magicJack and magicJack Plus Support, Reviews, FAQs and Tricks

I think millions of words have been written on this site about how to solve Magic Problems. What other business would be in business more than 30 seconds if it had the complaints seen here. Just hope Congress doesn't offer a bail out.
I've had Jack since June and have done everything suggested to fix the problem of choppy audio, except go out and buy another piece of equipment to make it work. It would be like going out and buying a new TV or a new car and someboady saying you have to buy another thing to make it work.
I convinced my DSL provider it was their modem that was cauing the problem. Got a new and different kind of modem and guess what, it wasn't.
I've run speed test and they say things should be fine, but they are not.
I wanted this to work. Cancelled my landline phone service. Did all the work arounds. Talked endless times to their cusotmer service people. They even sent me a new jack.
Took it to the west coast and tried it on another computer with the same results--choppy audio, echos, etc
I still have ecohs and choppy audio. Not everyday, but most days.
It may only be $19.95, but you have a greater chance of success buying a lottery ticket.
I'm calling the phone company asking them to sign me up.

I think quality of service relies on how your ISP connects you to the YMAX gateways.

For 5-10% of the people trying MagicJack it probably will never work properly.


I did discover through trail and error a dedicate machine is the best way to use MJ.

Thanks for taking time to reply.
Again, you have to buy something else or hook up an old computer and clutter up more space just to make Jack work.
When you consider most people who will buy Jack are trying to save money. Their computer knowledge consists of knowing how to turn it and off, doing email and Word, how will they ever make Jack work?
If you see a line outside of Radio Shack or Best Buy, it is probably people returning Jack.
Unless I can find a solution soon, Jack goes in the draw and I'm back with the phone company

gators5 wrote:When you consider most people who will buy Jack are trying to save money. Their computer knowledge consists of knowing how to turn it and off, doing email and Word, how will they ever make Jack work?

And that's how MJ markets it too. I can understand advocates who claim MJ isn't for everyone. They're right. But, that's not how MJ sets expectations.

I also disagree that the problem is with poor routes specific to a user's ISP. The routes between me and my proxy and another one I tried are virtually identical (using tracert). But, the other proxy was very choppy.

Mark

They advertise that all you have to do is plug it into your computer and like magic you can make calls just like you are use to using landline except they are free. However, if you read post after post from ordinary people trying to get what they paid for to work and they can't. If people with a high level of knowledge consistently write in about doing this modification and that modification and still have numerous problems, what is the ordinary Joe to do?
I live where Jack is located and I would think if there is one place in world where Jack's service would be stellar it would be here. I wonder if anyone who works at Jack ever uses it.

gators5 wrote:They just set it up, about 15 minutes, and it worked. It sounds like they have invented a better mouse trap.

The question is how Ooma will be profitable. 3-4 months ago they were reportedly living off venture capital. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/23/a- ... n-funding/).

If they sell a lot of $250 hardware, that will alleviate the need for venture capital. But, who pays for your usage in 2-3 years? More customers buying hardware? And who pays for them in 2-3 years?

I've yet to hear an explanation of their business model. Selling one-time hardware isn't sustainable. There must be more to the story. Especially if investors are willing to continue funding the operation. It would concern me that there's more to the story, and they aren't letting customers know what it is.

Mark

Have you looked at http://www.phonegnome.com ?

A quick google of Ooma turned up some results indicating that phonegnome is intended to compete in their space. See http://www.fiercevoip.com/story/phonegn ... 2007-09-10

Their box is only $100.

I don't know anything about it. But, if I were going to fall for a "one time charge, and free calls forever" line, I'd prefer putting only $100 at risk instead of Ooma's $250.

If you or "Saxman" do a comparison, let me know.

Mark

az2008 wrote:Have you looked at http://www.phonegnome.com ?

A quick google of Ooma turned up some results indicating that phonegnome is intended to compete in their space. See http://www.fiercevoip.com/story/phonegn ... 2007-09-10

Their box is only $100.

I don't know anything about it. But, if I were going to fall for a "one time charge, and free calls forever" line, I'd prefer putting only $100 at risk instead of Ooma's $250.

If you or "Saxman" do a comparison, let me know.

Mark

PhoneGnome is a Sipura SPA-3000 (maybe a Linksys SPA-3102 by now) device with custom firmware that is coupled with a VoIP gateway service.

You are supposed to connect its Line jack to your POTS line and then plug all of your house phones into the Phone jack. Then you connect it to your router and go through the registration process. You feed the PhoneGnome control panel your POTS number and either sign up with their VoIP service or with one or more of your own BYOD VoIP services and let PhoneGnome handle your phone traffic.

PhoneGnome pushes a custom Dial Plan to the device that sends different types of calls out via the different services you have available. A typical example is to have 911, phone company and local calling area calls routed via the POTS line, US and Canada calls via your domestic VoIP provider and overseas calls via your international provider.

I played with it during Beta several years ago and decided that it wasn't nearly as versatile as Asterisk. My major complaint was that, although you might have three or four different services managed by PhoneGnome, you could only have one conversation at a time. Personally, I cannot count up the number of times my wife and I have been on the phone at the same time, so it's not for me.

az2008 wrote:

gators5 wrote:They just set it up, about 15 minutes, and it worked. It sounds like they have invented a better mouse trap.

The question is how Ooma will be profitable. 3-4 months ago they were reportedly living off venture capital. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/23/a- ... n-funding/).

If they sell a lot of $250 hardware, that will alleviate the need for venture capital. But, who pays for your usage in 2-3 years?

for $250 ill just buy an atom based motherboard, a stick of ram, a case, put it together, plug in MJ, then take the change and my wife to the olive garden - along with my in laws.

Since magicjack continues to be in existence despite people posting against it, they must be doing something right.

I do have to buy things to make my TV work, for example, an antenna for my TV, and insurance, a license and gas to use my car.

The magicjack works quite well for me, and many others. Clearly having it work isn't remotely akin to winning the lotterly.

merlyn wrote:

az2008 wrote:

gators5 wrote:They just set it up, about 15 minutes, and it worked. It sounds like they have invented a better mouse trap.

The question is how Ooma will be profitable. 3-4 months ago they were reportedly living off venture capital. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/23/a- ... n-funding/).

If they sell a lot of $250 hardware, that will alleviate the need for venture capital. But, who pays for your usage in 2-3 years?

for $250 ill just buy an atom based motherboard, a stick of ram, a case, put it together, plug in MJ, then take the change and my wife to the olive garden - along with my in laws.

I'm running an Atom motherboard (HP Thin Client) and MJ. Not a bad setup--I did upgrade it to 1GM RAM and the NVIDIA video card and 8GB flash, which allows me to run the full version of XP Home Edition. However, I'm thinking of upgrading to a mini computer. Wal-Mart sells an eMachine mini for about $250, including 19-inch monitor, which runs off a 60 Watt power supply. It also has a 160GB hard drive and a dual core processor. It does have a small fan but it's quite. Of course, the Thin Client is totally silent. The Thin client is excellent for surfing the Internet and I would think the mini would be even better since it's more powerful. The other option would be to make your own mini.

I have been using a MJ for about 3 weeks now - both in the US and in Germany at multiple locations on different hardware.

There have been minor instances when stuff wasn't working as it should, but nothing that would be considered defective but rather attributed to software/OS/etc.

I suspect that for a large portion of the consumers that have problems - well from previous experience, there are A LOT of people who can barely keep their computer running - their systems are often infected with some trojan, worm, etc, and so full of crap that you wonder why the PC works at all much less supporting a basic VOIP application. In addition many of these same adults may not be aware that their PCs are being used by the kids for file-sharing, and the PC maybe be already part of a BOT army. Still amazing how many totally vulnerable machines are on local ISP networks.

Oh and I also imagine that some people haven't even read the system requirements...

my two cents...

One issue nobody really has an influence on is ISP. You can have a great up and download speed and still have isues ( TCP pause, jitter, packet data loss and so on ) . It would be interesting to know how many people who gave up on magic jack tried another VOIP service. If the ISP is the problem, none of them should work properly.
My MJ works much better in the office than at home and I certainly do not have any hardware issues.
But I am ( after 6 months) still basically happy. They should fix their business practices, though. Those guys are their own worst enemy.

I have had my Magicjack for close to a year. For the first 10 months it worked well with occasional problems. The occasional problems were generally minor and lasted for a few hours at most.

About a month ago I started having problems with choppy audio. Close to 100% of my phone calls had broken up audio. This went on for several weeks. My renewal date was close and I was ready to not re-up.

On the advice of posters to this forum I decided to buy a powered USB hub. I bought model HUB-4U2A-BK as many posters have recommended. I bought my hub from www.windmilltrading for $25 delivered. I have since discovered you can buy it from www.ayagroup.com or www.techsunny.com for less money.

The difference is like night and day. I now have clear audio with no breaking up. It's like a new Magicjack.

VOIP telephony is not perfect. I think you will find complaints with almost all carriers. However, I don't have any problem with spending $25 to help me keep a device which is saving me close to $600 a year.

Update 01-27-2010:

Shortly after I posted this, I started having problems with choppy and broken audio again. I eventually purchased an HP Thin Client to help me with the problem. Since I have installed the thin client, things have generally been working well. See my posting on the thin client and broken audio:

http://www.phoneservicesupport.com/will ... t6936.html

So I've read about 100 posts on MJ, some good some bad. MANY complaints about poor technical service, bad sound quality, and often service that just doesn't work.

So hear is my question. I currently have my desktop running XP and internet via AT&T DSL. I rated a 4.1 on the VOIP test. I have two phones in my house- 2 portables ( different brands). I have the DSL router by the desktop and connected to a wireless router and then by ethernet to the Desktop. ( wireless for the laptop also running XP)

I would love to save the $600 a year by dropping both local and long distance from At&T and keep the DSL and go to MJ.

With all the problems , is this product just a hit and miss? Would you do it over again and what do I need to do to get this to work properly.

Thanks in advance

In a heartbeat I would do it all over again. The thing about MJ from my own experience is to make sure your computer is properly maintained and cleaned out of any junk. I have an eight year old computer and run roadrunner light so I have nothing special as far as computer or internet speed. Just make sure you follow the great advice you find here and in the mj wiki and you will save a bundle. Good luck sabresfan

Mike,
You should try MJ before you drop anything. Test it for a month or two.
Off course, I would do it again. I do sometimes miss my crisp, full featured ATT line, but then there is the 600.- a year bill. The thing I most regret was the unability to port my numbers. It is not just printing new business cards, but suddenly people cannot reach you and the only message they get is" the phone number is no longer in service, no additional info available". Bad for business. Do not forget that they will charge you $ 60.- /year for not having phone service with DSL. Also, if you decide to run your equipment just for MJ, there is the electric bill plus the costs of aditional cooling of the created heat( if you live in a hot climate)

Thanks for the responses. ATT will charge me $60 to NOT have a phone number? That's absurd. I'm paying them $30 a month for the DSL service and about $60 a month for local/LD. Add in the taxes and its about $110 a month.

Mikestang63 wrote:So I've read about 100 posts on MJ, some good some bad...

So hear is my question. I currently have my desktop running XP and internet via AT&T DSL. I rated a 4.1 on the VOIP test. I have two phones in my house- 2 portables ( different brands). I have the DSL router by the desktop and connected to a wireless router and then by ethernet to the Desktop. ( wireless for the laptop also running XP)

I would love to save the $600 a year by dropping both local and long distance from At&T and keep the DSL and go to MJ.

...Would you do it over again and what do I need to do to get this to work properly.

Thanks in advance

Welcome to the forum Mikestang63! To answer your question - YES!

At one point, I had five trunks coming into the house. Over the years, I have been able to reduce them and am currently down to two; the DSL line and an analog FAX line.

mJ is serving the entire house.

Sure there may be a speed bump or two, but SEARCH B/4 posting and you will be in fine shape. Not to mention that you WILL learn alot.
Cheers,

Mike, $ 60/year, 5$ a month. Give them a call and they will tell you how much a stand alone DSL cost.

Mightybyte wrote:I have had my Magicjack for close to a year. For the first 10 months it worked well with occasional problems. The occasional problems were generally minor and lasted for a few hours at most.

About a month ago I started having problems with choppy audio. Close to 100% of my phone calls had broken up audio. This went on for several weeks. My renewal date was close and I was ready to not re-up.

On the advice of posters to this forum I decided to buy a powered USB hub. I bought model HUB-4U2A-BK as many posters have recommended. I bought my hub from www.windmilltrading for $25 delivered. I have since discovered you can buy it from www.ayagroup.com or www.techsunny.com for less money.

The difference is like night and day. I now have clear audio with no breaking up. It's like a new Magicjack.

VOIP telephony is not perfect. I think you will find complaints with almost all carriers. However, I don't have any problem with spending $25 to help me keep a device which is saving me close to $600 a year.

I have breakup of the audio w/ my desktop. It is a 3 GHz Pentium with 412 megs of RAM. XP Pro. My laptop has one gig of RAM, a 2 GHz Pentium and is XP Pro. I am considering strongly buying a powered USB hub as recommended in this thread. How can one tell from the multiple choices on those sites you posted with links which one to buy? Does it somehow boost the strength by being plugged in? If I double the RAM in my desktop with that probably fix the problem?

Mightybyte wrote:I have had my Magicjack for close to a year. For the first 10 months it worked well with occasional problems. The occasional problems were generally minor and lasted for a few hours at most.

About a month ago I started having problems with choppy audio. Close to 100% of my phone calls had broken up audio. This went on for several weeks. My renewal date was close and I was ready to not re-up.

On the advice of posters to this forum I decided to buy a powered USB hub. I bought model HUB-4U2A-BK as many posters have recommended. I bought my hub from www.windmilltrading for $25 delivered. I have since discovered you can buy it from www.ayagroup.com or www.techsunny.com for less money.

The difference is like night and day. I now have clear audio with no breaking up. It's like a new Magicjack.

VOIP telephony is not perfect. I think you will find complaints with almost all carriers. However, I don't have any problem with spending $25 to help me keep a device which is saving me close to $600 a year.

I have breakup of the audio w/ my desktop. It is a 3 GHz Pentium with 412 megs of RAM. XP Pro. My laptop has one gig of RAM, a 2 GHz Pentium and is XP Pro. I am considering strongly buying a powered USB hub as recommended in this thread. How can one tell from the multiple choices on those sites you posted with links which one to buy? Does it somehow boost the strength by being plugged in? If I double the RAM in my desktop with that probably fix the problem?

scwowgph wrote:I have breakup of the audio w/ my desktop. It is a 3 GHz Pentium with 412 megs of RAM. XP Pro. My laptop has one gig of RAM, a 2 GHz Pentium and is XP Pro. I am considering strongly buying a powered USB hub as recommended in this thread. How can one tell from the multiple choices on those sites you posted with links which one to buy? Does it somehow boost the strength by being plugged in? If I double the RAM in my desktop with that probably fix the problem?

You can try using the dongleless installation to see if your choppy audio goes away. If it doesn't, I doubt the problem is related to your USB performance (since dongleless eliminates the use of the USB).

Might save you some money on a powered hub if you don't need it.

Mark

[quote="Mightybyte"]I have had my Magicjack for close to a year. For the first 10 months it worked well with occasional problems. The occasional problems were generally minor and lasted for a few hours at most.

About a month ago I started having problems with choppy audio. Close to 100% of my phone calls had broken up audio. This went on for several weeks. My renewal date was close and I was ready to not re-up.

On the advice of posters to this forum I decided to buy a powered USB hub. I bought model HUB-4U2A-BK as many posters have recommended. I bought my hub from www.windmilltrading for $25 delivered. I have since discovered you can buy it from www.ayagroup.com or www.techsunny.com for less money.

The difference is like night and day. I now have clear audio with no breaking up. It's like a new Magicjack.

VOIP telephony is not perfect. I think you will find complaints with almost all carriers. However, I don't have any problem with spending $25 to help me keep a device which is saving me close to $600 a year


I have a desktop computer Windows XP Pro which is a 3 GHz processor Intel and 412 MB of RAM. When I plug the magic jack into it I get audio that has occasional drops and interruptions.

When I plug it into my laptop which has one gig of RAM and a 2.0 GHz Intel processor and Windows XP Pro I have fine audio with no drops or interruptions.

They are both receiving wireless from my router. However the speed of the desk top Internet signal/connection is 12 MB per second. The laptop is double that.

My questions are these: if I elevate the desktop off the floor will the speed improve and will that cure my magic jack problem? Should I double the RAM or make it at least one megabyte?

In about two or three weeks I will be hardwiring the desktop directly into the router. (It is because I am moving to a different office in the same building) will that increase my speed? Well that cure my magic jack problem?

scwowgph wrote: My questions are these: if I elevate the desktop off the floor will the speed improve and will that cure my magic jack problem? Should I double the RAM or make it at least one megabyte?

In about two or three weeks I will be hardwiring the desktop directly into the router. (It is because I am moving to a different office in the same building) will that increase my speed? Well that cure my magic jack problem?

Elevate: won't make a bit of difference speed but will definitely make the computer happier because it's not breathing in all the dust from the floor.

Double the RAM: great idea. You probably mean 1 GIGAByte.

Hardwiring instead of wifi: fantastic idea. With the fluctuations in throughput that get you get with WiFi, it does not lend itself very well for VOIP. Hardwired is MUCH better.

If you're still having problems, it could very well be that the USB port on the computer simply is not putting out enough power, or if it does not enough STABLE power. That's where a powered hub comes in.

I bought one from WindmillTrading.com, like a few other folks on this forum, mainly because the guy who sells them runs MJ himself and actually had some good suggestions for me too. It was couple bucks more than the other site (ayigroup) mentioned here. I forget if it was here on this forum, or another, but there were actually few folks who went on and one about this guy's customer service and all. Guess that counts for something too. Someone wrote up a review about the hub he got that was either DOA or it died. The Windmilltrading guy actually replaced it at no charge.

HTH,
MJ-in-DC