Hi, I recentely got sent one of these MagicJack USB dongles and a phone to use it on from the States. Now if this worked, it would have to be one of the greatest inventions for years, free calls to anywhere in the US and Canada and anyone with MagicJack can call me free, I literally can plug a standard phone through the standard phone line into the back of this MagicJack USB and then start making calls, via the internet. However, i am having real problems with the quality, they can hear me perfectly in the States but i hear every other word from them, sometimes it is clear, other times it is not. It does not seem effected by my activity on the internet either, as i can't imagine it uses up a lot of bandwidth. I have a 2mb connection and it would save us hundreds of dollars a month if i can get this working properly, right now it is so frustrating that i have to make them call me on the non internet phone because i can't makeout what they are saying to me. Does anyone think this has something to do with restrictions here in Mexico, where they have been so clever they can cut the quality of the call? Would increasing my internet connection to the 5mb package make any difference? I'm hoping Mel has some words of wisdom for me on this one or even better a solution??? In desperate need of help, boss is angry as it is, she doesn't need any more fuel in the fire!
I don't use MagicJack because I am happy with my Vonage (phone can ring even when computer is off) and use Skype when I occasionally blow up a Vonage router. But I have tons of friends here, including some who own a phone-based business, that use MagicJack happily and all day long. So I'm certain that your problem is not some kind of universal jamming being done by El Señor Slim.
I tried a Majickjack when they surfaced a while back- just out of curiosity. Was not too impressed. If you're seriously using the phone for work - Vonage is way superior in my opinion. Used Vonage here for years and had no problem. You do have to pay for it though each month unlike Majickjack.
Magic Jack is hit or miss in my experience. Telmex is the better choice for any VOIP system as Cablemas is just too flaky with packet loss and latency. Speaking of Cablemas, they recently started throttling usenet access to 128kbps (which basically makes it useless for downloading music or anything else). So I would not be at all surprised if they started to block or throttle other ports in the future perhaps making VOIP communications more difficult. I'm seriously thinking of dropping Cablemas, since I've not been getting anywhere near my alleged 1.5mb top speed (supposed to be 2mb now that they've changed the package, but existing customers are being punished, while new clients get 2mb for the same price! )
I have had and continue to use a Magic Jack down here. For the most part, the quality is fine for us. Probably between 10 to 20% of the time there are quality issues and/or dropped calls. Often, just hanging up, waiting a few minutes, and calling back clears up this issue. About 1% of the time, there is incredibly serious lag (between 3-4 seconds) which makes a conversation really painful. Also, heavy Internet usage most definitely affects the quality for me -- if I'm streaming music and/or video call quality is always poor. I just shut down anything that is streaming when I get/need to make a call. Edit: Yeah, we have Cablemas too and it's possible some of the fault lay with them.
I use the Magic Jack with zero problems...unless I walk more then 40 feet from my computer, then it seems I loose the call. It has been great, and you can't beat calls "home" for $20 a month.
Well that's weird, thanks for all the replies, you think it could be something to do with them being on an internet phone aswell? I'll try calling the different lines to see if it makes a difference.
By the way, i have telmex 2mb and i have tried having nothing operating on the internet at all and i still get the same problem.
I did a speed test and i have a 278k UPLOAD speed, it says minimum required is 128k (that's bandwidth, not transfer rate), so that is fine. It it literally every call now, 1 second gap between every word.
I should have mentioned that the call quality for me is also [seemingly] dependent on what type/carrier of phone is being used on the other end. When receiving/calling from/to land lines, I have the least issues. Cell phones are typically of an inferior quality and my [really unscientific] survey makes me think it's based on the carrier. For instance, my dad has Alltel and the call quality is always horrendous; to the point where we just use his house phone. On the other hand, my brother has T-Mobile and the quality is typically pretty good. Probably not helpful, but more information none the less.
