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Argie's Wife · 11-17-2008, 11:27 PM

The cons to MagicJack is that it is a VOIP service. (Voice Over Internet Protocol). It means that you have to have your computer on all the time to make and receive phone calls. You cannot get your regular phone number transferred to the service if you have Union Communications, as we have already discussed here. If you have an interruption in your internet service, then your phone will also be OUT.

The service is about $20/year and there's no telling how much longer that will continue if there are VOIP taxes, as is being proposed. (Skype is free, for the most part, and even offers video teleconferencing.) VOIP quality just isn't as good as landlines but generally better than the quality you get from your average cell phone.

Right now MagicJack is not available to Mac users - PC only for now - because of a driver issue, although most Macs can now run Windows thanks to the Intel 2 Duo chip so that's not really an issue... It conflicts with media recording software like Nero, so that would be a problem for most PC's these days.

Finally, there is little/no customer support for this product. If you have a problem - it's YOUR problem.

11-17-2008, 11:27 PM	#15
Argie's Wife Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Alton Posts: 1,908 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 533 Thanked 579 Times in 260 Posts	Don't bother... The cons to MagicJack is that it is a VOIP service. (Voice Over Internet Protocol). It means that you have to have your computer on all the time to make and receive phone calls. You cannot get your regular phone number transferred to the service if you have Union Communications, as we have already discussed here. If you have an interruption in your internet service, then your phone will also be OUT. The service is about $20/year and there's no telling how much longer that will continue if there are VOIP taxes, as is being proposed. (Skype is free, for the most part, and even offers video teleconferencing.) VOIP quality just isn't as good as landlines but generally better than the quality you get from your average cell phone. Right now MagicJack is not available to Mac users - PC only for now - because of a driver issue, although most Macs can now run Windows thanks to the Intel 2 Duo chip so that's not really an issue... It conflicts with media recording software like Nero, so that would be a problem for most PC's these days. Finally, there is little/no customer support for this product. If you have a problem - it's YOUR problem.