[trebein]

How does it work? Do you have to be connected with a local telephone co. like At&t. How much do you pay a month? Please share your experience with it. Thanks

[Stratford, Ct. Resident]

You might find more info in this forum: http://www.city-data.com/forum/science-technology/

[trebein]

Originally Posted by Stratford, Ct. Resident

You might find more info in this forum: http://www.city-data.com/forum/science-technology/

Thanks Stratford. Checked out the forum. Loads of information. Now I have to do more research on it to see if it will really save us money in the long run.

[mlassoff]

It likely won't. In most markets the cost of having to keep the computer on 24/7 (electricity) is more than you would spend on a budget local phone line.

[skyegirl]

Originally Posted by trebein

How does it work? Do you have to be connected with a local telephone co. like At&t. How much do you pay a month? Please share your experience with it. Thanks

I have had it for about 6 months now and we love it! My Mom, brother and best friend have all switched...it rocks!

[skyegirl]

Sorry, I didn't answer all the questions...It was 39.99, including 12 months of service. When my year is up, it is 20 bucks per year. Our old phone line (AT&T) ran us 35 a month...no call witing, nothing extra! This has call waiting, voicemail, 3 way calling...you name it. Love it!

[toddb]

An alternative would be a service like Vonage...doesn't require your computer to be powered on at all to run, and works over your DSL/Cable modem service. It includes unlimited calling to the US / Canada / Puerto Rico, and I think 5 countries in Europe. It's $24.99 / mo - $5 cheaper than the intro rate offered by the cable co's and telco's, and doesnt skyrocket after a year.

If you don't mind using the PC all the time, you can look into things like Skype - it's very popular abroad and becoming more so here...

Just remember that with most of these residential VoIP services things like E911 don't always work, and you need to have proper battery backup / UPS devices hooked into the routers or else you will lose phone service should the power go out.

[vinrej]

Some important points on Magic Jack.

1. They're imposing 30 minute caps on each call.
2. It's not unlimited. They won't tell you the exact limit but its somewhere between 1000 minutes to 3000 minutes. If you exceeded the limit then your service will be cut off and you need to buy credits or another MJ.
3. You can rip the SIP information out from MJ and use it on another device like ATA or Softphone. Though its not guaranteed to work everytime.

I find a good alternative to Skype in Onesuite VoIP service. It's perfect for not so heavy users because it's only $2.95 a month with free incoming calls. Calling out is 2.5 cents per minute. Pay as you go, no plan, no termination fee.