How much do you pay per year for your phone? If you have a regular land line phone service with even just a few features (like call waiting, caller id, etc…) you are probably paying somewhere around the $50/month mark (or more). If you multiply that by 12, that means you are paying around $600 a year for basic phone service, and that doesn’t even include long distance charges.
We thought we were smart a few years back when we switched to Vonage, which is a VoiP or Voiceover IP service. Vonage sent us a box that we hooked up to our internet router, then we hooked our phone into the box, and voila! – we had phone service! With taxes and everything, we have been paying around $30 a month, which translates into $360 a year. Definitely better than the $600+ we were paying before! (NOTE: VoiP phone services are different in some ways than regular phone lines, so make sure to read through the terms and information carefully if you are new to VoiP. We love VoiP, but not everyone does.)
Well last week, my father-in-law (who is up on all the latest and greatest techie inventions) called us and told us that he had found the greatest thing since sliced bread! He had just purchased something called a Magic Jack phone line and was now only paying $20 a YEAR for phone service. Wait… $20 A YEAR???? We just had to look into this, so my husband started doing research and sure enough, you really can get full phone service for $20 a year! The company, Magic Jack, is so confident in their product that they are letting customers do a 30 day risk-free trial of the Magic Jack (you pay nothing, not even shipping, until after your 30 day trial is up).
So, of course, my money-savin’ hubby went to their site and ordered the risk-free trial! We got our Magic Jack in last Thursday, but we were leaving to go out of town so I didn’t get a chance to set it all up until today. And let me just say, I am SUPER impressed. You get free local and long distance calling, free caller id, free call waiting, free call forwarding, free three way calls, and free voice mail!
In my opinion, Magic Jack is even BETTER than Vonage because you can very easily take it with you wherever you go. This means that you can have your home phone line with you wherever you have an internet connection.
Since I was setting it up today, I decided to take pictures of the setup to show you how easy (and when I say easy… I really don’t think there is a way this could have been easier!) it is to set up.
1) Took the product out of the package.
2) Plugged my cordless phone base into the Magic Jack and plugged the Magic Jack into the USB port on my laptop.
3) Waited about a minute while it installed.
4) Filled in my registration info and chose my area code.
5) Made my first, CRYSTAL CLEAR, phone call! You can dial either from the screen on the computer, or you can just pick up the phone and dial!
And it gets even better. I set it up on my laptop at first, but then decided that I wanted to put it in the office hooked up to our desktop since our desktop is on all of the time. So I just plugged the Magic Jack into the desktop, and it automatically did everything to get it set up on that computer (I didn’t have to enter my info in again or anything). I just plugged it in, waited about a minute for it to install the software on our desktop, and then picked up the phone and dialed!
I am so, SO excited that we get to cancel our current phone line and save $340 a year!! Well, actually this first year of service we will ONLY 
be saving $320 because we have to pay $20 for the Magic Jack device.
Here are a couple of other things about the Magic Jack you might like to know:
* We have 3 cordless phones in our house that all work off of one “base” in the office. We plugged that base into the Magic Jack and ALL of the phones work great (just like they would with a traditional phone line).
* If you have a kid that wants their “own” phone line, you can get them their own Magic Jack to use for only $20 a year (in addition to yours) and they can have their own number!
* You can check your voicemail from anywhere (like you would with a cell phone), AND they send you an email when you have a new voicemail.
If your interest is piqued, I highly recommend trying the risk-free 30-day free trial (they don’t charge you a cent, not even for shipping, until the end of the 30 days!) You can get to their page by clicking HERE. We have just used it for a day and we are completely SOLD!
**NOTE: The service is $20 per year, but the first year you have to buy the Magic Jack device at $19.95 plus shipping (so it comes out to $39.95 plus shipping for the first year). Then every year after that you will only be charged $20 for the service.
FYI: To get the free trial, MAKE SURE you do NOT select the “5 years for $59.95 plan” during checkout or you will be charged immediately (instead of at the end of your 30 day trial).
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We have had Magic Jack for about a month and LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!
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I went to sign up for the free trial and noticed that it said on the 31st day I would be charged $39.95 plus shipping. I don’t see the $20.00 a year anywhere. Even at $39.95 it is a great deal, but $20 would be better.
Thanks!
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Moiralin,
It is $20 a year for the service, but you have to buy the Magic Jack device for $19.95 as well. Then each year after the first will only be $20.
I will update the post to be clearer on that.
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OH! Thanks so much!
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I was trying to figure out from the website how i would keep our internet? I pay almost $100.00 every month on both phone and internet! Ouch! We don’t have wireless in our area so I’m guessing I still would have to pay for internet only?
Can’t wait to tell hubby about it! Thanks!
Marisa
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Marisa,
We have DSL as well, and our phone company lets us have a very basic line (you can’t even make calls from it) for about $10 a month. That way we can still have DSL through them, but not pay a huge phone bill. You might want to check with your phone company to see if they have something like that.
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but you’d have to get a new phone number, right?
And when the power is down there’s no phone, right?
Just trying to get the whole picture.
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January 19th, 2010 at 2:52 am
@DESJ and Company,
You can set your pc up with a battery backup, can get costly. or run a backup power source.
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we have it and love it. We bought it to call my mom because I was spending $20 a month in long distance calls. Love It!!!!!
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DESJ,
Yes, that is correct. It is the same as any other VoiP service. We still have our cell phones so that we can call somewhere if there is a power outage. And most friends call our cell phone anyway, so it’s really just family that we will be giving the new phone number to.
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Do you know how 911 works (or doesn’t) with it?
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There is a 911 service, but, as with any internet phone service, it is different than the traditional one. From what I’ve read, it is an automated service and (as long as you have your address registered) they will send a dispatch to your house immediately when it is called. They do recommend that you have an alternate means of contacting 911 (ours is our cell phone) in case of a power outage. Also, instead of going through the 911 dispatch, you can program the numbers for the local police, fire and ambulance into your phone (and cell phone), so that you can contact them directly.
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Hi..Just one questain..Does the Magic Jack only work while the computer is on? What if you lose power? Or do they have an alternate way of hooking up? Like to the Modem? Just asking…
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Anonymous,
Yes, it only works while the computer is on (ours is on all the time anyway). Vonage, on the other hand will work even if the computer is off — but it’s $30 a month.
If you lose power, then any VoiP service will not work. Many people have switched over to mostly using cell phones anyway, so this typically isn’t a problem.
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Here’s my question: Does it only work on one phone? Do you have to take the Jack with you to use another phone? On the website it said you can get a free trial of 2 Magic Jacks. Why would someone need 2? We have phones upstairs and downstairs so it would be a pain to have to bring the jack upstairs to have a phone by us at night.
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Gauger Family,
If you have a cordless phone system, you can use that to hook up multiple phones all over the house. We have a cordless phone with the base in the office hooked up to the Magic Jack, and then we have a cordless phone in the living room and in our bedroom (all on the same line as the Magic Jack). There is actually a cordless phone system with two phones that you can get right now from frys.com for only $26 SHIPPED: http://shop3.frys.com/product/5848373
This system (similar to the one we have) has multiple phones, but you only have to plug one of them into the phone line. The other phones just get plugged into an electrical outlet anywhere in the house. (Some phone systems like this even have up to four phones that you can put anywhere in the house).
The two-phone system at Fry’s would provide you with a phone downstairs as well as upstairs.
Also, someone would get two Magic Jacks if they wanted two separate phone lines (like one for them and one for the kids). You could even have a different phone number for every computer!
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We have had Magic Jack for 6 months and love it. All three phones work off of the unit plugged in the computer.
susan
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Thank you for this post! I’ve been curious about this for a while, but I’m always a little suspicious about the “as seen on TV” type things and deals that seem too good to be true…
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DomesticAcademic,
I’m typically suspicious about this type of stuff too! To be honest, I probably wouldn’t have even looked at it if my father-in-law hadn’t told us about it and how much he loved it. I’m very glad we looked into it! I’ve been using it all day and it’s been great!
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I ordered one of these after seeing it on another blog and I returned mine. The sound quality was terrible and unless your USB port is clearly exposed as on a laptop, it’s hard to get it to plug in.
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I ordered one several weeks ago and just have not hooked it up as I had several questions…1) about having to get a new phone number and notifying all of your important contacts, i.e., mortgage, credit cards, banks, etc. of the new number…also 2) when you stop your current phone line, what does your desktop computer use to access the internet. I am considering setting it up and keeping my current number for a couple of months. Also about power outages, would a backup unit work with it. I know they don’t last long, but enough time to call 911 or local power company.
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Anonymous,
1) We didn’t notify anyone of our new number except our friends! We don’t necessarily care about the other contacts contacting us anyway.
Actually, most of our friends have our cell numbers which is what we use most of the time. The house number is mainly for the free long distance.
2) I’m guessing you have DSL internet. Our phone company sells a very very basic phone line (you can’t make calls from it) for around $10 a month so that we can have DSL service. You could also get a cable modem and get rid of your phone line completely. We were already using Vonage, so it wasn’t a big switch for us.
3) I’m pretty sure that a backup unit would work during a power outage. We also have a cell phone to use as backup.
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We got a majack jack last year. It is clear but we have a problem with when we use it on a computer the other computers in the house don’t recieve a wifi signal.So if I was on the internet and one of my daughters wanted to use the phone I would lose the internet. And vise versa. We use a router for the laptops to get the wifi,is there a way to do it differently?
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We use a wifi router (Linksys) and haven’t had a problem getting internet while on the phone. The Magic Jack is attached to one of the computer with a wireless card, so I don’t know if that would make a difference or not.
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Our router is a (Belkin) and we have had it hooked up to laptops with a wireless card also but we still can’t use both at the same time. It is probably just the users.
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Is there any change when you have a security system?
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I think it depends on the security system that you have. You might want to call your security company and see if it will work with a VoiP phone system.
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To use the Magic Jack, must you leave your computer on 24/7? I have Vonage for a total cost of $26.07/month and use this as my main phone line. I rarely even turn on my cell phone. When if factor in the cose to keep my PC turned on 24/7 and the ware and tear so to speak, I’m not sure this is for me. But it sure is a cheap way to go if it works for you.
Joy
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Joy,
For us, our main phone line was (and still it) our cell phones. We had Vonage so that we could call long distance. Magic Jack has worked out really well for us as a secondary phone number, an our computer was on pretty much all the time anyway.
But if someone didn’t want to have a computer up and running most of the time then you’re right, the $30 a month for Vonage would be the way to go. At least it’s less than a line through the traditional phone companies!
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Magic Jack is going to have it where you can keep your existing home telephone number sometime in 2009. I plan on keeping my phone line until they get the new system working. Call them for details.
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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. You can buy one for under 7 bucks at EFORCITY.com
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I have had magicjack for 2 months and love it I live in an area that dont get cable im out in the county but my magicjack works great
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would i be able to use magicjack and wifi at the same time without call or internet disruption? i’m using a windows vista at home on a pc.
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October 19th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
@Tammy, Tammy, yep!! I have Magic Jack on my computer that I use during the day and I never have a disruption in internet service. It’s awesome!
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I’ve been wondering about Magic Jack……. I ordered one with the free trial and LOVE it……. I do a lot of reading and learning how people use theirs. Thanks for the reading material you gave me and others with your experience !
I do not work for these sites but, thought they could help others ….
http://www.magicjacksupport.com/ …….. This site can help anyone with tips, ticks, and tweeks, and troubl shoot with any problems they may be experiencing. When not couponing and reading your site I have been reading here. This site also helps out with a list of phones that work best for the magic jack and can help out people that may be having problems with there caller ID not working rite. (( look up “100 K resistor, or CID resistor .” )) ((http://www.magicjacksupport.com/inbound-cid-possible-fix-t108.html ))
Also been reading about some guy that made an application called MAGICBEANS.. http://www.magicjacksupport.com/magicbeans-more-magic-for-your-jack-released-t5919.html or his site he is selling the app from… ( http://www.magicjackbeans.com/ ) this looks pretty cool as you can customize your Magicjack and settings… One can get lost with all this readings and one can have fun learning what you can do with your Magicjack… I hope this can help some with any problems they may be having.. I have not bought MAGICBEANS yet but thinking of it !! for those that don’t understand what applications can do they are like an app for your blackberry or iphone that can add features to your default product !!
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Are you still happy with magic jack? We bought it and have had problems with the connection…sometimes people can’t hear us and sometimes there is a very loud back ground noise that makes it hard for either side to hear. We are using it with roadrunner.
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Can you use two magic jacks on the same computer though?
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November 23rd, 2009 at 1:10 am
@Jackie, You wouldn’t need two Magic Jacks… just one of the cordless phone systems that you can have a base + other phones that are just hooked up to the electrical outlets. We have a system like that and it works great!
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@DRobinson – I’m “the guy” who wrote the MagicBeans feature-addition app for the magicJack. I now have hundreds of users with a nearly perfect percentage of them very happy with it. (The *very* few who weren’t had problems with their computers that they didn’t want to get advice on).
MagicBeans allows you to disable voicemail on the magicJack by settings the number of rings before it goes to voicemail. It also allows you to selectively block incoming calls based on their caller id (or lack of). You can also block all toll-free calls, anonymous callers, etc.,. MagicBeans has a bunch of other nice features, too.
You and others on this forum would be very welcome customers. I don’t give any guarantees, and have a very one-sided license agreement due to the all-too-many nuts out there; but I will unequivocally say that the software works great. If you have any issues, as long as you spend the time for me to help you get it working on your machine, then if I can’t help you, I will refund the purchase. This means that you’d agree and follow my advice on the necessary fixes to your machine. In every such case, when the customer followed my advice, they’ve become very happy MagicBeans customers.
FYI, for your confidence in my advice, I submit some brief credentials to you:
I have 35+ years experience with computers, both software and hardware, as a consultant to 60+ major corporations, as well as a retail computer repair business owner. I’ve been President and CEO of a “C” Corporation since 1985; and started my business in 1975 at age 15.
Please check out MagicBeans at http://www.magicjackbeans.com – Thanks!
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Do you have to have dsl to use a magic jack or can u use a wireless router
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January 7th, 2010 at 11:49 pm
@Liz, We have it hooked up to a computer that is connected to the internet through a wireless router and it still works great!
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How is a phone number asigned for magic jack? How much would calls internationally call, i.e. Europe from Canada?
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January 9th, 2010 at 1:36 am
I’m not sure how it works for Canada, but we were able to choose our area code when we signed up with Magic Jack. Rates to the UK start at 2¢/minute – you can view the full chart here: http://www.magicjack.com/international/
Hope that helps!
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is there a 519 area code number i am in that area in ontario
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Go outside your home, to the side of your house where the telephone service is going into the box. UNPLUG IT.
Put a cord from the Magic Jack to one of your wall jacks
You now can use any phone in the house that is plugged into other wall jacks.
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