Magic jack
 

PROS AND CONS OF MAGIC JACK

Am considering dropping home line Century Link

I can't speak about Magic Jack but another option is Ooma. Pros: It works fine. Cons: none that I can think of. It costs about $4 per month for taxes and 911 fee.

Have used Magic Jack here in The Villages for 4 years without a problem. Very inexpensive. Easy to install. Porting of phone number very smooth and quality of calls have been great. Actually bought a second MJ for my business a few years ago as well. You won’t be disappointed so long as you have a quality internet connection.

A Ooma box will cost you around $80. It runs over the internet so you still need to pay for that. For around $40, they will port your current phone number over to your Ooma. You can use Ooma anywhere on your cell phone app, as long as you are connected to the internet. You only pay about $4 per month in federal taxes. Ooma works fine for me.

We have used MagicJack since moving to TV in 2010 and have found it to be excellent.

Easy to make and receive calls (and voicemails) worldwide and very cheap, too.

Main advantage for us is that we have one telephone number, wherever we are in the World.

We've used MagicJack for 5 years and no problems. We did have xfinity for a couple of years due to the "triple play". All we received on that line were scam/robocalls. We finally canceled the tv and phone from xfinity. MagicJack has been great for us

We've used a MagicJack for almost 9 years now with no problems and zero telemarketing calls. I highly recommend it.

Don't forget NetTalk.

magicJack vs. NetTalk Comparison: Which is best for 2019 // TheVoIPHub

I have had OOMA for a couple years with no problems. Used to have their "PRO" version (IIRC ~$99/yr) but recently dropped to the "free AKA ~$5/mo for taxes" version. In three years I think I have made 4 calls on it and received zero. Not even a single spam call. Just have to maintain a local 352 number. We use our cell phones for 99.999%. What hurt most was giving up our "real" actual landline number we had for 45 years up north. :D

We use Ooma too. The voice quality is good but we have two complaints: When Comcast goes off or there is something wrong with the Wifi, there is no service. The other thing is the amount of spam calls. Even though we pay for the "Premier" plan that allows call blocking, we always get at least three or four spam calls per day.

The spam calls mainly depends on the number you get. If it's a "new randomly assigned" number it is usually recycled meaning someone else had it before you. That person could have been a deadbeat or a adult massager :) or maybe even a drug dealer or someone who posted the number very often online so you are getting all their spam calls. The 352 number we were randomly given about 2 years ago, now on the "free" plan, has not received 1 single spam call or even a wrong number since we got it. Tracking where it came from online it was originally an AT&T cell number. So many numbers are "recycled" you never know what it's previous history was. I did an internet search on my probably 30+ yr old NJ CELL NUMBER and it is all over the place including on the "dark web" along with my email addresses and a few previous passwords which explains the 20+ spam calls I get every week (EVEN WITH a spam blocker app). Many don't get through but quite a few do.

I've had a Magic Jack # for many years. I use it as my "official" number, the DMV, IRS, credit card companies, marketers or anyone I don't personally know.
When someone calls the MJ number, I get an e-mail and can listen to the message if they leave one. I can then return the call using the MJ phone app
so they can't read my cell number.

Works well for me and it virtually eliminates spam calls.

MagicJack works great. Paid $160 for 7 years including Home device. $230 now.

Our Ooma works very well, yes if the internet goes down, Ooma goes down because it is a VOIP. We brought our 'old' number with us at no charge. Was soooo surprised about that! Yep, $4.00 per month taxes only. We paid $200.00 for Ooma in 2012 but it has paid for itself.

Another vote for Ooma. Our cell reception is not great in our house (we have Verizon in Dunedin but it was even worse when we had Cricket using AT&T towers) and we got complaints about sound quality from those we talked to on the phone so we had to do something. Since getting Ooma, we've had no complaints about the sound quality. We had to buy an inexpensive adapter up front but the only other expense has been the very low (even lower than MagicJack, at least when we got it) monthly bill. Technically, Ooma, MagicJack and a handful of others are all the same - basic Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), so the differentiaters between them are going to be features and price.

I have used Vonage for the past 15 years. It is a Voice over IP solution. There was no upfront cost for the service and it includes some good features like free calls to most European countries. The rate I pay is the same as it was 15 years ago. I am a Vonage fan.

Love my MagicJack
 

I have used Magic Jack for the past 15 years and it works great. Any time I have a problem they have on line chat and talk you through any issues or give you a link that updates your unit an takes care of any problems. It has been over 5 years sine I have needed any software patch Guess the have modified it so up dates are auto and no more problems. The nice thing is all you need is outlet to plug into and a Ethernet connection from modem.
We travel a lot and take our Magic Jack with us and always have our home phone with us. It works anyplace you have internet be it in the US, Mexico,Canada etc.. I even have two set at same phone number so I am able to not have to take it with me when at second home.
I would not be without it. Just had another family member change to Magic Jack and they eliminated two costly land lines that cost more for one month than the two Magic Jacks do for the year. Order on line or pick it up at Walmart. Sets up in minutes and your able to port your existing phone number so nothing changes but a big savings. I line the email notification for missed call messages left sent right to your cell phone or use call forwarding.

We are moving next month and currently have a security system that runs off our land line. We have a contract, but they said I could take my system with me, however I don't want to pay for another land line. Has anyone tried using one of these systems for that purpose?

Our system worked fine using OOMA it really doesn't care what the carrier is, copper wire or voip. One down side to using a landline for a security system is it can be disabled on the outside of your house rendering it useless. Cellular connections on a security system are much more secure.

Ooma No Good
 

I tried Ooma a while ago. I have 150MB/sec (fast) Comcast for ISP. Could NOT get it to work. Person on the other end kept saying they "hear an echo of themselves". Conversation was terrible. "What? What?" Whether local or long distance - the complaint was the same - echoes. I believe Ooma's server is in California - thus the delay. Was on the phone with Ooma for HOURS. New firmware download many times - didn't help. Had to fight to return it for a refund. Took about two months before I got my money back. Their help dept. is no help - kept doing the same thing over and over. Google blogs on Magic Jack and Ooma, see what others say. Some people are satisfied, some couldn't use it. Already give Comcast too much money so I don't want to give them VOIP too. And it might be my Comcast internet local line. Comcast won't fix a bad VOIP problem for MJ or Ooma brand products. Good luck, have an alternate plan before you drop your landline and lose your phone number.

Skip

True and they can disable the electric and you might still have the problem unless you have a battery backup. One problem with a cellular call out - the dispatcher doesn't have a land location with a cellular call.

Skip

Just an FYI

When a alarm is triggered it contacts via either cell or landline the alarm service providers call center who has your information and they contact the local authorities if they cant get in touch with you first. Its not a perfect system but better than nothing. My system has a battery backup they say is good for 48 hours ( may be optimistic )

To stay on topic mine worked perfectly on OOMA I just prefer cell