Originally Posted by Rico (Post 468505)

I thought about the MagicJack myself. I have been using Yahoo for all my long distance calls. They charge 1 cent a minute.

Originally Posted by CC1 (Post 468523)

Prax,

I got Vonage when I moved into our new house almost two years ago. The first six months I hated it because the quality was terrible. It did not work most of the time. We could hear people or they could here us but not both at the same time a lot of the time.

However during this same first six months our Comcast broadband internet connection was terrible also.

After getting Comcast out several times to work on their connection they finally really fixed it and not only did my high speed internet connection start acting like one my Vonage phone suddenly started working flawlessly and has for the last year plus now.

It takes a few beats for the connection to make as opposed to a land line but it works just fine and for thirty bucks a month I have unlimited local and long distance calling.

Originally Posted by AmazingGrace (Post 468541)

what is magicjack for those of us who are unlearned? LOL

Originally Posted by AmazingGrace (Post 468541)

what is magicjack for those of us who are unlearned? LOL

Originally Posted by Praxeas (Post 468502)

My roomie ordered Vonage before consulting me the resident geek. He had it for a while now uninstalled because the modem is in my room and I told him he needed to ask Vonage for a solution to have a cordless phone connected in the OTHER rooms....

Vonage was unhelpful but I came up with a solution. We went out and bought a base phone with an additional handset. I connected the base and voila...the other hand set was ready to go and make and receive calls over the internet.

Another new solution I might get for myself is called Magicjack...it is about 20 bucks a year for unlimited calling throughout the US and canada through your internet. And I like it since there is no dumb modem to connect. You just connect a little USB device to your PC that is connected to the Net and plug in a phone. That's it
http://www.magicjack.com/6/index.asp

Originally Posted by helen_febus (Post 468547)

We ordered magicjack about 6 days ago, it is supposed to here by Wednesday morning. I will let you know how we like it.
However, about the 30 day free trail; I was told it would be 30 days before the cost of the magicjack which is $39.95 would be placed on my card. Well, the next morning I checked my online banking and there it was, already a charge for the magicjack to my account. If you don't like it they might let you send it back within the 30 days but the promise that it won't hit your card for 30 days is a lie. Also, of course you are charged a S&H charge and then told if you want the product sooner just pay $3.95 more than the usual S&H and you will receive the product within 3 to 5 days. I paid the extra money but still haven't received my order, Wednesday will be the 6th day and according to tracking I should receive the magicjack. I sure hope so.

We have a friend in OH who has the magicjack and he is well pleased with it.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention, since the magicjack is connected by a USB port instead of straight to the modem, that means your computer has to be on for you to make or receive calls. If you turn off your computer your calls will go to your voice mail which comes with magicjack; and you can just return the calls later.

God Bless All,

Sister Helen Febus

Originally Posted by Joie (Post 468508)

Nooooooo to Vonage at our house. Our neighbors and children had to call us long distance. The neighbor lived one street over. My husband office also had to call and fax long distance.

The communication w/ Vonage was impossible. We changed numbers three times. When we changed to no long distance which should have been local, they charged us for calls...

Maybe they have improved????? Or perhaps it was our area??? Hey, when we cut it off, all of a sudden we were bombarded w/ communication. No more Vonage for us.

Originally Posted by Monkeyman (Post 468578)

We use carrier pigeons, but if we get too hungry, we have to use Native Drum beating:D

Originally Posted by jaxfam6 (Post 469136)

please tell me it is not the same type of drumming as Will Smith did in Wild Wild West. Might have to attend your funeral if so.

Originally Posted by cneasttx (Post 469140)

So can people with dial up use MagicJack?

Originally Posted by helen_febus (Post 469172)

For those who wanted to know how well the magicjack worked; well, I received mine this morning and it is GREAT. The sound quality is the same as a landline. People cannot tell the difference. I have been on the phone most of the morning giving everyone my new number. I just pluged my cordless phone into the jack then pluged the jack into a USB port on my computer and went into the living room sat in my overstuffed recliner and made my calls.

I like free, free is a good thing.

God Bless

Originally Posted by Praxeas (Post 469217)

I wonder if you can find a USB hub with networking....then you don't have to use the PC

Originally Posted by Praxeas (Post 469217)

I wonder if you can find a USB hub with networking....then you don't have to use the PC

Originally Posted by helen_febus (Post 469387)

___________________
I don't know, I am having a computer tech go over my laptops today so I can get them on line; I will ask him as I also would like to know. I will get back to you with what the computer guy tells me.

I do know I like this magicjack. I was told by the company that when My husband and I traveled I could switch the jack from my desktop to my laptop and when we stayed in a Motel that had internet connection that we could make any calls we might want to.

Originally Posted by helen_febus (Post 469471)

____________________

The computer man just left and he sais no, the magicjack would need to be pluged into a USB port on the computer.

Originally Posted by Praxeas (Post 469692)

Ok...I guess there IS software involved so the device WOULD have to be in the USB on a computer that is on. You can thought to go low power usage by shutting down disk drives and the monitor

Originally Posted by helen_febus (Post 469954)

___________
We have a desktop and now that the computer man has fixed our laptops, my husband and I each have a laptop . I wanted to use the magicjack on the desktop; however, our desktop even though it is set to never turn off, it still turns itself off every 2 hours. (we will have this looked at by the computer man later) anyway because of this problem I put the magicjack on my wireless laptop.
I have not had any problems; the phone I am using is a cordless handset and it is working great! I put the base on the end table by my over stuffed recliner and my laptop on a bar stool at arm of the recliner. I get in my chair prop up my feet reach for my laptop and do what ever I want on the internet and my phone works just fine. Then I have the cordless handset for when I am not
sitting in my recliner. No problems at all.

Originally Posted by commonsense (Post 469774)

Vonage doesn't service our area. We use a competitor (sorry, I don't know the company, this is the husbands' territory) and it's great. I have two daughters and other relatives that live far far away and the free long distance is wonderful.

Often my calls to daughters or sister last a couple hours and if it was by the minute..:blah we'd have to give up groceries or driving.lol

The only downside is the internet status-----if the internet isn't working the phone isn't working. We've used the service a couple years and are quite pleased.

Originally Posted by helen_febus (Post 469954)

___________
We have a desktop and now that the computer man has fixed our laptops, my husband and I each have a laptop . I wanted to use the magicjack on the desktop; however, our desktop even though it is set to never turn off, it still turns itself off every 2 hours. (we will have this looked at by the computer man later) anyway because of this problem I put the magicjack on my wireless laptop.
I have not had any problems; the phone I am using is a cordless handset and it is working great! I put the base on the end table by my over stuffed recliner and my laptop on a bar stool at arm of the recliner. I get in my chair prop up my feet reach for my laptop and do what ever I want on the internet and my phone works just fine. Then I have the cordless handset for when I am not
sitting in my recliner. No problems at all.

Originally Posted by dizzyde (Post 469980)

Can you make international phone calls?