Magic Jack Plus any good? Other options?
 

I want to get a Magic Jack Plus so that I can use a spare ethernet port on my router to power a telephone line. The phone won't be used a ton but it will be important that it is clean and clear when I am using it for work. I think I will get more incoming than outgoing (if that is important). So the Magic Jack Plus is free through their site but I can't find out how much it costs per year. Is it a good service? I am doing it this way to try and save money since I already have the internet here. Will FIOS be able to feed this Magic Jack well? Any problems then having the Magic Jack run a cordless phone?

Finally, is this the best way to get a cheap phone line or is there a better/cheaper way?

I have one on the way, I'll let you know in a few days. There's a number of positive reviews online from reputable sources, so contrary to their infomercial advertising I think it's legit.

I bought 4 of the NetTalk Duo units for my business. 2 have failed in the first year.

Love, love, LOVE Ooma. Couldn't be happier.

I had one furnished in an apartment I rented when I first went up to PA to work this year. It worked fine, had no problems, but I couldn't make local calls with it for some reason.

I don't know about Magic Jack + but we have had regular Magic Jack for 3 years and have no complaints. Cost is $19.95 /year. We use for outgoing calls only using a cordless phone. I don't know of any less expensive way to get unlimited long distance calling.

My MIL recently got MJ. We refuse to speak to her over that line...total crap. My landline costs $19/mo...a rather paltry sum (in the scheme of life) to compromise for something so basic. YMMV.

My dad switched to MagicJack a year or two ago. It works well. The only problem he had with it, was that the laptop that it was connected to, would decided to go on vacation every month or so and you had to reboot it to get MagicJack to work.

He upgraded to the plus version a couple of weeks ago and so far so good. The laptop was retired and the plus version is directly connected from the switch to the phone.

Other than that, the quality of calls is good. I have used it several times, een with some longer conversations.

We currently have VoIP through our cable company ($58/mo ouch) and previously had Vonage. My experience is that the quality of VoIP phone is directly related to internet service quality. Unreliable internet = unreliable phone. With our current location and cable internet our audio quality has been excellent and the service reliable.

Frankly this is mostly so my wife can talk long distance to her mother, so I'm not super concerned about it. ;)

So it looks like its a go but I definitely need the plus. My vonage over a weaker line wasn't good but now that I have FIOS internet I hope its clearer.

I have Magic Jack and use it to call all my relatives in the US. So it's basically $20 a year for me to call from Saudi Arabia to anywhere in the US and Canada. You just need a good Internet speed to make a clear call and don't download while you're talking.

What about your current land line phone number? Can you convert it to one of these free services?

Yep, you can port your number over.

I only know one person with a MJ, and like David's experience, calling that person sucks.

From what I have read, if you have a screaming internet connection with tons of surplus bandwidth, then it will work as advertised. Put it on DSL or some other overloaded connection, and you will want to slice your guts open.

ymmv

I think my download is at 15mbps and upload is 10mbps? Any input on how that will work? Also, is there a way to search what phone numbers are available beforehand?

Google voice (currently free) and Obi. See Obihai - What is OBi