Magic Jack Plus

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Fortunately, I don't have to worry too much about what Google does with its Voice capabilities in Hangouts, or when they get around to doing or, or how long they'll end up offering it as a free service.

Because, while I'll use their service if and when it's available, I'll meanwhile continue to be using my MJ device and phone number as my reliable home phone service... And not worry too much what's going in in the world of women's soccer.

[lomatopo]

^ Understand you love your mJ and are indifferent to GV.

Personally I'd be more inclined to pay for GV than mJ given the additional functionality, so if/when GV is no longer free I expect I will pay for it.

Like I said, I just re-upped my mJ for five years, but if they went belly-up tomorrow I'd still have my GV.

[Pib]

Heck, I had to use GrooVeIP just this morning. Had been talking to my sister on the U.S. east coast for about an hour and half using my NetTalk device/service hooked between my router and cordless phone when suddenly my cordless phone went dead because its battery ran out of juice (time for a new battery since it don't hold a good charge anymore). So, I put the cordless phone back in its charging cradle, got out my smartphone, fired up the GrooVeIP app, called the sister back, and talked for another 30 minutes. Clear sound but I was using a home Wifi connection.

But a month ago when I needed to call Schwab since my Schwab debit card was rejecting at the AEON ATM I was using GrooVeIP on my S4 calling Schwab from the ATM connected via my DTAC 3G plan, I could get through OK, I could hear them just fine, but they had a hard time hearing me....mostly a lot of my words were disappearing into the internet never-never land (i.e., packets loss) I could hear them telling me. I ended up having to go back home and use my NetTalk service to contact Schwab and resolve the issue. Before I left the ATM for home I did run a Speedtest.net test and was getting around 6Mb speed, but bandwidth is only one factor when it comes to VOIP. I've made short calls on DTAC 3G using GrooVeIP to my NetTalk number/voicemail just to leave a message so I could hear the quality of voice and it sounds pretty good but with a few partial word drop outs...I guess the day of the call to Schwab I just had a funky/overloaded 3G local connection (the ATM was at a Tesco Lotus) even though called back 2 more times with the same results before giving up and going home to make the call.

I've just been renewing for 1 year at a time for $29.95, but you can renew for 2 years at $54.95, for 3 years at $77.95 or for 4 years at $98.95. My next renewal is Apr 14...I just may go with a longer renewal...get brave and go with 2 years since it seems like NetTalk is doing good and ain't going out of business anytime soon.

NetTalk keeps saying they are going to integrate their current App service into NetTalkDuo service (been saying that for over a year)...that is basically I could use my NetTalkDuo number/service on my NetTalk App and also receive incoming calls on the App versus just being able to make 30 minute outgoing calls on the NetTalk App now. Could have called the sister back using the NetTalk app but figured we might be talking longer than 30 minutes allowed per call with 50 minutes free allowed per month...anything beyond 50 minutes per month requires you to buy credits....but hey that's still 50 free minutes and many times an occasional call to the U.S. of 30 minutes or less is all that is needed. Have used the NetTalk app a few times and the calls go through fine and are clear. Your results may vary.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

^ Understand you love your mJ and are indifferent to GV.

Personally I'd be more inclined to pay for GV than mJ given the additional functionality, so if/when GV is no longer free I expect I will pay for it.

Like I said, I just re-upped my mJ for five years, but if they went belly-up tomorrow I'd still have my GV.

Loma, you're putting words in my mouth that aren't mine.

I don't "love" MJ, and I'm not "indifferent" to Google Voice.

I use and continue to pay for MJ annually because it's worked fine for me over a long period of years as my USB plug-in home phone that gives me a local number in the area code of my choosing, along with, for all intents and purposes, unlimited domestic U.S. calling.

I've never used it as a mobile solution, because as we've discussed here before, its original Android app was a battery drainer and had no exit command. Likewise, I recognize that MJ's corporate customer service seems to be pretty poor. But then again, try getting ahold of MS or Google about individual account problems...

Unlike you, I've never chosen to take up MJ on their discounted 5-year service plans because, as we all know all too well, things change and move pretty fast in the technology world. Five years ago, I wasn't sure MJ would be around in another five years. And today, I'm not sure they'll be around in five years more.

But for now, I'm happy to get what I get for $29.95 a year. And five years after having purchased their original device, if MJ goes belly up or is technologically outdated by a better competitor, I'll switch to that service instead. In the meantime, though, I'm a happy, satisfied, paying customer.

During much of that same time, I've preferred to use Google Voice combined with Groove IP for my mobile equivalent of MJ. And it's worked great for me as well, as a free service. But I've never wanted to put all my eggs in one basket, so I've kept and used both, knowing that if either one went bad at some point, I'd still have a good, working solution with the other.

For the future, I'm a bit leary of where Google is headed with Hangouts... I'm really not interested in getting sucked into a Google world of friends circles and signing in via my profile and group chatting. For this particular purpose, I just want a U.S. home phone that works in the traditional way... We'll see where Google ends up in that regard...sometime...hopefully before May when they pull the plug on GrooveIP, Obi and any other similarly piggy backing services on Google Voice.

Edited November 4, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Thanks for the interesting report, Pib...

I guess I should add, lately, I've been looking increasingly to services and apps that functions equally well and transparently across both the PC/Windows world and the Android mobile world.

In the past, I used to call and talk on the phone via MJ with my elderly father, who doesn't have/use a smartphone, but does of course have a home phone.

TANGO

But lately, since he does have and use a Windows PC and I got him a webcam to plug in for it, I've been using the Tango app to do free video calls with him, and it's been working great. Tango is an app that can be installed on Android and other mobile devices with Wifi or 3G, but also has a Windows PC version... So I can video call my father either from my Windows PC or my Android mobile, and he can sit at his desk and we can have a pretty much unlimited time video call for free... That I like!!!!

LINE

Similarly here at home, my wife and I used to text message back and forth during the day using WhatsApp between our Android smartphones for free. But lately, we've switched to using LINE, which. unlike WhatsApp, also is both PC and smartphone enabled.

Recently, LINE has added both voice and video calling from their Android and PC apps....that works both via wifi and 3G. As a result, our mobile minutes usage on our Thai mobile phones has dropped dramatically as have our mobile bills. Nowadays the wife and I message and call back and forth constantly on LINE for free, paying only for our underlying AIS 3G 2100 Mhz data service for when we're away from home or work wifi.

The only downsides to Tango and LINE, relative to MJ and GV, are that they don't provide U.S. phone numbers or allow calls with 3rd parties not also using those apps. But for anyone who wants to call or video call with others (friends, family, etc) using smartphones or PCs, they're a great resource.

And, for my purposes, much less of a resource hog than the Skype PC and Android apps. LINE and Tango pretty much run quietly and unobtrusively in the background and auto-start with your device, without as much of the signing in and noisy intrusions of Skype.

However, I should add, that my wife is continue to use on her Android smartphone the Skype Unlimited World Premium service I purchased for her at $10 a month recurring, which allows unlimited calling to both fixed line and mobile numbers in Thailand, along with the same for a bunch of other countries.

Considering how much time she spends talking with her non-smartphone or PC-using parents upcountry each month (time that used to get charged as minutes against her AIS mobile service), the Skype plan has allowed us to cut back her AIS service almost to just data (299b per month for 500 GB of unthrottled 3G plus 100 voice minutes). She never comes close to reaching her data cap, because most of her Skype calls at this end are off wifi at either work or home.

Edited November 4, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[lomatopo]

FYI, magicJack used to offer free call forwarding. They now charge for that service, in that you have to purchase a minimum 100 minute plan to cover the charges for forwarded calls.

With Google Voice call forwarding is free, and they offer a follow-me service, which allows you to utilize up to six (6) numbers to ring through in progression, for free. With Google Voice multiple people can share a forwarded number, for free. You can even set up temporary call forwarding numbers, for free. You can set up call forwarding to your GV number to ring all your other numbers, for free, or even based on who is calling (circles) or time of day, for free.

Google Voice also allows you to receive and generate SMSes for free, you can also forward inbound SMSes to your GMail account, for free.

You get some quasi auto-attendant features like having callers announce their name, for free. Do not disturb, pass/block CPID, free.

Voicemail transcription (speech to text, sent as an email) is pretty cool, and free. You can share voicemails via email, for free. And you can even create a conference. Oh yea, for free.

There's probably quite a few more slick apps I haven't even discovered yet. And Google seems to keep adding features and functionality, all while magicJack strips out functionality or charges for it.

I understand it is not fair/reasonable to compare mJ and GV as the differences are so immense - a bit like comparing Ma Bell with the internet, but people may want to consider getting a free GV number/account.

Edited November 4, 2013 by lomatopo