Will This Gadget Replace Your Landline?

I took Bob's recommendation nearly 4 years ago and bought a MagicJack. This purchase eliminated Spectrum's $29 monthly fee and gave me an acceptable monthly fee. I have a cell phone, but I wanted to keep the land line for privacy. My MJ number is given to any company or person I don't wish to give my cell phone number. That's the pro. The con is I have never been able to contact MJ by phone or internet and reached a human. Be careful when navigating MJ website you may end up frustrated.

I have been using MagicJack for over five years. I recently renewed for another five years. I believe the special is available again for a short time.
THE GOOD: low price for good service. I need Call Forwarding and this is included. Also, I am not tied to an ISP, which can make switching difficult. There is a newer version of the device and I wonder if issues would improve with newer device?

THE BAD: Call quality is fair to good. There are some issues calling gov't & other very large phone systems. There can be both outbound and inbound busy signals without (apparent) cause. My friend has Ooma and connection between the two is ALWAYS unusable. About two years ago I upgraded the USB power supply and that reduced frequent disconnections and spurious strange sounds.

I pay about $3 a month not including a $10 a year charge for a Canadian phone number. This extra charge seems disproportionately excessive.

By contrast, Ooma offers two tiers of phone service. With Ooma Basic, phone service is completely free. Just pay a few dollars per month in taxes and applicable fees, and you get unlimited calling within the U.S. ( But NO Call Forwarding) To access all of Ooma’s advanced features, Premier costs just $9.99 per month.

I'm a very satisfied MagicJack customer (I have absolutely no affiliation with MagicJack other than being a very satisfied customer), and I have been for nearly 3 years. I've had the same phone number since about 1974, so I ported it to MagicJack for a very nominal fee (a few bucks - I can't remember the amount), which took a few days, but I was able to keep my ATT phone service working until the porting process finished, so I didn't experience any interruption of service.

After switching, I asked people I talked with if they heard any difference in how I sounded and they didn't, so I told them about MagicJack. My service has been excellent with no interruptions, other than during power failures. I have ATT Fiber-500 Internet, which is very stable here and I'm sure that helps. The call quality on my end is at least as clear as what I had on copper (I can't tell the difference), and I couldn't be happier with what I have.

I recently learned about the free Robo-call blocking feature, so I enabled it. It's ingeniously simple. When someone calls me, they get a prompt to enter a random number to get put through. Since enabling that service, I hardly ever get bothered by robo-calls. The best thing about this feature is that I no longer get interrupted from whatever I'm doing (as often as a dozen times a day) by these nuisance calls. NICE!

I'm a retiree in my 70's, and I've had a home phone all my life. I have a mobile (cell) phone, but I only use it for emergencies. If anyone wants to contact me, they will have the best luck by calling me at home. If you're like me, and you want a home phone, MagicJack may be a great choice. Check it out,

Ernie

Was an avid MJ user in their early days and I absolutely loved it. Other than the choppy connection at that time, it lived up to its name. I got it since I had young children & needed to make sure they had access to a phone at all times. My cost at that time was $100 for 5 years!!!! Thinking about resubscribing. Thanks for the article.

Was an avid MJ user in their early days and I absolutely loved it. Other than the choppy connection at that time, it lived up to its name. I got it since I had young children & needed to make sure they had access to a phone at all times. My cost at that time was $100 for 5 years!!!! Thinking about resubscribing. Thanks for the article.

We use it and the automated call screening feature is great. We get ZERO junk calls or political calls. Our phone only rings for a legitimate call.

The low price does not help all the people with no internet service. That continues to be a problem in the US. The only solution so far is “Obama phones”, inexpensive smart phones given free to qualifying low income people, allowing e-mail and other internet activities. If the phone is stolen or lost, it can take a long time for a replacement. Qualifying means officially low or no income people disabled from all work, not allowed to have more than $2,000 cash in a bank account, living in food stamps and food pantries. Those are handed out by state rules, with help from a national program. I was reading closely to see if a relative now without phone or internet connection might be helped. Not by that technology, unless some program wires his building with fiber optic cable for mire reliable internet connections. He must keep waiting.

Might I suggest/recommend that anyone considering or using VoIP equipment also purchase an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) and plug the MagicJack into the UPS (via the 'optional' USB cable) along with any equipment (cable modem/router or ONT/router) provided for connection to the internet. An essential difference between a POTS landline and a VoIP solution is that the POTS system uses its own power supply whereas your VoIP solution is dependent on the same power that powers your house. So if the lights are out, so is your VoIP and the e911 service it might provide, or any other calls as well. Sure, a mobile phone is there as long as the power outage does not affect the cell towers (think strong winds like hurricanes) and your phone has a charge. The UPS should be a standalone only for the internet and VoIP equipment. Pluging a computer/monitor into the same UPS would drain the power too quickly; however, any battery-powered, Wi-Fi-enabled devices (laptops, smartphones, tablets) will still be able to connect. Just a thought.

NOTE: I am not in the UPS business and I will not receive any commission for the above thoughts. I have just been there (IT operations) before. :-)

Something like Magic Jack will never replace a land line since it requires internet service to work. I live in a mountainous area where due to high winds, electrical storms, and other weather events we lose internet service frequently, often for several days. Cell phone service suffers the same problem, but less often than internet. Land lines are the most weather-stable of all. However, in California, for example, land lines often use relay towers, subjecting those land lines to the same interruption by weather or now fire.

Sadly this article and a lot of others are not helpful to Australian members like me.

I have used it overseas for years in order to have a US line for forms and chatting. Invaluable. Using their app let:s me use it on my cell phone. I use it for talking and texting. great service!

I’m in Australia and I used to use a VOIP phone but now I just use my mobile phone. It costs A$99/year for unlimited calls and texts. My home phone is included in my internet plan but it is no longer plugged in - the only calls I was getting on it were spammers or charities wanting money. In Australia we don’t pay to receive calls on our mobiles so it is used exclusively.

@Sarah L,

Your relative may be able to get help from the federal lifeline website. There is now an Affordable Connectivity Program that helps low/no income Americans get a discount of up to $30.00/m0nth for Internet service. I am a retired and disabled senior citizen, and I get a $30.00/month discount on my Internet service here. If Internet service of any type is available where your relative lives,(s)he may be able to get help by going to https://www.fcc.gov/acp

I hope this helps,

Ernie

I have been using Magic Jack for 8 years and love it and love saving money. No more paying for a landline I didn't use that much. And their customer service is a great. After 5 years Magic Jack quit working and they told me different things to try and when decide it was the device is was speedily replaced with newer model. They are very knowledgeable about their product.

There is an alternative, NETTALK. A friend and I have had it for several years. I also sent one to family overseas complete with a local, to me, registered number. Same fees as mine, almost identical to Magic Jack. So I can call Europe (or wherever they are hooked up, and they can call me for the local fee (=$0.00). Another advantage is we can call with cell phone if out and for much less than a cell to cell would cost.
A few minor glitches over the years but otherwise a big saving.

This is not new information. VoIP gadgets have been around a very long time now.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes, that's why I said this at the beginning of the article: "The MagicJack device has evolved considerably since its 2007 debut." VoIP was starting to gain popularity a few years before that.

To use this thing, you need power. A UPS will do for relatively short outages but we've had 2 lengthy outages in living memory. I wouldn't have wanted to be without a phone at those times. Before my husband died, we had quite a few 911 calls and I'm not sure I would have wanted to depend on the Magic Jack people to call 911 for me.

I have a Bell Canada landline and I think I'll stick with it.

I do not understand the popularity of MagicJack (or any voip). Don't 99% of the public (&world) have a "smart" phone with unlimited talk and text? Everybody, and I mean EveryBody I see everywhere is constantly pulling their smart phone out of their pocket to stare at it. Why would they need a MJ? Only old fogies like me who do not have a smart phone.

I have used MJ myself for years; I think it's great. I do have a flip phone for emergencies and to receive text messages so I can log on to my bank account. I would actually prefer just landlines and phone booths.

I've been using MJ since 2007. I have been keeping it for faxing. For everything else, I use Google Voice on my cellphones (both Android and iOS devices) and Chromebooks via their app, and any other device with a web browser. Just way too many other features that Google Voice has over MJ, except the ability to hard wire a device to a phone line. Google Voice is free. MJ and other VOIP providers are not.

Can a Canadian have a US number with MJ?