- Joined
- Sep 3, 2000
- Messages
- 6,733
I have seen the infomercials endlessly on TV in the past weeks and wanted to know all about this. Well, it arrived and worked exactly as described. This is a real alternative for folks starting out to get excellent domesic US & Canada phone service with only a $20 per year annual cost. It includes voice-mail, caller ID and call waiting. You could hook it to a wireless system and put extensions around the house or apartment, too.
The downsides are few. The number, while having a local area code to your area, is not "your" number, but belongs to MagicJack. You won''t be listed in the phone book. You can buy overseas calling minutes cheaply from them, but if you travel and expect to use the MagicJack to call back to the USA, you will still need to plug in a telephone to the unit to make a call. You can''t use a small headset and microphone like you can with Skype. You do need a fast Internet connection. I found my old version wireless home network system very adequate in speed for the service.
No doubt, you will get some unsolicited phone calls and emails as a price you are paying for this rather cheap phone connectivity. I don''t think you can block unwanted calls.
So, if you have not become totally attached to your home phone like I have, you could just start with such a simple and cheap device instead of the traditional route. At least I know that the tool actually works and that was my goal.
The downsides are few. The number, while having a local area code to your area, is not "your" number, but belongs to MagicJack. You won''t be listed in the phone book. You can buy overseas calling minutes cheaply from them, but if you travel and expect to use the MagicJack to call back to the USA, you will still need to plug in a telephone to the unit to make a call. You can''t use a small headset and microphone like you can with Skype. You do need a fast Internet connection. I found my old version wireless home network system very adequate in speed for the service.
No doubt, you will get some unsolicited phone calls and emails as a price you are paying for this rather cheap phone connectivity. I don''t think you can block unwanted calls.
So, if you have not become totally attached to your home phone like I have, you could just start with such a simple and cheap device instead of the traditional route. At least I know that the tool actually works and that was my goal.
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