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magic jack phone recommendation

I used to lug my laptop with me on trips to far off lands but found the hotels usually had reasonably priced business computers for emails and tobacconist stores sold phone cards ... in Paris 6 months ago I bought 800 minutes on a card for about 8 euros and cold call anyone I wanted in NA from my hotel room without charges. Had minutes left over, so it was a good deal IMO and I didn't have to pack my laptop. The Paris hotel, btw, charged 20 euros for 20 hours on their computers and I didn't use all those hours either ... too much to see and do.

Having said that I bought a MJ about a year ago and never used it as I didn't have a phone to plug into it and couldn't be bothered getting one as the phone cards were too good a deal.

Brian
 
computers

I am very interested in the MJ and wanted to know if you could use two different computers? Say on our laptop while on vacation and then the desktop while we are at home? Our long distance carrier is getting ridiculous and looking for a solutions.
 
Happytravels said:
I am very interested in the MJ and wanted to know if you could use two different computers? Say on our laptop while on vacation and then the desktop while we are at home? Our long distance carrier is getting ridiculous and looking for a solutions.
Click to expand...

Yes, you just move the MJ from your laptop to your desktop
 
Happytravels said:
I am very interested in the MJ and wanted to know if you could use two different computers? Say on our laptop while on vacation and then the desktop while we are at home? Our long distance carrier is getting ridiculous and looking for a solutions.
Click to expand...

Yes, absolutely. Order a MJ right now. Try it for a few weeks or a month. If you aren't happy you can return it. If you are happy you can dump your long distance carrier and save quite a lot of money.
 
I Have Been Told ...

... that with MJ you don't need to use you own area code. This can be a plus if you want to do Craig's list or otherwise hide from the bad guys :shrug:

Uncle Davey
 
nkldavy said:
... that with MJ you don't need to use you own area code....
Uncle Davey
Click to expand...

It's true that you can select the area code for your MJ. (and change it once at no cost). It doesn't have to be to hide or for other nefarious purposes. We have ours area coded where the grown kids and grandkids live. That way we are a local call for them.

Jim Ricks
 
Passepartout said:
It's true that you can select the area code for your MJ. (and change it once at no cost). It doesn't have to be to hide or for other nefarious purposes. We have ours area coded where the grown kids and grandkids live. That way we are a local call for them.

Jim Ricks
Click to expand...

Smart idea!

Didn't someone recently post about phone calls back and forth between Canada and the U.S.? This might work for them too.....
 
got it

Ok I purchase the MJ yesterday @ Walgreens.........We haven't used it yet....will let you know what my thoughts are after I use it....Thanks for all your help.....
 
update

Been using the magic jack now for couple weeks on my desktop at home. We have been calling FL, AZ and CO to family and Friends. Have had know issues and works great. We are taking it on our next trip to AR and then to the Bahamas for two weeks in June. :whoopie:

We didn't do the auto renewal, so how do we renew once a year?

OK I think I found my answer to my question..........just log into your account......once there you can extend your service, change phone numbers, etc...
 
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update

Just have to tell you great TUGGERS again how valuable you are to me!!!!!!

We where on our vacation in the Bahamas when I got a message from MJ from my daughter.............I had a death in the family and had to change my plans.........plane tickets etc,...............

One call to the airlines...........was over 70 minutes.......we did get everything worked out but just think....I checked with my cell phone carrier months before we left...they wanted $5.99 for the international plan then $2.00 per minute...that one phone call would have been over $140.00 w/o taxes..because of having to change all of our planes flying into different airports and keeping everyone informed..............this little device paid for itself at least 3X's over.

Thanks for all you great tips and tricks............
 
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Resurrecting Old Thread - Magic Jack

Due to the spotty cell service in our neighborhood and the need for more reliable (read NO DROPPED CALLS) service, we picked up the Magic Jack earlier this week.

It has worked fabulously. In reading consumer reviews, it would appear that those who reported poor service with MJ were most likely suffering from a less than powerful pc or perhaps poor connection to the internet. With a decent computer and DSL, we've been fine. Out of maybe 20 calls all around the USA, only one had an echo so I redialed and the problem was gone.

I'm planning to load the software on my netbook for my upcoming trip to Africa in hopes of calling home at least once or twice a week, subject to a decent internet connection. We'll see how that works out :)
 
Passepartout said:
It's true that you can select the area code for your MJ. (and change it once at no cost). It doesn't have to be to hide or for other nefarious purposes. We have ours area coded where the grown kids and grandkids live. That way we are a local call for them.

Jim Ricks
Click to expand...

Changing the area code used to be free, not anymore. Also, not all area codes are available (i.e. none in New Hampshire at all). Not really an issue, we just grabbed another area code from Massachusetts. Friends eventually get use to the "strange" area code. We use ours while travelling, Bahamas, Aruba, Cancun, etc. from the hotel room with our laptop. The key is the reliability of the internet connection. If not, the connection sounds terrible like you are missing every other word. When there is a good internet connection it works awesome.
 
I guess we are all in different situations. But for me using my cell phone is a lot simpler and the marginal cost of my calls is almost always zero. Maybe I'm lucky, or just call from the right places, but I haven't had a dropped call with AT&T in over 5 years (unless talking to a Sprint customer which I attribute to Sprint).

George
 
iPod Touch or Smartphone with Skype app and make calls anywhere in the world for free with a pocket device. Laptops on vacation? No thanks. A lot has changed since Smartphones were introduced.
 
bogey21 said:
Maybe I'm lucky, or just call from the right places, but I haven't had a dropped call with AT&T in over 5 years (unless talking to a Sprint customer which I attribute to Sprint).
Click to expand...

Well my work cell phone was ATT and reception sucked here . . . and our personal services are with Sprint . . . both are bad here.
 
bogey21 said:
I guess we are all in different situations. But for me using my cell phone is a lot simpler and the marginal cost of my calls is almost always zero. Maybe I'm lucky, or just call from the right places, but I haven't had a dropped call with AT&T in over 5 years (unless talking to a Sprint customer which I attribute to Sprint).

George
Click to expand...

I had to stop using AT&T because of dropped calls during emergencies.
 
Phydeaux said:
iPod Touch or Smartphone with Skype app and make calls anywhere in the world for free with a pocket device. Laptops on vacation? No thanks. A lot has changed since Smartphones were introduced.
Click to expand...

Skype is free on a smart phone?
 
pjrose said:
Skype is free on a smart phone?
Click to expand...

This is a good option if you have an unlimited data plan or have a WiFi connection from your phone. In either case, there is no added cost to use Skype.

I use Skype from a laptop. For $3/month, its unlimited calling to landlines, cell phones in the US & Canada. I'm getting ready to add a Skype-in number that will let me take incoming calls through Skype. Trying to decide if I want to hook up my old phone through the USB port or buy a cordless Skype phone for this purpose.
 
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Packing a laptop to bring on vacation is analogous to packing a broom to swat the mosquitoes. JMHO.
 
Phydeaux said:
Packing a laptop to bring on vacation is analogous to packing a broom to swat the mosquitoes. JMHO.
Click to expand...

There are many reasons to take a laptop or netbook. Even if I'm off the grid with no connection, I carry mine so that I can offload my photos from my cameras & memory cards.
 
both

we have MJ for incoming calls and Skype for outgoing. Woopie, we can both be on the phone at once :)
 
Timeshare Von said:
There are many reasons to take a laptop or netbook. Even if I'm off the grid with no connection, I carry mine so that I can offload my photos from my cameras & memory cards.
Click to expand...

You must be shooting in RAW. How many thousand photos do you shoot while on vacation?
 
Phydeaux said:
You must be shooting in RAW. How many thousand photos do you shoot while on vacation?
Click to expand...

Yes, when shooting the aurora borealis, I'm shooting RAW.

Often it is a matter of offloading onto the network as a back up should my camera or memory card go bad.

Good examples will be my upcoming wilderness trip camping in Denali NP. No power or access to anything for five days. I expect to shoot somewhere around 3-5k photos. I suppose I don't know what to expect during my 12 day safarai in Kenya & Tanzania so I need to also be prepared to backup everything on those 12 days too. Those are two extremes but not completely unusual. I think on my Iditarod trip earlier this year I shot nearly 3k photos over two days.
 
Timeshare Von said:
Yes, when shooting the aurora borealis, I'm shooting RAW.

Often it is a matter of offloading onto the network as a back up should my camera or memory card go bad.

Good examples will be my upcoming wilderness trip camping in Denali NP. No power or access to anything for five days. I expect to shoot somewhere around 3-5k photos. I suppose I don't know what to expect during my 12 day safarai in Kenya & Tanzania so I need to also be prepared to backup everything on those 12 days too. Those are two extremes but not completely unusual. I think on my Iditarod trip earlier this year I shot nearly 3k photos over two days.
Click to expand...

Wow! That's a LOT of photos! How do you keep them organized? And you choose to offload them to a laptop vs. a portable HD?

Have you posted some to share?
 
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