10/27/08

MagicJack Review: Make Phone Bills Disappear!

magicjack pic The Monetizer will be the first to admit a love for new technology. While some hate it, I embrace it. I also love making money, and saving it. So today, I wanted to let you all know of an interesting and impressive piece of technology today called the MagicJack. MagicJack seems to be a worthy rival to the well-known Vonage VOIP phone service. You know the company which allows you to make calls using your home computer and claims to cut down on bills? Well MagicJack is just a small device with a USB jack on it that you plug into your computer. Plug a regular phone cord into Magic Jack from any phone you'd like to use with it. Turn your PC on and presto! Within 3 minutes, MagicJack has installed itself and downloaded the latest upgraded software to allow you to make FREE phone calls through your hi-speed connection. (Windows XP, Vista or Intel based Macs)

I set Magicjack up today, but have to admit I was slightly skeptical before I tried it. I've heard people complain about delays, echos and poor sound quality with Vonage. Hasn't been the case yet with MagicJack. Once the software installed, it allowed the Monetizer to choose any area code for my MagicJack phone number. What's great about this, you could essentially set up a virtual business office somewhere else in the US (New York, LA, etc) and make it seem as if you're an established business. Also, you could choose an area code from a state perhaps where many friends and relatives are located, making the calls cheaper for them. Quite a cool concept. MagicJack allows you to change your area code for free one-time, and then you can change it for a charge of $10 each additional time.

magicjack interface display for pc
(A look at the cool display/interface for MagicJack on the PC)

MagicJack offers some great additional, no extra cost features as well. First off, you can see in the screenshot above, there's a cool interface that you get on your computer screen. It displays a phone keypad, menu options, contacts, website favorites, link to Google, Redial, 411 and more. You can dial your phone/check Voice mail from the computer, or the phone itself. When a call comes in, it pops up a message on your screen to "ACCEPT" or "IGNORE" the call. If ignored, the call heads straight to your no extra-cost voice mail. The same happens when your computer is shut off, or if you lose hi-speed service, calls go straight to the voice mail, which you can also set up with various messages.

So far I like what I've seen and heard with MagicJack. It's definitely a viable option to eliminate long distance phone bills or cell phone bills which can really add up. MagicJack's phone service is free for a year from the date of install on your PC. Then it costs $20 or so annually to keep the service going. Calls are free, and you can even bring MagicJack with you on road trips/travel and use your current phone number to make free calls.

With Vonage I've heard the complaints: hard to hear the people on the other end of the phone, monthly bills, and the fact you need a special extra device hooked up to make it work. Not the case with MagicJack..Until it starts bringing in tons of telemarketer calls, calls from The Ring villain, or acting possessed, I'd fully recommend this little device which can be picked up for about $35-40 if you shop around! Check out some of the latest MagicJack auction listings on eBay to find yourself a deal, and start saving money!

Find out more info about this product at MagicJack.com's official website.

2 comments:

zxt said...

If it isn't for MJ limitation on US and Canada then I might give it a try. I make long distance calls a lot especially overseas so I need something like Onesuite.com where it has cheap rates for both local long distance and international calls.

Jason Alvarez said...

Yeah, sadly Zxt, for now it's only in the United States and Canada. Maybe in the future though, they'll come out with a version of magicJack that will allow you to call overseas. That would definitely be sweet!

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