Right, I'm not bothered by that. I've had the three MJs for almost a year and my service has been terrific and uninterrupted. I've read about people on the "unofficial magic jack" forum who would make 6-8 hours of calls and they were the ones who got their service cut.

That's right. I'm not bothered. What data, exactly, do you think they have?

Nope, not a problem. It's better than what Google does with gmail, in which the actual content of the email is analyzed, but I also use gmail, too. Can't opt out of the email? I couldn't care less -- if I ever got any, and I never did, it's easy enough to block it with my spam software.

You seem to think I'm unfamiliar with MJ's TOS. I'm very familiar with it. It's very simple: I think the quid pro quo for the TOS, namely free calling, is worth it. You don't, so you don't have to take the deal.

I've seen plenty of installers that leave keys in the registry which is one reason why, from time to time, I'll run a registry cleaner (fully manual) just to see what's sitting around.

There is only a single MJ directory, as I recall, under app data. As for keys, I didn't keep a list -- just searched and removed the references. There were only a few.

I disagree with respect to "reputable vendors." Do you consider Logitech reputable? As for "significant competitors," MJ is the cheapest, the most portable and the most convenient. As I said, you may not think it's worth it. I do.

Exactly. And my call was to do so and it's worked out fine. No spam, no invasion of privacy, no ads, no incompatibilites -- only free and reliable phone service.

Yahoo has calling via its instant messaging. Calls to USA toll free numbers are free.

I was evaluating a number of services for my younger brother who moved to Europe, and from all VOIP providers Skype proved to be the cheapest. His main requirement was to have a cheap way to call US based phones, and for us in th US to be able to contact him at home.

The key that sold us with Skype is the $3/unlimited calls to US numbers, and Skype-to-skype being free. Skype depends a lot on the implementation, we bought PC-Free skype phones (Philips VOIP841 and a GE one) and this works just fine (and serves dual purpose as a regular phone). When he is travelling (i.e. he was in China last week) he used his laptop and the skype client. All worked fine.

There were some quirks, like Skype to Skype calls being dropped, but I was able to work those out by changin the settings on my router.

In addition, what we liked about skype is that there is no monthly contract/charge. The $3 is month to month, and for all other countries we use top up (at $10 increments) in case we need it, use the credit until it expires.

There are a million ways to slice and dice Skype service, from using the free client, to using handsets, bluetooth sets, PC-phone adapters, and Wifi Phones, and PC-independent phones. With phones independent of the PC, while the service is not perfect, it works well.

The next step would be to get a proper SIP set up, however his usage does not warrant this currently.

Let me know if you have any questions.

I have to agree and say that skype is my favorite voip of choice.. I also have the unlimited plan and skype in.. (currently live in dubai).. for 5-7 a month.. i can receive/make calls and never watch the minutes.. and the international rates are decent (when i need them)

another great thing is that i have the fring app on my ipod touch 2nd gen.. which means i can access my skype and chat/make or receive calls anywhere i have a wifi connection.. perfect for those times at the airport!

having a notebook with bluetooth is great also.. i usually connect while walking around my room/office at home..

One question on Magicjack. I haven't been able to find this in any reviews, but will MJ ring 2 numbers at once? i.e. someone calls my home number and my cell will ring at the same time?

And during power outages, can calls be routed to another number?

Thanks

It will not. That would be a nice feature, though.

Yes, but . . .

I believe that MJ lets you forward calls to another number. However, if I recall correctly, you must do this on-line. If you have a power failure, it would be difficult to do this. At any rate, it won't automatically fall over to another line.

Vonage allows you to do both of these, ring simultaneous numbers (up to 5 numbers) and set up a number to route calls to if your internet connection goes down.

I have Vonage now, but am tired of the rate I pay per month going up and up with stupid fees and taxes. I'm looking for a new option to vonage.

I have Phone Power...$153 per year with all taxes included. It kind of chaps my A that my total taxes are like 35% for a freaking VoIP line, but my wife insisted that we keep a "real" service at home with all of our existing phones around the house.

Otherwise, I'd just dump it altogether and use my mobile + a Skype or Packet8 download to the mobile for free/cheap int'l calls.

As an alternative take a look at Gizmo. It works like Skype but is based on an open protocol called SIP.

I have my Vonage account on a small USB stick (provided by Vonage) and it works incredibly well. I transfer the account to a standard Vonage wireless modem when I'm at home. Even if I'm in an internet cafe I can adjust the quality on the USB downward and make calls just fine. I do business all over the place and none of my clients know the difference whether I'm in Seattle or London.

I was going to move to Vonage, but two things stopped me:

1. The insane amount of taxes - $9 of taxes on a $15 account (I didn't need the unlimited plan), and
2. Lack of support for my home security system, which meant that I still would have had to keep the most basic landline package.

I use Skype when I travel internationally on vacation, but only because I usually spring for Internet access once every other day at my hotel. The call quality is good, not great. I buy the minimum 3-month package with SkypeIn/SkypeOut/voicemail, and if I'm expecting a call after turning off the computer I use call forwarding to either my local cellphone or the hotel front desk. It is not the cheapest solution due to the 3-month minimum, but three weeks in Australia, being sick a bunch of the time and calling back to family, doctors, etc., still cost me less than $30 over the HSIA charges which I would incur anyway.

Do you have this?:

If yes, I may have to get this ... I am using Vonage already.

You mention ... call from London ... so you need to have an International Calling Plan? Correct?

Thanks!

You do not need an international plan. When you have a Voip service like Vonage, you can make a call from anywhere in the world as long as you have the equipment with you and can connect it to a fast enough, unrestricted internet connection. Vonage's servers don't care whether you're in London or Des Moines.

You only need an international plan if you make a lot of calls to other countries.

When mrsmicah lived in Israel, she took a Vonage box with her and hooked it up to her DSL modem at her apartment in Jerusalem, and it worked no differently than if it was hooked up to our cable modem in NYC. She had unlimited calling to the US, and we could call her in Jerusalem simply by dialing her regular NY number.

themicah:

Thanks ... I had forgotten this....

I wanted to order this USB V-Phone but did run in some problems and did sent an e-mail to Vonage.
Problems:
-I have already Vonage and just want the USB .. but Vonage sells this only with one of their services .. a very nice agent in the Philippines could not help me.
-Next, I have a 64-bit Windows Vista SP 2 laptop .. looks that at least Vista can cause a problem.