# Magic Jack **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 27, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-jack/519164 "2009-11-27T19:49:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-jack/519164/21 "2009-11-29T17:20:26Z")
Yes, you call landline phones with it. And cell phones. Really, you can call ANY phone with it, that’s one of the reasons it’s so handy. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-jack/519164/22 "2009-11-29T17:53:30Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Yes, you call landline phones with it. And cell phones. Really, you can call ANY phone with it, that’s one of the reasons it’s so handy. Yup, and all of that incurs usage fees. Dirt-cheap unlimited VoIP plans still cost $10/month, and they aren’t making 80% profit. Something is up with Magic Jack charging $2 a month. I expect after they sell enough, they’ll go bankrupt and move to Bermuda. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-jack/519164/23 "2009-11-29T20:51:33Z")
They’re a money-laundering scheme? ---
**Author:** ![Dandmb50](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ba9def/32.png) [@Dandmb50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dandmb50)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-jack/519164/24 "2009-12-01T11:24:17Z")
> [@Alex\_Dubinsky](#): > > What is the deal with Magic Jack? Is it a pyramid scheme or just a money drain enterprise for some investors with more money than sense? $20/year cannot be anywhere sufficient to cover costs. Even going beyond the likes of Vonage ($25/month), the dirt-cheap VoIP operators are still $100/year. The point is that MJ must be making money at $20 a year with no long distance anywhere in North America. Because they have no costs it’s going through VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocal) over the internet. Just think of how much the major carriers are making? Plus they charge extra for long distance. We’ve been ripped off for far too long. Even the internet connections (Vonage) now charge less than the regular phone land lines and tell us it’s a deal for $25 a month plus long distance. Give me a break. The regular guys are still charging little old ladies a $5 charge for renting the phone each month Pretty sleasy… The only thing is MJ sometimes cuts out but I don’t mind I just call again. Once you get set-up call an 800 number to see if it sounds clear with a recording at the other end, something like Direct TV - 1-888-777-2454. That way you can hear how clear it is. I just use it for long distance and love it. ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-jack/519164/25 "2009-12-01T14:41:27Z")
I would install skype and make some phone calls. If skype doesnt drop out then most likely the MJ service is just badly managed. Cant expect a lot for 20 dollars a month. ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-jack/519164/26 "2009-12-01T14:46:14Z")
\>What is the deal with Magic Jack? Is it a pyramid scheme or just a money drain enterprise for some investors with more money than sense? $20/year cannot be anywhere sufficient to cover costs. Thats a good question. I imagine MJ to MJ calls happen via straight VOIP via a P2P system like skype uses. Only calls to non-MJ people go through the POTS gateway they need to pay for. Im sure they are taking a loss right now. I expect the service to jump up to $100 a year but by then people will be happy with the service and will be reluctant to pay 30-40 a month for an analog phone. Not to mention the “network effect.” If they get 5-10 million subscribers this year then the chances of a random phone call being another MJ user is pretty high. They probably only maintain a gateway or two per major city for outgoing calls and dont provide any long distance. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-jack/519164/27 "2009-12-01T14:48:05Z")
My Magic jack was a waste of money and never worked well, skype has been letting me talk to my son in Thailand every night for about an hour with video with no problems at all. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-jack/519164/28 "2009-12-01T15:09:20Z")
> [@HorseloverFat](#): > > I would install skype and make some phone calls. If skype doesnt drop out then most likely the MJ service is just badly managed. Cant expect a lot for 20 dollars a month. It’s not $20 a month, it’s $20 _ **per year** _ And I haven’t experienced call drop outs for well over a year now. I suspect some people have trouble managing their computer sound system. ---
**Author:** ![Dandmb50](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ba9def/32.png) [@Dandmb50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dandmb50)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-jack/519164/29 "2009-12-01T15:39:54Z")
The point is that MJ must be making money at $20 a year with no long distance anywhere in North America. Because they have no costs it’s going through VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocal) over the internet. Just think of how much the major carriers are making? Plus they charge extra for long distance. We’ve been ripped off for far too long. Even the internet connections (Vonage) now charge less than the regular phone land lines and tell us it’s a deal for $25 a month plus long distance. Give me a break. The regular guys are still charging little old ladies a $5 charge for renting the phone each month Pretty sleasy… The only thing is MJ sometimes cuts out but I don’t mind I just call again. Once you get set-up call an 800 number to see if it sounds clear with a recording at the other end, something like Direct TV - 1-888-777-2454. That way you can hear how clear it is. I just use it for long distance and love it. * * * I’m not conceited, I’m convinced! ## Daniel … Toronto, Canada I meant to say with NO extra charge for long distance within North America. It’s included in the $20 per year fee. It works great for me but took a lot of fine tuning and put it on a fast computer. And NO, I don’t work for them. ---
**Author:** ![ElectricZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58f4c7/32.png) [@ElectricZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElectricZ)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-jack/519164/30 "2009-12-02T17:16:55Z")
I have only a cell phone and was getting creamed by overages when I worked from home so I picked up a Magic Jack. I run it off of an old Dell 630 laptop over wi-fi and it’s worked great with no additional configuration on my part. I tend to use it in long bursts, and during those times I’d get occasional stuttering but that’s no different than my cell phone, and the sound quality is actually better. I do have 6MB down/1MB up, though and I have a sneaky suspicion that’s what keeps it running smoothly. I imagine it’s quite a bandwidth hog. But the $40 investment has already saved me a couple hundred bucks this year so for me it’s been totally worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-jack/519164/31 "2009-12-02T17:20:02Z")
I thought MJ had banner ads showing up on the computer when you used it? Or am I way wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-jack/519164/32 "2009-12-02T17:25:40Z")
The ads are only on the little MJ interface and only for MJ. I think I read somewhere that the plan was to eventually sell advertising space but it hasn’t happened yet … in fact, I haven’t even seen the MJ ad for a couple of weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-jack/519164/33 "2009-12-02T17:30:51Z")
> [@Turble](#): > > The ads are only on the little MJ interface and only for MJ. I think I read somewhere that the plan was to eventually sell advertising space but it hasn’t happened yet … in fact, I haven’t even seen the MJ ad for a couple of weeks. That may answer it, then: if they were banking on creating a vehicle to sell banner ads to a wide swath of customers who have purchased very affordable phone system they and their investors would be prepared and expecting a few years of deep red financial numbers. ---
**Author:** ![clnilsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecccb3/32.png) [@clnilsen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clnilsen)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-jack/519164/34 "2009-12-02T18:17:55Z")
> [@Alex\_Dubinsky](#): > > What is the deal with Magic Jack? Is it a pyramid scheme or just a money drain enterprise for some investors with more money than sense? $20/year cannot be anywhere sufficient to cover costs. Even going beyond the likes of Vonage ($25/month), the dirt-cheap VoIP operators are still $100/year. While I haven’t taken the full plunge on this yet, I am setting aside a small low power dedicated machine to try this out. In my research, one of the biggest ways they save money on operating costs is their software figures out the most “efficient” way to complete your call from a network perspective. Basically it routes your call as far as possible over the internet, and then completes the call over a local connection, making every long distance call “local”. IANAE on VOIP tech, but supposedly most VOIP tech jumps the call out to the nearest land line network. As I understand, the trade off is latency vs. cost. Secondly, I read that they have negotiated long term flat rate contracts to help. Finally, they are using the USB dongle methodology to require you to have an operating PC. Not everyone leaves their PC on 24/7, so some of their customers don’t have an “always-on” phone line (by their own action). That’s why they don’t offer a stand-alone device like Vonage /others. I have no idea if these costs represent the majority of the usage fees ---
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-jack/519164/35 "2009-12-02T18:27:40Z")
I think a USB type phone should have a 2.0 USB in order to get good reception. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-jack/519164/36 "2009-12-02T18:34:22Z")
> [@robcaro](#): > > I think a USB type phone should have a 2.0 USB in order to get good reception. The amount of data needed for a phone call is around 13K bits/ sec peak in each direction. Double that for protocol stuff. That is still way less than the 12 Megabits per second that USB1.1 supports. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-jack/519164/37 "2009-12-04T19:11:35Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > As an alternative you can sign up for Google Voice and get free calls over your regular phone or even at a pay phone for free. The international rates are dirt cheap Do you have any invites for that? ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-jack/519164/38 "2009-12-05T18:10:25Z")
> [@Turble](#): > > The ads are only on the little MJ interface and only for MJ. I think I read somewhere that the plan was to eventually sell advertising space but it hasn’t happened yet … in fact, I haven’t even seen the MJ ad for a couple of weeks. Ha! That sounds exactly like a brilliant .com scheme that the idiots behind MJ must have had faith in. Anyone remember NetZero? > [@clnilsen](#): > > In my research, one of the biggest ways they save money on operating costs is their software figures out the most “efficient” way to complete your call from a network perspective. Basically it routes your call as far as possible over the internet, and then completes the call over a local connection, making every long distance call “local”. IANAE on VOIP tech, but supposedly most VOIP tech jumps the call out to the nearest land line network. As I understand, the trade off is latency vs. cost. Sounds like something everyone else would be doing. Maybe not a “high quality” service like cable company VoIP, but definitely the $10/month providers. > [@](#): > > Secondly, I read that they have negotiated long term flat rate contracts to help. That is interesting. They may have negotiated a ridiculously low rate from the telcos, since the true costs are low. But why would the telcos agree to it? > [@](#): > > Finally, they are using the USB dongle methodology to require you to have an operating PC. Not everyone leaves their PC on 24/7, so some of their customers don’t have an “always-on” phone line (by their own action). That’s why they don’t offer a stand-alone device like Vonage /others. That saves them some upfront money, but that doesn’t nearly account for the $20/yr vs $120/yr disparity. Going for a PC-based solution makes little since, given the availability of cheap (read: a chip in a box) standalone VoIP terminals. It must have been about the ads. But damn… that’s just so hairbrained. Nevertheless, I’d bet they’d be making more than $20/yr by spamming people with ads. $20/yr is just such a ridiculously low figure to try to extract a return on investment out of, that it makes any other alternative revenue stream look like a goldmine. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-jack/519164/39 "2009-12-05T19:03:21Z")
> [@Alex\_Dubinsky](#): > > Ha! That sounds exactly like a brilliant .com scheme that the idiots behind MJ must have had faith in. Anyone remember NetZero? Now JustZero? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-jack/519164.md?page=1)