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Vonage vs. Magic Jack - one reader's opinion
Posted by Joe on June 30th, 2008
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A recent commenter on our blog provided an excellent comparison of Vonage and Magic Jack, two popular VoIP services. We thought we would call out the comment in a separate post since we receive frequent inquiries from our readers about our opinion on Magic Jack.
I have Magic Jack and I agree it does a very good job, and it's $19.95 per year, but the quality is not as good as Vonage, and Vonage offers more for the $24.99 a month. I have used Vonage for over 2 years and it is just the BEST PHONE Service I have ever used and I'm 58 year old.
I use my Magic Jack when the kids come home with the grand[kids] they use the Vonage phone to call all the friends around the USA, so Magic Jack is my GREAT BACK-UP. The other problem is Magic Jack does not have my area code as of yet so people wishing to call my on [Magic Jack] have to pay long distance, a bummer to be sure.
In this readers head-to-head comparison, it appears that Magic Jack offers a decent, low cost option but it is lacking in call quality and features. Vonage, on the other hand, is a true landline phone replacement option and offers many features, such as Internet based voice mail, that are only available with higher end VoIP services.
Between the two, we would suggest Vonage for most consumers that are looking for a high quality, feature rich and reliable Internet based phone service.
- Are you able to provide a comparison of services with the Magic Jack?
- 2008 VoIP trend alert - VoIP services let consumers keep traditional phone service too
- Reader Question: Is Vonage better than my cable company's phone service?
- Why haven't you reviewed Skype?
- What is a V-Portal adapter? Or is it simply the thing that makes the phone work?
25 Responses to “Vonage vs. Magic Jack - one reader's opinion”
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July 14th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
I live in St. Clairsville, Ohio 43950. I think I want to buy an I-Phone. Is service to hook it up available here? If so, what is it?
July 15th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Hi Rita,
If you are interested in learning more about Apple's iPhone, I would encourage you to visit their website at http://www.apple.com. AT&T is the exclusive wireless carrier for the iPhone in the U.S.
Thanks,
Joe
September 13th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
For travelers, like us, can you use Vonage or MagicJack at RV parks the offer free wireless internet, or do you always have to have a hard connect line with their routers?
October 12th, 2008 at 6:47 am
Mike,
Yes, I do it all the time when I travel with MagicJack. Sometimes the quality is not as good through wireless though, but it works.
December 15th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Does anyone know how to fix the volume for the MagicJack? My computer is set on high volume and so is the phone, but people on the other end can hardly hear me. Any suggestions?
January 3rd, 2009 at 3:33 am
Magic Jack has been working very well recently.
This device was so nice and it will makes your work comfortable.
Seems that not all of the people are enjoying the product!
January 3rd, 2009 at 6:49 am
hi every one i got me one of these Magic Jack and i love it .i have never seen nothing like it .it is just what it says it is.
January 6th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
My first Magicjack malfunctioned and I exchanged it (at my expense). The second one worked for a couple of weeks. Now people can barely understand me because it breaks up so much. I can hear others but their voices are garbled too. The time of day or night doesn't make it better, so internet congestion isn't the source of the problem.
I have a new computer with 2 Gigs RAM and a high speed connection.
People who have had them for a few months should give reviews on it. Let's hear from them. Perhaps the device components don't last very long and that causes them to malfunction after a while.
MagicJack customer service is awful. If I had it to do over again I wouldn't buy one. If you would like to contact me about this go to http://DoNotDieYet.blogspot.com
January 9th, 2009 at 9:37 am
It's nice to see some common sense users of this product for a change. The only issue with this device is IGNORANCE. After reading hundreds of “I love it”, “I hate it” posts, I've come to a few conclusions.
30 DAY FREE TRIAL ?
1: Never buy ANY free 30day trial on ANYTHING!!! Get MJ from Radio Shack, QVC, Circuit City, Amazon etc… Then you have a hassle free return. ALL 30 DAY FREE TRIAL AND GIVE US YOU'RE CREDIT CARD NUMBER Company's will set on your money and give you the runaround, duh. Your and every other sucker's money is letting them make interest off it. They ALL will bite you in the azz with the fine print. DON'T DO IT!
MAGIC JACK SUPPORT SUCKS!
2: For the people that think the thing that comes out after you press the button on the front of the computer is an automated cup holder, you're too stupid to use this product. You probably have trouble operating a light switch or flushing the toilet. If you are a 1 on the (1 - 10) Tech Savvy Scale, save us the drudge of reading your negative post and don't even think about getting this product. It's way, way, way over your head. Go play with the light switch or something. MJ is a startup company running on a shoestring. It's $40 dollars! It's $40 dollars! It's $40 dollars! It's $40 dollars! It's $40 dollars! What do you expect them to do, send a tech to your house? Come on people get real. If you can't make it work then return it to Circuit City or QVC etc… Oh, you did the 30day free trial thing? DUH… you deserve the hassle. Just don't bore us with your post.
THEY'RE SPYING ON ME!
3: Paranoid people get up in the morning; check the weather etc… on Internet. Hello! Your ISP tracked what you did and the Weather web cookie and all the other cookies did they're thing. Picked up your Cell phone and made a call, Hello! Your phone service tracked and logged your call, they also knew you were home because of the built in tracking system. Got in your car and stopped at intersection, got your picture taken by traffic cam. Somebody knows where you were at the time of day. Stopped to get gas, restaurant, shopping swiped your credit card, God only knows how many people got this information on what you bought. Went to work and your employer tracked every keystroke, oh and don't forget to smile for the candid camera. I looked your name up in the White pages and Goggled Earth your address, WOW! You got a really nice house dude. Maybe I'll pay you a visit and spy on you. You think MJ gives a rip about the above information? They just want to know local information so they can push you the latest add special from the local pizza place. Unless you live in a cave, get a life because this is your life, you're just too ignorant to recognize it and all the bitching in the world is not going to change it. Install this on an old PC, stick in the closet, plug in a wireless phone and forget about it. Now it's out of site and out of mind. Just like all the above listed things we ignore every day.
I'M IGNORANT, THERE FOR ITS MAGIC JACK'S FAULT!
4: It's amazing! Crap computer + slow line + Magic Jack = Magic Jacks fault. You got to love it.
This is a COMPUTER \ INTERNET device. For the slow people out there, this means YOUR PC AND ISP NEED TO BE ON FOR IT TO WORK! So stop whining about your computer needs to be on for it to work. If you have a slow piece of crap computer loaded with God knows what (because you don't patch, virus protect and properly maintain your PC.) your going to have PROBLEMS! If your Internet speed is slooooooow, guess what? It's NOT GOING TO WORK WELL! So the folks that post, “I can't hear”, “it's full of static”, “it echoes”, “it sucks”, “their spying on me”, “don't buy it” and on and on and on. It's your fault, not Magic Jack. If it wasn't YOUR fault, we'd ALL be experiencing the same problems you are. So if you're not willing to deal with YOUR problem, or simply ask people that have it working a few questions to help resolve your problem, then stop posting your ignorance.
5: This DOSE NOT and SHOULD NOT replace you're your phone system. Analyze what it can and cannot do for you. If it makes business sense then get it. If not, DON'T slam this product because it doesn't meet your needs. This device saves me and millions of people like me lots of money.
6: Read 1 – 5.
January 15th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
bubba1212 you're funny I like you, lol!!!!
January 20th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
[...] We posted some comments from one of our readers this summer that discussed a comparison ofVonage versus Magic Jack. I would encourage you to read not just the original post but also the follow on comments from a [...]
January 29th, 2009 at 9:57 am
I have had MJ for 8 months and the quality is so bad that I don't use it. I got suck into this and paid for 5 years of service. I did not return the device in time to get my money back so that's a $100. down the drain. The voice breaks up at a rate that makes the conversation imposible. I thought it might have been the speed of my DSL but I have tried it at many different locations and on differt BB services and it is crappy. I do not recomend this product.
February 6th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
MagicJack! Awesome! Free voice e-mail, free voicemail like regular phone company, free call forwarding. free caller id. free call waiting, free 3 way calling, free 411 or use Goggles free 411 by calling 800 466 4411 or 800 goog 411!
Takes messages even when your pc is off!
Take it with you and plug into a laptop anywhere you have free wifi and place all your calls like a cell phone for free! Even works with a 99 cents store or dollar tree stores headset! Or go to radioshack and buy the same one for more!
Hook up your regular wired phones or cordless phones to it! They just plug right in to MagicJack! They recomend if you have a problem test with only one phone connected. Then check for bent or twisted cords and replace if needed.
Customer Service? Excellent! They have a MagicJack Wizard that tests for your firewall setting, router or anything else. If a problem is found it tells you really easy to understand ways to fix. Always turn off firewall if you have a problem and then make a test call. If you succeed follow your firewall software settings and adjust access for MagicJack to fully function.
All retail sold firewall software such as ZoneAlarm; even free version, and Norton / Symantec are now preconfigured to allow MagicJack access to your internet connection.
I do not work for MagicJack but have followed the product since it was first invented. I waited until just 1 year ago this month to order 2.
I has been one of the most money saving inventions of recent years. It is recognized by PC Magazine in the year 2007 as best the all products introduced.
They have a contract with a national phone service provider; as it will show on your PC softphone screen to route our calls. Which I forgot to mention you also can place calls from your Home PC or laptop by using the included phone screen on your monitor.
And remember you can take MagicJack with you any where in the world and simply plug into any PC and call anywhere back to the US of A for FREE!
Remember it will still answer your calls when it is not connected to a PC. You can still always dail your number from any phone to test that it answers and then enter your pin and listen, play, repeat, keep, delete, etc your messages.
It also offers for FREE do not disturb and you can keep your call log until you tell it to clear all or right click on do only certain ones.
Well for $40.00 each and my free shipping promo code I did not waste any gas, time, find a parking place, wait in line…..just got it or in my case them delivered to my door!
I should get paid for this review but for the saving's for all of this for 1 entire year! No thank's. I am just greatfull in this economy that we have options.
Is anything perfect? No! But this comes pretty darn close! Like was said "You Bet chah!" I hope the quote was right. So if on occasion a call drops or they upgrade the software to enhance it service features I think we can all live with that.
Remember the older your PC and the amount of software running will slow the loading of MagicJack's preinstalled software on the MagicJack; aka jumpdrive. If you do not need a program running shut it down. If you need help in seeing whats running download Process Explorer to replace or use with Windows old task manager.
This a free program available from CNET's website download.com or you can go to the authors web-site
http://www.sysinternals.com .
You can also test your PC security on the author's web-site above Steve Gibson's Shield's UP!
He now works for Microsoft and all his programs can also be found on the downloads tools section of Microsoft's web-site.
Anyway I will just have to go count my money that I used to pay $200.00 a year for a VOIP and or the local phone company $40.00 for just one month.
No Contract other than $40.00 for one year.
Now I am looking forward to giving them my $20.00 in March for my full second year of all of these features.
If you are unhappy for $40.00 then return it if within your 30 day FREE trail. If after you don't like it or best said don't understand how simple it is…thus that's why I guess the inventor named it MagicJack donate it to a homeless shelter or your favorite charity with an internet connection! They will appreciate it.
And for other's try SKYPE! Go to SKYPE.com
1 year of unlimited outbound calls is $30.00. And if you want to add an inbound number for people to call you just add another #30.00 for 1 year. You don't get all the same features but you can hook up a webcam and do voice and video calls. If you don't want to pay a penny just have everyone you know put SKYPE and their PC's and you can call each other for get this FREEEEE!
Hope this is all helpful and again I remind you …if you really feel you are not satisfied for $40.00 and it beyond your return time…you don't want to donate it….try recycle and help keep the planet green.
Ps : they do offer 6 years of add on service for sometimes $49.99 or $59.99 but I choose to go with the sure thing on my credit card of $20.00 a year as I want to renew.
Ring Ring what's that thing? Oh it's my MagicJack phone ringing got to go now.
Remember who invented the telephone?
Sir Andrew Bell?
Graham
February 17th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
Magicjack is very handy compared to Skype especially when you are going to other countries, calling from other countries. Where as with skype you have to buy skype credits. if you and your loved ones live far apart in different countries and have a high monthly bill, magicjack is the way to go.
For instance, I buy my family back in the philippines magicjack so they can call me here in the US whenever they want with no limits! You cannot beat that for $19.99 a year! Talking LONG DISTANCE for $19.99 a year? How great is that!
And if want to call them– dial in their US number– use my cell phoone airtime minutes– and start talking! Yes they have their own US number! How cool is that? And they are not paying another monthly plan for it!!!
With skype, you cannot do that unless you buy their monthly plans = more expenses. And you have one of these monthly plans, if you are in the philippines the IP on your computer prevents you from calling to the US. Unless you use a VPN number. Oh? Skype works with VPN for international calling? I didnt know that! well thats because they want to get more money from your pocket! So how many of you know how to get a VPN? much less know what it is? So ummm… sign up for a higher plan from skype you say? I didnt think so!
Do yourself a favor: buy your loved ones if they are in another country apart from yours Magicjack! It will save you and them long distance money! and to hear the people you love for $19.99 a year, priceless!!!
And for those yapping about having to keep their computers running all the time, put it on standby, hibernate, sleep, what have you. yes magicjack still works thru them! and of course you dont want to be bothered when you are sleeping right? So i guess its ok to shutt down that PC and turn it on when you wake up.
So if you were to ask me, magicjack is more practical for those wanting to cut back on their long distance romance, relationship, family talks, what have you.
By the way, I do have skype and use it back to back with my magic jack. recently I have found magic jack more practical to use. I use my Sony ericson p990i for skyping. Yes it saved me money for i dont have to buy those ugly skype wifi phones that is limited only to skype calls not to mention how expensive they are. So i use my sony ericson as a cellphone and as a skype phone and hit 2 birds with one stone. Having said that, I still dont have my own US number on skype unless i pay extra and have forced my friends to be on skype just so we can make free calls.
Question? Hit me up!
February 22nd, 2009 at 5:18 pm
We have MJ for about 6 months now, it works great We never had any problem and MJ also have a clear connection when we called other country (Southeast Asia and Holland) with really affordable rate. We have use skype before and we think MJ is better for the price.
February 26th, 2009 at 2:20 am
If you call many times to an international number, or your family lives in asia, india, africa, or what have you, buy them a magicjack instead so they can have their own US number and so you can call them for free. That simple!
February 27th, 2009 at 12:31 am
I have had my MJ for 11 months now. There are a few drawbacks, but for the price, it is the best deal I ever made!
The tech support lacks at the best of times and YES, I've been frustrated many times with them.
If they ever get a phone line to talk to an actual person, it will be a blessing to say the least, that is if you can get a tech you can understand clearly…LOL.
My family planned a getogether in Disney world in Orlando so we rented a 6 B/R house. I took along my laptop because they had high speed internet and my MJ so that the grandkids could call their friends in the evening…it was awesome! The MJ worked great and we all had a great vacation. Kids HAVE to be in contact with their friends most of the time…especially teen-agers.
The people that are slamming MJ are probably Vonage and skype users plus others who have never tried MJ…they think because it is inexpensive that it won't work well…..SURPRISE!!!! It works great.
The phone is really clear for both parties and they've added tons of new area codes so I could finally get one for where I live. I just bought the 5 yr plan for $59.95 so that was also a great deal. We use it as our 2nd line because we get lots of calls on our main phone. We have saved lots of money on long distance calls. We actually discontinued our long distance carrier :)but we still have a regular land line just in case for incoming calls.
We travel to Central America every fall for a month so I'm sure it will be real handy keeping in contact with family in case of emergencies. Much better hear a voice than get an e-mail, that's for sure.
At home I just leave my old HP laptop plugged in and turned on with the magicjack. That's all I use in that laptop….works great and doesn't use hardly any power (electricity) to run.
Sometimes you have to reboot the MJ, but hey, that's a small price to pay for unlimited calling anywhere in Canada or USA.
I only run the economy DSL and it still works great….just remember not to download any big files while talking on MJ….you may get voice drop-outs…LOL
If you want a real CHEAP way to call your friends and family and still get really good reception, I would recommend you try a MagicJack, seriously, you can't lose, and YES, it's real easy to install and use, just plug it into your USB port (don't use a hub…it won't work well) directly on your laptop or PC.
One thing it will not work with yet is an apple ibook if it's not intel based, I know, I have that laptop also and hoped it would work, but I'll bet they will have that up and running real soon too. It is a great bargain for everyone in my opinion.
Special thanks to the MJ creator for giving us such an economical product!!!
March 1st, 2009 at 9:59 am
Hey, Good post. I love anything to do with phones and technology etc, so posts like this prove interesting to me. Your site has been bookmarked. Thanks.
March 12th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
I agree with person #12. If you are downloading and talking on MJ at the same time, the sound quality is VERY choppy. I talked to customer service, and they told me there is nothing I can do. Also, depending on your phone, you cannot use the numbers on the phone itself. Instead, you have to use the keypad on your PC or use the mouse to click the numbers. When my year is up, I will not renew with MJ.
March 14th, 2009 at 4:27 am
I must say, I could not agree with you in 100%, but it's just my opinion, which could be very wrong.
p.s. You have an awesome template . Where have you got it from?
March 14th, 2009 at 7:42 am
I like the idea of magicjack at first until i realize it won't work if you have 3 family members in the Philippines that live in different places which means i have to pay $60 a month. My family only talks to me and my parents mostly.
So what did i do? My family back in the Philippines signed up skype for free. Then, I signed up a $3 monthly subscription which allows me to make unlimited calls to US/canada and forward my skype calls to my mobile and my parents' landline and mobile (simultaneously).
March 20th, 2009 at 12:00 am
JJSxGrl how come you pay 60 a month? magic jack is only 20 per year! Hmmmm…. Also you didn't have to sign up for the monthly skype. you can stil skype your family in the philippines. and if your cell has airtime for canada and nationwide calling, theres no need.
March 21st, 2009 at 2:14 am
HERE IS ALL THE USEFUL INFORMATION THAT I CURRENTLY KNOW ABOUT THE MAGIC JACK ENJOY!
I have been Magic Jack for about 2 Months now and the savings are great. It really easy to install and for anyone reading this …IF YOU THNK YOU DONT NEED TO LEARN ANYTHING BUT, THE BASICS WHEN DEALING WITH COMPUTERS…THINK AGAIN. Your pockets will have an extremely painful experience if you rely on tech support for a lot of company's. (Magic Jacks. does suck)
I have used it with my phone pluged directly into the device and I have fed a like from it into my regular phone lines in my apartment (the phone box in the closet … on a house its outside and u must have a coupler of some sort to feed the dsl line directly into the router. if you use cable its easier. No AC power hub is needed for my apt. like the MJ site suggests ) and had all my phones pluged up.
For those of you who are having trouble with it being "choppy" or have alot of static I have a few tips. 1. have a fast enough internet service. 2. have a fast enough computer. 3. Stay up with the times so you know how fast is fast these days. 4. Your computer does not have to be super fast to use the service but, if you use the computer and talk a lot at the same time i suggest you step it up when using ANY viop service. Im using a DSL Line and these are the specs. of my internet service though ATT.
Downstream Speed: Up to 1.5 Mbps
Upstream Speed: Up to 384 Kbps
IP Address: 1 Dynamic
I built my own PC and here are the specs that ill soon be upgrading i just don't do much on my PC as of now that requires a lot of speed except research, use magic jack service and other normal applications.:
AMD 3200 Processor
1 GB of RAM
(the other gig died and im upgrading to 4GB for Gaming and Media use)
Internal hard drive: 80GB
External Hard Drive: 100GB
Operating System: Windows Server 2008
( newly upgraded from windows xp and if you know how to use a server operating system or are tech. inclined its like using vista without the annoying bugs)
AND GUESS WHAT! IT WORKS GREAT!
The Main Problems I have experienced are as follows
Problem 1 is that when i have way to many windows or browser tabs open ( and i mean way too many)
it the computer slows up as it should and the internet is the main thing that gets slow because Magic Jack shares a small percentage bandwith and if you are trying to be a super multi-tasker it wont work out well.
Problem 2 is that when i plug up my 5.8ghz Vtech cordless phone or new Vtech phone one wont ring but will show Caller ID and the other i tried will ring but wont show Caller ID. Older phones work better with the system but not while the phones that wont ring are pluged up.
Problem 3 occured when my friend who recommended MJ to me went to pay after his first year they tried to charge him double and said he never paid for it when he ordered it directly from them….he just gave up on Cust. Service and brought a new one. and I decided to get mine a Radio Shack for $40.
MY SUMMARY IS YOU GET WHAT U PAID FOR!!!
March 21st, 2009 at 2:21 am
Ok guys i did find a solution to the cordless phone problem i was having here goes.
— Some wireless routers interfere with cordless phones. For best results, avoid 2.4 and 5.8 ghz handsets. Older 900 mhz phones work well, as do newer DECT phones. Or simply use a corded phone.
— If shopping for a cordless phone, don't bother getting one with voice mail or an answering machine. These services are included with Magicjack. Thrift stores frequently have suitable cordless phones for less than $5.
April 10th, 2009 at 9:30 am
It was a rational choice for me. Magic jack gets the job done. Phone companies try to market these useless extra features. Vonage is 15 times more expensive. Is it 15 times the service? I didn't think so. Besides that, I would've only saved $4-5/month with Vonage (compared to phone company).