Why I don’t VOIP
Ever seen those commercials for MagicJack? You know, the ones where they’re offering you phone service for about $20.00 a year. I see them a lot, and I keep thinking about getting one, but I always end up deciding against it. However, seeing as they are so cheap, I thought it might be a good idea to explain why I’m writing on a site like this, and not taking advantage of something that seems so frugal.
I admit, these are my reasons, and they may not apply to everyone’s situation, but I think it’s worth going through my thought processes to see why sometimes what appears to be the most frugal alternative isn’t always the best one.
I should also mention that I haven’t actually used the product – but I don’t think that matters in this case because my reasons for not using it have nothing to do with the quality of service – and everything to do with the circumstances of our household.
Let’s start with a simple description of the device:
At base it looks like a fat USB key with a phone jack. In spirit it’s almost like a reverse modem. You plug the device into a spare USB slot on your Windows (XP or Vista) or Mac computer, and use its internet connection to access the telephone network. You can get a local number in many areas, and once it’s up and running you have a perfectly usable phone as long as you have an internet connection:
So, why didn’t we take advantage of it?
(Answers after the cut)
One reason is that I don’t like putting everything on one wire. Currently, we have two phone lines coming into the house – one for the main phone and our DSL connection, the other for the kids’ line. Given the reliability of our phone service, I wasn’t entirely thrilled with the idea of putting the kids’ phone onto the same wire as the house phone and our DSL. If we lost one we would lose everything, and that happens a bit more often than I really care to admit. So, that’s strike one.
Strike two has to do with how it works. Basically, you only have phone service while the computer it’s connected to is up and running with an internet connection.
There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with that; but it doesn’t work for us.
You see, the only computer that we keep up and running all the time is my desktop – which runs Linux. MagicJack doesn’t support Linux, so we’d need to use it on one of the other computers. In principle that’s fine, we have two Windows desktops and a couple of laptops we could use: They’re older systems, but they could do the job.
The only catch is that they’re the teenagers’ systems, and we lock those down so they only have internet during certain hours of the day. We also shut them down at night. That would mean we’d either have to let a teenager who would rather spend time on the internet than breathe have 24/7 access to the web, or accept that we could only make 911 calls when the kids are allowed on the internet. I’m also not keen on the idea that we’d have to wait for Windows to boot before we could make a phone call in a late night emergency.
Ummmm, yeah, no.
Anyway, that’s a brief explanation of why we didn’t go with MagicJack. It’s a perfectly useful product that doesn’t meet our needs – and there is nothing less frugal than buying something that doesn’t meet the need you bought it for. That, for me, was MagicJack.
It’s a great idea, and if you keep a Windows machine (or a Mac) connected to the internet and running 24/7 it’s probably a really good way to save money.  If you don’t you probably won’t find it quite as useful.
What I would like, is if someone who does use it and reads this blog could give us a brief review in the comments. That way, people who are considering it will be able to get a bit of a heads up before they spend the money.
photo credit: freephotos70
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Not to mention that most cable or satellite services now offer unlimited digital phone services for around $20 a month. No local long distance service necessary. No state-to-state long distance necessary. And you get all the added features like call waiting, caller ID, and 3-way calling for free as well.
I’m not sure VOIP is a great deal even without your circumstances. The other services have made it a bit cumbersome, and in my view, obsolete.
Great Post-I had the same concerns with the product for home.
Where it would be great is at a vacation home or other temporary residence.
Thanks
Hi,
Just wanted to let you know that I read your article and wanted to write and let you know that I do have a magicjack and it is wonderful. For us there was no issue with it since our computer is on all the time. I had problems with it at first. I orginally had it on my laptop and found that no one could hear me when I made a phone call or answered a phone call but then I quickly realized that I had the sound off on my computer. I turned the sound on and haven’t had a problem since. I also had an issue that I couldn’t use the keypad for questions…you know like press 3 for this or press 4 for that. I quickly solved that issue by going on their site and doing what they recommended. As far as the 911 calls I never had an issue, We did have to call 911 for a house fire and I so happen didn’t grab the house phone but my cell phone and gave them my address. Which by the way after I gave them my address the 911 operator asked me for directions to my house anyway, we live in a very rural town! All in All I got the special and for it I spent $100 and I have phone service with all the add ons for 7 years and it was well worth it. The phone company here charges $60 a month for basic phone…no long distance so for me it was a great deal and when my contract is up for those 7 years I will do it again!
Thanks for listening
We have used MagicJack for several weeks now and love it. My husband has the computer on all day anyway. You don’t actually need to be using the computer for MagicJack to work.
If we turn the computer off, which we do at night, we still receive voicemail on MagicJack. Also, I can forward any calls to another phone if I wish to – even when the computer is turned off. I occasionally forward them to my cell phone if I’m going to be away from the house for a day or two.
Occasionally, if my husband is clicking around on the computer screen a lot, there will be a bit of ‘cutting out’ for the other party. That happens rarely and when it does, he just backs off for a couple of minutes – and clicks less.
The best part is no monthly phone bill.