Inbound CID ...Possible fix.

[gunrunnerjohn]

I don't see how to fix caller ID with this package. I have a phone that displays caller ID just fine on a normal phone line, but doesn't on the MagicJack. I installed the trial of this package, and it still doesn't display any incoming caller ID.

If it doesn't fix that, it's not worth the money to me.

I assume you tried a different phone?
Also check out the forum on the web page I mentioned as you can contact them and they may be able to help.
Or send RedPepper a PM and maybe he can make a suggestion.

Joe Sica

I actually haven't tried a different phone, and I'm not sure why I'd have to. Either caller ID works or it doesn't. Since it works fine on this particular phone on both the ViaTalk VoIP adapter and a Verizon line, I have to believe there's nothing wrong with the phone. I don't happen to have another one to try...

[redpepper]

The caller id is sent as a modem tone like transmission to your phone between the 1st and 2nd ring.

In regards to caller id, the Magicfeatures plugin removes the audible ringing sent down the phone line at the same time the caller id is being transmitted. This is the underlying bug in the magicJack dialer that inhibits even very basic caller id transmission for the majority users with caller id problems.

For reference, Magicfeatures also provides the following additional capabilities:

Caller ID with Name (Incl. Google Phonebook Reverse Number Lookup)
Call Waiting Caller ID
Talking Caller ID

If you have Magicfeatures installed and your caller id still does not display, the USB port you are using is underpowered and there is inadequate power available to drive your phone line AND/OR inadequate power to drive the caller id display electronics (if you are using a phone that does not have its own power supply and relies solely on power from the phone line to function).

You can try plugging the magicJack USB dongle directly into a USB port on the back on your computer (without an extender cable or hub) to see if that port provides the needed power. If that does not sort out the issue, you will need to use an externally powered USB hub (the kind that have their own power supply) with your magicJack USB dongle.

This externally powered USB hub model has been successfully used by a number of other magicJack users with similar problems:

https://www.justpal.com/store/product.p ... ctid=16262

[V-Man]

Just wanted to add my Thank You's to snafu2 for coming up with the 100k ohm resistor Caller ID display fix. I suspected inner wiring capacitance was the issue but due to lack of experiment time (read laziness), I just went out and bought a cordless base that supports multiple phones. I tried your fix just now and TA-DA! Now my whole house is supported INCLUDING the DirecTV receiver's Caller ID display. The magicJack Tech Support (I use the term "support" extremely loosely) told me specifically that it would never, quote "NEVER" work on my satellite receiver. I'm tempted to go rub it in their faces but my jabs would fall on deaf ears, I'm sure. I mean, they MUST be deaf, right? Snafu2 came up with this fix over two years ago and they're still telling their customers the same old incorrect BS?

At any rate, Snafu2, You are Truly Da MAN!

Gonna go download the PCPhoneSoft software now. Hope my luck holds.

Later MJ fans.

[Tapori]

Does anyone knows if any of these fix work with Intel MAC / Apple computers?

[Tapori]

Thanks for the info... atleast it's the only best solution out there for Mac users like us

I have a Mac running Parallels 5.0. Caller ID to handsets works using windows (via Parallels) but not OSX on a Mac. The softphones display caller ID on both OSes, but only to handsets via Windows! Very frustrating!

[bmwmick]

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.

Chalk up another success for the 100K resistor. I have MJ wired into my house, line 1 is Telco and line 2 is MJ (Telco is disconnected from line 2 at the service entrance). Caller ID was working until the latest 'improvement' that "Lucky You" sent me.
My Panasonic KX-TG9392T phones all work great now.

Thanks!

Mick

[BigPappa]

I have been just told by MJ support that all I will ever see is the phone number and not the name of the person calling?

[redpepper]

The basic magicJack offering does not have caller id name support or call waiting caller id.

You can get both the latter features if you upgrade your magicJack with the Magicfeatures Plugin.

If the caller name cannot be found in your Contacts list, Speed Dial list or in the online Google Phonebook, the city/state of the person calling is displayed.

[themerph]

There is an upgrade if you own a pentium mac. I just did the upgrade, rebooted, and now have caller id on my cordless handsets.

[revolutiondj]

I have Magicfeatures and installed the resistor a while back. Recently my caller ID quit working. Do you likely think I need to get a powered usb hub, or maybe replace the resistor? I had a DirecTV receiver plugged in and have removed that. I also have tried different USB ports on the back of the pc.

[bitstopjoe]

Glad to hear all is working again. Good job trouble shooting.. Damn resistors I guess it was "resisting" to work

Joe Sica

[revolutiondj]

Yeah you got that right. Never would have thought it would go bad. Maybe it was a loose connection.

But yes everything works great. Caller ID on phones and DirecTV boxes too.

Thanks,
Mike

[bitstopjoe]

Or a cold solder joint. That can and does cause ALL kinds of weird stuff!!



Joe Sica

[JP3026]

I bought a Magic Jack in June 2010. I was not able to get the Caller ID to work. I have both wireless and regular phones in my home. Even when I hooked up just one phone to the Magic Jack, I could not get a CID. I added a powered USB hub and still no success. After reading about an idea I found in this forum, I was able to correct my problem. I went and bought a 100K ohm resister from Radio Shack. I cut a regular phone cord with the RJ11 plug on one end and stripped the wires. There were two wires a red and green one. I soldered the two wires onto the 100K ohm resister. Then, I plugged a duplex jack into the Magic Jack. In one port, I plugged in the RJ11 phone cord with the 100K ohm resister I rigged up. In the other port, I plugged in a phone cable with the RJ11 connectors into my wall jack. This wall jack went into the wiring in my house. The first time a call came into the Majic Jack, the Caller ID worked. Many thanks to the gentlemen who figured this out and posted in this forum. It really works! All of the phones connected to my house wiring both regular and wireless work!

[red8316]

Just wanted to let you all know this worked for me. Thanks for the information. Here is a pic of my mod job.

[RC90]

I am a Newb here, first post and I am glad I found you guys... Wife's about to HighJack the marital benefits on me LOL

There is no way I can read all the pages but I did try reading the first 10 and none of the problems with CID are similar to mine.

I bought my MJ about a year and a half ago, installed perfectly. A friend showed me what to do to use it as a regular land line so I bought an AT&T 6 phone setup.

Caller ID on the phone used to work (no name but number only) and I was happy with it. I had it plugged into an old Compaq Evo N800C lappy with Windows XP Pro w/SP3.

On July 6th (about a week ago), the HDD on my lappy died so I brought the Office Laptop (IBM T42 Win XP Pro w/SP3) meanwhile I fix the Compaq. All of a sudden the CID stopped working but my son told me it was because the Date/Time was wrong on the Office Laptop, he fixed it and everything went back to normal.

A day later, the CID does not work, it only shows "Incoming Call" and that is it... the softphone on the laptop does show the Phone Number of the caller.

I have tried unplugging and plugging the MJ on another USB port, I have tried, upgrading multiple times, I have even tried changing the phone cord.

I have yet to try the 100K resistor because I suck at handy man stuff and because I still believe my problem doesn't have anything to do with the resistor seeing as to it was working fine up to last week but it has been working for more than a year now.

Do any of you MJ gurus care to take a stab at this? I will try the Resistor bypass thing but I still will like to know if there is a logical explanation to my problem.

Thanks

[Nobody beats the Whiz!]

Different computers have different USB specifications.

Longer phone cords will affect the CID, too.

Try the resistor trick. I've used it for a while now, and it's great.

[minionsweb]

Great fix, 100k ohm resistor did the trick.
BTW, you do not need to make anything ultra fancy or klugy to do this.

I rewired the whole phone system here in anticipation of adding MJs, and removed the land line connection coming into the wiring junction.

If you know where the connections are (typically in basement ceiling or closet wall) just connect the resister between the red and green screw terminals or punch it down on the wiring block.

Should take 90 seconds and a flat edge screw driver for either solution.

I actually have 2 #66 blocks here and added one on each (one acts as a node for the second line (also MJ for our fax)
screw terminal image:

block image:


FYI, the MJs are easily 10' away from the blocks, and the phones wired as are as far as 70' from that point.

[minionsweb]

Oh BTW, 5 pack of resistors at ratshack is 99 cents

[jim ron!]

got a MJ last month.. 100k fix works

I'm using a V-Tech Model#: T2326-01 and for the fix i got a phone line coupler..
cost one dollar at the dollar store.. but I paid about $1.50 at the convenience store across the street

[acabral]

So I attempted the fix suggested in this post for the 100k ohm resistor but I'm getting back weird results. Out of numerous inbound call attempts once in a while the caller ID will work but most of the time the phone will just ring once and then hang up the call on inbound but always work on outbound. What I did was obtain a short phone cable and cut it in half. Then I twisted together the green wire from both ends and twisted it onto one side of the resistor. I then performed the same steps for the red wire. I then ran a regular phone line from the magic jack device to the two port modular jack device which plugs into the wall jack. Finally I plugged the cable that I created into the other available jack and this is the behavior that I continue to experience explained above. It seems that I am almost there but somethings just not right..Any ideas or suggestions? Thnx

[acabral]

For my setup it appears that a second resistor was needed. After twisting on the second resistor to the first resistor all incoming calls and caller ID started working as expected..Thnx

[ThatGuy]

100K Resistor spliced into the line fixed my caller ID problems for my single phone setup (USB -> MJ -> phone).



Crappy cell phone pic and crappy soldering job (I was skeptical that it would work so I didn't spend much time). It's all heat-shrinked up now to avoid shorts and the CID has shown up for all incoming calls since I put this cable on it.

Thanks for the idea, OP!

[ppuskari]

Just interfaced a MJ to a Nortel BCM200 PBX switch - Callerid was functional at 14.9K, without an EMI filter in line. Callerid was functional at 17.6K without an EMI filter in line, but marginal with it inline. Both resistances caused disconnect supervision to fail.

I am now using 21.5K with an EMI filter in line, and now both CallerID and Disconnect Supervision(MJ hangs up when extension hangs up) work properly now.

Anything below 14.9K cause the system to not even register an incoming call on the CO port.

This probably also explains why my ADIT 600 Channel bank with FXO wasn't passing callerid with the MJ either. Will have to go back now and try that.

Interestingly enough the MJ seemed to work perfectly with a cheapo ASTERISK TigerJet FXO card... Maybe since they were both made by the same company the same electrical design mistakes were made??

Thanks for the idea. Things work perfectly now, and even the audio is appreciably better.

[PghPittViper]

Hi,

My softphone will display cid, but handset wont. I tried the resistor mod. Still doesn't work.

What are other things I can try to get cid to work? All help appreciated.

[bitstopjoe]

Hi,

My softphone will display cid, but handset wont. I tried the resistor mod. Still doesn't work.

What are other things I can try to get cid to work? All help appreciated.

Have you tried another phone? Some Panasonic phones have a hard time with CID and MJ. So I assume others might too.

[jwcastle]

It seems that MagicJack's caller ID works better on some phones than others. I've tried several different brands/models and most of the Unidens, Vtechs, Motorolas will not work with Magicjack's caller ID. Panasonic, on the other hand, works fine in any situation. Desktop computers tend to work better than laptops in some cases. Netbooks seem to give the most problems when it comes to caller ID.
Using a 100k ohm resistor does fix the problem. If you're not handy with a soldering iron or have the necessary tools to make the fix yourself, I can make one for you.
See my site: http://www.magicjackcalleridfix.com

If you are making it yourself, the resistor you need is 100K ohms (any wattage will work). The resistor color code is: Brown, Black, Yellow. (4th color will be gold or silver or no color at all, and it doesn't really matter). The type of resistor you need is the cylinder type which looks like the picture below. Do not get the Surface-mount type. They'll still work, but they are much too difficult to work with.
Typical 100k Ohm resistor:

[jpistolas]

I've been using magicjack for a few months now. Had the same CID problem many have and the 100k resister did the trick. Until this weekend. Now neither of the two phones will display CID. I was able to get the phone that's closest to the mj dongle to work (corded uniden phone) but the cordless uniden phone will not work even with the 100k resister dongle connected directly to it. Has something changed I'm not aware of? A recent update or something?

My original setup was pc-mj dongle-100k resister dongle-phone splitter to desk phone and wall jack. Again, that setup worked until this weekend. Any ideas?

[aspentech]

I have a Nortel MICS key system, some call it a PBX. My voicemail auto attendant answers calls fine and routes them to the appropriate ext or mailbox, but when the caller hangs up, it does not disconnect.

I have tried to change the line settings, but the system still holds on to the call and leaves a message in the general mailbox as a default but the message is just fast-busy tones.

No disconnect supervision happens. Any ideas?

[BILLY_KIDD]

[quote="redpepper"][b]The downloadable Magicfeatures software plugin for magicJack provides a proper permanent fix to the real underlying magicJack bug that causes the caller id display problem.

It also provides caller id with name support as well as call waiting caller id support. Talking caller id is also available.[/b][/quote]

I have magicfeatures, and it did not help the caller-id problem. I just attached a 100K ohm resistor and callerid is working along with magicfeatures.

[dleitch177]

Been following the discussions on this thread and haven't seen this problem:

Have a MJ+ (no PC involved) wired into the whole house system. Caller ID works on incoming calls to all phones BUT there are no "names" appearing on the incoming calls, only the phone number repeated twice on the phone displays.

Before switching to the MJ+, Time Warner and ATT used to display incoming names on the phones, so I know the phones work properly. Numerous "chats" with MJ support reps for the past 3 weeks and they have no idea what's going on but turned it over to their technicians.

Anyone else missing the names on incoming calls? Any solutions found yet?

Dave in Columbus, OH

[bitstopjoe]

Yes MJ caller ID does not display names.. This has been discussed here.
Of course you could purchase MagicFeatures which would give you Caller ID name PLUS a whole lot more, however you have to have your MJ Plus plugged into your USB port for it to work. http://www.pcphonesoft.com/

[fightripoffs]

hey too bad that cant fix dropped calls too !

[TechGuru]

So if it's the audio ringing on the line causing the problem where is the ring audio file located? One should just be able to over write it with a blank no sound audio file.


But anyway, The 100K resistor worked for me, MJ plugged directly into a server running Win2K8 R2, and yes I have it running as a service (it's awesome).

My MJ is pretty old, I got it back when they first came out.

[BILLY_KIDD]

Techguru, how did you get your mj running as a Service?

[TechGuru]

Techguru, how did you get your mj running as a Service?

I followed these instructions:

http://magicjackhacks.blogspot.com/2008 ... rvice.html

[LessImpressed]

Wattage shouldn't matter. Since the range of resistance was 20k to 1m, the 100k is probably not critical enough to spend extra for the +/- 1% vs 10%. You can also buy shrink-tubing that will cover the soldered (don't just twist) connections and the body of the resistor.
The resistor dampens voltage transients on the phone lines.
Price would be my criterion on the resistor. Buy the cheapest combination that gives you 100,000 ohms, the largest wattage and accuracy numbers.
The +/- % meand that if you buy a 100k at 1% ir will be somewhere between 99k and 101k. A 10% is between 90k and 110k. From the sizing experiments above, the 10% should be fine.
I watched a design engineer once building a prototype printed circuit board. Every resistor, capacitor and inductor was adjustable. He tweaked them till the circuit worked, glued them in place, removed and measured them and then wrote the value on his circuit diagram. These cards were for IBM mainframes.
I also received three "engineering changes" for reliability in a "critical circuit".
The original resistor was 1 megohm. The first replacement was 500k. The second was 100k. The one that fixed the problem was 15k.
It was interesting to me that all four resistors were +/- 1% (the most expensive kind). The 15k resistor was 0.00000225% of the original.

[DrSteve]

yes, it works. Just tried it last night using a female/female coupler with 100k between red/green. Caller ID restored (on power source MJ (not usb driven))

Why majicjack does not add this to their devices is not understood, since this has been a problem for a long time.