magicJack and magicJack Plus Support, Reviews, FAQs and Tricks

Gerry 52 I have better solution for you to port your number temporarily. Take a look at voipvoip.com and see if that would suffice for awhile. you could port your number to an ata, use it for incoming calls so you wouldn't miss any. There is no contract.. you can join and port when you are ready to. You can use their call out feature at 2c a minute, if you want, or not. just use it for incoming only..If you have your own ata it would cost$17 total to get started, $10 of that is prepaid minutes.. the $7 is the monthly charge for the service. If you need an ata they will supply one for $30 and you get to keep it. That is even better than the $10 a month for parking your number.. You still get to use it for incoming calls. Whaddayathank?? Works for me and it took just under 2 weeks to port the number..I'll just keep it there till MJ will port and Im grinnin!!!

There should be some type of consumer right to a phone number.

I've had the same number for almost 6 years. It started with packet8, then sunrocket, a failed porting attempt back to packet8, and now vonage.

msiam wrote:Gerry 52 I have better solution for you to port your number temporarily. Take a look at voipvoip.com and see if that would suffice for awhile. you could port your number to an ata, use it for incoming calls so you wouldn't miss any. There is no contract.. you can join and port when you are ready to. You can use their call out feature at 2c a minute, if you want, or not. just use it for incoming only..If you have your own ata it would cost$17 total to get started, $10 of that is prepaid minutes.. the $7 is the monthly charge for the service. If you need an ata they will supply one for $30 and you get to keep it. That is even better than the $10 a month for parking your number.. You still get to use it for incoming calls. Whaddayathank?? Works for me and it took just under 2 weeks to port the number..I'll just keep it there till MJ will port and Im grinnin!!!

msiam, that's a good temporary solution. can I use an old sunrocket voip adapter I have laying around?

If you can unlock that ata, as I did, you can use it.. I have the InnoMedia from SR and I also have the one my son had that I actually paid for, his is the spa2102 linksys. the better of the two is the spa2102, of course. But, the InnoMedia is fine to use. There are sites to go to that can tell you how to unlock the SR ata. You will be able to use that ata later when MJ lets us byod, as well. I do hope that you took that ata off the internet as soon as SR went down, if it was up with Teleblend for any length of time, I would suspect that it got locked by them.. If you changed voip companies immediately after the SR nosedive, then you should be ok with unlocking it. http://www.phoneservicesupport.com/how- ... -t326.html is a good start.. there are a few ways.. If you get stuck Ill give you more.. These are probably the pointers you need tho..Also, there are more than one possible PWs to use when you run into a problem with that. PM me with the problems you run into and I will give you what info I have.. it ain't much, but it worked for me... Good luck.
MS

I have dropped my Vonage service back to their $4.99 a month plan. I can keep my number and when someone calls it can go to my voicemail or I can answer it. All voicemails or incoming calls are free, but you are changed for outgoing calls. So, for the $4.99 a month I will hang onto the number, I don't have to change any services and if I need the Vonage phone it is there for me to use at something like $.02 a min. It may not be the most elegant solution, but for now it is the easiest.

I read a post by Dan the Inventor of MJ that they are currently expecting to allow Porting in July on a limited basis.

rawthang wrote:I read a post by Dan the Inventor of MJ that they are currently expecting to allow Porting in July on a limited basis.

What post and where?

rawthang wrote:I read a post by Dan the Inventor of MJ that they are currently expecting to allow Porting in July on a limited basis.

Right....they've only been promising that, for what...6--7--8 months???
And what exactly does a "limited basis" mean??

Im tired of waiting for them. I know it is cheap but if I only spend only $1 a year on it is too much because it is useless to me. I have three home phone numbers and everything is on hold until they come out with porting. I have comcast digital voice, teleblend, and magicjack. No phone bank is not an option and I dont want to port my number twice.

You can purchase tomatto seeds but the money spent is a waste until that seed turns into a plant and bares fruit that you can eat.

Phone bank is not an option because it is backed by RNK Communication. I just had terrible experience with the company.
They ABSOLUTELY don't care about small end customer. I just lost my number when Voxby (RNK inc agent) ceased their operation. Supposedly, my number and service was going to be transferred to HalfPrice Telecom that is RNK Inc dba.

I've spent countless number of hours on the phone (waiting on hold with Voxby - never answered, speaking to HalfPrice Telecom, to be told: "you have to contact Voxby with your questions". What the hell, I transferring my number and service to YOUR company from Voxby and you cannot/don't care to help???), sent several emails to their support and "Customer Excellence" department, 2 faxes and NOTHING. As a matter of fact, RNK was already the service provider, it was a matter of signing new billing agreement, that I sent 2 times by fax and got Ok confirmations both times.

My phone just was disconnected and nor Voxby nor HalfPrice Telecom nor anyone in RNK Inc even responded in any way!

So, I will stay away from any venture or agent of RNK Communication forever! If they can threw away customer who spent ~$400 on their phone service, I have nothing else to say...

Port your number to them? What a joke!

I used their service, RNK "Phone Number Bank" for about two months. My only complaint was that incoming calls took about 6 or 7 seconds longer before the first ring , as compared to a call directly to the number being forwarded to. Many callers would just hang up, thinking the call didn't go through.

Voicestick Next to Nothing plan is a great place to port your number to. Only $1 a month, can use ata with no issues and reasonable rates. I like magicjack but even if they do offer porting I'd rather keep Voicestick and have 2 lines. When I ported there was no fee, not sure now.

jeffnyc wrote:Voicestick Next to Nothing plan is a great place to port your number to. Only $1 a month, can use ata with no issues and reasonable rates. I like magicjack but even if they do offer porting I'd rather keep Voicestick and have 2 lines. When I ported there was no fee, not sure now.

Looks interesting! As one that does not use the phone much, the 1.9 cent out, and 1.2 cent in rate looks favorable to me when compared to my $12/month no call ATT landline. And if I use the landline, it is 2 cent/min local, 25 cent/min long.

How good is the quality with this service? reliability? etc.

For me the real issue is the fact that I have been using ATT DSL since 1999. As a result going naked DSL will cost me $4/month more. So that $12/month landine is essentially a $8/month....not much and as I don't phone much proabably alot easier to maintain that anything internet related especially with DirecTV and alarm and faxing, etc. via landline. I will probably save the headaches and just keep the landline for now.

rawthang wrote:http://blog.laptopmag.com/magicjack-inv ... e-and-more

In the comments section of that article, it says that porting should be available on July 4th? It's July 22 now and I haven't heard anything about it...

rawthang wrote:http://blog.laptopmag.com/magicjack-inv ... e-and-more

Dan Borislow Inventor Says:

May 9th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Larry:Porting will be available around July 4th on a limited basis. We are not to eager to jump into porting, as some things are beyond our control and in the control of the Bell company who is supposed to cooperate.They often do not and make us look bad

Unless your good at holding your breath I would advise not doing it for porting anytime soon.

so I guess we wont be seeing this anytime soon then...

I e-mailed Dan and he said they are all set to turn it on, and it will be announced in Q4 2008.

Is there any alternative to the Phone Number Bank? I would transfer my number, but they don't seem to support number in 812 area code.

Try Voicestick Next to Nothing Plan: www.voicestick.com. For $1 per month they will forward all your calls to your Magicjack number. You must first port your number to Voicestick. When Magicjack porting becomes available, you then port from Voicestick to Magicjack and cancel your Voicestick account.

I looked into VoiceStick just yesterday.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but the problem with Voicestick is this: they treat forwarded calls as outgoing calls.
This means on the Next to Nothing plan, all my transferred calls will still cost 2 cents per minute.

Can someone confirm/deny this? I hope I'm wrong ..If so I would switch to it immediately.

murdock wrote:I looked into VoiceStick just yesterday.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but the problem with Voicestick is this: they treat forwarded calls as outgoing calls.
This means on the Next to Nothing plan, all my transferred calls will still cost 2 cents per minute.

Can someone confirm/deny this? I hope I'm wrong ..If so I would switch to it immediately.

I can assure you will get a response direct from the horses mouth. Mosey on over to http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r209785 ... new-switch and ask your question to BruceN.

He is chief cook and bottlewasher at Voicestick.

HTH

Crack

I emailed Voicestick before I opened an account with them. They assured me there were no per-call charges if I used the Next-to-Nothing plan for call forwarding. They also indicated that I did not have to purchase any new equipment.

I just signed up for VoiceStick and had my VoiceStick number forwarded to my current number...made two calls, and no charges at all!! This is absolutely fantastic. So here's my setup: $20 per year for MagicJack and $12 per year for VoiceStick (in order to keep my existing phone number) = $32 per year. Can't wait to get my number ported!

Thanks a bunch for the info guys!!!

I have just succeeded in porting my home number to Voicestick. I have some additional information about per-call charges. There are some charges for each call. Here is a history of my call forwarding via Voicestick:

1. Before I ported my home number to Voicestick, I tried some test calls from my cell phone to the Voicestick assigned number. The calls were forwarded with no charges.

2. After I ported my home number to Voicestick, I tried some test calls from my cell phone to my newly ported number. The calls were forwarded with no charges.

3. After I ported my home number to Voicestick, I have been charged for 2 calls to my ported number. What is worse,
they charged me twice, once for the call to the ported number and once for forwarding the call to my Magicjack number. However the good news is that the charges were minimal, around $.03 per minute total for both the call to Voicestick and forwarding the call to Magicjack.

I just talked to a customer service representative who confirmed that there is a double charge on each incoming call. He also indicated that they only charge you for the total of all calls made to you on the ported number. Thus if you have $.95 worth of calls in a month, your total charge is $.95, not $1.95. The $1.00 per month charge applies only if you have no charges over a one month period.

I do not know why they did not charge me for the cell phone calls. It may be that the calls were short, and they don't charge for short duration calls.

While this situation is worse than anticipated, I believe that Magicjack plans to offer number porting shortly. Until they do there may be some work arounds you can use:

1. If you have tons of calls to your ported number, Voicestick has an unlimited calling plan to the U.S. and Canada for $19.95 per month. While a bit expensive, it might be acceptable for a few months.

2. If there are a few people who call you a lot, give them your Magicjack number and ask them to call you on your Magicjack number.

3. If someone calls you on your ported number and you want to chat for a while, ask if you can call them back. Magicjack offers unlimited free calling to the U.S. and Canada.


I hope this clears up a confusing situation. As I mentioned, I believe Magicjack will allow number porting by the end of the year, at the latest. At that point the whole problem will disappear.

So, now that voicestick is pretty much out of the question, are there any alternative providers? Even ones that may cost a bit more than $1/month would suffice until a porting solution for MJ is conceived...

Rubberchicken wrote:well danny boy told me himself not his lying ass tech support within 45 days number porting will be here also they are getting a lot more prefixes and area codes so just hang in there people its gettin better slowly

Well, then danny boy is a lying sack of shit.
(pardon my french)

I ported my home number to VoiceStick and later realized that there would be about a 3 cent charge per minute for forwarded calls. What I did was stop the forwarding and activate the voicemail feature. My message says that I'm not available right now and to leave a message. I also told callers that they could reach me quicker on my Grandcentral number. So now I might get charged 2 cents for a two minute message. You get an email notification of the message and can listen to it there.

Here a possible temporary option for porting your number in the meantime:
http://www.phoneservicesupport.com/loca ... t8395.html

I was informed by magigjack a while back that Number Porting would be supported 1st week of August. Well, the first week of August has come to an end, but still no porting. Here's the outcome of my Chat session with their support:

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

Please wait for a site operator to respond.

You are now chatting with 'Crissa'

Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK4190123395459X

Crissa: Hello, how may I help you?
Aaron Dhiman: Hi, I'd like to sign up for MagicJack, but I need to port my current number to MajicJack. Is that supported yet?
Crissa: We are working to give you the option to transfer or "port" your existing local phone number to magicJack however Number porting will be available first week of August 2010.
Crissa: We do not have a date yet, but we will post it on our website as soon as it is available.
Aaron Dhiman: OK. The first week of August 2010 is up, which is why I am asking...
Crissa: Yes. Rest assured that we will be releasing information and requirements the soonest time possible. We are working to give you the option to transfer or "port" your existing local phone number to magicJack, for a nominal fee. We will be posting updates to our website so please visit www.magicJack.com from time to time.
Aaron Dhiman: Ok. Thanks.

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

Still can't port to Google Voice either...What's the best option these days?

A good rule of thumb is to not believe anything mj support tells you, especially dates!

And still no porting

It's 6:30p.m. here in DFW. The "First Week in August" has less than six hours to live. I just asked one of the online tech supports about it. She STILL says it will be released TODAY.



Incredible. They are nothing if not consistent.

Now, it's August 8th and still no porting!

Are you surprised? Read these forums and look how many times mj has "promised" something and then not delivered on it.

I have resolved to accept mj for what it is ... cheap and lacking in features! All I need is a phone that rings (which it does) and calls anywhere in US and Canada for no extra charge (which it does) ... anything beyond that is a bonus!

If you need an inexpensive alternative to porting your US or Canadian number, read this post:
http://www.phoneservicesupport.com/loca ... t8395.html

I decided just to go with CallCentric. I am only looking to preserve my cell phone number since I don't need it for a while. CallCentric is an awesome way to do it. I just set it up for pay-per-minute and activate the free voicemail box. I don't really use it to make/receive calls, just for the voicemails. I'll get an alert whenever I get a voicemail. Pretty cool for just $1.95 / month!

Call Centric has some of the best support I have ever come across as well.

We moved to the US and I wanted to keep our Canadian number for friends and family, so I pay $1.95 for the pay-per-minute plan. We only get about 1 call a week (incoming) on the line, so we only pay another $1 or $2 per month at most for those calls. And we use mj for all our outgoing calls.

Because of the lack of support from mj, and the excellent support from Call Centric, I don't think I will ever port my number to mj even if they actually start offering the service.

Number porting will be live August 21, each customer will be e-mailed about it.

They said they had tech issues that made it not work, so they delayed it.

trsgirl2000 wrote:Number porting will be live August 21, each customer will be e-mailed about it.

They said they had tech issues that made it not work, so they delayed it.

Sez who????
Where can this confirmation be found??

I said it before... don't count on anything they say when they say 'coming soon'!

This is a chat I had on Mon 08/16/10.

Please wait for a site operator_2 (Human edit)

Please wait for a site operator to respond.

You are now chatting with 'Katey'

Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK4190124440190X

Katey: Hello, how may I help you?

Katey: Hello Human

human: Is there a way to have a live verbal chat? This is a hard chat view, as I'm legally blind.

Katey: i do apologize we do chat support only

Katey: May I know the exact nature of your problem with full details please?

Human: Just go slow!

Katey: sure

Human: I have a MJ that I've been sitting on for awhile

Katey: is your magic jack plug in now and does the dial pad reads ready to call ?

Human: I am getting redy to move

Katey: Okay can you please try to make a test call so we can checked to any local numbers

Human: Odon't get ahead of me, please, as I am using a screenreader

Katey: Okay sorry

Human: Is there any real answer to the following... I'd rather know that there are more problems than what "Coming Soon" seems to mean. It is the 3rd week of Aug...

Human: Can I transfer or "port" my current land line telephone number to magicJack? Category: All › Phone Numbers Print Article | Email Link Answer NOT YET, BUT COMING SOON! Number porting will be available first week of August 2010

Katey: Yes that feature of number porting is now available but not 100% working and we are still making a random checking dont worry on that rest assure it will be available as soon as possible with in this August 2010 .

Human: With that in mindwill there be a difference in "nominal fee" pricing, and should I wait to hook it up? I have to move by end of 1st week of Sept. I've had this num for 11 years.

Katey: Okay we dont have the exact info about the payment since the number porting in not fully available . .

Human: What does "not fully available " really mean? Can I beta test this?

Katey: we are still having a random checking so we can make sure its 100% available once we add the number porting feature

Human: I live in Salem, OR. Is there a way to check?

Katey: Okay can you please do chat us back once the feature is fully available so we can assist you back to port right away you number to the magic jack device

Human: I just need to be sure that happens before I have to moce.

Human: move

Katey: yes thank you for understanding .

Katey: Is there anything else I may help you with today?

Human: Yesn

Katey: sure

Human: The second part of above "?" Should I hook MJ up, now. I don't want to be charged for a num change, as well. I would like some time to figure it out.

Katey: Yes please hook the magic jack now

Katey: and may i know are you done on the registration process ?

Human: Please answer rest of "?"

Katey: Okay if you want to activate the device now its up to you or do it later once the number porting will be available there is no problem on it ..

Human: What about price in changing nums.

Katey: its cost 4.95 to change number

Human: Do i lose a num change, if I do it that way?

Katey: are you done on registering the device online ?

Human: It sounds like I'll could be charged for num change and whatever "nominal fee" means, if I hook it up now.

Katey: if you are referring to the number porting fee we dont have the exact info since its not yet available

Human: Yeah. I'm refering to $4.95 (num change) + "nominal fee" (num port) within 2 weeks. Instead of just one time num port fee. 1st week of Aug. made a huge dif to me.

Katey: I am transferring you to one of our top 10% agents as rated by our customers. Please hold while I transfer you.

Please wait while I transfer the chat to the best suited site operator.

You are now chatting with 'Melina'

Your Issue ID for this chat is LTK4190124440190X

Melina: Hello Human. My name is Melina. To better assist you, let me put you on hold while I read your previous chat/s. Thank you.

Melina: Thank you for waiting, Human.

Melina: Please let me inform you that number porting is not yet available as of the moment. There's been a delay on this feature and we do apologize for this. Please just check the website from time to time for this feature.

Human: i'm in a call

Human: 1 min

Melina: Okay.

Human: I've already been doing that for months. Please carefully read the above. I know it is not avail, ot i would not be blindly chatting. The last "?" before I was transfered to you has not been answered.

Melina: Do you mean for the NOMINAL FEE once number porting will be available?

Human: nom fee + num change. Doesn't 2nd num cange cost more? I thought we only get one at $4.95!

Melina: Unfortunately we don't have any further details about this matter for we are also still waiting for the update on this.

Human: I am not asking for exact cost.

Human: Please read I've stated it several ways mow.

Melina: I do understand that but we don't have further details on this as of the moment on how you will be charge by this like the one that you have provided above.

Melina: The $4.95 is when you change your magicJack phone number to a new magicJack phone number (not for desired number you want but a different last 4 digits number) for the first time. For the 2nd, 3rd, 4rth etc. will be charge $10.

Melina: But for the NUMBER PORTING from LANDLINE PHONE NUMBER to MAGICJACK, we still don't have any details on this.

Human: It seems if I were to hook it up now, I will get a num, then be changin it in a few weeks to my current num, then lose a possible num change, as well.

Human: Sorry, You got ahead of me there.

Melina: If you didn't register your magicJack yet, please just wait for the number porting to be available and wait for further updates on the website for as soon as this will be available, they will post it there. I really do apologize for this delay Human.

Human: Thanks I think you got most of it. Is there any way to get a e-mail notification of this. I've been checking daily for over 2 weeks now. At least weekly, since May 27th, when 1st week of Aug. was posted. I feel for whoever is having to do all the red tape work on this one. I never thought I'd have to know so much about all the hurdles a VOIP company had to go through for num porting.

Melina: Unfortunately, it's not possible for us to send an e-mail notification for this for this option is not yet available in the system. Even us here are still waiting for the updates on this upcoming feature.

Human: Blindly moving for the 1st time in 11 years is scary enough. I really need to keep my num. I have to move by Sep. 7. It seems most num ports elsewhere can take up to several weeks.

Melina: I do understand that Human but there's been a delay for this feature and I really do apologize for this.

Human: It's not you all's fault, most likely. FCC most likely slow down.

Human: Thanks. I wish there was voice support for the blind!

Melina: You're welcome.

Melina: Your suggestion will be noted here.

Human: Is there any way I can hook it up to learn the interface in the mean time. In other words screenreader friendliness, and maybe even report back?

Melina: Yes you can plug it but you must not register it if you don't want to be charge for any cost for number porting is not yet available. You can check the dial pad but you must not click on CLICK TO REGISTER.

Human: OK! So no annoying pop-ups, nor nags to worry about. They hurt the ears with screenreaders?

Melina: You should disable the pop-up blocker.

Human: No "?"

Human: In MJ?

Melina: By the way, once you plug the device you will see the dial pad but you don't need to register it if you don't want to and wait for the number porting.

Melina: The pop-up blocker of your browser.

Human: Oh, that's taken care of. So, Anti-Spy/Virus won't pop? Why the browser PUB? Is interface Html, Java, Adobe, or some such?

Melina: I will depend Human on the application that you will going to open.

Human: MJ is what I mean. Is it tied to the browser?

Melina: Yes Human.

Human: JAVA is a bit of a mess with the NVDA screenreader I use.

Melina: I know that but Java is necessary for some applications.

Human: Yeah, only if they are written in JAVA are they mandatory.

Melina: Yes they Human for most applications really use JAVA.

Human: Is the MJ dialer JAVA based?

Melina: Yes.

Human: Dag nabbit! I'll try to get the NVDA devs on it, as I already know there are issues with JAVA apps. and this screenreader.

Melina: I see.

Melina: Is there anything else I may help you with today?

Human: I don't, so well! (giggle)

Melina: Will this be all for now Human? ^_^

Human: well that gives me somewhere to start. I had thought from screenshots that may have beem the answer, but wasn't sure.

Human: You have been quite kind! Have a beautiful day.

Melina: Likewise.

Melina: Take care.

Melina: Thank you for stopping by to chat, I hope I did a good job at addressing your concerns. Please take a second to answer a one question survey about the service I provided. Please click the "close" button on the top right of this screen and the survey will appear. Thanks again!

Chat session has been terminated by the site operator.

I got bored of reading the above post because its the same thing whenever you contact support ... "Yes, its available, but not 100% avaiable, but its not available yet."

If you hook your mj up before you move and before you port your number to them (if you ever can) you most likely be charged some kind of extra fee.

Note that number porting can take up to 30 days so if you are moving on Sept 1, you better start porting your number TODAY or may lose it.

I recommend Call Centric:
http://www.callcentric.com/?aid=112532

They are an inexpensive alternative for porting your US or Canadian number, read this post:
http://www.phoneservicesupport.com/loca ... t8395.html

Again, if you are moving on Sept 1 you better start the porting process TODAY or may lose your number.

www.voipvoip.com is a great way to park a phone, You get free everything for parking. Even VM so, you can check your voice mail, even set up a message saying that you will be retrieving VM daily. Cost... $7 a month.. Free porting.. Your only obligation is that if you make calls, you pay 1.9c a minute for them.. Hey, if you're just parking there.. No mus , no fuss..Lot better than Parking garage, they charge out the ying yang.. It may take awhile to get ported, but, look how long you've been waiting for MJ to start porting..You don't even have to have an ata on this service, they give you the sip creds and you set up on ata, or soft phone, or nothing at all, just wait for the emails of messages.. .. How cool is that??

I've decided to just give up my old number since porting seems like "vapor"
. doesn't make a really big diff. to me, since I don't get very many calls except from telemarketers, so in a way, the house is so peaceful now that I don't get those annoying calls from people trying to sell me shit. at least I was able to buy a "local" area code number. I kinda like my new private number., hope I can keep it this way for awhile. everything is working ok, hooked up to either the base station or my logitech clearchat headset.

Ladies and Gents,
I am brand New and with that i will like to share the good news that you can now PORT your number to Google voice. This will be the perfect fix for MJ countless lies.
Happy Porting folks

The Pope wrote:Ladies and Gents,
I am brand New and with that i will like to share the good news that you can now PORT your number to Google voice. This will be the perfect fix for MJ countless lies.
Happy Porting folks

As reported here:

http://www.phoneservicesupport.com/magi ... html#68201

and confirmed on the googlevoice porting link, you can only port mobile numbers.

You can now port your number to magicJack, but their FAQ page hasn't been updated yet. View this thread...

http://www.phoneservicesupport.com/magi ... html#70530

I gave porting my home phone # a try. They said the port should be complete within 10 days. Wish me luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cost me $20, took 3 days, works like a charm. No complaints. However, I don't know if there is a recurring charge.

hcdusty wrote:Cost me $20, took 3 days, works like a charm. No complaints. However, I don't know if there is a recurring charge.

It's not a recurring charge, but I'm not sure you should be putting ideas in their head.