No more monthly phone bills!

[jbcjmp]

Hello everyone,
I thought I would pass this on for anyone who was interested in saving on your monthly phone bill (not cell phones). I came across a new technology that can totally irradicate your local and long distance phone bills forever. This new device is call MagicJack. It uses your computer similar to other VOIP technologies only this is much easier to use and much better. I was skeptical at first but was a 30 day money back guarantee, so I ordered it. It was very easy to set up and register. You plug your standard phone or cordless into the magicjack, plug it into your USB, register, and presto, free local and long distance calls anywhere in the USA with no charge. You simply pay about $20.00 a year and that's it. As I said I was skeptical but it really works and sounds great. I still have a regular land line right now, but I eliminated long distance and kept only local strickly for my security system. Savings of $60.00 a month. You can go to www.magicjack.com to check it out.

Give it a try, you have nothing to loose except your monthly phone bill.

Mark

[zhan]

I should start out by saying I've thought of getting one of these myself. I like the idea of having a VoIP phone, and the "Magic Jack" looks interesting. My big issue however is that I don't think it's good enough yet to rely on in an emergency. It can definitely be used to save on long distance, but I personally really, *really* want a standard, reliable for decades land line in my home as an emergency backup. The good thing about that though is that you *can* do both, but the savings are less.

You also have to keep in mind that this one is a USB device. By definition that should mean the computer has to be on for it to work. Normally that's not an issue, but in an emergency situation that extra minute or three (or more) of boot time can cause a big problem. Also you'll have to have a UPS as well that can power your computer and your cable/DSL device if you want to make a call in a power outage.

I could also go on about the difference in how the different networks are built as well (more provisioned these days), but suffice it to say that while the data networks are relatively good, if I want to absolutely depend on it to be there when I need it, I'll chose a land line. The regulations will eventually catch up to the cable and data providers and *make* them build as redundantly if they chose to serve voice to their customers, but I think it's going to take a few lives and a few lawsuits to do it.

Even then though, there's no accounting for the last 10 feet (through the customers computer, relying on the customers redundancy, if there is any at all). I've worked with enough computers and customers for that thought to truly frighten me, especially as someones life *will* eventually hang in the balance over this.

So I guess to sum it up, in the end I'll probably have a setup exactly like yours. Land line for quick local-only calls and emergency backup, and some version of VoIP to save me cash on long distance. :nod

[edit] actually, I'm hoping for something like magic jack in combination with something like Iron Key (https://www.ironkey.com/), to be a truely go anywhere, phone anyone, and still be *secure* platform on your key chain. That will be a while longer though.