MagicJack
 

After seeing the ads on TV for this internet phone device I decided to give it a try. Received a couple of days after ordering, about 5 minutes to install and it's up and running. IT WORKS AS ADVERTISED !!.

Costs $35 for the device and the first years service. $19.95 per year after that for unlimited usage.

Cell phone reception at our house is like the black hole of Calcutta. Basically have to go outside to use cell phones. Just wanted a phone for long distance calls, did not want to get rid of land line.

Only drawbacks are you can't use your current phone # and the number they assign you will probably be a number which isnt even in your area code. They say sometime in 2009 you will be able to keep your current land line #. this is no problem to us as we are using it for outgoing calls only.

May not work for everyone but is perfect for what we wanted.

Works pretty well for me too, BUT not for faxes.
 

I have Magic Jack and it has worked well for us with the exception of sending faxes. Prior to Magic Jack I used Vonage for about 2 years and Vonage was able to send/receive faxes. Magic Jack does say on their website that it doesn't support fax, but I wanted to point it out.

Does your computer have to be awake or will an incoming call bring it out of sleep mode?

I have seen the ads... how exactly does it work?

Not sure if it will wake your computer up or just go to voice mail. Will have to check that out.. I do know that when a call goes to voice mail, it will send you an e-mail notification.

How it works: plug a regular phone into the device which looks like a large jump drive then plug the device into a USB port. The software self installs exept for your picking parts of the assigned phone number. The software is always running minimized in background. You can call out by just direct dialing or the MagicJack screen has a contact list you can enter phone numbers into and you just click on the number in the list to call it. answers just like any other phone. Screen also maintains a list of the last called numbers which you can click on to call.

Actuallyl works very much like a cell phone with contact list, calls made list, voice mail, etc.

Your computer needs to be on for incoming call, but you can forward incoming from your magic jack to a cell phone or any other phone if you don't want to leave it on.

I have a magic jack for a year and use it mainly when I travel. You can get an area code number that is the same area code as your primary residence and you can set up the magic jack so that if you use it to make a 911 call it will let the 911 operator know where you are calling from.

If you have extended families oversea, they can use the magic jack to call back to the states.

It work by "MAGIC" that why they call it the Magic Jack.

LOL couldn't help my self.

You need an internet connection and that it. Works on laptop, desktop, but I don't think it works on MAC. It called VOIP Voice over internet
protocol.

You can go to a wi-fi cafe, log onto the internet with you laptop and make a phone call using the matgic jack. When I am traveling I look for a Panera and use their wi-fi to make calls.

I bought one a couple months ago and hooked it up last night. I called my home phone and it seemed to work fine.

The only problem was a local number was not available yet. I had to use a 606 number that is about 2-3 hours away from us.

I hope I can eventually get a local number.

How long will it be "free?"

It's really not FREE.

You have to buy the "Magic Jack", the first year is FREE, but each year there is a $9.95 charge for the ENTIRE YEAR.

Will it work with a Mac ?

I was given the choice of several area codes but not the AC of our residence. I ended up with the area code for Galveston which is about 200 miles from here but it really makes no difference. i.e. our cell phone area codes are no longer in the area for where we now live either.

counterpoints to magic jack:

http://halturnershow.blogspot.com/2008/12/magicjack-avoid-it-like-plague.html

http://broadband-nation.blogspot.com/2008/06/magicjack-definitely-has-issues-buyer.html

I very closely read the Terms of Service, particularly the Privacy and Advertisement section. I may be a bit naive about it but I felt they were at least being up front about collecting information that many other internet businesses are not up front about. It seems that virtually every site you visit is collecting something about you. I just don't get paranoid about it.
I posted a topic earlier this week about Google being hijacked by a trojan worm apparently picked up on facebook by my granddaughters. The internet can be a hazardous place.
If I don't like MagicJack, I will terminate it. I did not reallize there was no uninstall but I feel confident I can terminate it if the need arises. As to warranties, service, I don't expect much of either for the price I paid. I just felt I'll write off the $35 to experience if it doesn't work out.