Okay. Thanks for your input.
I must have mis-read their terms/agreement a while ago (one insomniac morning around 3 a.m., when I saw their infomercial).
I thought it indicated that they were a private network, and there were additional charges to dial ‘regular’ phone numbers. Apparently, from your ‘real life’ experience with MJ, that is not true.
I still am wondering about their pricing. Even with VOIP, the FED gets something like $6/month. Cox Cable now has phone, too. They charge a minimum of $16/month, and that FED $6 is in their fine print. So their minimum monthly charge is $21 + state and local taxes.
I will check out the MJ website again, then.
All I can say about their pricing is, it is indeed $20/year for unlimited North American usage, and damn cheap for international calls. You can use standard telephones, or if you prefer to plug a headset into your computer, you can do that too. 411 calls are free. If you travel, you can carry the little USB thingie with you; go online, plug it in, and make phone calls as if you were sitting at home-- no roaming charges, and no usurious fees if your travels take you overseas. It's the Internet, baby! Groovy.
I have no idea how they get around the tax issues you mention, except to note that other internet players such as Skype also seem to get around 'em. It's probably a case where Congress is clueless. (Is there any other case? [grin]) Government's larceny probably just hasn't caught up with technology yet.
When you sign up, chances are excellent you can get a number in your area code; if you like the service then for $10 you can switch your landline phone number to them and tell the phone company to go pound sand. MagicJack makes it easy to try its device and service, returning the unit for a refund if you don't like it, for example if your Internet connection is not of high enough quality to give a good MJ experience. Your mileage may vary, but it works well in our experience, and my wife has declared the sound quality to be the best of our several phone setups (landline, cell and now MagicJack).
(They can't get their Linux version out fast enough for me, though! Running a Windows machine 24/7 is asking for trouble. But I have several old PCs that would make great Linux-based MagicJack portals but which wheeze and shudder under the burdens of Windows XP. C'mon, MajicJack, get your Linux version done!)
I've noticed no downside. Some commentators have warned that MJ could put ads on your computer's screen based on your calling; that hasn't happened here, and since we use wireless phones strewn throughout the house, there's zero chance the screen would be looked-at, anyway. I've seen no email spam, nor have we received any nuisance calls.
There's lots going on in the telephony world. Check out
http://www.google.com/grandcentral/index.html too-- sounds very useful.
Look, just get the thing. It only cost $40. You use it and try it. You find out it is reliable. You disconnect your land line at home and save $35 a month.
You have more than enough people on here to tell you it works that the $40 is not really a risk. Besides, you can return it if you don’t like.
Do yourselve a favor and trust the people on FR. They will rarely if ever steer you wrong. The dang thing works. It is my home phone replacing my land line. Its better than the land line was. very satisfied