How do I make my magicjack stop SUCKING?

seattlecard · Post by **seattlecard** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 3:44 am

I regret this purchase. I have tried to use this thing since this summer after Sunrocket went belly up.

My wife is about to throw the computer/phone/magicjack out the window.

List of issues:
- Biggest complaint is POOR call quality. The majority of the time I spend on calls is trying to hear people through the constant ECHO effect. The people I call echo, and they tell me that they have a hard time hearing me.

- Magicjack magically decides just to stop taking calls, requiring attention on the computer. I can't have confidence that this thing is going to work.

- I am unable to PLACE calls to my magicjack line, the operator comes on line and tells me I cannot complete the call as dialed. This is only when calling from my work phone, but I am sure others are affected.

It's a constant battle with this thing. I finally log onto the internet tonight to search for help, only to find that the company DELETED THEIR HELPFUL FORUMS. So, here I am. Where do I start? Is there a troubleshooting guide somewhere? Are there tweaks that can be made to USB settings? Anything? For the record I am using Vista. Help! I am beginning to feel I just got owned, like sunrocket did to me.

crackerjack · Post by **crackerjack** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 10:28 am

In most cases where call quality is an issue, it points to inconsistencies with your ISP.

Try the following VOIP quality analysis sites/utils and pay close attention to the results.

http://download.visualware.com/pub/mysp ... peedpc.exe run over a period of time in 'managed mode' and choose a test location nearest to you

www.testmyvoip.com

I think you will find the root cause of your call quality issues. Good luck in getting your ISP to have a clue what you are talking about when you complain about 'jitter' packet loss and QOS.

Just for yucks, here is a summary of my results using Cox HSI in No. VA. Nominally 6MB/2MB

D/L SPEE U/L SPEED QOS Max Pause Jitter Packet Loss
2210240 1491976 22 432 35.6 0.1
2475056 1403584 34 429 20.5 0
2698968 1293568 71 204 675.6 0
917760 1180384 37 486 65.1 0.1
620656 724448 13 796 270 0
354112 367400 40 998 116.4 0.2
490432 962104 3 1592 156.1 1.2
431344 881984 8 1870 351 1.2
3378360 1623736 40 347 21.6 0.1
2912792 954128 42 244 13.2 0.1
1495872 933256 46 343 68 0.1
3162288 1608288 35 465 17.8 0
3570056 2387624 48 453 12.1 0.1
5511056 2095248 88 74 4.4 0.1
3469200 2245536 59 151 8.3 0.1
4409432 2138088 79 149 11.2 0.1
4708736 2292936 77 178 6.2 0
3337136 1755000 66 389 21.7 0
4710800 2401440 82 92 5.5 0.5

You can imagine my call quality suffered during this period

seattlecard · Post by **seattlecard** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 12:59 pm

Interesting. I am using Verizon FiOS service that is 15mb DL and 2mb UL, quite fast, and I've never had any problems with it. I wouldn't imagine that is the source of my quality issues, but I'll run your tools anyway to check it out. THanks for the reply.

crackerjack · Post by **crackerjack** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 4:42 pm

The important components that dictate the suitability of your net connection are a bit more nuanced than raw bandwidth. I think you will find some element that these tools evaluate will be out of kilter. Typically, FIOS is more stable than DSL or Cable connections.

Please PM me with some of your results, I am a soon to be FIOS customer

Later

CrackerJack
"I gots mo' numbers than a lotto machine"

kumar · Post by **kumar** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 6:30 pm

When i had fios Sunrocket worked fine. BUT...near when Sunrocket left me (perfect timing sunrocket i was just about to pay another $200) it stopped working. I think Verizon blocks ports or something not sure....but its not the ActionCRAP router. I now have comcast and use that fios router and magicjack works fine. Thats just my 2 cents!
Peace

crackerjack · Post by **crackerjack** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 6:38 pm

kumar wrote: Thats just my 2 cents!
Peace

And well worth it. Thanks for your contribution to the discussion

tnerd · Post by **tnerd** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 7:33 pm

I will give you $9.00 for it.

kumar · Post by **kumar** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 8:18 pm

tnerd wrote:I will give you $9.00 for it.

$20 for jacks tomarrow!! Get em while there hot. (And tell me if you get them because i am in debt and need people to sign up so they count as reffereals)

Peace

Stewart · Post by **Stewart** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 9:43 pm

seattlecard wrote: Biggest complaint is POOR call quality. The majority of the time I spend on calls is trying to hear people through the constant ECHO effect. The people I call echo

IMO, YMAX server-side echo suppression is excellent. Test the MJ service with your SR ATA. If you still hear echo, i would guess that the problem is related to a specific route. Make a few toll-free calls and calls to local businesses; see if you hear echo. If not, try to determine if a specific carrier or location is common to the problematic calls.

seattlecard wrote:and they tell me that they have a hard time hearing me.

Be more specific. Volume? Distortion? Noise? Echo? Choppiness? Does problem persist when you use your SR hardware?

seattlecard wrote:Magicjack magically decides just to stop taking calls, requiring attention on the computer.

When someone tries to call, do they get voicemail immediately, after a long delay, or not at all? If the latter, what do they hear? Do call attempts result in any display on your computer? Problem present when using ATA?

seattlecard wrote:I am unable to PLACE calls to my magicjack line, the operator comes on line and tells me I cannot complete the call as dialed. This is only when calling from my work phone, but I am sure others are affected.

Call the carrier that serves your company and explain the problem. This is likely a routing problem on their end.

seattlecard · Post by **seattlecard** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 4:06 pm

Stewart wrote:
seattlecard wrote: Biggest complaint is POOR call quality. The majority of the time I spend on calls is trying to hear people through the constant ECHO effect. The people I call echo
IMO, YMAX server-side echo suppression is excellent. Test the MJ service with your SR ATA. If you still hear echo, i would guess that the problem is related to a specific route. Make a few toll-free calls and calls to local businesses; see if you hear echo. If not, try to determine if a specific carrier or location is common to the problematic calls.

I'd love to test my MJ service with my SR ATA. Are there instructions somewhere on how to do that? Is that part of my SIP login creds?

In lieu of that, are there any settings I can tweak in my router that might help out the call quality? That is my main issue right now with MJ, echos during calls. Considering I have FiOS I am trying to debug this...

I do appreciate the responses.

goonierag · Post by **goonierag** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:41 pm

kamar still got magicjacks for sell.

Stewart · Post by **Stewart** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 9:55 pm

seattlecard wrote:I'd love to test my MJ service with my SR ATA. Are there instructions somewhere on how to do that? Is that part of my SIP login creds?

What model ATA do you have (AC-211, Innomedia, Linksys, etc.)? Is it presently unlocked?

rocknnmike · Post by **rocknnmike** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:55 pm

I know exactly what your dealing with and stumbled across a fix with my ATT DSL VOIP. The ATT DSL wireless garteway came with dsl inline phone filters. This removed 90% of the crosstalk, echo etc. It wasn't a perfect fix but it did make it usable. Here are a couple of links that may help:

http://tngdirect.com/catalog/product_in ... s_id=20486

&

http://forum.doityourself.com/showthread.php?t=267495

Good Luck with this & I hope this will solve your problem

Regards,
MH

saxman · Post by **saxman** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:27 pm

Seattlle-if you live in or near Seattle call Frys Electronics and get the Hawking HBB1 Broadband Booster-it plugs right in between your router and pc and it works great-It will remove all the crap your talking about and Frys gives you 30 days to try it out. It will solve the problem!

http://www.hawkingtech.com/products/pro ... ProdID=216

str8shooter · Post by **str8shooter** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:35 pm

My ecoh was completely fixed by turning the volume down on the headset, even though I was using the phone.

tec32211 · Post by **tec32211** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 5:28 pm

Hi can anyone tell me about my Info here I got when I went to test my voip...

Media Quality
MOS
4.0 / 5.0
(Best with G.711 is 4.4)

Degradation Sources
Codec 0.57 55.7%
Latency 0.00 0.0%
Packet Discards 0.46 44.3%
Packet Loss 0.00 0.0%
Codec G.711 (PCM at 64kbps,
20ms RTP payload,
80kbps IP BW)
Round-Trip
Latency 127 ms
Packet Discards 1.3%
Packet Loss 0.0%
Loss Periods
Min: 20 ms
Avg: 20 ms
Max: 20 ms
Random Loss
Jitter
Min: 0 ms
Avg: 2 ms
Max: 22 ms
Signaling Quality
Post-Dial Delay 80 ms
Call Setup Time 87 ms
Media Delay 192 ms

MOS Analysis FROM Boston To You
MOS analysis chart
Media Quality
MOS
4.4 / 5.0
(Best with G.711 is 4.4)

Degradation Sources
Codec 0.57 96.8%
Latency 0.00 0.0%
Packet Discards 0.00 0.0%
Packet Loss 0.02 3.2%
Codec G.711 (PCM at 64kbps,
20ms RTP payload,
80kbps IP BW)
Round-Trip
Latency 127 ms
Packet Discards 0.0%
Packet Loss 0.1%
Loss Periods
Min: 20 ms
Avg: 20 ms
Max: 20 ms
Random Loss
Jitter
Min: 0 ms
Avg: 1 ms
Max: 18 ms
Signaling Quality
Post-Pickup Delay 85 ms
Call Setup Time 90 ms
Media Delay 117 ms

nakedmvistar · Post by **nakedmvistar** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 5:57 pm

So I need a Broadband booster and/or a DSL filter and/or a 'super-speed' FIOS internet access line all to get a $40 dollar device to work correctly?

....And after all that it still doesn't work half the time....error 3, error 471, etc...

I had this thing since october, 07 and it's always hit or miss.

That $20 land line is starting to look good again, lol!

saxman · Post by **saxman** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 6:01 pm

Sorry to hear that. I have the broadband booster and mine works great 100% of the time. go figure

nectar · Post by **nectar** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 12:58 am

Hello using WinXP SP2, behind router, and using zone alarms firewall BUT given software full permissions.. .. I can dial out and or get calls, so its working... when I try to call someone they only hear ever other word and same with my end of the chat... BUT if I call my voice mail there is NO PROBLEM comes across fine...
2nd problem..
when I try to install on my laptop that is wireless on my network .. it does not work at all.. tells me not connected to internet.. hmmm
Tech support in "life chat" was lost, did everything they said.. no fix.. I am waiting for the Higher up Tech guys to contact me.. hmmm ANY HELP?
Thanks

Topaz444 · Post by **Topaz444** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 10:14 pm

str8shooter wrote:My ecoh was completely fixed by turning the volume down on the headset, even though I was using the phone.

Str8shooter, glad that worked for you. Always a good idea to try the simplest suggestions first; here's another one:
I also had an echo problem. Turned out when I put my cell phone in a different room, or at least other end of this room, the echo cleared up. Happen to discover this on my own. Before I did, I contacted the MJ Chat *Support* -- & all they did, was go down the same list of things to try from the website....

Anyway, I've also had a few other glitches; but they cleared up 'magically'. Hopefully the company will continue to tweak & improve, stay behind the functionality -- especially as the number of users increases.

magicJack and magicJack Plus Support, Reviews, FAQs and Tricks