Editorial
Front Page - Friday, April 9, 2010
What'll they dream up next?
magicJack
Misty S. Brown
My boyfriend and I have a champagne taste on a beer budget. While we would both love to opt for the more expensive item, we normally end up going for the lesser of the two. Sometimes, though, I take it down an even further notch. While he orders a Guinness on tap, I will get a glass of water garnished with a lemon. I guess I have read too much of Amy Dacycyzn’s Tightwad Gazette, in which she refers to herself as a frugal zealot. I just like to save my money for the bigger, more important things in life.
As an adult with bills galore, I need to save money more than ever before. When my boyfriend once told me I was “not materialistic enough sometimes,” a smile grew across my face – not because that was license for me to go out and blow money on a bunch of useless things, but because I pride myself on the fact that I can relate to Dacycyzn’s frugal ways.
I like bargains. A lot. And I like saving money. A lot. So when I found the magicJack for sale in a local drug store, I knew it was the perfect thing for our beer budget.
What it is
The magicJack is a PC Magazine Editor’s Choice 2009 Product of the Year. It is a phone jack that plugs directly into a computer’s USB port to provide internet-based phone access without the per-minute or monthly fees of traditional landline phone service providers.
How it works
To use a magicJack, you must have: a computer with an available, power-supplied USB port; Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Intel-based Apple MAC operating systems; broadband, high-speed internet, cable internet, DSL, WiFi, Wireless or WiMax internet access (dial-up and satellite internet connections will not work with the magicJack since a minimum bandwidth upload speed of 128 kbps is required;) and a corded phone or cordless telephone system (a headset or your computer’s microphone and speakers also work).
Installing the magicJack is not very difficult. Once you plug a phone line into the magicJack’s phone port, plug it into the power-supplied USB port and the software installs itself. A registration screen will pop up, where you will enter your 911-address information, e-mail address, billing information and choose your phone number.
There are several options available throughout the registration process, including signing up for the service for five years at a money-saving fee. Once the registration is complete, you can start using the magicJack to make local and long distance calls to the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada and the U.S. Virgin Islands for no fees. (International calls, however, will cost.)
Pros and cons
With the advent of cell phones in the public sector, people have steadily eliminated their home phone service over the last several years. While this makes sense to not have redundant bills, it poses a problem in rural areas that have bad cell phone service and especially in emergency situations.
The magicJack is a great remedy for this situation because it costs very little per year and enables you to make local and long distance phone calls when a cell phone will not suffice. It also enables you to enter your home address during the registration process to help 911 dispatchers determine your location when you make that fateful call.
Additionally, cell phone services often have nighttime minutes that go into effect after 7 p.m. or 9 p.m., so when your daytime minutes are running low, you either wait till the nighttime minutes are available at the appropriate time or pay the overage fees. Not so with magicJack, which does not charge per-minute fees.
One potential drawback to the magicJack is the technical difficulties you might face when installing it on your computer. I have a desktop computer that meets all the specifications, but I could only get a flash image that stuck in the middle of my screen without taking me to any registration windows. I tried disabling the firewalls and anti-virus programs to no avail. Fortunately we also own a laptop, which installed the program with ease once the firewalls and anti-virus programs were temporarily disabled. The magicJack Web site at www.magicjack.com has a page of frequently asked questions to help you troubleshoot any problems you might en-counter.
For those who are trying to save energy, there is another drawback to this gadget — since it operates through a computer, the computer must remain on to receive or make calls. A solution to this problem is the free voicemail and call forwarding abilities of the magicJack. The voicemail works by sending an e-mail to your registered e-mail address with a file containing the recording that a caller leaves in your voicemail.
An advantage of the magicJack is that it can provide a local area-code number, although the ten-digit number must still be dialed for all calls. I have read that these make great gifts for students studying abroad or members of the military who are stationed overseas. Since they will have a local number, it will not cost to call them or for them to make calls to the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, thus eliminating costs associated with international calls. (Calls made to countries outside of these might accrue an international rate, however.)
The calls I have made using the magicJack have been as clear as any other telephone line I have used. I noticed a slight delay when test-calling my boyfriend on his cell phone in the same house, but there was not any echoing or over-talking like I sometimes experience on my cell phone.
The thing that made me happiest about the magicJack is that I can still use an antique rotary phone I bought at a second-hand store by dialing with the program on the computer and picking up the handset.
In addition, I was able to drop my home phone service that I had combined with my Internet service and instantly save money. During the registration process, I signed up for five years of service at a nominal fee of about $69.95, saving me around $30 off magicJack’s normal annual fee and approximately $1,430 off my regular phone service charges over a five-year period.
Where to buy
A magicJack can be purchased on the www.magic jack.com Web site for $39.95 plus shipping. There are no other start-up fees associated with basic magicJack service unless you opt for additional services during the registration process. An additional year of service can be purchased for $19.95. MagicJacks can also be purchased in stores like Wal-Mart and Walgreen’s for about $39.99 plus taxes.
Submissions
Have a gadget you would like me to review? Send the information to me at misty@dailydata.com.
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