# $20.00 per year phone bill



## ReformedWretch (Jul 5, 2008)

I thought Vonage was awesome, but I recently bought a "Magic Jack" and it's even better. Make free phone calls any where at any time in the U.S. and Canada for the price of the "jack" (plugs into a PC USB port and costs about 40-60 bucks depending if you catch it on sale) and a $20.00 per year fee and that's it. I've tested it and so far it works great.


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## Barnpreacher (Jul 5, 2008)

Does Vonage offer internet access?


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## ChristianTrader (Jul 5, 2008)

PuritanBouncer said:


> I thought Vonage was awesome, but I recently bought a "Magic Jack" and it's even better. Make free phone calls any where at any time in the U.S. and Canada for the price of the "jack" (plugs into a PC USB port and costs about 40-60 bucks depending if you catch it on sale) and a $20.00 per year fee and that's it. I've tested it and so far it works great.



I've had magicjack for a year. Now it is about time to renew, and they have an offer of 4 years for 59.95. It has been high quality since I started the service. One usually cannot tell the difference between a regular line and magicjack voip.

CT


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## Barnpreacher (Jul 5, 2008)

Never mind. I just went to their site and read about it. I never even knew how it worked till now. I always just thought they were a regular phone service provider.


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## Herald (Jul 5, 2008)

I use my cell phone exclusively. I never thought a land line would be obsolete but it is for me.


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## Scott1 (Jul 5, 2008)

PuritanBouncer said:


> I thought Vonage was awesome, but I recently bought a "Magic Jack" and it's even better. Make free phone calls any where at any time in the U.S. and Canada for the price of the "jack" (plugs into a PC USB port and costs about 40-60 bucks depending if you catch it on sale) and a $20.00 per year fee and that's it. I've tested it and so far it works great.



From what I am reading, it looks like there are going to be major changes in the way a large group of Americans do phone calls in the next 12 months.

My friend did away with his home phone (and uses only a cell phone).
Magic Jack.
computer to computer calling.
Wi-fi phone calling.

The deregulation of the telephone companies is now hitting a broad sector of the American public for the first time and they are realizing now they can leave the (former) monopoly phone companies.

This is a benefit here of free capital markets- in this sector, costs are going way down!


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## Scott1 (Jul 5, 2008)

Can anyone tell me...

Is there any reason to not completely stop traditional phone land-line service?


911 calls
international calls
poor quality sound
power outage effects
bankruptcy of provider

Any reason at all?


Thanks.


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## Barnpreacher (Jul 5, 2008)

Scott1 said:


> Can anyone tell me...
> 
> Is there any reason to not completely stop traditional phone land-line service?
> 
> ...



Well, my ISP is through my local phone company.


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## danmpem (Jul 5, 2008)

Skype's home phone service is nice and very cheap. A lady in my church uses it as her only phone.


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## staythecourse (Jul 5, 2008)

Thanks for this useful advice Adam.

Does anyone use their computer for all telephone conversations? I want to drop my cell service ($70/month), have all my phone calls go to/through my computer, and have an answering machine program on my computer.

At $20 plus equipment, seems logical to me. Anybody doing this?


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## VictorBravo (Jul 5, 2008)

Scott1 said:


> Can anyone tell me...
> 
> Is there any reason to not completely stop traditional phone land-line service?
> 
> ...



I haven't had a land line in more than 4 years. I can barely remember what it was like. Cellphone is all I have, although I use Skype from time to time.


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## fredtgreco (Jul 5, 2008)

A downside to Magic Jack that I see is that it is "tethered" (after a sort) to the PC and the PC must always be on. With Vonage, I can plug it into my phone jack and get Vonage throughout the whole house. That is very convenient with multiple phones and multiple people. Magic Jack looks good, but not practical for a two story house with 5-6 people.


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## toddpedlar (Jul 5, 2008)

Scott1 said:


> Can anyone tell me...
> 
> Is there any reason to not completely stop traditional phone land-line service?
> 
> ...



Some of us have only DSL as an option for high speed,
and for that you need a land line. I could get cable internet,
but if I did that I'd also need to get cable TV also (an extra $20 
that we'd never use).

No thanks.


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## ChristianTrader (Jul 5, 2008)

toddpedlar said:


> Scott1 said:
> 
> 
> > Can anyone tell me...
> ...



Humm, the problem with leaving in the boonies  Here in Raleigh, you can get High speed cable internet with no cable tv.

CT


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## ChristianTrader (Jul 5, 2008)

fredtgreco said:


> A downside to Magic Jack that I see is that it is "tethered" (after a sort) to the PC and the PC must always be on. With Vonage, I can plug it into my phone jack and get Vonage throughout the whole house. That is very convenient with multiple phones and multiple people. Magic Jack looks good, but not practical for a two story house with 5-6 people.



I have a similar system to this: UNIDEN DCT 648-4 DCT648-4 CORDLESS 2.4 PHONE SYSTEM - eBay (item 290242764716 end time Jul-08-08 12:29:08 PDT)

With it I only need to connect Magic Jack to the base unit and can talk from wherever.

CT


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## TimV (Jul 6, 2008)

If the phone's tied in with the computer, and the computer is down, then there's no phone, and running a business I just can't have that. I have a group of cell's for me and the workers, and a land line run by Charter, which is my cable provider, but they use a separate line than the line used for the internet so there's very little down time. The phone service is free if you have the regular package of TV and internet. So communications still costs me 300 or so per month, but I'm not sure what I can do about that practically, as one missed call is one too many.


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## Scott1 (Jul 8, 2008)

Do local people calling you by cell phone or land line phone to your Magic Jack have to pay for long distance to call you?

How does Magic Jack work (or not work) for international calls?


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## DavidinKnoxville (Jul 9, 2008)

I received my Magic jack today and everything is running smoothly.


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## ChristianTrader (Jul 9, 2008)

Scott1 said:


> Do local people calling you by cell phone or land line phone to your Magic Jack have to pay for long distance to call you?



Not if Magic Jack offers a local number. If it does, then they will pay the same amount as if you had a phone number with the local phone company.

At the time, I purchased Magic Jack a year ago, they did not offer a local number for my area. So I signed up for Grand Central and have the calls to that number forwarded to my Magic Jack number.



> How does Magic Jack work (or not work) for international calls?



To call long internationally, I believe you have to prepay. However if you are international, you can call to the states for free using Magic Jack.

CT


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## Grace Alone (Jul 9, 2008)

Okay, guys. I have spent the past hour or more reading about Magic Jack as I would also like to have an alternative to traditional phone service but more than just a cell phone.

I read some reviews about Magic Jack on CNET, and apparently the way they make it so cheap is that it puts adware on your computer. I want to save money, but I am not sure yet whether this is a good idea. I'll be interested in hearing more input on how the adware effects the computer.

Here is the CNET review and user comments:

Get unlimited local and long-distance calling for 20 bucks a year


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## Wannabee (Jul 30, 2008)

I was hoping to see a follow-up to this.

We're about to set up service in our house and I want to check my options. It appears that mobility issue of Magic Jack is resolved by connecting it to the home phone lines. And we can't sacrifice local phone service. I have cell for backup. Does anybody have any other thoughts? I'd like to set it up with the least expensive system for internet and phone service, but don't really care about TV. I'm pretty clueless about this stuff.


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## Grace Alone (Jul 30, 2008)

We have Charter Internet and have decided to add their phone service (free LD). For the first year, it will only cost $7 more a month than we are paying now. After the year is up, the regular price is still less than we were paying MCI. We are going to pay the $40 for the back-up battery, though, since this cannot be used when the power is out unless you have the battery.


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## Backwoods Presbyterian (Jul 30, 2008)

North Jersey Baptist said:


> I use my cell phone exclusively. I never thought a land line would be obsolete but it is for me.



My wife and I canceled our land line about 18 months ago and have not missed it one bit.


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## tcalbrecht (Jul 30, 2008)

fredtgreco said:


> A downside to Magic Jack that I see is that it is "tethered" (after a sort) to the PC and the PC must always be on. ...



And running Windoze.


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## smhbbag (Jul 30, 2008)

While moving, I had no computer for 2-3 weeks (not even plugged in), and the magicjack in a box.

Yet, it was nice to still get messages from that number in my email while the magicjack was in a closet. And I was a bit surprised it was able to do that.


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