| okay I purchased the Magic Jack yesterday. got it home had it set up and
making calls within 5 minutes!! yes seriously!!! working great...called to
Vancouver and Alberta both calls nice and clear and crisp. And you just
cannot beat the price for long distance calling. $35 USD for a full YEAR of
service. When I told my brother about it he thought I'd said $35 per month
and that it wasn't such a great deal....I clarified...35 bucks USD a YEAR!!
or 5 YEARS for $100 USD...that is just crazy cheap! oh yeah ...purchase price
$45 CDN at Walmart... that INCLUDES 1 full year of service. Signed up in
minutes and paid my $10 USD for a CDN telephone number!! I'm kicking myself
for not doing this sooner....just figured out I have given Shaw about $1550
CDN for the last 5 years of phone service...and could have been using Magic
Jack!!
That would have saved me about $1400 CDN in the last 5 years!! I do have a
high speed internet service so I think that is an important factor. someone
on a slower (non high-speed) may not be as impressed!
If you are in Canada there are a few drawbacks to be aware of :
(1) you cannot Port your current CDN phone number (at this time)...they say
that they are working on this issue but are they really?? Since they charge
an extra $10 US a year for giving you a random CDN -based phone number...and
an extra $10 US if you choose a CDN number from a list....so they are making
good money on extras so they may never work on getting numbers ported to MJ.
But seriously why the heck would they NOT be doing this??? they could get a
ton more customers in Canada if they allowed porting. we Canucks like our
telephone number and don't want to have to learn another one! :-) So anyway
c'mon Magic Jack people get PORTING FOR CANADA!!
(2) So you get a random CDN phone number...well not totally random...you get
a choice from several areas codes in your province...but the exchanges that
are combined with those area codes may not be anywhere near where you live.
Why is this an issue you ask. Because anyone that lives in your local area
will have to pay long distance charges because they will have to dial a 1-
prior to dialing the 10 digit CDN phone number.
So Yes, you get FREE UNLIMITED calling to USA and Canada for your Magic Jack
phone but any of your friends and family and any business that is not on
Magic Jack are paying Long distance charges to call you...even if they live
across the street! Possibly this is different in the city that the area code+
exchange actually applies to but it just doesn't work in small town BC. The
area code I picked is one that covers my city but the exchange that follows
the area code is for Victoria. Oh wait...I guess those people in Victoria
won't have to pay Long Distance Charges to call me but someone down my block
does. Going to have to get some friends in Victoria. I guess they figure if
every one gets smart and changes over to magic Jack then there's no longer an
issue.
(3)Support: I have spent a few hours today trying to solve these issues with
Magic Jack...or at least get them to admit there's an issue but they just
keep blaming the "other service providers" for charging the long distance
rates for a local call coming to me. Maybe everyone will get smart and start
using Magic Jack!!
I can't believe how good it works! (oh yeah we did try Vonage 10 or 12 years
ago and it wasn't that good....probably better now because high speed
internet is in every home!) | 
