VOIP advice needed

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I had great service from MagicJack for a few years, and then it went downhill. For a long time, I could place a call but not be heard. Then, I could neither call nor receive, except for messages in my email. Customer service was just a list of things to keep me busy re-checking. I finally bought a new Jack, and have not been able to make a single call.
Is there a company offering VOIP that isn't just free spyware?

My brother uses MagicJack too and has the same problems. I can't persuade him to switch, because he is stubborn as a mule, but I can get some satisfaction by helping someone that is more willing.

So, I recommend two alternatives. The first is Ooma. You buy a device from Ooma for $120 or so, and then pay about $6 in fees for as long as you like. I have had mine for about three years. No problems, or at least, no problems I recall.

One thing is, you need good internet for any of these VOIP. Your problems with MagicJack could be MagicJack or they could be a degradation in service from your Internet Service Provider. I recommend at least 6 mb/s, but 24 mb/s is more like it. I have 60 mb / s last time I checked. Also- you may need to set aside some QoS bandwidth reservation, to make sure your downloading does not hog all the available network. VOIP has to constantly send/receive packets all day long.

So, the second alternative is Vonage. I recommend them, but they are pricey, about $20 a month last time I checked. I was with them a long time, but bailed when they started veering toward bankruptcy. They survived somehow, so maybe I shouldn't have bailed? But I did, and that is when I went with Ooma, which is cheaper anyway.

You can pay more with Ooma to get the fancy features, but I just go with barebones. It's a landline backup for my cell phone basically.

Hope that helps dude! Vonage and Ooma are both straight-up. You asked at the right place!

Thanks. Magic Jack and Primus both gave flawless service, even during downloads. I changed to MJ to save money, and then they slowly deteriorated. I get the impression that management is only funding the income streams, and has never added capacity. I hope they lose it all in lawsuits.

I found an Ooma on Ebay for $53.09 here https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ooma-Telo-Free ... 0117!US!-1

I bought mine from Ebay or Amazon, one of the two. The only troubleshooting I do is unplug the power if the flower is not blue. Blue is happy. Otherwise it cycles purple or red. Sometimes if you just wait 10 minutes it goes to Blue. If it stays not blue a long time, then I power-cycle. Fixed. Since I implemented QoS on my router to designate a chunk of bandwidth for Ooma all the time, it stays Blue all the time.

That is encouraging, but I see that Consumer's Reports only has Magic Jack 3rd out of many, a few points below Ooma, at a quarter the price. Ooma seems to be spending a lot on banner ads for me, which MJ never did. I'm trying to get my ISP to say if the problem was in their gear, and I'll want some sort of money-back guarantee if this one also fails to connect.
Do you use a regular answering machine? How did you get your 'phone number? They are asking me for $40 for that, and then $6/mo for "taxes" - on free service. Right.
My ISP finally put up an email address for queries - I couldn't use their phone very easily. I asked if they had started blocking VOIP, and they wrote back asking for my account number. I got a bit snarky, asking if they did not have a customer data base that would identify me from three other entries that I did include. I would like to have confidence in my IT guy, but maybe I just pissed someone off.

I call my ISP as little as possible. Like, never.

Consumer Reports ranks Ooma #1. I was about to forward that to you, but I got busy. You can transfer your existing phone number. I have done so through the years and have not changed my phone number since I moved to my town. Legally, the phone co. is required to let you move a number.

I bought a very good, used AT&T answering machine and two remote phone combination from a seller on Ebay for like $20 or so. People sell that sort of thing for peanuts because nobody uses landline anymore. Yet, landline is useful. Why? Nicer headset, for one. Also, for $6 a month, I have a number to hand out that is not one I carry on my person. You know, it is not nice every Tom, Dick and Harry calling the cell phone bothering me. My cell phone is reserved for work, family, and my husband. Nobody else gets the cell, nobody. I also do not answer the landline. I just let the machine get it, and I answer it at my leisure. So, I convert a phone number into basically an email or postal device that I check once in a while when I feel like it. Sometimes it is something important like a dental appointment, bank calling, or my brother.

So, you are probably worried about getting screwed with Ooma. I don't know what to tell you. Do what you think best, I am not one of their salesman, lol. I don't know why I write about it, I guess I like to share my good fortune with others. Plus I'm a little bit resentful that my brother stayed with Magic Jack.

Rules about phone numbers may be different in Canada. My ISP wrote back, offering a modem swap. I told them all else is unaffected, and am waiting for another reply. MJ seems most unlikely to give me any credit for the years of no service, and I am loathe to gamble another dollar on them, so there may be no way to test their gear now.

Modem swap sounds good. They are all the time improving those things. Did not catch on you were Canadian. I don't know what they do in Canada, but I do envy the health care system.

The ISP is even willing to do a service call on the modem, but I'll take care of it next time I go to the city. I have to phone for a service call - Catch 22.

Single-payer is no panacea. The psychopaths can corrupt anything to their own ends. Our system is now run for administrators first, druggists second, and patients last, with the doctors reduced to interchangeable prescription clerks. Three years ago I went in to our local hospital with a simple fracture of the thumb. After many trips to other locations, they had ruined my general health and never even set the bone properly. Many people got paid quite well, but I had to cover my own extra travel. The aspie counselling is similarly ineffective.

Hm. Well, I had counseling when I was a teen, and it was pretty ineffective too. Counseling is a tough one. Some of the best counselors I ever met had very little education beyond tech school, and the worst all had PhDs. As for regular doctors, the main problem here is paying, it gets confusing quickly and there are little traps everywhere. I am actually insured, but I have to carry four different cards for four different insurance companies, and I don't really understand all the rules. Beyond that, the doctors have a high caseload and no time to do much observation or listening to the patient. Usually it is not too difficult to Google a better answer than the doctor, who more than likely is making some kind of mistake in his haste.

Aye, I've had no luck with the PhDs either. I've never shopped counsellors in a city, but in some provinces, there is a very low limit on the number of visits allowed, which is no good for anything chronic. My best counsellor got her ability from learning how to be a good parent. School had given her a bit of book learning, but no diagnostic ability to use with it. Unlike the PhDs, though, she could still say "I don't know" and listen with concern and interest while I slowly worked things out. When she finally got fed up with the bureaucrats demanding useless reports and quit, I told her that Medicare only cares about suicide numbers when it comes to mental health, and that I owed my improvement to her volunteering to do more, and fighting for me. She teared up a bit, and still sees me occasionally pro-bono, but I have to travel.

Does your ISP offer a VoIP service? These are often exceedingly cheap to use and have no monthly fees. Up until recently I had one at both of my houses running off a domestic grade ADSL tail. Total spend was generally under $2 a month on VoIP but each ADSL connection was $30/month. I've now disconnected both and use my mobile for unlimited calls and tether for all the data I need for $20/month. Easy $40/month saving and I actually find it easier to use!

I don't think so. They have a web page for some kind of phone, but it does not work (yet?) I'll ask the human being when I exchange the modem.