MagicJack : Computer Hardware Buyers’ Glossary

2008-08-28 by Roedy Green ©1997-2009 Canadian Mind Products
index page for letter ⇒ punctuation 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z (all)

The CurrCon Java Applet displays prices on this web page converted with today’s exchange rates into your local international currency, e.g. Euros, US dollars, Canadian dollars, British Pounds, Indian Rupees… CurrCon requires Java 1.1 or later, preferably 1.6.0_11. If you can’t see the prices, or if you just want to learn more about CurrCon, click here for help.

MagicJack

a low cost VOIP service. You buy a converter jack that plugs into a USB port on your computer. Your ordinary phone plugs into that. You can talk to anyone with a phone, not just people with MagicJacks. It works on Windows and Intel Macs.

Advantages

You can make free incoming and outgoing calls free anywhere in North America.
If you take your laptop to Europe, you can still call anywhere in North America free.
The initial cost is $40.00 USD which gets you the jack and one year of calling. Subsequent years are $20.00 USD . This works out to $1.66 USD a month, 15 times cheaper than a similar VOIP service from Shaw cable. It is so cheap, you could justify it just for outgoing long distance and still keep your regular land line.
All the usual extra features such as caller-id, voicemail, directory assistance and call waiting come bundled.
You can treat the MagicJack just like a land line. You can plug in several extension phones with a spliter or a cordless phone.
One of the interesting features is it does not require you to install software. The jack itself contains enough code to automatically trigger the install over the Internet.
They take Visa, MasterCard, Discover, Amex and PayPal.
PC Magazine picked MagicJack as their editor’s choice on 2008-01-17.

Disadvantages

To make the phone ring, the computer must be on.
Installing MagicJack disables hibernation and standby modes. This is so it can respond instantly to an incoming call. The downside, is your computer then uses full power even when it is not in use. Ideally MagicJack should behave like an Ethernet card that can wake the computer out of hibernation when needed.
There is no warranty, just a one month trial.
Sometimes calls don’t forward properly when the computer power is off.
When Canadians purchase a MagicJack they will be required to register an American phone number. When the Canadian exchanges are available they will be able to change their number a Canadian area code. Unfortunately, this means in the interim, Canadians calling you will have to place a long distance call to the United States. You can call them free, as you can call anyone in the USA or Canada free.
Check this list to make sure your American area code is supported.

cell-phone
MagicJack in Canada
VOIP

	Please email your feedback for publication, errors, omissions, broken/redirected link reports and suggestions to improve this page to Roedy Green :
	Canadian Mind Products
	mindprod.com IP:[65.110.21.43]
	Your face IP:[38.103.63.62]	The information on this page is for non-military use only.
	You are visitor number 11.	Military use includes use by defence contractors.
	You can get a fresh copy of this page from:	or possibly from your local J: drive (Java virtual drive/mindprod.com website mirror)
	http://mindprod.com/bgloss/magicjack.html	J:\mindprod\bgloss\magicjack.html