MagicJack – Scam or Real Thing?

Aside from the worthless and largely amateur website (I don’t care about the dogs of the alleged founder’s daughter – why is this video on the home page?!), the MagicJack appliance itself works – when it’s actually working. However, if something goes wrong Customer Support is absolutely TERRIBLE and only done by Chat (Strangely, the company does not provide a phone or even Corporate address) . The support is conducted with FAQ and Chat responses that read like canned responses – it is as if the reps simply cut and paste responses, without actually taking the time to trouble shoot and remedy problems with the device. I have had a number of un-resolved and unexplained technical issues with MagicJack – Be prepared to be transferred from rep to rep and having to re-explain numerous times. I am a Media Executive and have tried a number of other services (Vonage, Google, Skype, Qwest, Time Warner) and the bottom line is that I would NOT recommend the MagicJack product or service – MagicJack is awful and I strongly suggest that you use another service.

I don’t know what these features mean. I just wanted to say I have just gotten off the “chat” with MagicJack support & they were great with me. Even fixed my problem!!!

I purchased magic Jack sometime ago. I am just getting around to instaling thr Magic Jack

Do i need any special instructions

Thank you

Majic Jack is a cheap plastic hunk of junk. I bought one 3 months ago. It worked adequately for a while, although sound quality was mediocre and call were frequently dropped right in the middle of a conversation. The the blue light went out and my computer told me my USB device had malfunctioned. Hours on the tech chat failed to resolve the problem. I was walked through the same steps four different times by four different techs. Bottom line, it doesn’t work and the only way to contact anyone is by “chat”. No one will authorize a return and if the do, you pay S&H both ways at $7 a pop. Save your money. Majic Jack is junk.

I have had the magic jack for about two weeks, and so far it works great, we had to make a few small adjustments so that it came in clearer (which we figured out after reading the instructions), but other than that it works just like any other phone ive had. no one can tell the difference including me…but like i said ive had it for a short time. we will see if the good service continues

RE: “Many complaints have been filed that even though it is supposed to be ‘free’, credit card charges show up anyway, and there is little or no way to get them reversed.”
Yes, there is a way that you can have credit card purchases reversed. Here’s the method:
It is called a “charge back” and is offerd by all credit card companies/banks. Contact your card provider, ask about the “charge back” and they will send a form to you to be filled out. Return the form to them, and they will, after investigating your complaint, credit your account, and debit the dubious Business. If most everyone who has such problems did this, the disreputable businesses would stop. The problem is that not very many people know about the charge back procedure, and I would guess the banks aren’t exactly gpoing to trumpet it to the world, since it means lots of investigative work. But you WILL get your money back. Another tactic is to “threaten” the business in question, that you will be intitiating a charge back, and watch how they react. I’ll bet a refund will be coming PDQ.
Just FYI !!

Magic Jack customer service is reprehensible. The product did not work as promised, and they refused to refund the money.

I am going to resort to a charge back.

I have used Magicjack since January 2008, this was before they had international calling, in Febuary they started the international calling feature there was a couple of hickups at first but they were quickly resolved. As for customer service, I called them a couple of at the beginning and the service was great, they even contacted me at home by phone to ensure that everything was working fine.

Bought the Majic Jack pluged it in followed instrutions on screen and it works great. Just ordered two more for my kids away at school. Alot cheaper then cell minutes. I have only had it for a week time will tell but for a dollar a year I get free replacement.

Ok no it is not a scam. but it is not completely free beacus the magic jack uses no phone lines the company has nothing to maintain running wires for miles is costly magic jack travels through cyber space.there company profits off the device itself. i thought the exact same thing even when i bought it i was worried i got mine from sears the lady said i could bring it back if i wasnt pleased. but its all true i bought the device for $40.00 and that covers me for 1 year of free service and the next year $10.00 every year i make a $10.00 but that $10.00 a year doesnt compare to regular phone lines. not only that but the features are great as a teen i love the fact that i can have a seperate line then the rest of the house i can pick my own number. and you dont even have to plug a phone in it if you dont want to if your computer has speakers and a microphone you can do it right from your desktop. and i like the fact that i can pute someone on hold it will play music for them. theres also a voicemail it goes strait to your email and you can access it from ur phone.and just in case theres a 911 button. all of these features caller id directory voice mail are all free
email me dennco.wireless@gmail.com and i will let you call my computer. but only for today cus that would suck if people kept calling

I bought a Magicjack and keep it forwarded to a cellphone. It’s a great price for voice mail.

I had some complaints when I called out on that my voice kept “cutting out.”

Okay, the solutions are quite easy these days. Just google it.

Then I found the solution. Get an AC powered USB hub. I have it plugged into a strip hub that I bought from Big Lots.

I gambled on ebay that I only needed the cord. I saw similar strips with cords advertised from Hong Kong for about $6. I found just the cord from Hong Kong for about $3, and ordered it.

The cord fit my USB hub, and now I seem to be getting much more power than off the computer. My transmssion is vastly improved.

Someone sells even more powerful hubs made of metai for other $20, and suggests those. But I’m doing just fine with the cheaper one.

Another cool suggestion is to buy an internet router to split the high speed connection cord and to get a junker computer from a thrift store or pawn shop with a working connection, plug the Magicjack into it, and use that computer only for the Magicjack and keep that computer on all the time.

I’m on Time Warner Roadrunner and evetually plan on ditching my landline and using the cable for my main phone with cell phone backup.

I am recently unemployed and cannot be without a phone, so ‘magic jack’ to the rescue.

I now have a dedicated line that is cost effective.

Free voice mail, call forwarding to any phone number.

My cheap laptop is my new best friend.

We go down to the local library, coffee house, bookstore, wherever we can connect with the free wi-fi.

No more over priced cell phone contracts.

I just get on my cordless phone,(not at the library) and return any messages left at my e-mail address.

This product is a great money saver.

When i do return to work, i expect i may not even call the phone company back.

make my

I tried a Magicjack and the biggest problem I discovered is that if I needed to call 911 it would not connect me to our regional emergency dispatch center. Instead I was connected to an unrecognized dispacher located 900 miles away in another state and that after a considerable delay. While MJ does work you should consider this rather important aspect before signing on.

Checking out reviews for Magic Jack, but wanted to make sure everyone knew that in your home, if you have a jack and a line connected to your house, you have 911. Even if you have no home phone service. So keep a phone line plugged into the wall jack for emergencies.

I bought a Magic Jack almost a year ago. During the first few months the service (can’t beat the price) was nominal, dropped calls not too frequent but some on my conversation complaining they couldn’t hear me.

As of this writing I’ve had a huge issue with incoming calls not being able to be answered, in other words call comes through, I pick up and no voice from them nor from me to my party. I recently upgraded to Win 7 and saw they had an update so moved it off my XP machine. I can only hope it’s better.

The software needs a major rework as options (such as turning off automatic pop-up on incoming and outgoing calls) are limited ; still the price is right for those on a budget.

I found this page by accident and I believe a lot of negitive comments about magicjack are nothing but rants from trolls who’s pockets are getting lighter from competition.

I have Magicjack. I have never once or even come close to ever having a problem using it. When Microsoft released Windows 7, they already had an upgrade patch that workd flawlessly.

The only people who have problems with it have a computer that has problems with it’s self.
It’s like you got a head gasket in your car about to wear out and you just put some BG engine cleaner in it and it just made an already existing problem show it’s self faster.

The point I’m making is that Magicjack on it’s own is perfectly fine. Your computer just as well has problems you haven’t noticed yet.

I’ve tested my Magicjack dongle on 11 computers so far. 2 macs, 2 wine emulated Linux and the rest on Windows 2k, XP, Vista,
WIN7. On old and new machines, never the same one. How come it works for me? Maybe because I am a computer tech who knows how to build a WORKING computer and knows how to take care of it.

This goes for a lot of other products out there. It’s not always the fault of the attachment, it could be what it’s attached too.

Maybe I should call or email Magicjack and ask them if they could pay me for writing this. Hah hah hah, wishful thinking…

i purchased the magic jack unit from best buy; oh what an ordeal. i tried for approximately 5 hours to register, however, i was not able to. technical issues, such as downloading the program, restarting the download, error codes started to flash. all along i spoke (chat) with at least 5 persons. one of those persons was so automated that i had to ask him if he was human or a machine. they kept on reassuring me that all is well, and that the system will be up (since it was upgrading), however, nothing came up, and after 5 hours of exhaustive trying, my PC security system warned me that there was a grave risk from downloading the magic Jack’s program. that was the end. i find magicjak’s claims to be false and their system of operations faulty. they misled me to believe it would take me three minutes to download, install and register, however, this was not the case. a shameful act on behalf of magic jack…

Since there’s a load of negative stuff out on the ‘net about MagicJack, I wanted to document my POSITIVE experience with this device: It worked for me, first time and every time.

I work in IT and, while I program for a living now, I spent nearly a decade designing, building and managing workplace IP networks for a variety of gov’t, medical and university bosses. I think I know “Voice over IP” technology pretty well – and more importantly, I know what can go wrong when ordinary folks try to set suck complex systems up!

The bottom line with MagicJack is that it’ll work amazing well for MOST people, right out of the box, and you’ll never think twice about it… But if you are in the unlucky minority and things fail frequently for you, you need to look at factors outside of the USB dongle itself.

Use this thing with a modern dual core PC if possible. Make sure your Internet connection is really “broadband” – and isn’t being overloaded and dragged to a crawl by too much traffic at some times of the day. Be wary of local terrestrial wireless links in your path to the Internet – and satellite links as well – since these links can be problematic when the rain falls and the wind blows hard…

But do give MagicJack a try. For $40 in the first year, it’s a good gamble – and most of you will like the service just fine.

Well…put it like this. I have been using the MJ for a year. I travel out of the US frequently and have been in Colombia for almost 3 months.

I saw the potential for savings early on with my MJ and went out and purchased a mini HP laptop for $299 and a VTech phone for $59.99

I only use this PC in airports and when I am at a hotel or villa with high speed internet. This combo has saved me THOUSANDS!Will my brother had $2000 a month charges on his AT&T bill because of incoming and out going calls with his mobile. My bill stayed at the norm of $80 a month. I would just forward my mobile number to my MJ whenever I left the country.

His bill got so bad that he lost his AT&T account for none payment so now he does not have use of his iPhone…ha ha I still got mine!

Thanks MJ

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