Today let's look at two communication alternatives. While there are a number of people who use these services as alternatives to their home phone service, I believe that most people are using these options for different means.
Magic Jack
First, let me talk about MagicJack. You've probably seen the infomercial ads about this miracle device in the form of a USB dongle that creates a phone with unlimited national calling for under $30 a year. I bought this device about two years ago, when it as still in beta. The device works as advertised and has provided reliable service for myself and my wife while we travel.
It is very simple and easy to set up, just plug it in and connect either a telephone to the built in jack or use your computer headset. Then to dial, you can use the softphone application that opens on your computer or, if you did connect a telephone, pick up the headset and dial like normal. The downside of the MagicJack is that it does tie up the sound card of your computer so, everything goes through the same channel whether it be your phone call or the latest video on YouTube.
Our main reason for purchasing the MagicJack was for use when traveling. I feel that it is a poor substitute for a home phone service because it requires the use of a computer to run. However, when you are on a business trip far from home, MagicJack is the perfect companion providing a US phone number so that you can call anyone in the USA and they can call you even though you're in South Africa. By the way, I didn't pick that location arbitrarily, my wife does travel extensively and has used it to call home from Africa, Asia, South America as well as from within the USA. As long as her internet connection was fairly solid, the audio quality of our calls were very good. There were some locations that it didn't work at all but, we can't be sure if it were the venue or the general internet quality of that country. As a device to use when traveling, MagicJack is well worth the price.
Skype
Another of my favorite services is Skype. Skype too offers calls throughout the world calls which are free between Skype users who can communicate via their computers using text, voice and even video. Users can also purchase a WiFi enabled phone like the one advertised to the right which allows you to use Skype like a regular phone, minus the computer.
However, to make calls to non-Skype users, you will need to subscribe to one of Skype's Calling Plans. You can choose to pay as you go, however if you're going to make frequent calls, you can choose an unlimited plan for as low as $2.99/month for the USA & Canada up to $13.99/month for the world (or a good number of places in the world).
These subscriptions only provide you with outgoing calls. For in coming calls, that will cost another $18.00 for three months and comes with Voicemail and Call Forwarding. Not a bad price, in fact you can even purchase phone numbers in another country. This works great when you have family in any of the over 25 countries where numbers are available. You can give your relatives a local phone number that they can call you and with Call Forwarding the call can be directed to your home or cell phone or both. My wife and I have used this service for family in Mexico. They call the number which is local and their call is automatically forwarded to our home and cell phone numbers. Whichever phone picks up the phone first, gets the call.
One other helpful service that Skype offers is called "Skype to Go." This free service comes with any purchase of credit or calling subscription. With this service you get a local number in the US or any of 17 other countries. Calling this number gives you access to up to 10 speed dial numbers and allows you to call them or any other phone number in the world and either utilize your Skype calling credits or access your subscription. This is great to call people oversees from your cell phone or even home phone and save money.
Well, it's Friday so that's it for this week. Coming up next week, I'm going to rant about junk mail and school budgets on Long Island as well as some more cool techie things. Have a great weekend!
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