macnn
04/10/2008, 4:50pm, EDT
Thursday, April 10th
Part I: First Look: magicJack Internet calling
For the longest time, the three most popular ways to make phone calls was through a landline, a cellular phone, or a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) phone system such as Skype. Landlines offer near-perfect reliability and sound quality, but with varying costs and limited mobility. Cellular phones offers mobility but at the cost of high fees. VoIP phones offer mobility with unlimited free calls anywhere in the world, but are often restricted to calls placed to other VoIP users. If you want to use a VoIP phone to call a landline or cellular phone, the charges jump up dramatically. Fortunately, there’s now another calling alternative called magicJack.
The magicJack unit plugs into the USB port of any computer and by plugging any telephone into the magicJack, you can use your computer’s broadband Internet connection to place calls for free to landline or cellular phones. With magicJack, you truly get free, unlimited phone calls.
The magicJack unit consists of a short USB extension cord and the magicJack unit itself. You can plug the magicJack unit directly into a computer’s USB port, but since the unit is fairly bulky, you may need to use the included USB extension cord to plug the unit into any free USB port.
The magicJack package includes a USB extension cord and the magicJack unit
After you plug the magicJack into your computer, it installs the necessary drivers for either Windows XP, Vista, or Mac OS X. You can also download the necessary drivers for Vista or Mac OS X by downloading them separately from the magicJack Web site (www.magicjack.com).
Initially, you can’t use the magicJack until you first create a magicJack account, which consists of your email address and a password. Since many people use magicJack to replace a traditional landline, the magicJack installation process also asks for a physical address to register your number with 911 emergency services.
Since magicJack not only lets you make calls but receive them as well, you need to complete the installation process by choosing an area code for your magicJack phone number. Although you can choose any area code, magicJack assigns your particular unit with a specific phone number, which allows others to call you through magicJack.
Filed under: gadgets, networking, audio
Other story tags: phone, VoIP
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1. You can use real telephones. This is very preferable to some people.
2. Your total yearly bill for all calls, regardless of quantity or location, is $20. Skype et al charge you for calls to "real" phone numbers, resulting in an average bill that is considerably higher than $20/year for a typical user.
JackenIAX works fine as a softphone. There are plenty of SIP softphones as well. And if I want to plug a "phone" into my computer, I'd rather just use a $40 headset from Fry's.
W
At least that's what, uh, journalists would do.
I'll admit, I have a friend who has one of these things, and he loves it. But I really prefer to know who I am doing business with and I prefer doing business with someone who has a sense of advertising decorum.