Anyone heard of this? Magic Jack for free long distance

[Butterbean]

Supposedly you can plug your land line phone into this device that plugs into your computer and if you have broadband you receive "free" long distance in the US and Canada.

http://www.magicjack.com/9/index.asp

[danielson]

Why does it say 30 day free trial? That usually doesn't mean free.

[Butterbean]

Why does it say 30 day free trial? That usually doesn't mean free.

I guess it's like $40 to purchase and then you pay them $20/year or something...but they say you don't pay long distance charges.

Seems maybe too good to be true

[danielson]

I guess it's like $40 to purchase and then you pay them $20/year or something...but they say you don't pay long distance charges.

Seems maybe too good to be true

Do you have MSN messenger? You can hit the space Key and talk on that for free.

[Butterbean]

Do you have MSN messenger? You can hit the space Key and talk on that for free.

Thanks I'll check it out 

[hazbin]

i've got one. it works fine. oddly, i am in Canada and have a 480 (Arizona) area code.

[24KT]

I've got one. It's a pain in the ass, but it serves it's function when travelling.
It doesn't  have a lot of functionality, and you are unable to block your number when making an outgoing call, and frequently when receiving an incoming call, it blows out the magicjack completely.

I used to use it mainly when I was on conference calls and my lines would be tied up or three-wayed between 2 different conference bridges, it allowed me to make outbound calls without disconnecting a conference. It's also good for making outbound calls leaving your regular phone line free for incoming, ...but only when it works. It frequently doesn't. It's cheap I will admit, ...but it's very wonky and unpredictable. So far, it has blown out 2 of my phones, and customer support is less than desireable. You cannot talk to anyone, customer support is all chat based. It serves up constant flash advertising in your face, and when it switches between adds, it interferes with the clarity of the call. Cheap, but not worth the money.

It's great for Europeans, Africans, or Asians etc who need to make frequent calls into US & Canada.

[Butterbean]

Thanks for the info Jag and hazbin

[Migs]

I've got one. It's a pain in the ass, but it serves it's function when travelling.
It doesn't  have a lot of functionality, and you are unable to block your number when making an outgoing call, and frequently when receiving an incoming call, it blows out the magicjack completely.

I used to use it mainly when I was on conference calls and my lines would be tied up or three-wayed between 2 different conference bridges, it allowed me to make outbound calls without disconnecting a conference. It's also good for making outbound calls leaving your regular phone line free for incoming, ...but only when it works. It frequently doesn't. It's cheap I will admit, ...but it's very wonky and unpredictable. So far, it has blown out 2 of my phones, and customer support is less than desireable. You cannot talk to anyone, customer support is all chat based. It serves up constant flash advertising in your face, and when it switches between adds, it interferes with the clarity of the call. Cheap, but not worth the money.

It's great for Europeans, Africans, or Asians etc who need to make frequent calls into US & Canada.

I could write something dirty from all this lol

[Princess L]

Clark Howard advocates something like this.  He says it's a good deal and works, however, sometimes the sound quality or connection isn't the greatest.


Edit:  I guess it is the Magic Jack he talks about.  Here's what he's got on his website.  http://clarkhoward.com/liveweb/shownotes/2007/08/22/12570/

[Butterbean]

Thanks Princess!

[ToxicAvenger]

Supposedly you can plug your land line phone into this device that plugs into your computer and if you have broadband you receive "free" long distance in the US and Canada.

http://www.magicjack.com/9/index.asp

it works

think its a voip ipsec tunnel....
anyhoo it works and its genius!