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Home > All Providers Reviews > Magicjack

magicJack Reviews

magicJack is an extremely cheap VoIP provider that works by using your existing Internet connection to make and receive calls. magicJack provides a plug-and-play device (like a USB drive) that you can connect to your computer or high-speed modem to start making local and long-distance calls. You can use magicJack for as little as $19.95/year per line. 

With the newest magicJack Plus system, you don't have to have your computer on at all times in order to receive a call.

Is magicJack worth it? 

We recommend that anyone interested in buying a magicJack read the user reviews here first.

 

Users Average Rating

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Majic Jack Customer Review

user_review
1
Average: 1 (1 vote)
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Average: 3 (1 vote)
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1.4
Average: 1.4 (1 vote)

Hi,
I bought magic jack thinking it is cheap. It is little cheaper than Skype. But using magic jack you CAN NOT call all the numbers, some of the examples are conference phone nos, calling card local nos etc..(These are the few i know, i am not sure what all nos you can not call). Second thing is in the website it says that you 100% money will be refunded, but you need to pay the return charges whey you are returning the product, so be very careful.

Cheaper
Terms and Conditions are not clear You can not call all the numbers
No

DON'T BUY Magic Jack! Dropped calls, tons of hidden charges, and 0 customer service person.

user_review
5
Average: 5 (1 vote)
4
Average: 4 (1 vote)
1
Average: 1 (1 vote)
1
Average: 1 (1 vote)
1
Average: 1 (1 vote)
2.4
Average: 2.4 (1 vote)

A friend of mine used something similar to Magic Jack and was please with it, so I thought I'd give it a try. Boy am I sorry. I'm not out $140 and countless hours of trying to get things figured out.
I tried 3 separate times to join a conference call (different numbers, different days, different events) and each time it never worked. I looked for 15 minutes to find a phone number to call customer service. Guess what, a phone number doesn't exist!! I received live help from someone and was floored at how rude they were! When I explained my issued 3 different times, a different way each time, I got the same text copied and pasted over and over in response to my question. I asked to speak to a supervisor, then the next line read "miss if you're not going to respond and cooperate I have no choice but to end this conversation" and ended the help! What??!!! I got on a live help with someone else and told them what happened, can I please talk to a manager and was told don't worry, our supervisors read all of the conversations. HA. RIGHT.
Plus, weekly our calls were just dropped.
Weekly we had to reset the magic jack b/c it stopped working.
Have to pay to be a part of a conference call
Over all I am EXTREMELY DISSATISFIED! There were a lot of cons, read some of them- dropped calls, had to reset jack once per week b/c of not functioning, can't have fax and phone plugged in at same time, incredibly rude customer service via 'live chat' only, no phone number to talk to someone, website does not clearly explain anything, pay extra to be a part of a conference calls, pay extra to call international (I assumed that), pay $30 to transfer back to my old provider.

Cheap- you get what you pay for, plus headaches included for FREE!
EXTREMELY DISSATISFIED! There were a lot of cons, read some of them- dropped calls, had to reset jack once per week b/c of not functioning, can't have fax and phone plugged in at same time, incredibly rude customer service via 'live chat' only, no phone number to talk to someone, website does not clearly explain anything, pay extra to be a part of a conference calls, pay extra to call international (I assumed that), pay $30 to transfer back to my old provider.
No

magicJack Great product

user_review
4
Average: 4 (1 vote)
5
Average: 5 (1 vote)
1
Average: 1 (1 vote)
5
Average: 5 (1 vote)
4
Average: 4 (1 vote)
3.8
Average: 3.8 (1 vote)

PLEASE NOTE:
NEVER HAD TO USE CUSTOMER SERVICE, AND YOU CAN'T LEAVE THAT FIELD BLANK, SO PLEASE DISREGARD THAT.
I have been with magic jack for a little over a year. When I calculated how much money I would of spent this year, I saved an estimated $735 on all my calls to the US and Canada. I have had some issues with using it with a wireless adapter, but I got the landlord to install an extra line in my room, and added my own hub so I could use it. I see the big complaint a lot of people have is sound quality. Well, I guess either the quality of your isp has something to do with it, or they are total retards, because once i hard wired it to my router, it works pretty good. There is 911 service, but you have to agree to it, 911 connects you to magic jack, then they connect you to the police. Of course, since only snitches call 911, I don't need this service. Just in case people are curious, I live in Toronto, they gave me a 647 number, so far I have had no issues calling the 716 area, (Buffalo) all of Toronto, and a few 800 numbers for tech support.
Hope this has been Help full

Cheap way to fire your phone company. No sales calls.
a little difficult to setup for the first time. Sound quality can very based on the quality of your isp. A little more expensive if you live in Canada
Yes

magicJack frustration

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3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
1
Average: 1 (1 vote)
1
Average: 1 (1 vote)
1
Average: 1 (1 vote)
1
Average: 1 (1 vote)
1.4
Average: 1.4 (1 vote)

i bought thi magic jack to save me from using minuyes on my pay as you go cell phone. i wanted to avoid paying cell phone rates when being put on hold. i have purchased both the magic jack and the magic jack plus. both have been unreliable. one time, an important and lenghtly phone call was cut off, and i was unable to recall the number. most of my frustration is being unable to access the magic jack service both with and without my computer. finally i am pulling the plig on this product. i am turning the magic jack off.

cheap service when it works
not reliable
No

Magicjack forfeited all my prepaid international calls.

user_review
1
Average: 1 (1 vote)
2
Average: 2 (1 vote)
1
Average: 1 (1 vote)
1
Average: 1 (1 vote)
1
Average: 1 (1 vote)
1.2
Average: 1.2 (1 vote)

I pre-paid $30 into my international calls. Didn't call for 6 months. Magicjack forfeited all my money. Live chat with their customer service but useless.

Worst customer service ever!!!
No

Magic jack Junk

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1
Average: 1 (1 vote)
5
Average: 5 (1 vote)
1
Average: 1 (1 vote)
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1.8
Average: 1.8 (1 vote)

Magic Jack kept transferring me from one person to another up the line. And then I would have to start all over. I went through this a half dozen times and no one could get it working. I had no trouble with Vonage or Comcast.
I spent many hours - 20 or more with the help desk and supervisors and they were never able to get it working.
The sound quality was terrible. Everyone complained and eventually, I had to switch completely to my cell phone which quickly gobbled up any savings from a nearly "free" service.
Then to add insult to injury, I had to pay $32 to port it over to another company!!! What a deal!

Price was right.
It never worked. I spent 20 or more hours on help desk. When it worked, the quality was terrible but it never worked consistently. Everyone complained so I had to revert to my cell phone. It was virtually useless.
No

MAGIC JACK CUSTOMER SERVICE WORST EVER

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1.2
Average: 1.2 (1 vote)

Shortly after I hooked it up I lost all sound on my computer entirely. I disconnected it but it seems as though it's like a tapeworm, it doesn't want to leave once it's got in. I have just spent over an hour and a half on the phone with them, first trying to fix the problem (they eventually wanted to take over my computer "and fix it from our end" to which I said no, for obvious reasons.
You have to have a RMA number to return the thing and when I went to get it I was instantly refused although yesterday was the first day it had been hooked up and I have an email from Magic Jack saying I have until the end of the month. So back to customer support where I was asked for order number, which I gave them, the last 4 digits of my credit card, which they found agreed, but somehow they still could not find the order. After 15 minutes of dithering, they wanted to know the tracking number. At this point I was getting so angry I simply said goodbye and will tackle them again tonight when I am calmer.
I have never been stonewalled quite so blatantly. Because this is chat I have no documentation that the chat ever occurred to give to the bank.
BEWARE OF MAGIC JACK unless you have money to throw away if it doesn't work. You won't be happy if you want to return it, even if after only one day. The customer service people are pleasant enough but that alone isn't useful.

The price and the promises. The customer service people are pleasant and at least one of them tries to help in a timely manner.
apparently it knocked the sound right out of my computer as well prevented incoming calls from coming through even after I disconnected it. Don't even TRY to return it unless you have literally a couple of spare hours you have nothing better to do than sit on the computer repeating order and tracking numbers and still not getting anywhere.
No

MagicJack Sucks!!!

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Average: 1 (1 vote)
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Average: 2 (1 vote)
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Average: 1 (1 vote)
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Average: 1 (1 vote)
1.2
Average: 1.2 (1 vote)

We bought MagicJack to replace our home phone and that was the biggest waste of $50 I have EVER spent. We initially plugged it into our computer but that slowed our Internet waaayyyyy down so we plugged it directly into the wall. The sound quality was terrible, just a notch above a whisper was the best we could hear. The worst part: they advertise "Keep your old phone number" WHAT A CROCK!!!!!! We couldn't even get the same area code, then why the heck are they selling it here????
The only way you can notify customer service is through "Live Chat" but the idiot on the other side couldn't even figure out what we were asking, no matter how lay the terms were.
I ended up buying "Straight Talk" which is $15 per month but works great and we were able to get a local number. I am tossing the POS MagicJack and will NEVER recommend it to anyone, EVER!!!!!

Poor sound quality, horrible customer service, bad numbers
No

forget it magicJack

user_review
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
3
Average: 3 (1 vote)
1
Average: 1 (1 vote)
1
Average: 1 (1 vote)
1
Average: 1 (1 vote)
1.8
Average: 1.8 (1 vote)

It WILL stop working, and their live chat help will not be able to fix it so that it will work the next day, or if you restart the computer. I have spent more than 5 hours on their help chat on a single problem that they never fixed. They will have you do the same things again and again - restart, reinstall, unplug and wait, etc - that you have already tried. They will escalate your problem up the line to a person who first says they are reading the transcript so far, but it becomes obvious they don't read it at all. Eventually someone will kluge a solution that won't work more than a few minutes, and you have to go back to support.
This time, they wanted me to change system settings that were fine before, and install a vpn (to "get around" those settings) that bombarded me with ads. They dismissed the idea that it could be a flash upgrade causing the trouble, when that was the only thing that had changed recently. I think what's happening is that they can't ever admit the possibility that the device has gone bad. They will never concede that - it would cost them money.
Use something else, anything else.

Sound quality is as good as landline - as long as it works
Unreliable, and worthless tech support
No

Would not even work out of the box.magicJack

user_review
1
Average: 1 (1 vote)
2
Average: 2 (1 vote)
2
Average: 2 (1 vote)
1
Average: 1 (1 vote)
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Average: 1 (1 vote)
1.4
Average: 1.4 (1 vote)

I'm not one to complain much about electronics but this experience was truly horrible. I spent several hours trying to make this device work (I have a PhD in Computer Engineering), and then spent 3 hours going in circles with customer service trying to make it work.
I eventually said I want a refund, and of course their Terms of Service required an RMA and for it to be shipped back. Now think about it, I got this to take overseas so I could get a US number. Now I have to ship it internationally to get my money back... right. At least I got to keep an ethernet cable, a usb extender cord, and a usb charger for my troubles.

It worked once.
Device would not work when connected to either USB or ethernet router.
No

Pages

magicJack

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United States
2002Year Founded
27%Recommend
307User Reviews

Overall Rating

2.35
3.5
51%
43%
50%
33%
70%

Service Locations

    VoIP app

    The Skinny

    magicJack Revealed

    What is magicJack?

    A magicJack is a small device that allows you to make Internet phone calls for cheap prices.

    As of 2016, magicJack Express costs $39.95 plus shipping and handling. You get 3 months of free unlimited calling to the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. Additional years cost $35.

    How does magicJack work?

    One of magicJack's top selling points is its ease of installation.

    1. Plug your phone into the magicJack
    2. Plug the magicJack into your computer
    3. Start making calls

    Is there a special magicJack phone?

    Nope! The magicJack device is what's known in the industry as an analog telephone adapter (ATA). You won't need a special phone in order to use magicJack.

    What do you think of magicJack?

    Many users have had a variety of issues with magicJack (as evidenced by the reviews). However, here are a couple of advantages of magicJack:

    1. Lowest Monthly Rates

    Setting aside the fact that the first 6 months of phone service with magicJack are absolutely free, monthly rates are available for as little as $3.00 per month. Prices like that are extremely hard to complain about, and even some of our most scathing magicJack reviews still rate magicJack with 5 stars in the price category.

    2. Cheap Equipment

    Any way you slice it, $39.95 is a great price to pay for the complete setup of a VoIP phone service that uses your existing phones. Other VoIP companies require specialized IP phones that can cost over $100, and an ATA adapter alone is often more than $50.

    Even if the device runs into a problem and needs to be replaced, the low cost takes most of the sting out of a new purchase. In fact, with the money you'll save with magicJack's low monthly rate, the device practically pays for itself.

    3. Easy to Use

    MagicJack is designed for people who have never heard of VoIP in the first place, and want a simple plug-and-play device that works right away. That's exactly what magicJack offers, and the new magicJack PLUS offers even more options. The old device required a constant connection to a computer to work, but the new one only needs to do so once to register. After that, just plug it into the wall and feel free to shut the computer off. The video below outlines how to use magicJack without a computer.

    Previously the magicJack software was been reported by some as very difficult to remove. MagicJack software now comes with an easier to access uninstall option, so this point is no longer valid.

    MagicJack Customer Service

    Unfortunately, magicJack does not have a customer service hotline. That means that the only way to resolve a service issue is through a high-traffic chat room, which occasionally has a slow response time as a result. Fortunately, the device is easy to install, so you'll likely never need the support. If you run into trouble, our best advice is to be patient with the chat, and see if the issue lies with your router configuration or Internet speed in the meantime.

    If everything checks out and the chat system seems frustrating, just try doing something else for a while and wait for the chat system to get back to you. You can watch one of the many fan-made YouTube videos for magicJack support, try one of the links below to see if your issue is answered there, or even take care of checking your email while you wait. Sometimes, the best option is to simply wait a few hours for the peak traffic to die down, so that the support team has more time to dedicate to your needs. Either way, spending an hour or two researching and fixing any issues with the magicJack adapter is definitely worth the amount of money that you're saving with .

    Third-party magicJack Support

    There are also some helpful blogs out there on the web that cover how to use magicJack if you still encounter trouble.

    Overall Analysis

    In the end, and despite the issues that customers raise about magicJack service, we feel that magicJack offers a very low priced Residential VoIP service, especially for someone new to VoIP. However, there are a lot of negative customer reviews you should take into consideration. The extremely low monthly rate for unlimited phone calls is impossible to ignore, and the ease of installation further makes the case that magicJack's barebones VoIP service is one of the best in the industry.!

    Don't take our word for it. We've got over 100 magicJack reviews for real magicJack customers. See what magicJack users have to say.

    If you have used magicJack, here's you should do: Write a review. We could use your voice on our website.

    Have something to say? Leave a comment about magicJack.

    Have you used magicJack's service? Write a review. You can help other prospective customers make a good decision.

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