Bye-bye traditional long distance carrier...

[loupquiguerit]

I've been trying out MagicJack for a little while. Two main things I like about it: A) You can plug it in to any computer with an internet connection, B) The local phone number you assign during setup is hard linked to the MagicJack, C) It works with whatever phone you plug in to it (such as my old 900 MHz cordless). I take it with me when I'm

Comments

[voider]

MagicJack sounds pretty cool. I'd heard about it before but it wasn't quite for what I was looking. Although you can't beat the price. I use Packet8 for my local phone service. It's VOIP with a little network appliance that plugs into my switch. It's cheaper than the traditional phone companies but not as cheap as MagicJack. I like it because it's totally independent of my computer. But, as such, it's not quite as portable. When I'm on the road, I usually just use my cell phone, which has more minutes than I will ever use. I'll probably look into using Skype when I'm next traveling internationally; although usually any Stateside calls then are work-related so I don't feel bad about abusing international cell phone rates

[varrin]

Skype has subscriptions now for $3 / month for US and Canada which includes an inbound number, voicemail, and unlimited (10,000 minutes per month) of outbound calling to the U.S. and Canada. Their bandwidth requirements are probably less than MagicJack and, while you could get any number of hardware solutions (ala MagicJack or a standalone hand phone), you can also use it without hardware.

Also, I believe it's possible to get DSL without the phone line. I don't know for certain about the Fresno market, but in many markets it's possible anyway...

V-