>What is required of the phone for it to work properly ? The >"good" phone has a separate power source. This is a tough question. From my experience I got 4 regular phones connected to my MJ, 3 of them are cordless phones which all have its own power supply, one is a regular cord phone (AT&T brand). And I used cordless phones more than the cord phone. It appears all my cordless phones provides better voice quality since all of them has a dedicated chip inside the phone for noise cancellation. The AT&T phone provides ok quality, and I only used it once a while when the cordless phone is not around or out of battery. Due to the device only be able to draw power from USB, and the USB voltage varies from PC to PC, so it would be a good practice to have at least one phone connected to MJ with its own power. >I would like to transfer my phone number to MajicJack. Will this be >possible ? Who "owns" phone numbers. Or who administers them ? >Is parking a phone number a safe thing to do ? I am still now sure how long it will take and whether you can really get it. It cost extra too. I totally agree that keeping your old phone number is a good thing even with some cost. MJ claims own certain phone numbers, and they do exchange phone numbers with other phone companies. Technically, it is doable, it might take a while for the whole process. (The FCC has regulation on porting between both land line phone number and cell phone number, so end users can transfer it one or the other way if they insist. People who had done this might have more to contribute.) >MJ is offering a 5 year extension for $60. What is the likelihood >they will be around for 7 more years ? Nobody knows the future for certain. The goal for MJ is to become "the google in VOIP market". They may target more ads. on the GUI panel in the near future. That's the major concern for some anti-MJ users. Some of them think MJ breaks their own privacy to put ads on their PC, just like some anti-google person thinks: google keeps their search keywords and shows ads. on their search result violate their privacy. The term of using the low cost MJ express this well. Again, MJ is not targeting to replace the land-line phones, it is a low cost second phone for regular cell phone users and frequently long distance phone users. >MJ must have a facility somewhere that takes your internet call and >connects it to POTS ( regular , old style ) phone service. Where is >this located ? How much does this cost MJ ? This is the main difference between MJ and many other VOIP providers. MagicJack claims it owns its own telephone backbone, what they missing is the last mile of wiring connection. So they use the VOIP technology as the last mile of (wiring) connection, this infrastructure helps them running a telephone exchange backbone system at a low cost. They don't have to invest or maintain the last mile home to home wiring connections. Those backbone facility normally located around those big cities, I knew the one my MJ is connected is in Boston area. Overall, the MJ company is still a telephone company, they have phone numbers, selling/exchanging those phone numbers to other USA phone company is one of their business/income source. And this is how MJ company can provide each MJ device a USA phone number. Even though it had been long claimed Canada phone will be available soon, it appears harder for MJ company to negotiate with Canadian telephone companies for phone number sell/exchange. So, for the moment, only USA phone number is available, but you can call all Canadian phones free of charge (A few exception are those Canadian 1-800 numbers which only takes Canadian incoming phone calls, but you can always find regular phone as the 800 alternative). Some of these features make people calling MJ the "Skype killer". I use both and am not fully convinced, but it surely is a "Vonage killer". Funny N. Au Group Electronics, http://www.AuElectronics.com http://www.AuElectronics.com/products http://augroups.blogspot.com/ ________________________________ From: NOPE9 To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public. Sent: Thursday, September 24, 2009 11:08:08 PM Subject: [OT] questions about MajicJackVOIP There seem to be some experts on MajicJack in the PIClist community. I just received a MJ under a 30 day ( much less after shipping delay ) demo period. PHONES The MajicJack works with one of my phones and the service sounds horrible with another phone. What is required of the phone for it to work properly ? The "good" phone has a separate power source. PHONE NUMBER I would like to transfer my phone number to MajicJack. Will this be possible ? Who "owns" phone numbers. Or who administers them ? Is parking a phone number a safe thing to do ? 5 YEAR PLAN MJ is offering a 5 year extension for $60. What is the likelihood they will be around for 7 more years ? TECHNOLOGY MJ must have a facility somewhere that takes your internet call and connects it to POTS ( regular , old style ) phone service. Where is this located ? How much does this cost MJ ? Best Gus -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist