One of my New Year’s Resolution constants is to save money – or at least be smarter about the money I spend! Last year I gave you my K Street Kate’s Everyday Eight, but for 2010, I wanted to share a new – and magic – secret.
I know you’ve seen the commercials. It was actually one of those late night infomercial temptings that got me to order one. Less than a week later, it arrived. My MagicJack! Initially, I was skeptical. But after dealing with RCN and shoddy customer service for years.. and effectively wasting money on a landline phone (I’m not sure why I feel I still need a landline phone these days, but I do), I had to try it out.
I took the little jack out of the package, plugged one end into my phone and the other into one of my laptop USB slots, and *abracadabra*… less than a minute later, I was up and running. As easy as that. Now – I won’t lie and say everything was perfect from plug-in. My first test call to myself (from cell phone) routed me instead to an unsuspecting non Magicjack number in Boston, but a little back and forth with the online assistant set things right – and ringing! It’s not magic, but it really works!
Last year, $49 – the $19.95 price quote on the commerical is only for pre-paid multiple years of service – got me some good, some bad, and a teensy bit of ugly. Here it is for you:
The Good:
cheap, easy nationwide & international phone service with a one time cost
comes with an answering service
choose a local number – or any area code you like
uplug Magic Jack to take your number and savings on trips with you
The Bad:
some calls may have low voice quality and static
laptop computer must be on – and connected to the internet – to send or receive calls
The Ugly:
I suggest plugging MagicJack into an older computer that you can leave on everyday if you have internet access on multiple computers. Running MagicJack on my laptop caused it to run slower – and sometimes freeze!
But I can handle some ugly with a beautiful overall savings of $484.88* That’s the real magic!
*Annual savings from removing phone from my RCN bill, minus cost of MagicJack.
