Calling Friends and Family Over the Internet: A Magic Jack Review

Several years have passed since my family made the decision to begin exclusive use of mobile phones and abandon the traditional land line telephone to which we had grown so accustomed.  After countless interruptions by telemarketers and wrong numbers, it was nice to finally silence the land line phone in our home.  While we haven’t missed paying the monthly phone bill for that phone, we have begun to miss the convenience of the secondary line.  Many companies offering VOIP services emerged in the years since our conversion, including our cable/Internet provider, but the costs associated with installing an Internet-based phone have kept us at-bay.  Then we discovered the Magic Jack, or to give credit where it is due, we were introduced to it by a friend who simply adores it.

The Magic Jack is a small device that strongly resembles a USB flash drive, although it is slightly larger.  Using this device, one can make calls to any domestic or international, mobile or land line phone for only $19.95 per year at the time of writing.  The Magic Jack has a USB connection on one end and an RJ11 connection on the other.  The USB side connects to the computer and the RJ11 side accepts the phone cord that connects to your new desk phone.  We purchased a corded AT&T phone with caller ID separately to use with the device.  There is a clear window on one side of the Magic Jack that displays the internal circuits.  When it is plugged into the computer, a blue LED illuminates from within and gives the device a pleasant glow.  The total price that we paid was $39.95, which includes the first year of service for free, and the company will currently ship one or more device at no charge and allow you to try the service risk-free for a full thirty days before charging your credit card.  If you prefer buying products from a retail store, we discovered that it is available at the same price from Wal-Mart.

All necessary software is stored within the device and it prompts the user for permission to install when plugged-in.  The computer that we connected the Magic Jack to is running the Windows 7 Professional operating system.  Installation was very simple and quick, with the exception of advertisements for add-on services.  These prompts, which offered decisions like extending the number of years of service with a locked-in rate or ordering another device for friends and family, became a little tedious, but the final result was well worth the hassle.

At one point during the installation, you are prompted to choose the area code for the phone number that will be assigned to your Internet-connected phone.  It is possible to choose an area code for almost any part of the United States.  You technically could live in Florida and have a California phone number if you so choose.  We tried to find the area code that we are most comfortable with, but the closest was a neighboring county, which is fine because most people around here are familiar with it.  If you choose to pay extra, you can attempt to create a unique telephone number as long as it is available, otherwise one will be automatically selected for free.

Once the installation and configuration is complete, you are free to begin calling anyone in the world.  We completed several calls to our mobile phones and the sound quality was excellent.  Over the next few days the Magic Jack-connected phone was used to call several family members and even participate in a few company conference calls.   Each call was a pleasant experience.  One thing that we noticed, though, is that the computer must be logged-in to maintain an active dial tone.  If the computer is shut down or logged-off, the phone goes silent.  We found a solution to this problem that works for us.  The Windows feature that allows the computer to switch between users will deliver the user to the Windows log on screen and keep the phone active.  Also the screen saver feature that requires a log on upon resume will allow the computer to stay protected while leaving the phone active.

Overall our experience with the Magic Jack has been great.  We read all of the available reviews before purchasing the device and there are some people who are not satisfied.  A few in particular experienced problems while using a cordless phone, but we certainly have had no complaints using our corded one.  My family has given warm “welcome back” compliments to our familiar old trusty house phone; that is until telemarketers and political activists learn the number.