Softphone Screen Features
I’ve had emails from visitors wanting to know how to use the Softphone Screen that appears when you install Magic Jack Internet Phone so I thought I would write an explanation of how it works. The red numbers you see on the Screen below designate the different areas of the Softphone Screen that we are going to discuss, these numbers do not appear on the Softphone Screen on your computer.
1. This is the area on the left of the Softphone where you will see rotating messages from Magic Jack about their services. Any updates will also show here, such as when new area codes are added to the service. If the area code that you want is not available when you first get your Magic Jack, you’re allowed to change your area code free once that area code becomes available.
2. The center top of the Softphone Screen displays your Magic Jack phone number that has been assigned to you just under “Ready to call”. There are also three buttons for Yahoo, AOL and Weather, which if clicked, will open up your browser to Yahoo.com, AOL.com and Weather.com.
3. The Magic Jack Phonebook will store your contacts that you enter and also the calls that you have made or received with your Magic Jack. By clicking on Contacts, a menu appears where you can edit or delete your contacts. Clicking on calls displays your recent calls and Favorites will display the sites you have saved in Favorites in Internet Explorer.
4. Buttons for Redial which calls the last number dialed; Voice Mail, which will dial your number and then prompt you for your password to access your Voice Mail. When setting up your Voice Mail, use the password 1234, and then change it immediately to another 4-digit number. The 411 button will open your web browser to this website: free411.com which is a free telephone lookup directory. Clicking on the Google button will open up your web browser to Google.com.
5. When installing your Magic Jack, you will be prompted to enter your physical address for their 911 service. You may add more than one address if you will be using your Magic Jack in different locations. If you will be using the Magic Jack 911 service, be sure to have your correct physical location selected at all times. Also have a back-up way to call 911 in case your internet service goes down, as your Magic Jack phone will not work during these times.
6. Phone key pad on the Magic Jack SoftScreen. You may use your phone to dial a number or the Softphone Screen can be used by clicking the buttons with your mouse.
7. If using the Softphone Screen to dial a phone number, you click “Send” to call the number, and “End” to hang up when you are finished with your call. The number you have dialed, whether using your telephone or the Softphone Screen will show in the white area.
8. Change the size of the Softphone Screen by clicking on “Big” or “Small” in the upper right corner. The Softphone Screen can be minimized by clicking on the button with the “-” located to the right of the “Big” or “Small” button. The Menu button lets you access different features for your phone, such as “Do Not Disturb” which will send all calls directly to Voice Mail for you.
Now you know all about your Magic Jack Softphone Screen so you can use your new service to its greatest capacity. If you have any more questions, please ask in the comments below. I answer all comments, and you will probably ask a question that many others would like to know also.
Filed Under Installing Magic Jack | 8 Comments
Compare Voip Services Magic Jack Skype Vonage
Magic Jack/Skype/Vonage Feature Comparison Chart
|
Features |
Magic Jack |
Skype |
Vonage |
|
Free Calls to Landline Phones |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
|
Free Calls to Cell Phones |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
|
Free Calls to Other Computers |
Yes |
Only to other Skype users |
Yes |
|
Free International Calling |
Yes, but only if both parties have the Magic Jack device |
No |
No |
|
Free Voice Mail |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
|
Free Caller ID |
Yes |
Sort of, the other person’s Skype user name |
Yes |
|
Free Call Waiting |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
|
Free Call Forwarding |
Yes |
Only if forwarded to another Skype user name |
Yes |
|
Cost of Service |
$19.95/year |
Varies. Ranges from Free to $60/year subscriptions |
$24.99/month, will be other fees and taxes. |
|
Reliability |
New service, still to be determined by long use. Unverified problems reported with service not working after a couple of months. |
Very good. |
Very good. |
|
911 Calling |
Yes, but I wouldn’t depend on it. |
No. |
Yes, but like Magic Jack, I wouldn’t depend on it in an emergency. |
|
Use ordinary Landline Phone with the Service? |
Yes |
May use a Skype phone which is very similar |
Yes |
|
Must Computer be turned on to use service? |
Yes. |
Yes, you must also have your internet browser open and the Skype program running. |
No. |
|
Call Quality |
Good. |
Sometimes intermittant or scratchy. |
Very good. |
|
Ability to Send & Receive Faxes |
No. |
Yes. |
Yes. |
Depending on what you need from a VOIP service, each of these services has their best points. If you are just mostly interested in chat and video chat with maybe a few cheap long distance international calls, Skype would probably be the best for you. You can chat free to another Skype user and international calls to Europe are as low as 2 cents per minute.
Maybe replacing your current telephone service entirely is what you are looking for. In that case, I would go with Vonage. But, I wouldn’t cancel the current phone service until I had used Vonage for a few months. Also, if you have a lot of problems with your internet service going down, you would also be out of phone service during those times too. However, Vonage will relay any phone calls to another number for you, so if you use a cell phone also, that could work out for you.
If you’re not really looking to replace your current phone service, but would like a way to make cheap long distance calls, give Magic Jack Internet Phone a try. I think in the future, Magic Jack may develop into a company to entirely replace your phone service, but a new company always has growing pains so I don’t recommend getting Magic Jack and dumping your current phone service until they have more a track record behind them.
Filed Under Compare Magic Jack to Other VOIP Services | 6 Comments
Are You Having Problems with Magic Jack?
My Magic Jack Internet Phone worked perfectly for the first 6 weeks or so. Always loaded when I either turned my computer on or re-booted. Then, it started not always loading, and sometimes giving me an error in Red Letters: “Warning: You must plug magicJack into USB”. Well duh, it was plugged in, and after waiting for a few minutes, it would then load and be fine…for a while anyway. The softphone screen started disappearing, sometimes coming back on its own, sometimes not. Then my computer desktop kept freezing up and after rebooting many times while trying other fixes, it finally dawned on me to unplug the Magic Jack USB device from my computer. Voila! No more freezing up! After doing some research on the net, it seems like I may have better success with my Magic Jack if I use it with an A/C powered USB port. So, that is my next step in getting my Magic Jack back to working order. If not, then I’ll bite the bullet and get in touch with their customer service at their web site and go from there. I always hate calling customer service, I’d rather see if I can fix the problem myself, just in case it’s something dumb that I overlooked doing. Also not looking forward to calling their customer service because I’ve heard it totally sucks. I’m going to buy the A/C powered USB port tomorrow, I’ll report back whether that fixes my problem.
Have you had problems with your Magic Jack? If so, how did you get it fixed…if you did?
Filed Under Magic JacK | 51 Comments
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