The MagicJack is a small USB device that plugs into your computer and turns your typical phone into an internet phone. For awhile they were selling the device plus 1 year of service for about $20. Now you can get the device plus one year of service for about $40. Essentially if you bought MagicJack a few months ago you would have gotten the USB device for free. Even at $40 the device is a steal.
If you have a home security system there is a very slim chance you can do without a standard landline phone connection. I have such a security system. However, you can still save money. I currently have Qwest and pay $30+ a month for various features such as call waiting, caller ID, etc. With MagicJack I get all that for free plus Voice Mail. So now I can turn those features off the landline and drop the landline price to around $20 a month including taxes and fees. A savings of $10 a month. So in one year I save $120 on the landline and paid $40 for a MagicJack netting a savings of $80 in the first year. The second year will cost $20 and save $120 so I’m now ahead $100 a year.
So even if you still need a landline you can save money with MagicJack.
The second objection to MagicJack is the fact that you can’t just plug your phones into the existing phone plugs around your house. If you want to have multiple phone around the house you’ll need to invest in wireless phones which work off a single base. Only the base needs to plug into a phone jack. The rest of the phones simply plug into an electrical outlet and work off the main base wirelessly. If you have a bunch of cheap wireless phones that all need to plug into a phone jack then you can simply put all the bases by the MagicJack and buy a cheap phone jack splitter. So you don’t really lose the ability to have multiple phones around the house.
Reading reviews on Amazon MagicJack has historically not had the best quality sound. But, it seems that in late 2008 they upped the quality significantly. I’m not seeing any phone quality issues.
You do need a high speed internet connection and a computer that is always on (or at least on when you want to make a phone call). I personally have had computers running 24/7 for years in home to run various internet based applications. So there’s no additional cost on my end to plug in a MagicJack. If you don’t already have a computer running 24/7 then you may have to consider additional electricity costs. For me it costs about $10 a month to run 3 computers 24/7 every month. Your rates may vary.
If you don’t have a high speed internet connection then well you’re probably saving more money by using dial up plus a land line. MagicJack isn’t going to work for you and it won’t save you any money anyway.
The biggest savings with MagicJack comes if you call long distance. There are no additional fees with MagicJack to call long distance. So you can cut that service off your landline and that alone will quickly pay for the MagicJack.
Essentially, it’s virtually impossible to not save money with MagicJack. One review I read said that MagicJack looks like a scam and in some ways sounds like a scam but it’s not. It’s a genuinely great product that just needs a little help in the marketing department.
Setting it up is very simple. You plug it into your computer, wait a few minutes for it to finish doing it’s thing (don’t touch your computer in the mean time) and then register it when it asks you. You have an option to get a vanity phone number which was about $10 a year or you can get an automatically assigned number for free. There is also a deal to get 5 years of service for $60. A $40 savings. I’m not sure how long that will last. At $12 a year that’s only $1 a month for phone service.
If you don’t have a MagicJack, have a high speed internet connection and a computer you can leave on 24/7, you’re wasting money. It really is that simple.
