If you’ve pondered ditching your landline or cellphone because of exorbitant phone bills, MagicJack may be the ultimate gadget for you. It’s an unassuming cigarette lighter-sized plug-and-play USB telephony device that offers unlimited local and long distance calling within the U.S. and Canada (international dialing expected by the end of the year). You’ll be surprised with how easy it is to use and the quality it provides for only a one-time fee of PhP 4,800.
Installation is simple: plug the 0.9-ounce magicJack into a USB port on a Windows-powered PC or a Mac OS X and about 3 minutes later the bundled software is automatically loaded. After registering the device and receiving a personal MagicJack phone number, you can start begin making landline or cellphone calls. Users who wish to forgo a traditional handset can opt to use a cordless phone.
You can also use the MagicJack to make calls using your PC, whether you’re at home or on the road. Dial using the keyboard or an onscreen keypad, and you can talk using either a headset or your computer’s built-in microphone and speaker.
The overall voice quality is good: better than most cell phones but not quite on par with true landlines. Users have reported an occasional crackle and pop, but there have been no frequent encounters of dropped calls on several tests. This level of quality and stability is said to be attributed to MagicJack’s proprietary network, which maintains a solid, reliable connection that the company claims cannot be achieved on traditional VoIP channels. Read the rest of this entry »