Magic Jack Phone

Works well with high speed ground based internet services like you would have in your home. I can work with some campground wifi systems but that's highly variable. 4G cellular can work but you can eat up your bandwidth.

I had the original MJ and it was marginal. I use the MJ plus now, basically just as a fax line. When I first got it I thought it was better but sometime the voices were under water. Then I switched to high speed 15 mb/s + cable internet and it is pretty much flawless now for voice or fax.

I am in White Horse,Yukon Territory, CA right now with a Telus USB air card and a Magic Jack. Only once in my trip through Canada has my Magic Jack worked with the Telus air card. It has not worked on camp ground WiFi either. So if you are going to rely on a Magic Jack for phone service, make sure you have excellent internet connection.

Almost to Fairbanks
Richard

Most quality issues with VoIP have nothing to do with net speed or bandwidth. This is a misnomer. In fact, MagicJack typically only utilizes 87mb/s upstream/downstream data, though I've read some sites recommend 101mb/s speed for best quality. The real quality issues have to do with latency or packet delays, variations in delays called jitter, and packet loss. VoIP is not very tolerate of any of these issues, as it typically utilizes a small buffer.

VoIP generally works best with wired broadband connections such as cable or fibre. Using wireless mobile connection for VoIP can be iffy as mobile data tends to exhibit higher latency and jitter rates overall, which may be attributed to additional system delays.

VoIP also works best when given priority over the net connection. This may be why services such as the Ooma and Vonage perform better quality wise, as they essentially supply their own router/adapters which I believe have Quality of Service(QoS) set to prioritize VoIP. You can do something similar with the MagicJack Plus connected to a router that supports QoS settings.

Though many criticize the consistency in voice quality of devices like the MagicJack or the free Google Voice chat, the fundamental issues are more likely the quality of net connection itself. Something the end user rarely has control over. Bottom line, if you have a poor quality connection, than no VoIP device is going to work.

You really need to assess your net connection quality at each location you're using VoIP. You can find an online VoIP test from sites such as myspeed.visualware.com. Requires Java installed and enabled in your browser.

It's worked fine for me

Bob

Thanks so much for the responses. I installed the Magic Jack at my daughters. It seems to work fine she has high speed cable internet. We did it to save her some $$$$ and are happy we did...

Thanks again LeeB

I also use MagicJack Plus, and rely heavily on VoIP for home calls. Though I have two smartphones on the Verizon network, the signal quality at my house is typically 0-1 bars. This despite living just 15 minutes from the Washington Monument. So I basically use MagicJack and another VoIP PSN adapter for incoming/outgoing mobile based calls routed through Google Voice. No mobile minutes being used.

1492 wrote:
I also use MagicJack Plus, and rely heavily on VoIP for home calls. Though I have two smartphones on the Verizon network, the signal quality at my house is typically 0-1 bars. This despite living just 15 minutes from the Washington Monument. So I basically use MagicJack and another VoIP PSN adapter for incoming/outgoing mobile based calls routed through Google Voice. No mobile minutes being used.

I got the Magic Jack Plus working here at my house with and without the computer.and it works GREAT. However I can not get it to work at my daughters without a computer... I am working on it...

I had the original MJ which worked OK but then upgraded to the MJ+ which turned out to be mostly useless since it would drop the call giving no indication that anything was amiss. When I called for tech support the person was not interested in providing any assistance whatsoever.

strollin wrote:
I had the original MJ which worked OK but then upgraded to the MJ+ which turned out to be mostly useless since it would drop the call giving no indication that anything was amiss. When I called for tech support the person was not interested in providing any assistance whatsoever.

You found a number to call? All I could find was Live Chat. Would you mind sharing the number?

Thanks