Frost & Sullivan Consumer Survey Report on MagicJack

[SteveHC]

See link below for Frost & Sullivan's survey outcome:

http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/01/14/ ... frost.html

(As usual, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"

[cell14]

This absolute, nonsensical junk is a perfect example of corporate manipulation. Lies, damned lies and surveys.

[SteveHC]

This absolute, nonsensical junk is a perfect example of corporate manipulation. Lies, damned lies and surveys.

- LOL. They ALL do it. But I honestly *do* suspect that the majority of MJ customers are actually satisfied with the service and its cost. A lot of it seems to have to do with where the MJ customer is physically located, which MJ server they connect to, and what type of telco they tend to place most of their calls to.

And I see that more and more low-end VOIP service providers are now doing the same thing that MJ is doing regarding calls made to numbers serviced by smaller, relatively rural-area companies that charge higher termination fees (either not making the connection, or charging an additional - usually per-minute - fee for putting the call through). Personally, I wish that MJ would deal with the problem by simply increasing its annual fee by $5 or $10 per year, at least for its customers that have numbers within the affected exchanges (who are most likely to make the majority of calls within and to those exchanges) and be done with it.

And it seems to me that most of the call routing problems that used to exist between MJ and other companies (due to out-of-date NANP databases and incorrect phone network "switch" settings) seem to have finally been resolved... CenturyLink used to be a REAL PIA in this regard but it looks to me like they've finally gotten it right, at least in most areas of the country.

[cell14]

But I honestly *do* suspect that the majority of MJ customers are actually satisfied with the service and its cost..

I frankly doubt that, although you may be correct in the sense that existing MJ who CURRENTLY EXTEND their contracts are more or less satisfied with the service. IMO in most cases it's the lack of knowledge of the VOIP market. I am not aware of one case where somebody who bothered to try Obi with Google voice would give MJ a second thought,plus there are other alternatives.

And I see that more and more low-end VOIP service providers are now doing the same thing that MJ is doing regarding calls made to numbers serviced by smaller, relatively rural-area companies that charge higher termination fees (either not making the connection, or charging an additional - usually per-minuet - fee for putting the call through). Personally, I wish that MJ would deal with the problem by simply increasing its annual fee by $5 or $10 per year, at least for its customers that have numbers within the affected exchanges (who are most likely to make the majority of calls within and to those exchanges) and be done with it.

Some providers indeed do , although I personally did not encounter problems yet. The problem with MJ is the way they have been dealing with the issue, sneaky, crooked and consumer unfriendly- and that is the trade mark of the company.

And it seems to me that most of the call routing problems that used to exist between MJ and other companies (due to out-of-date NANP databases and incorrect phone network "switch" settings) seem to have finally been resolved...

Maybe so ,but from my experience communicating with somebody( with clean no problem broadband service) who still uses MJ ( ) I can tell that some call quality and consistency issues remain and honestly, I at this point of time would not switch back to MJ even if the service was for free.

[SteveHC]

I am not aware of one case where somebody who bothered to try Obi with Google voice would give MJ a second thought...

- *I* am. In fact, if you do a broad search online you'll find that each and every lower-end VOIP provider has its share of detractors and dissatisfied customers - even OOMA and the Obi/Google Voice combo. Unless one is willing to shell out the bucks for the best, commercial-grade VOIP service providers (in which case there'd be no monetary savings over traditional POTS to residential customers), there is simply no single VOIP service provider that works equally well for everybody everywhere. This is fact not opinion and is due to the tremendous variability in not only VOIP service providers' network and equipment designs but also in the variability inherent in modem and router hardware/firmware as well as ISP network designs. So it all depends on the specifics of a consumer's particular installation and location.

Even when I tried out OOMA - the highest rated by consumers overall - I found that the beginning of each incoming and outgoing call tended to produce "slurred" audio, followed by clear audio, followed by slurred audio, etc., regardless of whether I connected it directly to my router or cable modem and regardless of the OOMA Telo's internal settings etc. After trying out a number of different VOIP providers at my house, I found MJ to sound the best. I'm not saying that I agree or even like everything about the way the company functions - far from it - but for me with my particular installation at my particular location, MJ has been the best overall; its iOS app seems to be particularly top-notch (but that probably has a lot to do with the quality of Apple's hardware and its iOS as well as the MJ app).

When it comes to selecting a cheap VOIP service, it really is a matter of trial and error. Thankfully most if not all of them offer at least some sort of free or money-back trial offer.

[cell14]

In fact, if you do a broad search online you'll find that each and every lower-end VOIP provider has its share of detractors and dissatisfied customers - even OOMA and the Obi/Google Voice combo. Unless one is willing to shell out the bucks for the best, commercial-grade VOIP service providers (in which case there'd be no monetary savings over traditional POTS to residential customers), there is simply no single VOIP service provider that works equally well for everybody everywhere.

every service has it's dissatisfied customers, incl. the big and pricey telcos ( not even mentioned the cellular providers). I was surprised how well GV worked in a rural overseas location with less than perfect broadband where MJ completely gave up.The most problems and objections people- including myself- have with GV is the unreliability of the features rather than problems with basic domestic calling. And while it does not sound 100% AAA, the call consistency is amazing in locations I tested. That is the difference to MJ( and others) where it has always been a lottery.
I agree with the notion that there is no one VOIP service working for everybody everywhere. But you can do your research and i did not have to drop any of my top picks. GV works for me, I love Localphone better than ever and Callcentric performs well for me. In spite of some substantial hick ups in Oct/Nov 2012.
There are some providers where you have to put down 25-50$ to start up so you better do your homework.

[radzkillah]

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