Our readers know by now that I am a huge fan of the Wall Street Journal, where I think many of the best reporters, columnists and editors reside.
So when Walt Mossberg says he likes something, you and I need to pay attention. Mossberg is the high-tech guru at the WSJ who tests products that you and I might consider buying.
You might not always agree with him, but I have never heard a single ethical issue involving him, and I have always found his columns helpful.
I have been meaning to write about magicJack, having seen other positive reviews on the product.
But today Mossberg wrote about his test of the Internet phone service and here is his bottom line:
MagicJack
“When I see a high-tech product that’s advertised mainly via frequent hard-sell TV ads, as if it were a diet pill, I tend to assume it can’t be very good, especially if its price is absurdly low. So, I haven’t paid much attention to a product called magicJack, a small $40 adapter for your computer that claims to let you make unlimited domestic phone calls over the Internet with your home telephone free for a whole year—and for just $20 a year thereafter.
“But after receiving reader requests to review magicJack, I decided to do so. To my surprise, it worked pretty much as advertised. It has a few drawbacks, and extra fees for added services, such as vanity phone numbers. But I found magicJack easy to set up and easy to use, and it yielded decent, if not pristine, call quality. I even tested customer support—a source of complaints online—and found it friendly, fast and responsive.
“Magic Jack is a new device and service that allows you to make cheap phone calls through your computer. Overall, the product works as advertised,” Walt Mossberg found.
Find all of Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos online, free, at the All Things Digital Web site, www.walt.allthingsd.com. Email him at mossberg@wsj.com.
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Yeah, this sounds good right now–but remember, you can only make calls on the phone plugged into this thing. If your computer is on one floor and you want to make a call on another floor, you can’t use this there.
I have a magicJack and once I downloaded the Magicfeatures plugin it has started working out a bit better for me than my landline when comes down to all the features it has now and the price. My kids get a kick out of the talking caller id especially when their friends call. I found the Magicfeature plugin at the freeware download site http://downloads.cnet.com .
I have also just started using another download called Magicsilence that completely stops the magicJack dialer from hogging my computer screen all the time. Before I had installed it, every time my kids made a call and I was on the computer in the other room, the magicJack dialer would unexpectedly pop up and tie up my screen.
Thank you so much Joe for adding your advice on this column on majicJack.
George
I’m eagerly awaiting the release of the MagicJack cell booster that does for cellular phones what MagicJack does for your landline – make phone calls on your cell phone and when used within 500 ft. of the unit, allows those calls to be placed without using minutes on your cell plan.
I’m one of the many that no longer has a landline and use my cell phone both in home and when I’m out and about. If the booster works as has been claimed, I can l lower my plan costs by getting a lower priced plan with less minutes. Hopefully, this device will be put into production soon and on the market for purchase.
I have had and used magicJack for over a year now. I love that they have the air card option. Incoming calls are a bit odd, but outgoing are crisp and clear. You can also take magicJack and your computer (I use a laptop) with you and plug in any other phone to still get your calls. The feature I like is that my voice mail is sent via email and I can listen to it from anywhere I have internet access.
It was such a relief to replace my local phone company with it and get rid of their high priced products. Guess you can say that magicJack has saved me money, does more than my local phone company did for me, and it’s reliable!
I purchased the Magic Jack bluetooth device for my wife. The premise is that you plug mit into your cell phone and tune your car radio to a certain station and you can make and receive cell phone calls in your caqr hands free. Well it’s terrible. The sound quality is aweful, and most times you can’t here the other person at all.
I bought this magicjack almost two years ago because they said as soon as they got Canadian numbers we will be given a local number. I have not been able to use this piece of garbage. The sound quality is really bad and now they want me to pay to get a Canadian number. They have $20 worth of credit in my long distance account and I cannot use this thing to call anywhere. They billed me for the 5 year platinum plan and now they want me to pay to for a new extension after almost 2 years.
These people are thieves and we need to file a complaint with the FCC and the BBB>
I bought this Magicjack over a year ago and could not keep it online for over a day. Whenever the cpu crashed or went offline i lost the connection, and had to call therye service which people is a joke, if you can even get them. To many problems with it. I thought it was a waist of time. Kept crashing..
last straw, You should be able to plug your cordless phone base unit into it right? Then you can call from anywhere in the house right?
The guy who posted that “when I lose my internet connection, I lost telephone service” must really have problems with technology if he doesn’t understand
why that happened. Try cutting your telephone wire and see what happens.