O/T Magic Jack

[Raymond]

Hey Folks,
Do any of you use this Magic Jack telephone gadget? Do you drop your original telephone service provider and keep your same number. Is the service with Magic Jack reliable? I am one of those people that think if something sounds to good to be true than it is. Am I am wrong with this one? Any and all answers and recommendations would be welcome.
Thanks,
Raymond

[DirtyGun]

Not Magic Jack, but, I have been using a VOIP service for three years now with no issues. I use VOIP.MS for the service. It does take a little technical know-how to get started, but, I do have a guide for it. You can keep your current number.

The issue with Magic Jack is your computer has to be on 24/7

[joe171]

Hi Ray
like the guys said Magic Jack STINKS I tried it for about a year nothing but head aches and try to get service
I have been using Skype for about 3or4 years now not a glitch and you do not need to be a network grue to set it up even since Microsoft bought it service is excellent
The one thing you have to be aware of is bandwidth availability
if you don't have enough you will have a few dropped calls
The most important thing is talk to your friends see what they use
Luck
Joe

[Bullzeye]

My uncle has it and he said he likes it. If I remember correctly he said he has a newer version in which he can use it with his computer off and he can bring it along with him when he goes on vacation.

[Bullzeye]

...........................................dbl. post

[Raymond]

I seen they now have two models but I will read up on the Magic Jack before I make any purchase. I definitely do not need a major stress maker if that is what it will cause me. I do not need an item that may cause me to have a stroke, .
Thank you,
Raymond

[bigredopie]

ok so here is my 2 cents. I looked around at a bunch of different VOIP services including the infamious magic jack. With a decent internet service any of them should work fine so it comes down to cost. In that light alone the magic jack shines. It is hard to argue against $20 a year for home phone service compared to traditional rates of around $35/mth for a basic phone line without long distance.

The performance of any VOIP service is dependant on the bandwidth of your internet service. high trafffic times reduce the available bandwidth for communication will result in dropped calls, choppy audio on both ends. In the interest of fuull disclosure I have a regular ATT DSL PRO line as that is the best I can get in my location.

My Original thought was for $20 (pus another $20 for the hardware) if it worked reasonably well for a couple months I would be oney ahead, so I took the plundge with the original magic jack. Got it home plugged it in and it installed some software onto my pc, Telling me "one minute of patience for a lifetime of savings". Plugged my phone into the other end and it worked. My town did not have a local # so I just picked another one that was fairly close but you could pick one from any where you like. That can be an advantage of the system if you have a family that lives in another area (or say a kid in a far away college) you could have a local number in that location so they could call hoe an time they like. You can even have several numbers for different locations so that family or friends could call you on a local line.

So back to my tale....computer ready, phone number chosen and my phone plugged into the jack(I use one of those 5 phone sets that only require a base to be connected to the jack and I have a phone in every room). I pick up the phone and I hear a dial tone so I call a friend and it work fine. On par with a normal cell phone call quality.

So i decided to keep it and give it a long trial. So here are my impressions 3 years later. Does it work? Yes. Does it give you your money worth? absolutely but remember that bar is not set very high as it is $1.25/mth or less if you sign up for a multi year service for $10/yr. Sometimes the phone rings and when I pick it up the other person can't hear me so I have to call back. Calls get dropped occasionally but no worse than my cell phone. I do occasionally get an "echo" when I talk which is annoying, but the same thing happens just as often when I use my cell. The biggest issue I had was making sure the computer it was attached to stayed on so the phones would work. I think my Norton AV did not like the Magic Jack and would shut it down periodically, usually when I needed it the most.

This winter I saw the magic jack plus which is the same type of service but eliminates the pc. So far it has been a much better investment. It still drops calls, calls but you can't hear anything, call quality is still not crystal clear but it is always active even if my computers are off or not even in the same house.

For contrast the company I work for also decided to go to a VOIP system. This system is much more complicated and expensive compared to my little magic jack but it has all of the same calling issues. Dropped calls, can't hear incoming callers, poor call quality with a lot of echo. All this over several T1 lines so bandwidth should not be a problem.

In the end I wanted a cheap back up to our cell phones and the magic jack seems to fill that requirement for us. Not that we have not cursed them one or two times. If you are expecting a cheap service that will allow yo to make a few calls to almost any where check it out. It may be the solution for you.

[Raymond]

Thanks for your input Bigredopie. It believe we may be looking into this service. I have a close friend not far from where I live and he has the new version and he loves it. Saves him a pile of money on long distance, and on his local bill. Calls people all the time now that he was stationed with while he was in the Navy and Army. He is having a blast and would recommend it to anyone he says so we are probably going to go that route also. It will save us a fair amount of money per year. Money that can definitely be put else where. We can have our same telephone number as we have now and save a good amount each and every month that will really help with household expenses each month. With our regular telephone plan we had to go to complete basics and now have no long distance and cannot call anyone on this forum that I would like to call without it costing a fortune. So I believe we will try the new Magic Jack Plus system.
Thank you,
Raymond

[Trapman]

I have been using ooma (http://www.ooma.com/) for about three years now and it is flawless. I think I paid about $175 at costco when I bought it. It was free in the beginning but now I have to pay like three bucks a month in taxes. But that is my total cost.

Ooma has fantastic quality, as good as ma bell that it replaced.

I also have magic jack and I take it with me when I travel. I have had no problems with it either but I am pretty computer savvy and could see where someone with very limited computer experience may have a problem.

I believe that VOIP is absolutely the way to go and paying anyone for monthly home phone service is soon to be a thing of the past.

[DirtyGun]

My service costs me around $5 a month for two lines. It is the way to go if you have a high bandwidth cable or DSL line. The only investment is for a VOIP box ($50) and a router (preferably with QoS capability, if you don't have one already).

I'd never go back to a traditional line. Our cells get used most of the time anyway.

[bugs]

I am pretty old fashioned that way. I only use my cell for emergency and would never use any phone hooked to my computer. When you see all of the hacking out there I would never trust saying personal information on one and I would trust a cell either. I dont think cells are safe long term either. I prefer a land line and it also has a better chance of working during a natural disaster than anything else. mind you one would need an old style phone but I have one of those too. Technology is just getting to be to much. Who the heck would want a car you can start with no key or have a computer that knows where your car is etc... Things go wrong and people hack.

[DirtyGun]

The manner of 'hacking' a VOIP line is akin to how a traditional hard line is 'hacked', or 'tapped' actually, in the modern age.

Nothing's safe, the second you enter the power grid, so, no sense worrying about it. Unless, you're part of an ultra-secret terrorist sleeper cell...in which case the men in black will be arriving shortly.

[DirtyGun]

Here's a synopsis I wrote up a while ago regarding how to set up a stable and effective VOIP system, for anyone interested. If you have any further questions, shoot me a PM. If you're local, I can always be paid in beer to help set up. :

One of the things we have done and have enjoyed an average of CAN$55.00 a month in savings is switch from using a corporate phone company to Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP). For those that are not technically inclined, making such a switch can be a daunting task. It can be made easier by switching to a VOIP provider, however, the ‘do it yourself’ method saves far more money. I should note that it is best that you have a reliable Internet connection in order to use VOIP. We have cable service that is live 24/7.

In order to get started, first, you need a provider. I chose VOIP.MS (www.voip.ms) as our provider based on the recommendation from a friend. At first, I was a little taken aback by the technical jargon on the company’s web site, however, by approaching the task of switching to VOIP step-by-step, I was able to set up our new phone service successfully and we have not had any hiccups since.

First, you will need some hardware. If you already have a router, then you’re good to go, however, a router that has quality-of-service (QoS) adjustments available on it is preferred, since it will separate voice from data more efficiently. I chose to upgrade to a D-Link DIR-825 for approximately CAN$120.00. The DIR-825 did require a firmware update in order to make it work with our VOIP service, but, since doing so, we have had no problems.

The main piece you will need is a VOIP adapter. On the recommendation of a friend, I purchased the Linksys/Cisco PAP2T for approximately CAN$55.00.

Once the router is linked to your modem and the VOIP adapter is linked to the router, you can plug a phone into one of the ports on the back of the VOIP adapter and find its IP address by punching: **** (four asterisks) 110# into the phone. The phone will then tell you the IP address of the VOIP adapter, which you can put into your web browser, giving you access to the settings of the VOIP adapter.

I chose a model from V-Tech, which comes with four additional wireless phones, which can be placed around the house.

Next, you need to create an account with the VOIP provider. This is as simple as setting up a username and password and filling in your personal details. After your account is created, you have the option to create a DID number for use, or, you can begin the procedure of porting over your current phone number, which will cost you US$25.00 with VOIP.MS.

VOIP.MS, albeit a ‘pay as you go’ system, does require a user to keep a balance in an account. When I started using the service, I put US$50.00 in the account and used US$25.00 of that to port over our phone number which was being used through a major phone service provider.

Porting over your current number is as easy as printing off a copy of your last phone bill, signing it and sending it to VOIP.MS via fax or e-mail after scanning it. VOIP.MS will take care of the rest. The process usually takes approximately four weeks to complete, at which time you can start receiving calls via your VOIP service.

However, once you have an account with VOIP.MS and a dollar balance in order to pay for service, you may begin making outgoing calls. But, some adjustments need to be made to the VOIP adapter first.

First, you should upgrade the firmware for the PAP2T. The firmware is available by searching online.

Using the IP address of the VOIP adapter in your web browser, you will be able to pull up the settings of the VOIP adapter. First, you will need to log in as an admin, which is as simple as clicking on ‘Admin Login’ on the right. Then, switch from ‘Basic View’ to ‘Advanced View’ by clicking on ‘switch to advanced view’.

You can set the NTP server so the time on your device is always correct. On the ‘System’ tab, there are settings for a Primary NTP Server and a Secondary NTP Server. By entering: 1.pool.ntp.org into the Primary NTP Server box and 2.pool.ntp.org into the Secondary NTP Server box, your phone device will display the proper time by pinging those servers.

Various testers have found the SIP timers to be too aggressive in the default settings. On the SIP tab, set SIP T1 to 1 in order to mitigate a problem that causes the ATA to fail to register. Also, set the Reg Retry Long Intvl to 30 so the device recovers quickly if it does fail.

The default RTP Packet Size is 0.03. For the most popular codecs, G.711 and G.729, the optimal setting is 0.02. On the SIP tab, change the RTP Packet Size to 0.02 in order to avoid choppy voice reception sometimes found to occur when the setting is 0.03.

Under the ‘Provisioning’ tab, set ‘Provision Enable’ to ‘No’ in order to manage the settings of your VOIP device, rather than your provider doing it.

Under the ‘Regional’ tab, configure the PAP2T to match the region you live in. You may want to set the dial tone to: 350@-19,440@-19;20(*/0/1+2) so you have 20 seconds to begin dialling after picking up the phone instead of the default of 10.

Change the ’Reorder Tone’ in order to make it sound less like the ‘Busy Tone’. Set the ‘Reorder Tone’ to 480@-19,620@-19;10(.125/.125/1+2) which plays four beeps per second and is easier to identify. The ‘Reorder Tone’ is the tone that will play when you dial an invalid number or the VoIP provider is unreachable.

Set the ‘Ring1 Cadence’ to: 60(2/4), the ‘Ring Waveform’ to: ‘Sinusoid’, and the ‘Ring Frequency’ to: 20. Specific telephones may respond better to a ‘Trapezoid Ring Waveform’, such as the V-Tech phones that we use with our VOIP service. Try Sinuoid first, and if your phone doesn’t ring properly or you have Caller ID issues, try Trapezoid instead. You may also need to set the ‘Ring Voltage’ to: 90.

You may want to set the CPC delay to: 10 and the CPC duration to: 0.5 in order to end the call within a reasonable amount of time after hanging up.

Because of the new North American Daylight Saving Time rules, PAP2Ts by default calculate DST incorrectly. Also on the Regional tab, set your ‘Daylight Saving Time Rule’ to start=3/8/7/2:00;end=11/1/7/2:00;save=1 and your time zone appropriately for your region.

The default gain on the PAP2T is typically too high and can cause echo. Adjust the ‘FXS Port Input Gain’ and ‘FXS Port Output Gain’, one at a time, in increments of three. Values of -1 and -11 eliminate echo entirely and produce appropriate conversation volume. If the volume is too quiet, play with the settings until they suit you.

On the ’Line’ tab, turn on ‘NAT Mapping’ and ‘NAT Keep Alive’. Set the ‘NAT Keep Alive Msg to “KeepAlive” (the default is”$NOTIFY).

Set the ‘Proxy’ to the name of the VOIP server. In my case, our ‘Proxy’ is: toronto2.voip.ms.

Set ‘Register Expires’ to: 300 to avoid “phone doesn’t ring” issues. Among other things, this will let your VoIP provider know within five minutes when your ISP changes your IP address. You can also set ‘Proxy Fallback Intvl’ to: 60. If your VoIP provider’s server becomes unreachable and your PAP2T fails over to a backup server, it will retry the primary server again in 60 seconds.

Configure the ‘Preferred Codec’ to: G.711u

And that’s it. With those settings in place you will be good to make outgoing calls while your current number is being ported over, or, make outgoing calls and receive incoming calls if you ordered a new DID number through a VOIP provider.

As I stated earlier, we have saved, on average, $55.00 a month on our home phone costs by switching to this system. That’s a lot of money in a family’s pocket to use in other areas.

[Trapman]

That is a well thought out and technically correct posting by dirty gun. I can see where that might be just a little to "technical" for many.

There are alternatives that take all the "technical issues" off the table such as vonage, but you pay for the ease of use. I still think your best bang for the buck if you just want a "plug it in and use it" type of VOIP system is ooma.

Most people I talk to who have magic jack seem to find it a little quirky. Mine works just fine.

The days of the traditional land line are numbered.

So are the days of the PC.

[Mango]

Portions of DirtyGun's post were originally published at http://www.toao.net/25-linksys-ata-configuration