I don't know if this applies to Magic Jack, but I have had problems recently with Skype -- as often as not recently (from England, France, and Dubai) I have been unable to call home.

So, works great when it works, but it might not work often enough to ditch the land line.

... plugs into your USB drive.

I think you meant "... USB port".

Telephone service via the Internet - with whatever product - has the following advantages and disadvantages:

+ Lower costs - you do not need a landline telephone connection anymore

+ Use anywhere - you can use your phone from pretty much anywhere (but a mobile phone is even more convenient

- Quality is variable - the quality of the phone connection can be good or bad, though this is much better than it was just a few years ago

- Different phone number - you will have a phone number from the set that the service can allocate. Some services can get you one that has a local area code, others cannot

- Emergency calls unreliable - your phone call may actually be put into the telephone network in another city or another state. Don't expect 911 to be of any use

You can probably save a few bucks with an Internet-based service, but are the hassles are really worth it? Personal recommendation: use a mobile phone. They are more convenient, contracts are increasingly inexpensive, and you probably have one already.

1. Magic Jack's business model is that they install adware on your PC

2. There are plenty of good VoIP providers that are a lot cheaper than Vonage: Callcentric is the one that seems most popular. Other ones are Gizmo5 and Voip.ms

You need to provide your own phone adapter (Linksys pap-2t NA is $50 at Amazon).

3. You can get almost free phone service by signing up for the Beta of Google Voice and using it in conjunction with the Gizmo5 service.

Incoming calls are handled by Google and are totally free. Outgoing calls are 1.9 cents a minute.

Also: Callcentric (and some of the others) enable you to keep your existing number (though it's not always possible).

We've had MagicJack for about 3 months now and generally like it.

Con: The device is made of thin plastic and ours broke about a week ago. I just fiddled with it a bit and it now works.
Also, you have to change your number.
Your tied to a computer to use it and it has to be on. That may mean leaving it on and using lots of juice, offsetting some of the cost savings.

Pro: Good quality sound. Cheap. You can (I'm pretty sure) call from anywhere in the world at US rates (if set up with a US phone number). This means that you could be back in Paris and call someone in Omaha for free. However, calling someone in France would still be at international rates.
The device is quite small.
It installs quite easily.
As for adware, I haven't seen any. It can be ignored, if there.

They have a good deal on international rates.

My advice: keep your mobile phone and supplement with MagicJack, especially if you travel overseas.

Also, if you have someone overseas that you talk to a lot, you can send a MJ to them and they can call you for free (if you set the MJ up with a US phone number).

Also, you may want to check out Google Voice. It's still in an invatation-only beta and may or may not work on the iPhone, but check it out, if you don't mind giving Google even more of your privacy in return for their offerings.

I've been reading that there is no email address for the company, nor is there a phone number..any help that you need takes place on live chat. Sounds both odd and inconvenient. I'm seeing a lot of bad reviews for it.

Also,you can't uninstall it from your computer.

Radio Shack carries it so you can skip the shipping charges.

Glancing at the reviews and comments: Not a bad item. But you would need to pack along a land line phone to use the line with your laptop in a Starbucks.

It probably would have problems working over a wifi connection in a wifi hot spot.

This guy also said he had billing issues and all the contact is via online chat.
hubpages.com/hub/Magic-Jack---Not-A-Bad-Gadget-for-Free-Calling

We use Callcentric now, and it saves us about $20/month compared to our previous landline. They were able to port our old phone number. Our hardware SIP device is also our router, so in theory it has priority over data traffic, but I still notice audio quality deterioriate when I upload data.

Google Voice is giving out accounts now, and that's a pretty exciting service.

Most VoIP phones are not as maintenance free as your regular old phone line.

But I was sick of dealing with the phone company and now my cell phone is my only phone.

I switched to Vonage about 6 months ago and have had no problems. Got to keep my old phone number too. I would have dumped my landline completely but I get crappy cell service in my house.

Amy:

Like you, I also have land line and Skype, but I don't carry a cell phone. I wouldn't give up my land line. Because it's 19th Century technology that works on three copper wires, it's incredibly simple and reliable. And if your power goes out, the phone usually still works.

At the company I left a month ago, they had MagicJacks instead of regular phone lines. It was awful. On every single phone call - every call - it cut in and out. The sales team got so fed up with the constant cutting in and out that some switched to cell phones to make their calls.

Two thumbs down - way down.

Other's have covered the technical side of this nicely, but I'd just like to add this bit of homespun wisdom: don't buy a phone product that's named after a special at the chicken ranch.

At the company I left a month ago, they had MagicJacks instead of regular phone lines. It was awful. On every single phone call - every call - it cut in and out.

That is a compound of how the Local Area Network (LAN) and the internet connection as well.

On the LAN the VOIP packets have to be optimized and given a higher priority from data packets.

Then on the internet connection, they have to be prioritized as well. Also the size of the pipe to the web matters. The MagicJack concept was one or two lines on a home DSL link -- not 50 going over a pipe only twice as large.

I'm keeping my landline.

(1) if there is a blackout or disaster, your landline will still work. Not true for the internet services. Don't count on your cell phone in those situations. On 9/11, I couldn't get through to anyone for hours on my cell. When I was finally able to walk home, my landline worked. (My apartment is in upper Manhattan, luckily, though I worked in the lower half.) By that time, my family was absolutely hysterical, thinking I had died in the attack. During the big blackout a few years ago, my cell phone battery away died and I had no way to recharge it.

By the way, you want to have one old cheapo phone with a cord connecting the receiver and base tucked away in the closet somewhere. Your nice modern cordless phone? It requires electricity to work! A lot of people don't realize that. During the blackout, my neighbors were flocking to my apartment to use my old-fashioned phone with the tangled curly cord.

(2) 911 will work on your landline. That's just huge if there's an emergency.

(3) The call quality is much more consistent. I agree that the internet calling has gotten much, much better, but there are still a lot more glitches.

To me, the landline is well worth the money.

The cost of an old-fashioned curly-corded phone? $12.74 on Amazon.

Annual cost of a landline? Where I live, about $480.

The ability to make a call in a disaster or emergency? Priceless.

Amy,

I've used Skype for years, via a headset on my computer. It works fine but the headset isn't as simple as picking up a phone.

I'm in the transition to a new tech reality soon that I'd like to share with you . . .

Last week I bought an iPhone. It's truly an amazing device. At home it automatically connects to my WiFi network, thus not costing me any cellular charges. I've now installed Skype on it. Thus at home I can now use the iPhone to make calls via Skype. Also, I can pay a few $$ per month to get a Skype-In number. Anyone calling it would ring my iPhone (I assume).

Hi
Does anyone know how to get MJ to work in DUbai? I downloaded freegate to bypass the proxy but it still doesnt seem to be working. Incoming calls go to voicemail and outgoing are dead air. Would really appreciate the help.
thanks!

One thing that I would wish to discover is a manner of transmitting a two way dialogue over the net radio station without having to choose and deselect binaural mix and mic. I think it can be done. Not positive about it though.