moparhunter
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2008
- Messages
- 52
magic jack ?? anyone have / use one whats your thoughts on them?
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magic jack ??
- Thread starter moparhunter
- Start date
Torque1st
MEMBER EMERITUS
It has been discussed a few times.
Google: "garage journal board" "magic jack"
Include the omitted results.
Google: "garage journal board" "magic jack"
Include the omitted results.
Try ooma - the computer does not need to stay on. It used to be 100% free after you bought the box now I think there is some sort of nominal fee. I have had it for a bit over a year now and have been very happy to not have a home phone bill since. For the box and to have my landline number ported over I spent about $250. All domestic calling is free, international rates are good from what I have seen (don't make international calls myself) and if the number you are calling internationally is on ooma it too is free.
Includes Caller ID, Voicemail, call waiting, etc.
Amazon and Costco are the two largest sellers of them.
Includes Caller ID, Voicemail, call waiting, etc.
Amazon and Costco are the two largest sellers of them.
rwhite692
Well-known member
All VOIP phone solutions depend on you having a solid, reliable and fast ISP. If you are always cussing at your internet access speed for surfing the web, etc, don't even think about going with a VOIP, for your phone service.
That being said, in my area I have comcast cable internet and it is (I believe) the fastest available ISP in my area. For my VOIP I use ViaTalk which so far has been cheaper than comcast's VOIP service. It has been 100% reliable for over two years now since I set it up...Have never dropped a call, etc. And the features can't be beat....voicemail forwarding to email, call routing, etc
Be aware that if you have a traditional alarm system and decide to deactivate your old copper phone line, you may need to find a (usually, expensive) work-around to make it work with VOIP...most all alarm systems depend on pulse dialing to send alarm status codes to the monitoring center, and VOIP usually will not support pulse. So you can either keep your old copper line with just basic service, or, go to a more modern alarm system solution, such as alarm.com through a company like Frontpoint.
That being said, in my area I have comcast cable internet and it is (I believe) the fastest available ISP in my area. For my VOIP I use ViaTalk which so far has been cheaper than comcast's VOIP service. It has been 100% reliable for over two years now since I set it up...Have never dropped a call, etc. And the features can't be beat....voicemail forwarding to email, call routing, etc
Be aware that if you have a traditional alarm system and decide to deactivate your old copper phone line, you may need to find a (usually, expensive) work-around to make it work with VOIP...most all alarm systems depend on pulse dialing to send alarm status codes to the monitoring center, and VOIP usually will not support pulse. So you can either keep your old copper line with just basic service, or, go to a more modern alarm system solution, such as alarm.com through a company like Frontpoint.
Need4Speed
Member
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2007
- Messages
- 12
You definitely need an ISP connection that is stable but the bandwidth requirements are really not very high for voice calls using VoIP. It's jitter, drops, and latency that will ruin the quality of service (QoS). To evaluate if your ISP can provide decent QoS run the internet speed test (www.ispcompared.com/internet-speed-test.htm) and it will tell you your quality of service in the stats. I recommend running it a couple times on different days and times since it will vary based on how busy your ISP's network is.
rwhite692
Well-known member
Need4Speed that is all good advice.
Sweet Old Bill
Well-known member
Bought it, used it for several months. My experience was not very good. Call quality was below cell phone. It is not at the level of land line service. For me, with poor hearing, the somewhat garbled quality was not worth the cost savings. ymmv
greezyfingers
Active member
i talk to my buddy in afghanastan all the time and the quality is not bad you can also try skype just my 2 cents
Torque1st
MEMBER EMERITUS
I had VOIP.net which was sold to Broadvox.com and later to Phone Power: http://www.phonepower.com/services/voip/voiphome.aspx
There were not any problems with the changeovers. The quality and reliability was acceptable at first, about like a cell phone. The biggest quality improvement came when I switched from Time Warner as my broadband ISP. They had their own VOIP service and they "un-optimized" my service. Surewest has given great service even though they also have their own VOIP service. After the ISP change the calls have been crystal clear with no dropped calls except when I am talking to a cell phone and I think the dropped calls have been on the cell phone end. No problems with land lines.
There were not any problems with the changeovers. The quality and reliability was acceptable at first, about like a cell phone. The biggest quality improvement came when I switched from Time Warner as my broadband ISP. They had their own VOIP service and they "un-optimized" my service. Surewest has given great service even though they also have their own VOIP service. After the ISP change the calls have been crystal clear with no dropped calls except when I am talking to a cell phone and I think the dropped calls have been on the cell phone end. No problems with land lines.