Customer Reviews

magicJack Plus

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(35)

 

 

I have been using MagicJack Plus for over a month, and I am very impressed so far. I had a lot of questions about this device, and I will try to answer those questions for others who are interested in saving money on their phone service. Here are my answers based on my experience.

Does it work? It really works. After you register by plugging it into your computer USB port, you just plug in your router, power, and phone.

How is the sound quality? It is about half way between a cell phone and a regular land line. Sometimes I briefly hear some low volume static after talking, and some people say my voice sounds slightly synthesized. There is also a slight delay.

How many phones can it support? I activated the phone wiring in my house and plugged in 3 cordless phones, and they all worked. If you do this, be sure to disconnect the phone wire that comes in from the phone company. Cordless phones provide their own power, so they are not much of a drain on the MagicJack power. Other reviews have said that only 1 to 2 corded phones can be supported. The easiest and best way to hook up your phones is to use a DECT phone system. I love the Panasonic KX-TG6645B DECT 6.0 Cordless Phone with Answering System, Black, 5 Handsets system.

Can it fax? I tested it using my computer fax modem, and it works!

Can I transfer my old phone number? After you set up MagicJack with a temporary phone number, you can request that your old number be transferred to your MagicJack service for a $20 fee. This will cancel your old phone service. Do NOT cancel your old phone service yourself before the number is transferred.

How does the voicemail work? After 4 rings, a call can be either transferred to another number, or it can be sent to voice mail. If you want to use an answering machine, you have to set it for 3 rings. 3 rings does not give you much time to answer the phone, but you can leave a long answering machine greeting, and you can always pick up during the greeting. MagicJack voice mail will leave a notification on newer phones. The voice mail will also send the message as a WAV file to 1 e-mail address. I wanted the e-mail sent to multiple e-mail addresses, so I created a dummy e-mail address on my ISP. I set the dummy e-mail account to automatically forward incoming messages from MagicJack to multiple addresses.

How does international calling work? You must pre-pay for international calling. Most countries are $.02 per minute. The normal international phone number is all you need to dial. Calls to China have been working better than they did with my last phone company.

How is the customer service? There basically is none. But if you can use a computer and hook up a router, you should have no trouble getting MagicJack working.

Why are there so many complaints? I would guess that many of the problems people have had in the past are related to the use of the USB connection. That adds an extra layer of software and data conversion to give problems. MagicJack Plus should solve the USB problems because it can connect directly to the router. MagicJack needs a good, steady internet connection to work properly. Minor problems with an ISP might not affect the browsing of web pages, but they will affect a real time phone connection.

Since I got MJ+ a few days ago, the line has been dropped just about every day at least once--that's not nearly reliable enough to function as phone service for incoming calls.

Customer support is poor. FAQ's don't really address much technically. I couldn't find any phone numbers to call on the website and used the chat line twice. Had to wait quite a few minutes for the first chat to start up--that was for help when the MJ website dumped me during the middle of initial registration. However the chat rep was reasonably helpful. 2nd chat today had a shorter delay getting started, but when I asked for help with the frequent line drops I got dropped from the chat line.

I live in central NC and get my hi-speed Internet service from Time Warner Cable. Using the Speakeasy speed test (accessible through the MJ FAQ page under "What type of Internet service does magicJack require?"), I found my upload speed averages around .95 Mbps--which should be more than fast enough for MJ+'s minimum bandwidth UPLOAD speed of 128 kb/s. However, I suspect the TWC line may be the problem--that is, if the line isn't working with high consistency, maybe that is what is causing the MJ drops.

I am giving MJ+ two stars rather than one star, because if I unplug the unit for 1-2 minutes, plug it back in, and give it a few minutes to reboot, I can make outgoing calls with moderately good call quality. So MJ+ is a dirt-cheap way for me to save phone minutes that I would otherwise have to rack up on my cell phone.

If you are thinking of giving MJ+ a try, I would strongly recommend buying it at Radio Shack (or another store?) rather than through the MJ website. (I got mine at RS for $59, which includes the first year of service.) I've seen a number of reviews about double-billings and other billing problems that suggest MJ is a company you should NEVER disclose a credit card number to.

I have been a MagicJack user for the past 3 years using the Origanal MagicJack and have been mostly happy with the service considering the annual savings. The call quality was usually pretty good, but at times it would stutter like crazy if someone else in the household was searching or downloading from the internet. With the computer being on 24/7 it would occasionally lockup or restart because of an update and the MagicJack at times wouldn't reconnect automatically. None being huge issues but would happen somewhat frequently it seemed.

I decided to splurge and purchase the new MagicJack Plus recently. Setup was eazy. I set it up to use my existing magicjack phone number, then use it as a stand-alone unit (without it being connected to a computer) plugged directly into the wall.
The call quality is far better than the original! I have had NO issues so far (several weeks) with stuttering calls due to others using the internet while I am talking on the telephone ,and No disconnections (due to computer) since it is being used as a stand-alone unit.
The magicjack plus also will notify you through the telephone now if you have a new magicjack voicemail (setup in the [...])

I am very satisfied so far with my purchase of the new magicjack plus.

SKIP TO BOTTOM IF YOU JUST WANT TO READ MAGIC JACK PLUS REVIEW, AND DON'T CARE WHY THIS MAY NOT ECONOMICALLY BENEFIT CABLE TV SUBSCRIBERS:
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I have some food for thought for those who have a "bundle" with their provider such as Time Warner, Verizon Fios, etc. and are looking to lower their monthly bill. I have the triple bundle with Verizon: Phone, Internet and Fios Cable. My base price for these services jumped to $120 after my 2 years promotional price expired. I'm talking just "base" to keep things simple. Base is before equipment and tax charges, so in actually, my bill comes out to a little over $150 a month. But anyway, my base is $120, and in my statement, it clearly shows that of the $120, $27 is for the phone service, $52 is for my channels, and $41 is for my broadband. I figured okay, lets drop the phone line and save $27 monthly. My base would then be $93 a month. Lets make the move to Magic Jack!

Wrong!!!!!!! That's not how it works. :(

If I remove the phone services, all the pricing changes because I'm no longer in a bundle. The savings is none existent. I was with the several reps in a span of a week playing around with all the possible combinations of upgrading or downgrading channels and internet speed. To cancel my phone, the best they came up for me was a $95 base for just internet and tv. But that required me to lower my channels and lower my internet speed. You know what, I didn't mind, the speed downgrade was minimal and the channels I subtracted I never watched anyway. I figured great! $95 for tv and internet. I save $25 a month, now lets move on to Magic Jack Plus for the landlines.

Not so fast!!!

I also asked them to present me with current triple bundle promotions for existing customers. To make a long story short, my final triple package came out to $115 base, but an upgrade in 25/25 mbps broadband and a $300 visa prepaid card. But because I was a customer on the verge of jumping ship, they gave me a $20 credit for the first 12 months. So even though the base is $115, if you factor in the $20 credit for the first 12 months and the $300 prepaid, that comes out to $92.5 base. At the end of the day, it was a better deal for me to keep the phone service, tv and have an even faster internet plan. I ended up re-upping for another 2 years, and based on these savings, the magic jack plus became moot.

So I realized that unless you're ready to dump cable tv completely, which I'm not, bundle pricing quirks and promotions will make you think twice on whether or not dropping the phone line is really a good idea. If you don't mind doing a little song and dance every 2 years when you're promotion is up, your cable company will give you goodies to retain your services. At the end of the day, I think only those who are not dependent on cable tv bundles will see a true benefit to the magic jack. If you're on direct tv or dish and you have a standalone broadband and phone services, I see the Magic Jack benefiting you. For me, I came full circle! Got myself one, ready to ditch verizon's phone line, but at the end of the day, I have to return the magic jack, it does not benefit me economically after Verizon gave me some perks.

MAGIC JACK PLUS ITSELF: 5 stars all the way!
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As for Magic Jack Plus unit itself?? I don't understand the extreme range of reviews I see on the internet, it seems that people either love it or hate it. For the few days I had it, it was AWESOME!!!!!!! That's why I was gung ho on dumping my verizon phone services. I suspect maybe a portion of the people who have bad experiences have lower tier internet speeds? My broadband was 20/5 mbps when I was trying out the Magic Jack Plus and the quality was great. We had a relative overseas call us to test it out and it was perfect. But the unit does run hot, so I have doubts about it's longevity. But if you plan to keep it, when you go through the set-up, you'll have the option to order $1 replacement insurance. I wonder if they'll refund me this buck now that I'm returning it. LOL! Keep in mind, there are lots of upsells during the set-up, just dodge them all! I got my unit from Radio Shack for $59.99, first year service is included. After that it's $29.99 a year or $100 for 5 years. If I were you, I would do it annually because if they release a newer unit or model, those left over years don't transfer if you want to use the newer model. Original Magic Jack owners are upset that they can't transfer their years to the the Magic Jack Plus. I'm always skeptical of products I see on tv at 3 in the morning, but hey, this thing works. But I think a key is to have good broadband speed... I know that people like to search alternatives and one alternative is to use obi100 or obi110 with google voice. One big advantage is that there is no yearly fee after you buy the obi equipment which is like $50. But one disadvantage is that if you do this and ditch your land-line, google voice does not do 911, which is very important. The magic-jack user interface specifically has a 911 section so that you can enter your address and they register your location. People who are doing the google voice have to also subscribe to anther service for 911. Then again this could be moot because I'm sure you have a cell service, right? If you have good reception in your home, then just make sure the battery is always full, and your cell can be your 911 go-to phone. Keep in mind, they don't know if google voice will remain free next year. I suspect if GV starts charging, then it'll be competitive with magic jack. But what if it's not? What if they view their service as more higher end? Because GV is indeed cool, I have an account myself. So those are your pros and cons.

The Magic Junk/Jack website does not allow you to check online to see if phone numbers for the city you live in are supported by Magic Jack... I found out - after I received the product - during the registration process, that they could not provide me with a phone number for my city. I then plugged a phone into Magic Junk Plus and discovered a radio station broadcasting in the background while I was trying to talk and listen to the person on the other end of the call. I tried numerous phone calls to different people and got the same radio broadcast in the background.

From their website (NOT TRUE)
"magicJack PLUS service has received rave reviews and many people think it is the best Call Quality they have ever heard. The magicJack PLUS has added High Definition Voice. Best Call Quality and it's FREE."

I went back to the website to get an RMA (to return the device before my 30 day "free" trial)... I contacted a Magic Jack site representative using the live chat function on the website and was told I had to pay for shipping the device back and would NOT be reimbursed.

Here's the conversation (which went on for over two hours due to the representatives attempting every way to dodge the actual complaint), but I will capture it in a few lines to save time:

Dissatisfied Customer: I am returning the Magic Jack that was sent to me... I have the RMA and the return address.... how will I be reimbursed for shipping?

Molly: You are responsible for return shipping. Equipment returned without a valid RMA number will not be eligible for the magicJack Money Back Guarantee.

Dissatisfied Customer: I have a valid RMA number Molly.... The free trial states "100% risk free - you pay nothing" ... so why am I responsible for return shipping? The magic jack does not work as advertised and there are no numbers for the city I live in...

I've been a "regular" magicJack customer for around 3 years. Used it very sparingly for incoming calls and the quality varied. Helpful when I was in a spot with poor cell reception. Recently started using my magicJack "number" for advertising and had the incoming voice messages that interested customers left emailed to me. So I was not using the device, just the Voice Mail. Worked well for me having an email that had potential customer's phone number and a .wav file I could listen to and save. Better than voice mail on iPhone b/c it would fill up too fast.
So I ordered the new magicJack Plus. As noted by many others, the more you deal with the customer service and the extra charges, not allowing you to use prepaid years on the PLUS, charging to keep your magicJack number with the PLUS, etc. BUYER BEWARE ..... if you have even a small problem or need to deal with customer service/tech support, be prepared for long waits, even with LIVE CHAT and certainly longer on the phone. I found a consistent lack of interest in helping to solve even the most basic problems i.e. I was double charged for the device and no one willing to correct it.

I ordered the MagicJack Plus (MJP)(NOT original MagicJack) to replace my existing Verizon land line which was costing me about $100/month (including about $40 in base access charges / fees / taxes). I used the 30-day trial period to see how the MJP worked and whether is was a viable replacement. I call-forwarded my Verizon line to the MJP for 2 weeks to receive all incoming calls and made all outgoing calls directly through the MJP. Just an alert: the 30-day free trial starts on the date of your order, not when it's activated.

BOTTOM LINE: I would recommend the MJP to friends, and I have completely migrated from Verizon to MJP .....BUT.... you get what you pay for. In my view, the cost of MJP, initially $70 plus the yearly fee of $20, greatly outweighs the things I've discovered.

PROS:
1) SET-UP was easy with the computer. No problems getting a temporary phone number from MJP to call-forward from Verizon. My biggest delay was getting Verizon to add call-forwarding to my existing service, which took a week and a few phone calls to accomplish. As I was eventually going to migrate my existing number to MJP I didn't care what the interim number would be.
2) MIGRATING my existing telephone number was not an issue. It took about 36 hours (though according to MJP, could take up to 10 days).
3) CALL QUALITY: Not an issue, AFTER I moved the MJP about 3 feet away from the telephone. There was a hum in the line while it remained close to the wireless telephone set. Currently I have 7 phones (cordless and corded) hooked up without any call quality problems.
4) VOICEMAIL seems pretty simple to use (though see CONS, below). A nice feature is the notification process via email. Call forwarding to a cell phone is also possible, but I have not used that feature.
5) INTERNATIONAL CALLING: It's cheap, plus a nice feature after you dial is that MJP alerts you, at the beginning of the call, how many remaining minutes you have based on the number you've just dialed. Given the different rates in calling landlines and mobiles in foreign countries, this is a very nice feature...and eliminates the need for a calculator :-)

CONS:
1) VOICEMAIL is required. I have an answering machine at home that I can use so don't need the voicemail feature. The problem this causes is all calls are picked up by MJP's server and not my answering machine which I would prefer. Even this would be OK if I could either (1) disable voicemail or (2) add to the number of rings before MJP pick-up (e.g. 6 rings) As it is now I've adjusted my home answering machine to pick up after 2 rings, but that causes me to race to the phone to answer it before the machine picks up or deal with the outgoing message playing while I'm talking to the caller. I've been told "The engineers are working on it" but was given no date for when alternatives might be available.
2) ALERTS CAN ONLY BE SENT TO ONE EMAIL ADDRESS: As multiple people live in my household, having the ability for only one email address for all voicemail alerts becomes problematic. Adding the capability to send alerts to multiple emails would eliminate the need to one person to be the grand poobah of voicemail. This change can't be that hard to make.
3) CALLS GONG DIRECTLY TO VOICEMAIL: I have had a situation where my phone does not ring at all and goes directly to voicemail. Simple fix is to disconnect everything for 2 minutes to reset the entire package. It's a pain. According to the MJP "techchat" people, I will never see this problem again (yeah, I believe that one).
4) NO LIVE HELP: Chat is the only way to get help. I understand the business model, if I wanted live help then MJP would be more expensive. C'est la vie. Something to live with for now.
5) 10-DIGIT DIALING IS REQUIRED: Not a big deal, I just need to get use to dialing the area code when calling next door.

Hope that helps,
Bob C.

If you are thinking of doing it, DON'T!!!! Bought two and could never get either to work! Contacted customer service (if you can call them that) via Live Chat on their website and spent 8 hours during one sitting "typing" back and forth in an effort to get it to work (in which I firmly believe they are working with other customers due to the wait time between responses) and finally they said it was sent for "review" by their "higher management". During that time I went through 6 people and was disconnected at one point. I spoke with three top ten percent agents, one supervisor, and no one could get it to work. I was very patient, non confrontational, and really just wanted to get it to work. The bottom line is the home number was not showing up on their key pad. At one point I could make calls but couldn't receive them because they went to a voicemail that didn't exist and I certainly couldn't access. But that lasted 2 hours and then no incoming or outgoing calls. I was told to wait a week for the review to conclude. I "typed" back 1.5 weeks later (thank God we had a cell phone) and the first guy told me it's still under review and when I reminded him of the Magic Jack settlement where they are supposed to address issues within 24-48 hours, he disconnected me. I called back and reverted to my initial calm approach and spent 3 hours typing back and forth only to have the 4th rep I spoke to tell me that it's still under review. HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO REVIEW? So in summary, the magic jacks have been returned. I've lost my home number that I've had for over 45 years, there's not a customer service phone number to reach these jokers, CUSTOMER SERVICE IS NON-EXISTENT WITH THESE PEOPLE and I'm contemplating calling the BBB. They've already had reports and one settlement I'm aware of. Doesn't seem they are keeping up with their end of the bargain...STAY AWAY FROM THIS!

The product itself is great. The company who sells it are horrible liars. It does work plugged into you router and works well, but after many tries to get my current number switched to it, I had to settle for a new number from them. The only way to communicate with them is by "chat", and the "people" I chatted with were very rude and no help whatsoever. I've had the same number for almost 20 years, and because of their false advertising, I now have to contact everyone I know to have my number changed. The only reason I switched, was because Frontier bought out my Verizon land line and it has been screwed up ever since. I now will pay $20 a year for full, unlimited service, as apposed to $30 a month for almost no service. That part is a no-brainer. Let's just hope Magicjack stays in business long enough to make it worth while, but with the customer service they have, that probably won't happen.

As a phone alternative, the Magic Jack is reasonably decent. I just recently bought a Magic Jack Plus which seems to be a lot better than the old device which sucked up vast amounts of CPU time on a decently powered computer.

Good luck ever trying to get any support - no phone numbers are posted anywhere, the only thing you can do is search their web pages, and eventually find a link to talk to what they claim is a live customer service representative. Customer service - absolutely not. Good luck trying to ever get any credits or money transferred. True, I did not really expect them, with previous knowledge of their pitiful service quality to even consider crediting a pro-rata part of the remainder of a pre-paid annual agreement, but I did expect them to either transfer and allow me to use remaining international calling minutes to the new device. No way - they don't do that. The only thing you can do is use a non Magic Jackass device such as a landline or cell phone, and use that to dial a special number, then enter the international number you want to call.

Don't even waste your time threatening to return the new device, they don't care. Don't bother asking for a manager, they are all the last person in the chain you can talk to. Don't bother asking for a phone number to talk to a person live, they won't give you one. I will - 561-594-9925, Monday to Saturday, I think 9am - 6pm Eastern time. When you finally get a response that way, you will meet the same thing I did - no, we don't do that, no I am the supervisor there is nobody else to talk to.

Go ahead and buy one, they are not bad devices and can save you money. Don't sign up for their 3 or 5 year contracts, that can save you money too, but you'll likely end up ticked off and not being able to change anything in the future - for example, if your device dies and you didn't buy their replacement insurance (at extra cost) - you won't be able to transfer remaining contract time to a new device. If you buy international calling minutes, buy it in small chunks ($5 at a time) - you don't save anything by spending more and buying in $10, $20 or higher amounts.

Also, if you or anyone in your family has any kind of device such as a Guidant defibrillator implant, be aware that Magic Jack changes software on a regular basis, with no warning, and your "call-home" device is very likely at some point to fail. No amount of effort contacting Magic Jackass will make any difference, they don't care. The Guidant people were more help, and even they had become frustrated trying to work with idiots who simply make changes and don't make any effort to work with companies who brign problems to their attention and try to work to resolve it.

Another tip, don't sign up for automatic annual renewals, there are thousands of complaints with the Better Business Bureau, and many people have had automatic renewals when they did not want to renew, or had replacement devices. Remember - watch your email, and credit card statements - if you see a charge from them that should not be there, call your credit card company, dispute it, and they will reverse the payment. Don't play games and make trouble for no good reason, but don't alow yourself to be bullied either.