Ooma, Phonegnome or Magic Jack - Which Device-Based Service to Choose?
Thursday July 3, 2008
These device-based VoIP services make the news because they can eliminate monthly bills. You invest once on the device and that's all - you don't pay for the calls. Too good to be true? To some extent maybe, because there are certain details you need to know. But anyhow, they are worth trying. Here is a comparison between the three services.
Your comment stating that magic jack is just giving away calls is mistaken. I have magic jack and it has voice mail, voice mail notification to your e-mail or cell phone, along with call forwarding, call waiting, and caller ID. Voice mail notification can be slow at times, but magic jack attaches a wav file you click on and don’t have to call in. So, I can check my messages at work…and that’s what I did for 3 months after my computer was stolen and it took insurance that long to isssue a replacement check. It’s not perfect, but it only costs $20 bucks and you pay the $20 anual fee up front (i.e. $40). If I traveled magic jack would be great my family can call no matter where I was in the world! I call my parents who live out of state for free and I don’t have to wait until 9pm or the weekends on my cell phone. Just this morning I called my parents at 9:30 AM to verify some information before sending them a package and it was free! I have high speed internet through the cable company, the only choice where my home is located. The DSL hub is 600 ft to far for the last 8 years! So, if I use Ooma, add the cost of a router an additional $100-$200. My cable modems costs approximately $100, but to get internet its necessary. So half the cost of the modem $50 an inexpensive router $100 add $30 for Cat 6 cable/cords and the $250 for a grand total of $430. Subtract $20 magic jack = $410 divide by $20 = 13.6 years. Neither magic or Ooma will last 13 years. From those I have spoken with this type of equipment last 3 to 5 years. So, if I payout another $40 in 2 years, well isn’t nearly everything throw away now a days. And most likely the technology will improve in 3 to 5 years. I like the features Ooma has, but the price is not realistic. Ooma is going to have to lower the price and charge a yearly fee like magic jack to stay in business. No everyone makes international calls and if I know someone in the military, I would send them a magic jack as a birthday or christmas present. I can call them and they can call me and their friends and family state side for free.
Ernest
You make a good point with good examples – showing how great MagicJack is as a means to cut down communication cost and to make it easy to be in touch. However, I don’t see where I state Magic Jack ‘just giving away calls’!
The MagicJack is a flawed device — from design to implementation. First of all, you must leave your PC on to get calls. It cannot be in hibernate or sleep mode. It works less than 50% of the time on a Dell Vista machine — system sometimes hang, sometimes doesn’t get recognized — arg. So I put it on a XP machine. Seems to be more stable, but the call quality is horrible, and a lot of calls don’t go through. I have 10 Mbps cable connection and the pipe is no where near congested.
I got fed up with spending so much time messing with MJ and bit the bullet and bought an Ooma. The realiability and quality is just uncomparable. My outbound calls always go though and I have not missed a single incoming call (that I know of).
WHile it’s not fair to compare apples to oranges, but at the end of the day, I just want to make cheap phone calls without any fuss. Ooma is the solution for me.
Chi, your point is valid. Seems like you are not very computer saavy and for those types the ooma is a good choice. However for those of us who are better at using/maintaining computers then I have had no issues running MJ on multiple computers including Dells. I did have one setup issue but the online tech support helped me and it was a piece of cake to be up and running in just 5 mins. I do run my computer 24/7 anyway so I have no issues with that. However for those who don’t need to send/rcv calls 24 hours a day then it’s not too hard to turn on the computer during calling hours.