Magic Jack.

Sherman said:
My phone number IS different with Comcast. Couldn't port the old one over.

But I don't know of anyone who has a computer and wants to buy it or use it. :bounce:
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There's always eBay? But get all your personal info off MJ and disassociate yourself from it if you did that.
 
buzzard767 said:
It's worth twenty bucks when new with warrantee. Who's gonna pay even five for it so why bother trying to peddle it?
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19.95 intro offer plus shipping puts you out nearly 50 bucks to buy it new.

Ebay it for 20 with 8 month's service left and it's a deal as long as you keep shipping reasonable. Eight months of phone service for 20 bucks = 2.50 a month. It's a college kid's dream if he can keep his system clean and the thing running right.
 
Worse case scenario, delete everything off of the device and sell it as a low mem jump drive for 2-3 bucks. It DOES act as a removable drive.....but space is limited.

If you're a hacker, the Tiger Chipset in that device is invaluable for Skype and other soft-phone services.
 
I probably won't even sell the device because someone else or whoever buys it, they'll just be buying my headaches.
 
I have a MagicJack, and it does not give me any grief.

reading back over this thread, there was a problem with Comcast, went to Vonage, that had problems, went to MagicJack, that had problems, now you're back with Vonage.

not sure the 'service' is the issue - you may have a not-so-good internet connection.
 
I had MagicJack for 4-5 months, and it sucked. Dropped calls, refused to register, choppy voice, etc. I gave it to a friend and rebuilt their laptop. With a clean install of XP, MJ worked good for a while. But after 2 months or so it began to act up and he got rid of it. I think you could get pretty good service if you had a dedicated PC to run MJ and didn't use that PC for anything else.

But, I don't like MJ because it has to run through a PC, and that softphone program they use spies on you and collects personal information such as browsing history in order to "better tailor advertisements". Spying is spying.

For those that say MJ is working great for you, I'm curious about your upstream BW. Go here and test it:

http://www.speedtest.net/

What is your upstream bandwidth? MJ claims that it only requires 80k of upstream BW, but I have never in my life seen a SIP/VOIP application that could run smoothly on less than 512k, with 1 meg being recommended. When I had MJ, my upstream was around 460k, and sometimes dropped lower. According to MJ, that should have been fine, but I highly doubt it. Now I have 2 meg up, and I'm curious as to whether MJ would work better now…..but I'll not be trying it to find out. :lol:
 
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ChowderMan said:
I have a MagicJack, and it does not give me any grief.

reading back over this thread, there was a problem with Comcast, went to Vonage, that had problems, went to MagicJack, that had problems, now you're back with Vonage.

not sure the 'service' is the issue - you may have a not-so-good internet connection.
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Highly unlikely.

My Internet connection has been and still is very good.

Guess with some, Magic jack works perfectly, but with others, not so good. It just wasn't for me after all.

Some swear BY it, while others swear AT it! I jumped to the gun too quickly when I bought that. Should have waited. If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. You get what you pay for. I felt bonked out with that!! :bonk: :bonk: :bonk:
 
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>>Highly unlikely.
I'll leave it up to you to figure it out - works for some people, doesn't work for others.
there's probably a reason.
I doubt they have a policy "name starts with 'S' - send him a defective unit."

btw, the "spying" myth is utter BS.
it shows up on your system as a drive - run some malware/spyware/rootkit/virus checkers on it. ever wonder why it hasn't been flagged by these folks?

the install / update files show up in Docs&Settings\Administrator\etc - varies by system. you can nuke them anytime you want.

if one is that afraid of context sensitive ads, one needs to rethink the cookie situation.

oh, speednet says bwup is 1.32 here
 
ChowderMan said:
btw, the "spying" myth is utter BS.
it shows up on your system as a drive - run some malware/spyware/rootkit/virus checkers on it. ever wonder why it hasn't been flagged by these folks?
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You should have read the MagicJack TOS more carefully.

http://www.magicjack.com/tos/http://www.magicjack.com/6/faq/

11. Advertisements
You also understand and agree that use of the magicJack device and Software will include advertisements. Advertisements will be served through the magicPage™ Software or the magicJack softphone - the software/softphone attempts to serve local advertisements and classifieds using a completely automated process that enables us to effectively target dynamically changing content. Our computers may analyze the phone numbers you call and your registration information in order to improve the relevance of the ads. We do not provide any personal information to our advertisers or third parties. magicJack has a policy of restricting advertisers that it believes are inappropriate, but it does not guarantee the accuracy or integrity of any advertisers and does not endorse any of the advertisements that may appear in connection with use of the magicJack device. You also understand and agree that use of the magicJack device and Software may include certain communications, such as service announcements, administrative messages and newsletters, and you will not be able to opt out of receiving them.
 
the phone company knows all the numbers I call as well. actually I pay more attention to stuff I get from them than ads on the MagicJack screen.

and if you consider that "spying" you really need to rethink your cookie situation.
the cookies allow all the ad dot com people know where you've been, where you're going and how long you were there. and they read your IP so they know where you are. it's called context sensitive advertising.

have you read Microsoft's EULA?
 
ChowderMan said:
the phone company knows all the numbers I call as well.
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Of course they do. It's part of your itemized bill, and Federal Law that they do. But, they don't "analyze" your phone usage like MJ, and they don't have S/W installed on your PC that can aid in the snooping. If you like signing away your privacy to some fly-by-night and unregulated company (and apparently you do since you use MJ), then more power to you.

ChowderMan said:
and if you consider that "spying" you really need to rethink your cookie situation.
the cookies allow all the ad dot com people know where you've been, where you're going and how long you were there. and they read your IP so they know where you are. it's called context sensitive advertising.
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Ever heard of CCleaner, disabling cookies, proxy servers, cookie spoofing, firewall proxies, etc, etc, etc.

There are MANY ways to protect your identity and activities when surfing the net, and most of them are rather easy to accomplish. There is NO WAY to stop MJ from doing what they are doing. Your'e trying to compare apples to oranges.
 
since you don't have it and don't use it you obviously can prove anything to yourself or anyone else.

I know where the software is, I know what it does, and I don't have a problem with it. nor do the rational privacy advocates; the irrational, well, that's a different story.

you should be much more concerned about Internet Explorer and Microsoft operating systems if you have privacy concerns. at least MagicJack clearly tells you what they will and will not do.

take the license plates off your car so the cameras can't track you.

buy everything cash - no bank, no checks, no credit cards, no paper trail.

wear a mask everywhere - that facial recognition software _will_ find you.

get rid of your cable tv box - they track what you watch

oh, and quit using computers - they leave traces.

it's a pretty simple deal - really low cost telephone use in exchange for putting up with some ads. and lets get Frank in here - it's an ad panel on the software display - ain't 'zactly taking over your screen like some pop-ups.

do you have the ad pop ups blocked on this site? shame on you - that generates revenue for the site operator so they don't have to charge admission to me.....

so if you're reading a thread about pizza and that triggers a context sensitive Poppa-John ad, is that spying? don't forget . . . you're not really anonymous here . . . the computer has records . . . . "they" have your IP - "they" [can] know your physical location to a couple of feet and "they" can tell you how far away the nearest Poppa-John's is - or notify your health insurance to up your rates because you spend too much time at the Dunkin Donuts counter.

it's not rocket science, anymore.

don't get me wrong - I'll stand side-by-side and shoot Big Brother on sight - you just keep reloading. there is however a point where reality actually matters.

so far as proxy servers, anonymous browsing, etc.... I severely suggest some research is in order. those sort of simple tricks are entirely obsolete. it's all traceable nowadays - thanks in large part to "cloud computing" - did I fail to mention Microsoft?
 
Interesting, albeit apologetic, diatribe. You start by saying MJ spying on its users is "utter BS", then you acknowledge it once I prove it to you by showing you the TOS, then you go on to defend the spying, and even try to downplay it by saying "well other companies are worse than this", and finally tie it all up with a stunning bit of embroidering that only a fanatical technophobe could possibly conjure or embrace.

And none of this changes the fact you were wrong about MJ spying.

As for proxy servers, it is only traceable at the proxy source. If the owner of the proxy doesn’t cross-reference and give you up, then it is truly anonymous. Perhaps you're not too familiar with a packet header, but I assure you, there ain't no magical information in there that leads back to the previous hop or that can't be spoofed. Do a traceroute on Google and see how many hops it takes to get there from your PC. Put a proxy at any of those hops, and you disappear. Fact.

Take a look at this screenshot from the packet capture I just performed on my network. See those cute little hexadecimal values decoded in the lower right-hand pane. The highlighted values are your Source IP (your PC) and Destination IP (where you are going) addresses. Imagine how hard it would be to hack the TCP stack to change those values.

Here's a hint……not hard at all.
 

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>>speaking english

exactly. you need to start with a definition of spying.

a little more fact and less rumor would also help but some folks prefer to believe anything.
 
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