back to top

Pros: Cheap, innovative, portable, geek toy

Cons: Needs a lot of technological improvement

Bottom Line: You have got to love the idea and price. This product is just getting on board and no doubt will improve in the future. For now this product is a great call out phone. Saves some real dollars if you call long distance all over the place. As a land line receiver phone, it is unreliable. Uses two ports and needs the extra one reformatted every time you turn around. (I have mine in J and K) You can't tell if you are live until you pick up and hear a dial tone. Your computer must be on in order to receive a call. Some days the reception is crystal clear and others it is horrible. Others can't hear you, but you can hear them. Was able to get an area code in my general area, but must still dial 1 before I can make a local call. Others in my locality must dial 1 to call me. A good feature is that it will email if I get a call. Because the price is low, I will support these guys and hope they can bust open the monopoly on high phone service just like the prepaids did on cell phones. Worth supporting.

Recommended: Yes

Pros: It's really that cheap.

Cons: It's about half a phone.

Bottom Line: I can dig the price, and I bought one. I used it on laptops, desktops, and eventually installed it on an old Pentium 800 mghz 1/2 gig ram Dell... that was a solo application. It seemed to work best in local calls. Some long distance works quite well, but various cities it seems to have troubles with, and I have had dropped calls. I guess I really was hoping for a REAL phone. And this thing is just about half a phone. Yeah, you can plug it in, and make a call. Most of the time it seems to work, and sometimes you get clipping in the voice. Problem is that in this day and age we ALL want whatever we use to work and work well ALL the time! We get used to most of what we buy working reliably!

This just does not do that. Yes, it makes calls. But it can be frustrating and it can be an embarrassment to the people you call, who will sometimes complain about your voice fading in and out, or sounding choppy. I've done all the fixes I can find at the magic jack forum, and it is still just not really there. I am thinking of NOT renewing my time now that one year has passed.

Recommended: No

Pros: Cheap as compared to other VOIP services and portable too.

Cons: Too many to name. Unreliable is the top one.

Bottom Line: Overall, MJ is a cheap service but lately it is a frustration to use it. Therefore, it is a waste of money and time to use it especially for important calls and faxes. Funny when it was time to renew we were debating if we should do so and during those days we had no trouble calling or faxing. The same old problems came back after we paid the renewal fee, so don't know if it's coincident or not.

Recommended: No

Pros: THERE ARE NONE. WELL, I GUESS IT OCCASIONALLY MAKES A SUCCESSFUL CALL. MAYBE LIKE 1 OUT OF 10

Bottom Line: THIS THING IS A WASTE OF MONEY. DONT BUY IT AT ALL. IT'S A 50/50 CHANCE IF YOU'RE TRYING TO MAKE A CALL. WHEN YOU DO MAKE A CALL IT SOUNDS LIKE SOMEONE IS PUSHING THE BUTTONS ON THE OTHER PHONE, ANNOYING. WHEN THE WIFE CALLS ME I COMPLAIN THAT SHE'S GOTTA BE PUSHING THE BUTTONS ON HER PHONE. HER PHONE COULD BE ON HANDS FREE AND YOU HEAR THE BUTTONS BEING PUSHED. I ONLY USE THIS TO FORWARD MY CALLS FROM MY CELL BECAUSE I HAVE NO VERIZON SIGNAL HERE. OH, ANOTHER THING. IF YOU ARE SURFING THE WEB, PLAYING A GAME ONLINE, IF YOUR PHONE RINGS FORGET ABOUT SURFING BECAUSE IT WILL KNOCK YOU OFF THE NET NO QUESTIONS ASKED. YOU DONT WANT THIS THING.

Recommended: No

Pros: Low cost - and it had better be for the poor quality!

Cons: It hardly ever works properly. Who wants a product that does not work as advertised?

Bottom Line: I'm VERY disappointed with the Magic Jack. I bought and mailed it to my deployed husband so he could connect it to his laptop and talk to me back home in the States. More often than not, when he calls me, I cannot hear him even though he can hear me. And when we DO finally get connected so I can hear him, his sound cuts out shortly into the conversation, so we're forced to hang up so he can call back and try again. Also, when I try to call him, I am sent directly to a voicemail he cannot access, so we're limited to him calling me. It is horribly frustrating.

Recommended: No

Pros: -----> Cheap service <-----

Cons: Call cutout improvements needed
You need a dedicated, clean running, always on PC


Bottom Line: It installs as stated and as others have said should be on a dedicated always on PC or at least on its own user account

call quality is fine with a fast ISP connection but you do get blips of 2 way "cutout" silence so it's confusing and hard to understand for both ends when this happens. I think this will end in time or at decrease..

I also have had a couple of times where I will get a long pressed keypad note come up in the middle of a conversation for no good reason.

Sometimes works better than others as far as net traffic.

BUT IT IS DIRT CHEAP!

Recommended: Yes

Pros: I LIKE THAT YOU CAN SAVE NUMBERS TO YOUR ADDRESS BOOK ON MAGIC JACK

Cons: SOME USB PORTS WONT WORK ON IT BUT AT LEAST ONE WILL.
WOULD BE NICE IF I COULD KEEP MY OWN NUMBER IN MY AREA.

Bottom Line: WORKS GREAT ! SOUND QUALITY IS GREAT,GREAT PRICE FOR THE PRODUCT AND YOU SAVE BIG BUCKS OVER THE PHONE COMPANY PRICE.
I WOULD RECOMEND THIS PRODUCT 100%.

Recommended: Yes

Pros: CHEAP!
Easy to use and set up.
Can use my phone anywhere I go. Great if you travel and stay in hotels!

Cons: Service isn't that great. I would say that the "hiccups" in the service are more than occasional. I wouldn't want to use this line for a very important call.
Computer must be on and connected to internet to use, wastes electricity.


Bottom Line: Great as a second phone when a cell is your main phone but wouldn't suggest as a "main" phone to use. Good for use with a lap top but wouldn't suggest for use with a desktop because leaving the computer on all the time hikes up the electric bill. I would not say that this product is as good as a regular land or other internet line.

Recommended: Yes

Pros: Great value. Ease of use. Saves me $100.00 per month.

Cons: So inexpensive that people can`t believe it`s for real.

Bottom Line: This product does as advertised. Most problems are plainly operator error. If a person is the least bit computer savvy, there are no real problems.

Recommended: Yes

Pros: The price...definitely!
Small and very portable.
Cuts down on annoying calls from telemarketers, wrong numbers, and being bothered when your computer is in hibernation mode.
It emails all voicemail call with the phone number and length of call.

Cons: The software is very annoying with the pop-up screen.
You have to be careful when loading and unloading the USB for it can break.
You sometimes can't hear the person you are talking to depending on your internet connection.


Bottom Line: I bought two at first since my husband and I were always traveling and we could always go to a hotel with wi-fi and use our laptops instead of paying to use the phone. I thought the Magic Jack was great. It saved a lot since we didn't have to use the cell phones all the time, plus I got rid of the home phone and that cut down on people calling with the wrong number and telemarketers. I love how it emails your messages and I bought one and shipped it to family overseas and that has done wonders for calling overseas, especially for the price.

However, I do get annoyed with the software and also how sometimes you can't always hear what the person on the other line is saying. You really need a reliable internet connection for this to properly work, but I can hook up a cheap $10 phone with caller ID and I feel that for $20.00 a year, this is a really good buy.

Recommended: Yes

Pros: 1. Sound quality good
2. Price

Cons: 1. Have to use on a wired connection. Wireless is choppy and very inconsistent.
2. Sometimes callers hear annoying blips of silence when talking to you.
3. Music on Hold is cool...but who picks the music?

Bottom Line: In my opinion the Majic Jack works well. Overall sound quality is good, stability has been good, and although there are a couple annoyances, it is a $20/yr telephone worth every penny.

Recommended: Yes

Pros: - Great portability
- Wonderful service
- The price is out of this world
- More features are being added as we speak

Cons: - Occasional service hiccups
- The service pop-up box is a little annoying
- We'd love to use our own number, but it's not available yet

Bottom Line: My Wife and I are so completely satisfied with the <a href="http://www.chikkador.com/">Magic Jack</a>, it's not even funny! Even though it has a few hiccups here and there, how can you possibly beat the price? Compared to the other VOIP providers, Magic Jack has better features, a way better price and will only get sweeter with time!

Recommended: Yes

Pros: None

Cons: Every thing! Beware!

Bottom Line: Don't fall for the scam, this company has no security of your data like credit card # and your password. You can not change your own password without giving them new e-mail address. You can not delete or remove your credit card from their file. You can not talk to live person, or to anyone for your complain. Chat only. I have been scammed by this company, you don't get refund for any thing. It may look cheap, but once you are scammed, bottom line it is way costly.

Recommended: No

Bottom Line: for the price I can't complain. took me no time at all to set up. It's just an extra # I needed in addition to my home line and Vongage and it's working great. no complaints at all

Recommended: Yes

Pros: low cost - good sound quality - easy set up -

Cons: no fax / can't turn off call waiting

Bottom Line: Cannot turn off call waiting and I find getting my messages awkward ... sometimes muddlled sound - but I like the note pad ... call tracking ... phone book - great for salespeople & consultants. I hate Verizon & this + my cell are a good alernative. I used 3" cord & scotch taped the jack gto the side of my PC so it does not stick out or get pulled out.

Recommended: Yes

Pros: price

Cons: rebooting the computer. Callers not being able to hear me

Bottom Line: I have renewed my Magic Jack for a second year paying 20.00. The device is not perfect but a great compliment to owning a cell phone. I am able to select a cheaper rate plan with less minutes because I use my Magic Jack phone at home. Magic Jack requires the computer to be on for it to work. My computer is always on when I am home so that is no an issue for me. When I am at work the Magic jack voice mail is emailed to me and I listen at my convenience. I plan on dedicating an old computer that uses less power to my magic Jack phone. The inconveniance of occasional problems with Magic jack is far outweighed by the cost savings. I pay $20.00 a year for Magic Jack and $40.00 a month for my cell phone compared to about $600 a year to verizon.

Recommended: Yes

Pros: 1) Affordable - and makes it worth a little more effort
2) Basically works as advertised as long as you have a strong internet connection
3) Getting the voice mails delivered to my emails is excellent!
4) The customer service folks via chat are quicker then trying to call 611 on a landline for help

Cons: 1) Best used with a dedicated system, not a computer you are trying to work on
2) Heavy internet traffic will make the sound pretty choppy
3) Don't count on ever getting number portability - they keep promising, but so far don't seem to really be too interested in ever delivering on that promise.

Bottom Line: No, it doesn't work with faxes, No, it's not a smart idea to rely on as your primary business phone line (but I wouldn't trust any VoIP line as my actual business line!)

I've been using 2 magic jacks for over 6 months now. One for my weekly work travel, set up on my laptop over whatever WiFi connection I can get on. That didn't work so well- due to weak unpredictable wifi connections, but over all in a few months It had still saved me enough cell minutes to pay for itself, so I can't really complain.
The second one I have used in my house, with a ethernet connection on both a mac and pc. It seems to be more reliable on the Macintosh then the dedicated PC. And like any phone line, it will only be as good as the quality of the phone you are using.

The overall sound quality with fast internet, and a decent phone is above that of a cell phone, and only slightly less then a hard line.

We are now using one of the magicjacks as a primary home phone. We also have a cable VoIP line and google voice so we can use which ever phone we want each time a call comes in. All in all, it's saving me over $80/month being able to dump Verizon. which is WELL worth the few hassles of rebooting, etc.

Recommended: Yes

Pros: Price is the lower then all other phone companies

Cons: Might have to also buy a usb port adapter for under 10 bucks

Bottom Line: If you are having voice quality issues all you need to do is buy a USB port with an adapter. It takes lots of energy from the computer to make a call so when you have a powered usb you don't have to worry about the computers usage.

Recommended: Yes

Pros: Small

Cons: Not compatable with some PC. Would not recommened this hardware to anyone.

Bottom Line: Magicjack is falsley advertised. First it says when you get it , " Just plug it in and make phone calls that's all you do.
WRONG, you have a lenthy registration and a lot of other setup.
I had (4) of the best techs from MJ. try to help me to even get MJ to connect. four of the so called tech speicalist from MJ tried to make my MJ. connect. They did after all my security features had been dissabled, I mean all of them. After inviting the in to my PC and speending an hr or so they said the problem was solved."You will connect now with No problem. (4Techs) I rebooted and nothing, would not connect. Then the send you help steps from the MJ help menu and you have to have a degree to figure that one out, and I myself do know a little about PC fixes.

Recommended: No

Pros: Easy to install.

Telephone Directory feature.

Cons: Some calls experience a few seconds of breaks.

Magic Jack is a bit large for a USB device and you must be careful not to bend it while your PC is one. Since USB inputs have electricity flowing when the PC is running, you could potentially short out your motherboard by hitting the Magic Jack.

Bottom Line: Based on the costs for Magic Jack, less than $40.00 to purchase and about $20.00 a year thereafter, it is an outstanding value.

The product does pretty much what is claims to do.

Recommended: Yes

pros: Portable,can be used in other pcs. Very good voice/sound as long as it has a good internet connection.

cons: Looks fragile I would suggest making it more sturdier.
The software has some annoying pop-ups when starting the device.

Bottom line: I live outside the usa in Colombia and do a lot of bussiness with the usa. Got the magic jack in Best Buy on a trip to NY last june.

Being here in south america I now can call anywhere in the usa for almost nothing, device has already paid for itself many times in 2 months. It does require a good internet connection of at least 1000k, excellent product.

Sorry for the phone companies that won't be able to take our money away.

Recommended: Yes

Bottom Line: It was great at first but because phone dsl line is full of static, you can barely hear anything...unfortunately, nothing you can do about it unless you are willing to change unto Cable DSL.
With kids, this product BROKE EASILY. Usb pokes out and once anyone bumps into and breaks it off....ITS OVER!! Wish they made it more sturdy or made it where it doesnt poke out so much!

Recommended: Yes

Pros: Cheap, works well even on older hardware!


Cons: If you find it annoying, try running it on a spare obsolete computer!

Bottom Line: This product is great, but as Mordy points out, its sort of annoying to have the software running on your main computer and having to leave your computer on (especially since a computer like mine uses 300+ watts to leave on!).

But I found a great solution:
The magic jack doesn't need much to run- even an older Pentium III 500Mhz seems to handle it well, as long as it has a solid internet connection!
So, I dug up an obsolete laptop that was collecting dust, plugged it in and installed the magic jack on it.

Then under Windows power settings, I set it to stay on even with the lid closed, and never go into standby as long as it is plugged on.

I then plugged it into my home phone line, shut the lid of the laptop and hid it lying on its side next to my desk.
Now I don't have to look at the annoying interface popping up or deal with any software cluttering up my main workstation... plus, the old laptop only consumes about 20 Watts of electricity- much better than leaving my desktop on for phone calls!

I understand that not everyone has an old laptop lying around, but you can pick up an old outdated laptop for $100-$200 these days. Its still cheaper than paying 30+ a month for a phone line!

Recommended: Yes

Pros: Inexpensive, pretty reliable phone service if you have enough internet bandwidth.

Cons: Fax doesn't work, and some line quality issues. Computer must be on to make or receive calls.

Bottom Line: I think MagicJack is a pretty good value--remember it's only $40 for the hardware and one year of service and $20/year thereafter. I used voice-over-internet-protocol (VOIP) years ago when it first came out and the re-re-re-peat-peat-peat-ing drove me crazy, never mind line drops. The repeating is now occasional (anyone know the cause?) and line drops for voice are rare. I suspect you need enough bandwidth (like cable) to avoid line drops. But it does not work with my fax, or at minimum seems to take several tries to send or receive. So it would be good if MagicJack warned you about this.

You cannot make or receive calls unless your computer is on, however voicemail does work if the computer is off. And I suspect call forwarding would work as well.

So, for $20, I think it's a pretty good value. Compare the cost of a second line (to your cell phone) through a landline phone company--no comparison.

Recommended: Yes

Pros: Excellent Value, Sound quality same or better than cellphone and regular phone service. Highly recommended. Also included voicemail and now you can adjust the number of rings before voicemail will answer.

Cons: No Porting your phone number yet to the magicjack

Bottom Line: Usually voip companies gives you a lot more for your money compare to the regular phone companies. Now Magicjack does give you the usual standard features for a lot less money. Great if you travel abroad or as matter of facts anywhere. You can take your phone service with you. I disconnected my phone line coming into the house from the phone company box and then connected the magicjack into one of the phone jacket in the house and now all my house phone work perfectly. Sound quality is excellent. By the way Computers with Vista these days recommend to leave them on all the time. The computer system goes into sleep mode and magic jack still works.

Recommended: Yes

Pros: It has a neat blue light when you plug it in!

Cons: Doesn't work.

Bottom Line: I bought MJ to use as a business line. I'm three months into starting my business and thought this would be the perfect phone line for me as the cost is unbeatable. You pay for what you get... and what I got was a plastic piece of trash.

From obnoxious "button tones" during conversation to random call drops, the device is almost not usable. A few times a week, I get an "error 3" or "error 9" message and am unable to use it at all.

Magic Jack has cost me both time and money. This week, I might take it to the driving range and beat it with a golf club.

Recommended: No

back to top Write a Review back to top

back to top