MagicJack – Tell It Like It Is – by Paul Jenkins
MagicJack is pretty huge in the internet phone world, but unlike other internet “hard” phones, you need your computer running to operate it. MagicJack works best in the U.S. and Canada. So, if you don’t phone there, or you don’t need people from there to phone you, I wouldn’t go with MagicJack. This is because MagicJack offers only American and Canadian area codes. And Canadian area codes are an extra ten dollars a year. They do however offer international calling which you can buy prepaid minutes for, and a call from a MagicJack to a MagicJack in any country is free.
Why It Rocks
MagicJack is easy to set up. You simply buy their little MagicJack device, plug it into your computer and hook up any telephone. MagicJack sets up everything for you, for example it downloads the software, configures it for your account, brings in your phone book and your call records etc. It’s hard to mess up and it’s pretty much idiot proof.
MagicJack is super cheap. The big selling feature of MagicJack is the price. I paid $40.00 US for the first year, and I got the following 4 years for another $60.00 US. This includes voice mail, a pretty good selection of area codes (although there have been problems for NYC), and unlimited North American long distance. Also, because everything is included in the price, you don’t have to worry about activation fees, cancellation fees or any other hidden fees.
MagicJack is so affordable that it is often the chosen internet phone for telemarketers. Although, MagicJack does have a fair-usage clause in the license that slows down people who make excessive amounts of calls – like telemarketers. Of course because MagicJack is so cheap, telemarketers often just get around this by buying a few MagicJacks and rotating between them.
Where It Strikes Out
One of the biggest strikes against MagicJack is that you have to have your computer running for it to work. This means if you were expecting a call, or didn’t want to miss any emergency calls, you would have to have your computer running at all times. Most computers aren’t designed to run 24 hours a day, so your chances of wear-and-tear on your computer will increase and of course electricity costs.
In my experience you need pretty good Internet to use MagicJack. I tried to use it in Mexico in a rural beach town and I was out of luck. However, I was able to use it in the next town over which had better internet service.
MagicJack lacks flexibility. You can’t use it on your smartphone and you can’t use it on any computer. For example, if you were on a public computer you would have to have your MagicJack device and a phone, and you would have to install the software on the computer. You really need to have your computer and your equipment with you if you want to use MagicJack on the go. Other internet phones however, offer softphones which allow you to log in easily from any computer without needing any equipment or installation.
Speaking of installation, MagicJack doesn’t uninstall gracefully, and in some cases not at all. In order to use a MagicJack phone, you need to have the software installed on your computer. However, it doesn’t come with an uninstaller. This means that if you go into an internet cafe or a friend’s house and plug it in and let it do its installation – well, just like some communicable disease they are stuck with it. And some processes run all the time. Although it should be noted that this area is getting better – there is now an uninstall program for MagicJack that you can get from their website. (To find this you can go to the FAQ section on their website and search “uninstall”).
Conspiracy Theorists love to hate the fact that MagicJack collects data on your machine and ships it home to theirs. Part of MagicJack’s business model seems to be aiming targeted advertising at you while you look at their software. Basically, when you’re using MagicJack on your computer, they run ads on their software screen. Conspiracy theorists argue that the software is looking at your surfing patterns etc. They argue the software is probably accumulating data so that the inventor’s get to sell their investors or whoever else – as them being the Google of the internet phone world. Not a bad idea – offer a practically free service, collect personal information and then offer targeted ads. The people will need to look at the advertising when they use the software. And make it hard to uninstall. Well, they forgot one of the tenants of Google – play nice. They may be playing nice, but their EULA (licensing agreement) basically says that they can collect as much data as they want from your computer. In the end – it makes the paranoid feel justified.
The Last Word
If you’re going to use MagicJack you should consider using it with a dedicated computer. I would recommend getting a small netbook. You can buy one for $200US new or for $150US or less on eBay. I have an original EeePC with a 4 GB solid state hard drive and 1 GB of ram that runs Windows XP. This is a super cheap, super robust machine. It is also my MagicJack machine. This means I can take it around the house or even travel with it easily. Remember though, it is a compromised machine if you are paranoid about sharing your surfing habits. Or you could just come to the conclusion that privacy is dead anyhow and get used to it.
My Straight-Up Advice: MagicJack is not the best permanent internet phone setup. It is ideal if you need to make calls occasionally at your convenience (like free long distance to North America) and have a good internet connection.
