VoIP - Which One? VoIP - Which One? - Page 2 - Talk of The Villages Florida

VoIP - Which One?

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  #16  
Old 09-20-2015, 06:11 PM
Polar Bear Polar Bear is offline
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I've installed the Magic Jack. Simple enough and there appears to be only one issue. Could be a deal breaker if not improved...

Voice volumes on the other end are low. From what we're told, we sound find to others, but we have a bit of difficulty hearing those we call or who call us. The clarity seems okay, but the volume is simply too low. Have any of you Magic Jack users experienced this? Do you think it might improve after the "port is completed"? (See the following...)

Here are a couple technical items listed in an email from Magic Jack.
-------------------------
* YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE INCOMING CALLS UNTIL THE PORT IS COMPLETED (5-10 Business Days). Until the port is completed, you will only be able to use your magicJack to make outbound calls.
* Transferring a number may take up to 10 business days to complete.
Until the port is completed, your phone number will remain with your current phone service.
--------------------------

The first item I can live with if the sound improves. But I'm fully prepared to part ways with MJ and give Ooma a try if necessary. On other hand, if the voice volume improves, I'm okay with MJ.

What do you think?
  #17  
Old 11-16-2015, 10:55 AM
Daveinfl Daveinfl is offline
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I know people who've Has been using MJ for years. I've never seen anyone attempt to use it to fax, Curious. Anyone Try? C.D.
  #18  
Old 11-16-2015, 10:58 AM
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Is there a way to setup MJ on your computer? Microphone and speaker setup? CD
  #19  
Old 11-16-2015, 10:58 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Daveinfl View Post
I know people who've Has been using MJ for years. I've never seen anyone attempt to use it to fax, Curious. Anyone Try? C.D.

I used it for several years strictly as a fax line. It worked ok, not well, but ok. Cheaper than adding a new land line.
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  #20  
Old 11-16-2015, 12:43 PM
rexxfan rexxfan is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Daveinfl View Post
I know people who've Has been using MJ for years. I've never seen anyone attempt to use it to fax, Curious. Anyone Try? C.D.
I've not tried fax on MJ, but I've tried it on Ooma and it seemed to work ok, although there's a special code they recommend you add to your dialing string to choose a codec that's somewhat more amenable to fax traffic (*99 if I recall correctly). I also tried to get it working on ViaTalk and had no luck whatsoever. Fax protocols have very tight timing requirements and do not deal with delayed (or dropped) packets well at all, so almost any Internet implementation of fax is going to be a hit or miss situation as delayed and dropped packets are pretty much the norm for the TCP/IP protocol (although TCP/IP has built-in recovery mechanisms so you almost never notice it, but fax does not).
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  #21  
Old 11-22-2015, 06:18 PM
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burky burky is offline
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We have used Ooma for several years and love it's many features. I can't speak to Magic Jack's capabilities but the Pros & cons we love about Ooma include...

PROS
** Can be used with Ooma wireless handsets or any standard telephone sets. To use the latter, with or without Ooma sets, disconnect your residence phone service from Ma Bell and then plug a phone cord from the Ooma control unit into any phone jack in your home and Ooma will then ring and allow the use of standard phones as if they were plugged into the Ma Bell system.
** Voice Messaging is standard and includes full answering machine functionality.
** The base station controller speaker allows you to screen callers, so you can hear any message they are leaving and decide to pick up the call, or not.
** The Ooma handsets are feature rich with caller ID, Call Directory, redial, Do Not Disturb feature to shut off ringer, and speaker phone.
** Ooma has Smart Phone Apps that let you view your call logs from anywhere to see who has called recently. The Apps also allow you to make calls from your Smart Phone (eg, iPhone, Android) as "Data" calls that do not use your phone "minutes" but use your data plan instead.
** All calls are free, and calls to other Ooma phones anywhere in the world are free. The only recurring costs are state and federal taxes levied on phone services. These fees amount to just $2-3 per month.

That is all included in the FREE (Basic) Plan. If you pay $10/mo for the Premier Plan then the following features are included (which I really love!)...

** Voice Messages are recorded and emailed to you immediately as MP3 files, so you can be immediately aware of messages and listen to them on your smart phone anywhere in the world.
** You can Block any phone number that calls you (such as telemarketers) so you are not bothered anymore.
** You can Block any calls with a caller ID of "Anonymous"
** You can automatically block any callers that are on the "Community Blacklist" where multiple Ooma Users have identified the caller as "Spam."
** You can instantly forward your calls (using your myOoma web portal) to another phone. (Nice when away from home even for just a few hours and you want to get your calls.)
** You get a 2nd phone line free, which rings if you are already on the phone on Line 1. You can also make the ring different on this 2nd line, so if you moved for instance, and want to keep your old number but have a new primary number in your new area code, then your old number can be assigned to line 2 with a unique ring so you can identify "back home" callers from your new local friends.

CONS
** The following is probably true of Magic Jack and any other VOIP phone too, but all of these phones have to convert a "standard" phone call into a digital data stream to send over the internet. The process of doing this conversion requires compromises between fidelity and data bandwidth. In an effort to keep data rate bandwidth low, these conversions tend to make voices "muffled" sounding as the high frequencies are not included. Thus sometimes a caller sounds like they have a washcloth over their phone, and can be hard to understand. On the other hand all Ooma to Ooma connections are very high fidelity and sound wonderful. So if you have hearing issues, you may want to buy family members an Ooma phone to save them money and give you nice crisp voices to listen to. [:-)}

In short, we have found the Ooma to be a pretty remarkable solution, that not only saves money but makes our lives easier.

[:-)}
  #22  
Old 11-22-2015, 07:03 PM
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dotti105 dotti105 is offline
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Magic Jack is CHEAP and works very well. We used Vonage for a several years and it was great, but still had a monthly charge. Magic Jack is a no brainer. Purchase the device, pay the small fee to "import" your land line phone number, then a very low yearly fee.

We used Magic Jack for 5 yrs and found it very reliable. Never had a problem.

But after moving here, we dropped Magic Jack. We decided we didn't need a "home phone". Our cell phones are great for our needs and less sales, political, spam calls to be subjected to.
  #23  
Old 11-22-2015, 07:12 PM
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MikeV MikeV is offline
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Magic Jack user for over 8 years. Very easy to use and inexpensive to own.
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