So after a few years of inactivity I realized that I still had this blog up, and after reading my posts I thought it would be nice to put some perspective on things.
First off, magicJack is still in business, and they've improved their product. Looks like you don't even need a computer anymore to make calls. So the first thing I should stress is that these posts are very old now and surely don't reflect the current product and its software.
I suppose if someone sent or lent me a version of the new device (magicJack PLUS) I'd probably revisit it again on the Mac. But to be honest, a little device called the iPhone sort of took me out of the market.
I still have my land line through AT&T, but mainly just for emergencies and to keep our home phone number for incoming calls.
The closest thing I have to magicJack is using Google Voice, in which I just plug in a USB headset and dial via a browser plug-in. Great call quality (despite the occasional dropout), plus it's free, so it's a no-brainer for me. Saves me cell minutes when I'm on the Mac, and they gave me a local phone number.
For those who have read this blog, and were more informed as a consumer as a result, thanks for stopping by!
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Sunday, January 11, 2009
MagicJack Review: Returning the MagicJack
[+] Returning the MagicJack was simple and pain free.
All I had to do was go to the customer care page and click on the Returns button. At the bottom of that page is a form to get an RMA number and generate a barcode return document that you need to print from your printer (that return document is emailed to you).
The web site makes it clear that you must have an RMA number to return your MagicJack; I suspect that a lot of "horror" stories out there are from people who didn't know that.
Since I kept the original packaging, I just slipped in that return document and slapped on a new mailing label on it. About five days later, I got an email saying the MagicJack was received and my credit card was debited. No muss, no fuss.
All I had to do was go to the customer care page and click on the Returns button. At the bottom of that page is a form to get an RMA number and generate a barcode return document that you need to print from your printer (that return document is emailed to you).
The web site makes it clear that you must have an RMA number to return your MagicJack; I suspect that a lot of "horror" stories out there are from people who didn't know that.
Since I kept the original packaging, I just slipped in that return document and slapped on a new mailing label on it. About five days later, I got an email saying the MagicJack was received and my credit card was debited. No muss, no fuss.
Friday, January 2, 2009
The Final Verdict
After reviewing the ups and downs of my free trial last month, I've decided to ... return the MagicJack. =(
I'll explain why in my final "super" review of MagicJack, but I should stress that despite my decision, I think the MagicJack is a great product and an incredible money-saving opportunity that I'm sure many others will benefit from.
However, for my core purpose -- to see if it could permanently replace my land line (all while using a Mac) -- it was not yet up to the task. Perhaps future revisions of the product will be.
As a side note, I'll also review the return process to see how easy it really is -- because I've read both horror stories and positive reports about returns.
I'll explain why in my final "super" review of MagicJack, but I should stress that despite my decision, I think the MagicJack is a great product and an incredible money-saving opportunity that I'm sure many others will benefit from.
However, for my core purpose -- to see if it could permanently replace my land line (all while using a Mac) -- it was not yet up to the task. Perhaps future revisions of the product will be.
As a side note, I'll also review the return process to see how easy it really is -- because I've read both horror stories and positive reports about returns.
MagicJack Review: AT&T Snafu Resolved
The issue regarding incoming calls from AT&T cell phones seems to be fixed.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Free Trial Running Out!
With my free trial running out, I'll need to make a final decision on the future of MagicJack on my Mac in the next day or so. If there are any Mac users out there with any questions or tests they want me to put the MagicJack through, let me know as soon as possible.
So in the next few days, I'll be posting and/or adding the following:
* Screen shots (just been lazy with the holidays)
* The Final Verdict (and why)
* My Final "Super" Review (condensing my individual postings into one in-depth article)
And maybe a few more surprises as well. To everyone who's been following this blog thus far, thanks for your support!
So in the next few days, I'll be posting and/or adding the following:
* Screen shots (just been lazy with the holidays)
* The Final Verdict (and why)
* My Final "Super" Review (condensing my individual postings into one in-depth article)
And maybe a few more surprises as well. To everyone who's been following this blog thus far, thanks for your support!
MagicJack Review: Activity Monitor
On request from a blog reader, I did a "spot check" of how much the MagicJack app taxes the CPU via the Activity Monitor utility. (I wasn't planning to because a multicore Mac Pro probably isn't the machine most Mac users will use MagicJack with -- but perhaps the numbers will serve as a useful point of reference.)
When idle, the MagicJack app uses between 4-9% CPU. That number bounces around a lot, and I don't see it as a significant drain on resources. When the phone is in use, that number jumps to 10-20% CPU. Again, that number bounces around a lot.
I've never had the MagicJack cause a slowdown on my Mac. (Then again, I've never seen a slowdown on my Mac except when the hard drives are idle.)
[ + ] So to sum up, your results may vary, but in my view MagicJack hardly seems to be a CPU hog.
When idle, the MagicJack app uses between 4-9% CPU. That number bounces around a lot, and I don't see it as a significant drain on resources. When the phone is in use, that number jumps to 10-20% CPU. Again, that number bounces around a lot.
I've never had the MagicJack cause a slowdown on my Mac. (Then again, I've never seen a slowdown on my Mac except when the hard drives are idle.)
[ + ] So to sum up, your results may vary, but in my view MagicJack hardly seems to be a CPU hog.
MagicJack Review: Call Quality Update
Analyzing the most recent batch of calls we've made, the faster upload speed from Comcast hasn't seemed to affected call quality. On land line calls, the connections were pretty good with no dropouts. However, on cell phone calls, dropouts were surprisingly frequent, and you had to repeat yourself several times (usually because the other person did not hear what you said).
It should be noted that the cell phone calls were often of much longer duration than the land line calls, so it's hard to tell whether dropouts occurred because of cell-phone connections or the call length. And as a final note, during all my calls this month, I purposely avoided use of the internet to get a "best-case" call-quality scenario.
It should be noted that the cell phone calls were often of much longer duration than the land line calls, so it's hard to tell whether dropouts occurred because of cell-phone connections or the call length. And as a final note, during all my calls this month, I purposely avoided use of the internet to get a "best-case" call-quality scenario.
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