My Magic Jack, it’s been a year | Living Off the Grid: Free Yourself

My Magic Jack, it’s been a year
by TREASUREGIFT on APRIL 21, 2009 - 30 Comments in LAND, SELF-SUFFICIENCY, WRETHA

magicjack I can’t believe it’s been a year since I received my Magic Jack.

For those who don’t know about this device, it’s an internet phone service, they send you a USB memory stick with a few extras, you plug this into your computer and then you plug your telephone into the other end. After a bit of a setup (it’s pretty simple), you pick out a phone number and viola, you have phone service anywhere you have a broadband connection and a computer. Unfortunately MJ does not play well with satellite internet service, other than that, you should be good to go.

magic-jack-notebook When I first signed up, you had to find this on line, but I have noticed over the last few months that there are almost always infomercials playing, and now I find that you can purchase these in Best Buy and WalMart, I guess they are getting to be big time now. I had the opportunity to sign up for 5 years at a substantial discount, but I wasn’t sure if this company would stand the test of time, and there were a few bumps in the road, so I signed up for 1 year (the minimum), at $20 a year for unlimited phone service (within the USA), I figured if they went away, I wouldn’t have lost that much and if they lasted even a few months, I would get my money’s worth. So now it’s a year later, the company seems to be going strong, selling in major retail stores, so my faith in them has gone way up. I went ahead and renewed my subscription for 5 years, that will take me into 2014. That set me back about $60, the regular price is $20 a year, so I’m getting 2 years free.

FYI, if you decide that you want to get a Magic Jack, or are thinking about it, I found a place where I get better technical help with my MJ than you can get going through MJs customer assistance.

http://www.magicjacksupport.com

Go there, ask questions, read about what people are doing with their MJ, find work-arounds, tips and tricks, they have helped me several times when MJs techs could not.

If you don’t have a Best Buy, WalMart, Radio Shack, or CVS nearby, go here to order a Magic Jack.

http://www.magicjack.com

This is perfect for me living off grid, I don’t have telephone service, I don’t have a telephone pole on my property. I could have it if I wanted to, but choose not to, I don’t want the bill, I don’t want to be hooked up to anyone. I get my internet service with a wifi connection, and I can use that for my MJ phone service. It is good for me, and it would be a good alternative for anyone who lives off grid, as long as you have a good broadband internet connection (not satellite), you can use this.

Here is what I previously wrote about the MJ

http://www.off-grid.net/2008/04/21/thanks-magic-jack-and-the-garden/

http://www.off-grid.net/2008/04/25/got-my-magic-jack/

http://www.off-grid.net/2008/04/29/magic-jack-and-garden-updates/

Tags: off-the-grid, internet, wifi, Magic Jack, phone, telephone, internet phone service, VOIP

30 comments

1 Herb Clark { 04.23.09 at 4:08 am }: Wretha, Just open a can of paint and get the instant color you would like in y’all’s cabin.

My wife used to garden and she added one additional step. Layer of newspaper over the entire garden area and then a nice layer of hay/straw. Everyone in the neighborhood would ask my wife if she was growing newspaper. She just told them they could laugh but she was not going to be worrying about walking in mud in her garden and she was certainly not going to be picking weeds…only great vegetables!

You and my sister would really make a pair. I didn’t think there was anyone more warped about the government and you come along . Hey, I am slowly getting there!

How do you get wifi on a remote mountain top? John had to pay to get a DSL line dug about a 1/4 mile. You know that had to set him back a few pennies!!

Til later. Herb
2 Wretha { 04.23.09 at 6:39 am }: Hey Herb, did you wife read Ruth Stout’s “No Work Garden”? If not, I’m sure she would love it.

Warped about the gov? Me? Moi? Nahhhh, just a healthy skepticism, especially when they are trying to “help” me live my life. ;)

We didn’t always have wifi available here, it came after we moved here, someone already had the towers up in the neighborhood, they service most of the area, you have to be within line of sight of the towers, and fortunately it’s right across the valley on the next mountain peak from me. The only other option right now is satellite and I refuse to do that, they meter your bandwidth, if you go over your alloted amount, you get spanked back to dial up speed, if you do it again, they cut you off. :( I am a bandwidth hog, I admit it. The company I am with has no problems with the amount of surfing I do, including watching streaming movies, TV shows, radio and such. But AT&T is putting in fiber optics right now, so eventually DSL will be available out here, but I will not get it, it requires having a phone and I don’t want that service, I’ll stick to the wifi.

Maybe someday I’ll “decorate” my little cabin, got to get it more done first, right now we are working on getting the outside clad in concrete, ever lugged a 5 gallon bucket of concrete up a ladder? Me neither, but my hubby is doing it, I’m so proud of him.

Thanks for your comment! I appreciate each and every one. :)

Wretha
3 Ellen { 04.23.09 at 11:33 am }: Hi Wretha – Does your computer have to be on to receive phone calls? This might work for us but what if there was some kind of emergency in the middle of the night or when the computer was off. Would the phone still ring?
4 mooky { 04.23.09 at 2:40 pm }: i have a question, i dont care for the phone part of the majic jack but i would like it for internet purposes, is the internet connection good or what? thanks!!
5 Wretha { 04.23.09 at 4:04 pm }: Ellen, yes, your computer has to be on and the Magic Jack has to be plugged in to use the phone. You get a really nice voice mail service with it so if your computer is off, then all calls go to your voice mail. You can check your messages from any phone. You can also forward your calls to another phone.

Mooky, the Magic Jack is simply a VOIP phone, it is not an internet service, you have to have (high speed) internet service in order to use it. You must be already connected to the internet in order to use the phone, the Magic Jack will not connect you to the internet.

Thank you both for your questions. :)
6 Vaughn { 04.25.09 at 8:40 am }: Thanks everyone for some great information. I have been using Earthlink’s VOIP service via cable for around 3 years and enjoy the savings, but am not happy with the reliability. My reason for not switching to magicjack is because of needing the computer on 24/7. Earthlink uses an analog telephone adapter which replaces the computer’s need to always be on. Has anyone heard of a company which sells these devices to the public? The one Earthlink furnished me was made by Linksys.
7 Dragon { 04.26.09 at 5:13 am }: The magijack ain”t working on any of the GNU-linux’s I use..
Though VOIP is well supported by most of the Linux out there…
I just hack a patch cord to a phone handset and use the stock VOIP client GIZMO or skype.
8 Wretha { 04.26.09 at 5:43 am }: Vaughn, I’m not familiar with any other devices as I have never used them, sorry.
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Dragon, have you been to the unofficial Magic Jack forum? They have lots of hacks, tips and tricks for the Magic Jack including lots of Linux stuff.
http://www.magicjacksupport.com/
I have learned a lot from that site, including some help I got that the MJs tech help couldn’t give to me.

Wretha
9 Wretha { 04.26.09 at 6:31 am }: Found another source for Magic Jack unofficial help
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http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/MagicJack
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10 Dragon { 04.26.09 at 3:14 pm }: GNU-Linux supports Voip protocols at the kernel level.Besides (pay service) Gizmo or Skype. There is (free service) ohphone (H.323 IP telephony) and QuteCom (free PC to PC
video and voice calls) There are so many ways to talk and message over IP for free in linux that I don’t know about pay services.
I did try out a majic jack and couldn’t get it to work on OSx or linux. Another point I might make is that I’m usually too firewalled and anonymized through TOR and Privoxy for Most voip to work reliably.
11 Lewis { 04.26.09 at 9:45 pm }: Wretha, you mentioned that DSL was coming to your area, but you didn’t want to mess with the mandatory landline. Well, here’s a surprise. You can get “broadband only”–it’s called dry loop DSL, or alternatively “naked DSL.” Part of some negotiations with the FCC a couple of years ago produced an agreement that anywhere AT&T had at least 80% market penetration, they would be required to make dry loop DSL available. They just would not be required to advertise it, or to keep the price as cheap as when it’s added to a landline contract.

In my Dallas area neighborhood, 1.5Mbps DSL is a $30/month add-on to a landline contract, but if I dropped the landline At&T would only increase the per-month broadband charge to $35. Here’s their link about it:

http://www.connecttoatt.com/direct-dsl.html?mrc=ps-ctatt-g-at-t+naked+dsl&s_kwcid=at%26t%20naked%20dsl|2056553393

On the other hand, if your wifi connection is both free and satisfactory in quality, there’s no point in quibbling.

Hope this helps.
12 Lewis { 04.26.09 at 9:49 pm }: Oops—typo correction. My 1.5Mpbs DSL is a $20/month add-on to my landline contract, but would jump to $35 if I dropped the landline.
13 Wretha { 04.27.09 at 6:32 am }: Dragon, I have next to no experience with Linux, so I don’t know how MJ would work with it, I do remember seeing people write about it on the unofficial Magic Jack forum
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Lewis, that is good info to have, the problem is I don’t have a utility pole on my property and would have to pay to have one installed, I’m not interested in doing that. I do have to pay for my wifi connection, $45 a month, but with no bandwidth metering, it’s light years faster than anything available out here right now, and no contract, I can’t complain at all. :) If it wasn’t for the utility pole thing, I might look harder at that.
14 Bobby { 05.17.09 at 6:19 pm }: Magicjack Linux would be great ! I have been waiting for it. I’ve tried making Magicjack work with Linux, but could never get it past a dialtone. Femtocell will be sweet !
I’ve had my magicjack 5 months & it works well for me. I get past the spyware & energy use concerns by using a thin client for a dedicated Magicjack computer. My thin client only uses 10.4 watts ( I measured it with my DVOM ), so I leave it on 24/7. That saves a bunch, compared to my desktop’s 110.2 watts. It also freed up my desktop’s system resources. And no more pop ups. I have it running without a monitor, keyboard, or mouse. A bunch of folks sell them on eBay.

HURRY UP WITH THE NEXT GEN MAGICJACK ALREADY ! LOL
15 Wretha { 05.18.09 at 6:37 pm }: Hey Bobby, have you checked out the unofficial Magic Jack forum? Just Google it, you’ll find it. I believe I remember seeing people using their MJ with Linux, you may be able to do it yet. :)

I have also heard a lot about using a thin client for MJ, also on the unofficial MJ forum, thanks for the heads up though.
16 marisol { 01.19.10 at 7:44 pm }: please someone can let me know how I can pay my magic jack?????
17 Wretha { 01.20.10 at 2:56 pm }: marisol, assuming you already own a Magic Jack, you pay through the device, that is to say you hook it up and click on the little advertisement graphic on the left side of the screen, you can also go directly to http://www.magicjack.com, you should be able to pay through that site. If you don’t own one yet, you can either buy one from the Magic Jack site, or better yet, go to just about any retail location that sells electronics, WalMart, Best Buy, CVS, Radio Shack, there are others but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head, you can purchase a Magic Jack unit there, the price should include your first year of service.
18 christine { 01.27.10 at 9:25 pm }: Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 1:17 am Post subject: mj nt working

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i have used my mj and stopped using it for sometime,i recently tried using it and it keeps on showing that please connect to an internet and double click which i did,it sent me into a page where you are to confirm your email address and password which i did and it later gave me a feedback as within 1hour,it will work…I av used all king of upgrade and it is still nt working…Any idea and also what should i do to resolve this….Thank u
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19 Wretha { 01.28.10 at 11:57 am }: Christine, go here http://www.magicjacksupport.com you can get more and better support than the MJ people can give you, this is an unofficial support site, it’s one that I use regularly.

Wretha
20 Mirtha { 02.10.10 at 7:03 pm }: Hola ., soy una persona hispana, y tengo magick jack , y ya va ser un año que lo tengo en mi casa y no tengo queja ninguna, al contario , lo recomiendo a todos mis amigos y vecinos., tambien tengo magick jack en mi negocio y me va muy bien.Lo que deseo preguntarles es que puedo hacer ahora que ya voy a tener un año , yo quiero renovar mi contrato por un año mas , por favor ponganse en contacto conmigo…gracias….
21 Wretha { 02.11.10 at 10:12 pm }: Mirtha, go here:
Vaya aquí:
http://www.magicjack.com
22 Chigu { 02.15.10 at 8:51 pm }: I put money on my magic jack 2 times and it has been taking off from my card but my magic jack is not on
23 Wretha { 02.16.10 at 1:10 pm }: Chigu,

Go here http://www.magicjacksupport.com/, you will be able to get help there.

Wretha
24 William Restrepo { 12.22.10 at 11:11 pm }: JUst a year, and I cant renew, because mj is in my cousins name. Can I renew just with my mj number. Thanks.
25 Wretha { 12.29.10 at 4:15 am }: William Restrepo, I do not have an answer for you about that, you can go to that unofficial Magic Jack forum (see the link in the main article) and you should be able to find out more info there.

Wretha
26 Nick { 02.27.11 at 6:01 pm }: I know lots of people with magic jack and it works great for them.

I have a possible off grid alternative. No phone or internet. I have been thinking hard about this for a while since I am planning to go off grid and still have a life somewhat. My decision is to use Wifi at our homeowners association which I have to pay for anyway as a part of our yearly dues to keep the dirt roads and facilities up. Ok , so I have to travel a little ways and plan a little bit when I want to use the internet. We all talk about changing our life when it comes to going off grid, and I bet not many think of going back to how it was only 20 years ago when we didnt have cell phones or internet. I still remember living off grid in Alaska with out phone or internet . The USPS was how I communicated with my extended family and sometimes I went into town on occasion to make a call at a phone booth.

With free wifi being broad casted as a way to draw in visitors to establishments I found that I have enough attachment to the grid in that way. You might consider it too!
27 Wretha { 02.27.11 at 6:24 pm }: Nick, when we first moved here, we didn’t have internet at all, I refused to use the satellite version, too expensive and they meter your bandwidth. I used my neighbor’s internet (satellite-slow) for email. Since we don’t go to town very often, even the hotspots in town aren’t very useful to us. I was very happy to get the wireless internet out here, but unlike you, it’s not included in our yearly dues, that’s fine though, I don’t mind paying for what I use. I just re-read what you wrote, and it seems that you have to go somewhere to use the wifi… I need to have access a bit more often than that, I earn a bit of money on line and need daily, on demand internet access.

Hope you aren’t blowing away today, the wind has really kicked up today, I understand we might have gusts up to 70 mph, which means 80 or more for us.

Wretha
28 Bib bear { 09.19.11 at 8:02 am }: Look at net talk. Doesn’t require a computer to be on 24/7.
29 Wretha { 09.19.11 at 11:14 am }: I’ve been really happy with my MJ, when I first signed up, the sound quality was pretty bad at times, now it’s very good. For me, it’s not important for the phone to be on all the time (when the computer is on), in fact it’s not a bad thing for me to get all of my voicemails by email, I get to choose who to call back and who to ignore :) and the price is right for MJ too.

Wretha
30 johnsuri { 01.18.12 at 9:22 pm }: skype and gmail both offer voip services–gmail in the states and skype is $60 year for call out service and a call in phone number.