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There are 3 ways to get telephone service. Through your cell phone, through a phone company that feeds the signal through the copper wire that comes through your home, or through a VOIP service.
VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) takes your existing internet connection and allows you to make and receive phone calls over the internet.
There are different levels of cost when decide to go with a VOIP service, they are all cheaper than using your local phone company, but you still have to pay for your internet service. So the savings may not always be significant. But the monthly charges very from as high as 24.99 a month to 10.00 a month. There is also the added cost of having to purchase a special VOIP phone that you can plug into your PC.
Magicjack is a completely different device. MagicJack is USB device that you plug directly into your computer, and then plug your existing phone into the Magicjacks standard phone jack.
The Cost of a Magicjack is 29.99 and this includes your first years of service! That's right your first year. After that it is 20 dollars a year for additional years of service. Sometimes they even offer discounts that allow you to purchase 5 years at once at a discount.
Since you account is tied to your magicjack device and not your home address, you can actually take the magicjack with you on vacation plug it unto your laptop and make and receive phone calls just like you were at home. In fact if you have a mic and speaker on your PC or laptop you do not even need to hook up a phone if you don't want to.
I use this product, and I love it. But keep in mind that VOIP and this product in particular may not necessarily be for you.
VOIP/Magicjack Cons:
I am not a heavy landline user. I basically have a phone for my kids in case they should want to talk to their friends. A VOIP, not matter what service you use is only as good as your internet connection. If your internet service is slow, or starts to slow down, you may experience some issues is you happen to be talking on the phone at that time.
VOIP service is not good for sending faxes, so if you are a work from home person a VOIP may not be for you.
Specific to the Magic Jack remember, you do get what you pay for. In that regard I have heard their customer service is horrible. Not because they are a horrible company, but they are a small operation and only offer tech support online via chat. Like I said, I have never had to use them, but be warned it may not be pleasant. With that in mind the device comes with a 30 day money back guarantee. You can purchase it online or at Bestbuy. I would buy it at bestbuy in case you do need to return it, because I have found that experience is not very easy either.
If you are a VISTA user you will need to download an update right away before you install the software.
As of right now you cannot port your existing number, and Magicjack may or may not have a local number available for you. I had to take a number from the next town over. They are saying that they will offer porting some time this year though.
Other than that, I absolutely love this device. Besides the fact that I am saving almost 50 dollars a month, I really do not feel like I am using a cheap or inferior product.
Also, for you people with multiple phones in your home I use a cordless phone with 5 bases that are just plugged into the wall. So the primary phone is plugged into the magicjack and the rest of the bases operate off of that one line, and I do not have any issues with that either.
This is certainly a product to look into if you really want to take a chunk out of your monthly bills.