Saturday, April 25, 2009

Users can NOT beat the price!

Five years, 60 months, for $59.95. That is what I paid when I renewed my service contract with YMax Communications (magicJack) after having it the initial year. That comes to one (1) dollar per month for a second phone line in the house.

The Federal, state, and local taxes and fees almost make up 50% 0f the bill!

My current Cavalier Telephone service costs:

unlimited local & long distance plan .... 34.95
listing - non publish ............................... 3.95
energy recovery charge ........................ 2.95
data service recovery chagre ............... 2.00
fed excise tax .......................................... .63
gross receipts ......................................... .25
state special tax ..................................... 2.65
state sales tax ........................................ .82
local sales tax ......................................... .14
emerg. 911 service ................................ 1.00
USF interstate toll ............................... .34
relay surcharge .................................... .08
USF line charge .................................... 1.10
LNP surcharge ..................................... .99
end user access fee .............................. 3.97
end user common line ......................... 9.00
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............................................................... 64.72

so less than what I paid for one (1) month of service with Cavalier Telephone, I was able to get five (5) years of service with magicJack! Of course I ordered the five years of continued service.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

magicJack® vs. Skype®


magicJack® vs. Skype®
I have looked into Skype® vs. magicJack® and have determined that the two services are very, very, very much alike! One is hardware based while the other is software based.
If you know from my association with the computer world going back as far as the TI 99/4a that I have always been a hardware man. :-) For that reason, I favor magicJack® between the two services.
magicJack® costs $1.67 per month for calls to anywhere in the U.S.A. or Canada, $1.00 per month with a 5 year license; versus $2.95 per month with Skype®, $1.48 per month with a 1 year account.
They both have conference calling, voice mail, and call forwarding. Skype® charges money for other features that magicJack® does not charge their users, however that is minimum -> however it still costs the user money.
The magicJack® portability feature is the tipping point that makes it the better of the two services.
magicJack® softphone features
* Menu – Switch to headset, download Outlook plug-in, and other configuration options.
* Contacts – This is your list of contacts for quick reference.
* Calls – This provides call history. Using this feature allows you to quickly and easily reconnect to past calls.
* Favorites – This lists your favorite contacts like Mother In Law, Sister In Law etc.
* Redial – redial
* Vmail – This lets you set your own voice mail. To set MagicJack voice mail message you must login to their website and select user options to set voice mail for different locations. I also like the fact MagicJack sends an email with the .WAV file of the voice mail.
* 411 – Is an internet linked to Free411.com.
* Google – A simple hot link to Google for web searching.
* Weather - A simple hot link to the weather channel
* Fix - A simple hot link to software fixes of many minor problems
* 911 Address – This function defaults to your original entry in MagicJack, but it also gives the benefit of adding multiple address in case you use this at work, home, families houses etc.
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Portability - this lets you take or send the magicJack® dongle overseas to call friends, family, business associates, and etc. anywhere in the world for just the cost of the device and its original service contracts. Sure beats a telephone calling card for members of the Armed Services, students, and vacationers.

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magicJack® lets you use your computer's mic/speakers, a headset, or a regular telephone interface with its dongle while Skype® has your computer's mic/speakers or a headset interface.
My brother-in-law uses his magicJack® dongle with his laptop and a headset when he is on the streets of Philadelphia with its FREE citywide Wi-Fi and with a cordless phone when he is in his home.

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