank you for reporting your progress.

Cool stuff guys, just got a new magic jack, but my wife pointed out the CID problem.
I'm in the process of moving (don't have a phone line in the new apartment, hence the interest in MJ in the first place), and I may not have access to any tools for a while- I was sort of hoping I could buy a fixed coupler or something off of ebay. Looks like you guys aren't enterprising enough to cash in on this fix!

That being said, has anyone possibly made an extra one of these (or still has enough parts lying around to build another) and wouldn't mind selling it to me? I would do it myself, but I'd have to find and unpack all my tools, etc...

I love Magicjack. Now I love it even more that I got the caller id to work on my phone by getting a fixer from www.magicjackcallerid.com

We reviewed all off the comments on possible fixes to making MagicJack CID function work on a cordless phone. Instead of trying to create a resistor we took an extra DSL filter and plugged it into the MagicJack unit and then plugged the phone line into the telephone port of the DSL filter. The CID immediately began working on our cordless phone.

We contacted MagicJack to see if they could help with the problem before coming to this forum and they were unable to help us with the problem. They suggested contacting the vendor of our cordless phone. This was also not helpful.

Thank goodness for forums!!

So what does this have anything to do with a splitter or using my existing phone lines in my home on one MJ device? Do I have to install a resistor before each telephone in all the rooms?

this could work but at the place where i live they dont have 100k ohm resistors so i dont know where to find one

coldfusion11 wrote:So what does this have anything to do with a splitter or using my existing phone lines in my home on one MJ device? Do I have to install a resistor before each telephone in all the rooms?

No, only one resistor can be installed and it should be located at the MJ.

coldfusion11 wrote:So what does this have anything to do with a splitter or using my existing phone lines in my home on one MJ device? Do I have to install a resistor before each telephone in all the rooms?

The thread only talks about one resistor, if it is needed, near the MJ dongle.

albo_g wrote:this could work but at the place where i live they dont have 100k ohm resistors so i dont know where to find one

What values can you find? Resistor values add together when put in series and average divided by 2 when put in parallel. 100k is a common value, but if you can't find it you should be able to come close with what you can get your hands on.

albo_g wrote:this could work but at the place where i live they dont have 100k ohm resistors so i dont know where to find one

Since you didn't tell us where you live, it's difficult to help. However there are many companies that sell hardware over the internet. Radio Shack, Jameco, Newark, Allied, Digikey, etc.

i live in macedonia its in europe

albo_g, make sure that you use phones designed to be compatible with the North America phone network, since the MJ only knows how to talk to 600 Ohm phones.

yes i have a panasonic kx tg 7200 i had an older model it worked fine it displayed the caller id but it broke and then i bought this newer phone the panasonic kx tg 7200 and it doesnt display the caller id...

My research says that your new Panasonic phone is made to work in England. It will not work with devices designed for use in the United States. The basic electrical interface, the ringer interface and the Caller ID methodology are all incompatible. You need a phone that is designed to work in the United States.

oh so in other words the resistor wont make it work? looks like i have to find another phone some place

Correct. A resistor won't make your UK phone work in the US.

whoever put the link up to buy the peice to fix my caller id , thank you, ( im too lazy to flip back through the pages to quote it.) i bought one and it works great. i now have caller id without having to do a bunch of crap. why dont yall have a link at the top of your site selling those things? i only give 5 bucks but would have paid alot more. i had to flip through these forums for days before i found someone selling one.

I registered just to say this

I managed to find a 100K ohm resistor in an old Answering Machine of mine, and works to power two phone's Caller ID, One 5 foot away, and the other about 60 feet away

Perhaps I am an idiot but I purchased the 100k-Ohm resistor 1/4 watt 5% tolerance and installed it and the phone is working the same way it did before no inbound caller id... I'm confused why it's working for everyone else and not me. I have the Uniden Dect 6.0. It's not showing on the powered wall unit or the cordless. Same as before the fix.

This is a shot in the dark, but some of the posts seem to suggest that usb power may be a problem. You should probably make sure that usb power is not going into sleep mode (I can only speak for XP, not sure if Vista has this issue). The current supplied to the ports is turned off when it does this.
Try this....

>Start>Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager>Scroll to Universal Serial Bus Controllers and expand>Right click on each USB Root Hub and select Properties>Select Power Management tab>Make sure the to uncheck the box next to "allow the computer to turn off this device to save power".

I apologize if someone suggested this earlier (didn't check every page of the post) and am really not sure if this will help. It can't hurt and may solve other issues though for other devices.

You are very welcome, glad it worked for you. I originally had this problem last year with my Blackjack phone not charging through the usb port. Someone posted this solution on the ATT forum site so I can't take credit for figuring it out. Just one of those things that can really frustrate you until someone else passes along a fix.

Just be aware if you are using your MagicJack as a second line then the resistor should be installed between the BLACK & YELLOW wires

I just tried the 100 K fix and it did not work for me. I started at 100K and went down to about 10K. At the lower resistances the phone was off hook. Too bad. It seemed to work for others.

I have a Panasonic KX TG-5777 cordless. I did not try the fix with a Uniden I have, but the Uniden also did not show the caller ID. I called the Magic Jack support and they confirmed the problem, but did not offer a fix except to say that a GE phone seemed to work.

Maybe a powered USB would work (I have my Magic Jack plugged into an older HP computer), but I just don't have the interest to pursue it at this time.

I would sure be interested in any other comments on this subject.

The 100k resistor did the trick for me on my Uniden model EX18560 5.8 Ghz wireless phone. I took the base apart and soldeed the 100k resistor onto the circuit board, across the input line points

This will end all!!!!


USE YOUR DSL FILTER!!!!

Plug the dsl filter into the mj and then plug the phone into the "Phone"
Hole.

Any body need one? I have 10 laying around!!!

Oh...and it works great.

mgoodin wrote:

This will end all!!!!


USE YOUR DSL FILTER!!!!

Plug the dsl filter into the mj and then plug the phone into the "Phone"
Hole.

Any body need one? I have 10 laying around!!!

Oh...and it works great.

Doesn't work for all, I have 5 different brands of DSL filters, and tried them EVERY WHICH WAY, and it did not work. Resistor trick works fine though

I have tried just the 100K fix and it did not work for me. I don't have a DSL filter and I may try the powered USB port, but since my Port on the computer is powered and the light on the Magic Jack looks strong, I don't hold much hope.

I wish that Magic Jack would report what the real problem is with a fix so that all these smoke and mirror approaches would go away. I don't mind putting a few bucks into the fix, but I don't have time to try a bunch of fixes that may or may not work. After all, I am retired and too busy having fun to be messing around with trying solutions to a problem like I did when I had to work for a living!

mberlant wrote:My research says that your new Panasonic phone is made to work in England. It will not work with devices designed for use in the United States. The basic electrical interface, the ringer interface and the Caller ID methodology are all incompatible. You need a phone that is designed to work in the United States.

The caller ID methodology is different indeed. However, I used U.S. market phones, cordless phones, faxes and answering machines on locations in the Netherlands without any problems.

Anybody selling these? Looks like its what I need.

I have a Uniden EXA12248 2.4GHz phone, and I HAD the same problem, that is up until 5 mins ago.

It was an easy mod to splice in the resistor into the phone line.

But it took me 2 attemps to do it, as I accidentally bought the wrong size resistor, 100 ohms, the 1st time.

However, I then bought a 100k ohms resister and BINGO, it works. My wife is much happier now.

Now I only have 4 more fixes to find:
(1) Be able to call out while my kids play on the Webkinz website.
(2) Stop the Magic Jack Window from Popping Up each time a call comes in.
(3) Stop the Beeping Sound that the other party hears.
(4) Keep Magic Jack running even when XP windows logs me off from inactivity.

Number "3" is my wife's next biggest peeve (She has threatened to go back to Vonage). Yikes

I found another way to show caller id number on my cordless phone, I have a fax machine connected to my magic jack and my cordless phone with a splitter and now the callers id number is showing on my cordless phone.

I don't know what is the fax machine does but the thing is that is sending my caller id info to my cordless phone but it's working.

If you don't have a fax go get a regular corded phone and connect it to the magic jack I'm very sure it will boost the jack to push the caller id info to your cordless phone.

Works great!

The CID in this thread refers to a FULL or Deluxe like Bellsouth calls it, wich ioncludes NAME and NUMBER, or just the number?
MY CID works fine, even my Directv box displays the calls on my TV but JUST THE NUMBER!!
BTW, That Directv box freaked me out, it dials out like 10 times a day and you can see it on the softphone screen.

frankjavir wrote:The CID in this thread refers to a FULL or Deluxe like Bellsouth calls it, wich ioncludes NAME and NUMBER, or just the number?
MY CID works fine, even my Directv box displays the calls on my TV but JUST THE NUMBER!!
BTW, That Directv box freaked me out, it dials out like 10 times a day and you can see it on the softphone screen.

Magicjack does not receive names, it only receives the number

solbe wrote:We reviewed all off the comments on possible fixes to making MagicJack CID function work on a cordless phone. Instead of trying to create a resistor we took an extra DSL filter and plugged it into the MagicJack unit and then plugged the phone line into the telephone port of the DSL filter. The CID immediately began working on our cordless phone.

We contacted MagicJack to see if they could help with the problem before coming to this forum and they were unable to help us with the problem. They suggested contacting the vendor of our cordless phone. This was also not helpful.

Thank goodness for forums!!

I have just today removed my DSL service and got cable internet hooked up. Now using the magicjack as my main line. I also had the CID problem. Well I tried this trick of using one of my DSL filters and bingo CID. Also a add on note with the filter inline I don't seem to get as much weird noise on the phone.

but2002 wrote:

frankjavir wrote:The CID in this thread refers to a FULL or Deluxe like Bellsouth calls it, wich ioncludes NAME and NUMBER, or just the number?
MY CID works fine, even my Directv box displays the calls on my TV but JUST THE NUMBER!!
BTW, That Directv box freaked me out, it dials out like 10 times a day and you can see it on the softphone screen.

Magicjack does not receive names, it only receives the number

True it only receives the number, but if that number matches one in your contact list on the MJ it will display that name.

HolmanGT wrote:
The adapter box is manufactured by “Philips, Inc.”
Mfg. part number: SDj6013W/17

The only place I have seen this in a store is at Wal-Mart. (any similar duplex jack should work just fine).

Picked up the adapter box at the local Wal-Mart and got the resistors from Radio Shack. Installed and working in under five minutes!

You guys ROCK!!! Thanks!

B

P.S. Now, if I could only get my MJ to stop disconnecting occasionally after dialing a phone number!

After browsing around this forum, I came across the fix using the resistor. I then found a suggestion that was much more low tech--and it works! I plugged a 3-way coupler (Y adapter-1 in 2 outs) into the magic jack via a 5 1/4 in telephone line cord, then plugged another 5 1/4 in telephone line cord between my dial-up computer connection at the back of my computer and the magic jack. I then plugged in my phone into the other outlet of the 3-way and like magic...Caller ID on the phone!!!! I guess the computer gives it enough boost. Thanks to richardp53 and slicktop281 over at fixya for that solution. I wanted to post it here because I didn't see that option after all the time I spent on here today. I was prepared to try the resistor fix, though. So thanks!

fulcrum wrote:
Now I only have 4 more fixes to find:
(1) Be able to call out while my kids play on the Webkinz website.
(2) Stop the Magic Jack Window from Popping Up each time a call comes in.
(3) Stop the Beeping Sound that the other party hears.
(4) Keep Magic Jack running even when XP windows logs me off from inactivity.

Number "3" is my wife's next biggest peeve (She has threatened to go back to Vonage). Yikes

http://download.cnet.com/MagicBlock/300 ... 38528.html
Now you can cross off #2. This works like a charm.