How To Install Your Magic Jack

When you receive your Magic Jack you’ll be able to install it and start making free long distance phone calls in just a matter of minutes. Here’s a walk-through on how to install this voip phone so that you will know what to expect. After ordering your Magic Jack, you should receive it in the mail within a few days. I ordered mine on a Sunday, it was shipped the next day (Monday) and I received it on Thursday. That was pretty fast, considering I live on the other side of the country from where it was shipped from. Here is what you will receive in the mail and it’s packaging looks like. It contains the Magic Jack USB device and a USB extension cord in case it will be too tight a fit to plug the device directly into your USB port. The device measures approximately 2-1/2 inches long (not including the USB plug), 1-3/8 inches wide, and 3/8 of an inch thick. The cord is about 4-1/4 inches long, not including the plugs at each end. magic jack device & packaging magic jack device with phone cord All you need to do is plug the USB device into the USB port in your computer. This is probably the hardest part of the whole installation, and it isn’t difficult at all. Just make sure the device is plugged directly (with or without the USB extension cord) into a USB port on your computer. Don’t use a multi-port USB hub unless it is AC powered, as your Magic Jack will not work. magic jack plugged into back of computer That’s about it…just need to plug your phone cord into the device and wait for Magic Jack to do it’s magic. It will take a minute or two to load and download the software to make it work with your computer. You’ll first see a picture of the device, several little messages will display across it to keep you from getting bored. Then you’ll see a square screen that tells you it’s loading, then the “softphone” screen which will reside on your desktop. You can minimize the softphone screen when you’re not using your internet phone for calling. magic jack loading magic jack loading more Here is a photo of the Softphone Screen. You can either use it to dial a number, or use any phone that you have connected to your Magic Jack. The softphone will keep a record of the phone numbers that you dial and also the numbers that you receive calls from. You can delete these if you wish. I keep the numbers in my softphone that I most frequently dial, even though I use my “hard” telephone, it keeps the numbers handy for me. You can also pick up the receiver to your phone, click on a number stored in your softphone to dial, click Send and it dials it for you. Click End and it hangs up. It also has a Redial button, Voice Mail, and 411. Clicking the 411 button just takes you to a web site where you can look up phone numbers free. magic jack softphone screen The Softphone screen has several features to it besides saving telephone numbers. The rectangle on the left will change with different messages, including how to set up your Voice Mail. I’ve heard rumors that this screen will also contain paid advertising in the future, but ok with me, as long as I’m not forced to look at it and it keeps the price of my long distance calls at 20 bucks a year. The softphone screen also has links to Google, Yahoo, AOL and the weather.com web sites. If you have any questions about installation or the softphone screen that I haven’t answered in this article, please ask it in the comments below…I’ll do my best to try to answer it for you, or find the right answer.